A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas
Series 3, episode 16, first shown 21 Dec 2001, 22 min
Our take
The first Christmas episode is a scrappy half hour about a mother pushed past breaking point by a family that leaves the whole season to her, and it still lands. The gags are hit and miss and the plot is thin, but the escalation is good fun, and Lois finally snapping over paper towels is a better joke about holiday pressure than most sitcoms manage in a full special.
What happens
Lois is doing everything she can to give the Griffins a perfect Christmas, and nothing goes her way. Peter, who is far more interested in a TV holiday special called KISS Saves Santa, is sent out to do the family's present shopping and manages to give every gift away to charity, so the whole family has to spend Christmas Eve at the mall buying replacements. Brian sets the house on fire. Joe, whose accident happened around Christmas, is in no mood for the season. Stewie, cast as the baby Jesus in the town Nativity, is busy trying to get on Santa's nice list, obsessed with how Santa watches everyone to decide who is naughty and who is nice, and with getting plutonium out of him. One disaster too many, down to running out of paper towels, finally breaks Lois, who goes on an anti-Christmas rampage and tries to pull the star off the town Christmas tree while the rest of the family races across town to stop her.
Can the kids watch it?
The BBFC rated it 12. It is adult animation with crude jokes, slapstick violence and a house fire played for laughs, so it suits teenagers rather than younger children.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Seth MacFarlane as Peter Griffin
- Alex Borstein as Lois Griffin
- Seth Green as Chris Griffin
- Mila Kunis as Meg Griffin
Guest stars
- Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
- Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson
- Hynden Walch as Kid #3
Writer
- Danny Smith
Director
- Brian Hogan