Top 30 Family Guy Moments That Made Fans Rage Quit

#30: Refrigerator Meg

Girl, Internetted

Considering how long the shows been on air, youd think itd have its thumb firmly on the pulse of pop culture. Yet, there are plenty of moments where its incredibly out of touch. Girl, Internetted is the prime example. Its centered around Meg becoming an unexpectedly popular web star, subsequently ruining her own life to maintain her audience. It had potential to be an interesting, satirical take, but ended up coming across like the writers hadnt been online in a decade. From referencing outdated YouTubers to surface-level observations on sponsors and the dangers of viral fame, it only appealed to those already scared of the internet. Its clear to see why even die-hard fans consider this weak, even for a Meg episode.

#29: Brian Acts on His Instincts

Boys & Squirrels

With all of his anthropomorphic qualities, it can be easy to overlook that the Griffin family pet is a dog. Well sometimes get glimpses of Brians canine qualities, often in a comedic way. So when he suddenly and viciously mauled a baby squirrel Chris and Stewie had been tirelessly raising, fans were genuinely shaken. It was a brutally violent moment that felt like it was purely done for shock value, especially when he never apologized for the horrific act. It derailed the rest of the episode, and the failed attempt at tugging the viewers heartstrings at the very end was the rotten cherry on top. If this is the alternative, well take the usual egotistical Brian any day.

#28: Brians Inflated Ego

Brian Writes a Bestseller

We may have spoken too soon. When hes not acting like a dog, Brian has a tendency to act like a jerk. This is especially clear after his rise to fame in Brian Writes a Bestseller. After his self-help book became a hit, he quickly devolved into an arrogant diva. The joke lost its luster early on, especially once he started using his fame to be a creep towards his fans and even being needlessly cruel to his best friend. The most insulting moment by far was his non-apology a completely unsatisfying end to an annoying arc. It was a glaring example of his deterioration from the earliest season, making several viewers realize hed taken a permanent turn for the worse.

#27: Megs Santa Obsession

Christmas is Coming

There are some moments throughout Family Guy that make you wonder what was going through the writers minds at the time. Meg having an incredibly personal moment with a mall Santa, all while holding Stewie on her lap, takes the cake. Besides being incredibly long and drawn-out, it also completely traumatized her brother. Whats worse is that it didnt end there. She dragged him all over, harassing several costumed men in an attempt to recreate that first high, with her own father being one of them. It was gross and uncomfortable purely for the sake of it, with no comedic payoff to balance it out. If the goal was to pull fans out of their Christmas cheer, then they succeeded tenfold.

#26: Chip

Vestigial Peter

Love him or hate him, many will agree that Peter Griffin is annoying. Whether its his actions or his mannerisms, to say he can be grating is an understatement. So the fact that the writers thought a tiny version of him with a pitched-up voice would be a good idea is baffling. His vestigial twin, Chip, was entertaining at first, but things quickly went off the rails when it became apparent hed be sticking around for the rest of the episode. His constant excitement for everything led to a series of one-note jokes, all punctuated by the aggravating cadence of his voice. Its clear to see why both Peter and the fans hated him.

#25: Racist & Stereotypical Jokes About India

Road to India

Family Guy isnt exactly known for being sensitive towards any group, with practically everyone becoming a target for their offensive humor. Sometimes, though, it comes across as genuinely mean-spirited. Having an entire Road to episode dedicated to India had plenty of potential. However, they just couldnt help themselves from filling time with a litany of racist jokes. Everything about the country was eviscerated, from the crowds to their religious beliefs. It was a non-stop onslaught of tired stereotypes. Whats worse is they were interwoven with the main plot, making them inescapable. Closing everything out with a by-the-numbers, unimaginative Bollywood-inspired song was the final blow. It was a waste of what had been the fans favorite installments in the series.

#24: Karen Griffin

Peters Sister

By this point, its common knowledge that the shows protagonist isnt the best father or husband. With how much hes tormented them over the years, it makes sense that fans would want to see him get a taste of his own medicine from time to time. However, seeing his sister Karen make his life a living nightmare was too far even for him. She relentlessly berated and embarrassed him in front of his family and friends. The worst moment came when she performed one of her wrestling moves on him, nearly strangling him in the process. It was so intense that he reverted back to a childlike state, making the other characters and the audience wish they were watching anything else.

