Our take
A stock Christmas Carol parody, but one with a couple of inspired swerves, chiefly choosing a late film star as the guiding ghost. It never threatens the show's best Christmas episodes and the middle sags, but the future sequence is grotesquely funny and the ending is sweeter than you expect. Carrie Fisher's late appearance as Angela gives it a little extra weight.
What happens
It is Christmas Eve, and Angela is about to send everyone at the brewery home early. At home Brian announces that his present to the family is signing them all up to help at a homeless shelter, which only Lois welcomes. Peter speeds past to the bar instead, is driven out by swarms of carol singers and heads home to watch a Patrick Swayze holiday film, refusing every Christmas chore waiting for him. Lois puts her foot down and takes the children to spend Christmas with her parents. Drunk and alone, Peter passes out and wakes to the ghost of Patrick Swayze, who vows to help him find his Christmas spirit in the manner of A Christmas Carol. They visit a childhood Christmas that was all about young Peter, then homes around town where families are together, including Lois and the children getting on fine without him, and a future in which Lois has remarried and Peter has become a ghost trapped in Brian's farts. Shaken, Peter drives to his in-laws' house with hasty presents to make amends.
Can the kids watch it?
The BBFC rated it 12 for moderate sex references, but it is adult animation with drunkenness and crude jokes, so it is best for older teenagers and up.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Seth MacFarlane as Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Quagmire and Tom Tucker
- Alex Borstein as Lois Griffin
- Seth Green as Chris Griffin
- Mila Kunis as Meg
- Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown
- Patrick Warburton as Joe
Guest stars
- Carrie Fisher as Angela
- Norm Macdonald as Himself
- Jay Pharoah as Kanye Cane
- Don Swayze as Voice
- Phil LaMarr as Ollie Williams
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Peabo Bryson
Writer
- Danny Smith
Director
- Jerry Langford