#23: Treatment of Ida Quagmire

Quagmires Dad

The line between playful humor and hurtful insults is often razor-thin. While Family Guy flirts with offensive comedy without taking it too far, it crossed that boundary with the treatment of Ida Quagmire. She became the butt of every joke in Quagmires Dad, many of which seemed intentionally cruel. While being subjected to invasive questions and Lois having her food thrown out was bad enough, the most sickening moment happened behind her back. She and Brian had spent the night together, and he was excited until he learned who she was. His drawn-out disgust was bad enough, and it coming after he sang her praises rubbed salt in the wound. It was so mean-spirited that it caused fans and activist groups to change the channel.

#22: Their Contribution to the Abortion Debate

Partial Terms of Endearment

As hard as theyve tried, this series just doesnt handle serious topics very well. Even causes they support end up being portrayed horribly. Partial Terms of Endearment is a perfect example. After Lois becomes a surrogate for her friends, they die in a tragic accident, leaving her to grapple with the decision to continue the pregnancy or not. Rather than take it seriously, the show took the opportunity to make several crude, violent jokes about the medical procedure. Their attempt at nuance only muddied things even further, putting off fans on both sides of the debate. It was so offensive that both cable and streaming networks gave it the chop and its clear to see why.

#21: Brians Marriage

Various Episodes

If theres one thing thats been made clear, its that the family dog isnt the luckiest when it comes to love. For a moment, that ended when he met Jess, a woman dying from cancer. He even asked her to marry him, though it was for selfish reasons. On their wedding day, her doctor revealed she was going to live. Jesss character was immediately destroyed, with her becoming unbearably annoying and physically unappealing to Brian. Whats worse is that the arc lasted for two episodes. Both were filled to the brim with stereotypical boomer humor, from their weight gain to their general disdain for one another. It was a slog to get through, and it was a rough start to their seventeenth season.

#20: The LONG Conway Twitty Cutaway

The Juice is Loose

Normally, the Conway Twitty cutaway gags are funny distractions from awkward moments while also paying tribute to the late country singer. However, when Peter tries to distract Lois in The Juice is Loose, they show a full three minute segment of Mr. Twitty performing "I See the Want To in Your Eyes". Not only does the diversion not work, but it also takes a sizable chunk out of the episode and feels more like cheap filler. Unfortunately, no matter how iconic the running gag is, this is a prime example of too much of a good thing were not even sure Mr. Twitty himself would have approved.

#19: Brian Switches Political Ideologies

Excellence in Broadcasting

For a long time in the shows history, Brian acted as the conscience of the Griffin family. He was a cynical liberalist, leaning left with his antics, including weed legalization and jabs at George W. Bush. In Excellence in Broadcasting, Brian does a complete 180 and aligns himself with Rush Limbaugh, a premiere American conservative. Through this moment, Brians ideology became less about what he believed in and more about how he could pretentiously laud his intelligence over everyone else. Of course, this made you lose any kind of respect for the character, but its not the last controversial moment featuring the anthropomorphic canine.

#18: Diaper Eating

Brian & Stewie

Family Guy has a consistently outlandish and hilarious tone throughout, but it isnt afraid to get serious when it needs to. The Season 8 episode Brian & Stewie is such an episode, featuring the iconic duo getting stuck in a bank vault and going to some dark places. A lot of fans love this episode for showing development in the pairs relationship. So its a shame the writers ruined it with this disgusting and unnecessary moment. It goes on for a long time and makes viewers genuinely uncomfortable. Maybe that was what they were going for, but if you hate gross-out humor, this quite possibly made you switch channels and miss out on what else the episode had to offer.

#17: Time-Filling Gags & Morbid Premise

Con Heiress

For many fans, the golden age of Family Guy had long passed by the time Season 17 rolled around. Just like how the Conway Twitty gag felt like the show was just padding for time, Con Heiress suffered the same problem throughout. The premise of Brian, Stewie and Quagmire trying to inherit elderly womens fortunes is morbid enough, but what mightve made you lose interest was something much more straightforward. The episode felt dragged out, like there wasnt much there, especially during the long name joke. There are plenty of elongated jokes like this throughout the series, but the punchline wasnt funny enough to justify the setup.

#16: DVD Commentary

You Cant Handle the Booth!

When a show becomes a staple of American television, you can experiment and get creative with episodes. While some of these break-the-formula concepts have done reasonably well, You Cant Handle the Booth! from Season 17 did not. An episode plays out as expected in front of us, but the difference is the fictional cast of Griffins gets frustrated while recording DVD commentary. While there are plenty of funny, fourth-wall-breaking moments, it proved a little too hard to follow for some. As a result, the episode became one of the lowest ever rated on IMDb. There wasnt a single final straw, as many user reviews claimed it was too dull to finish, pointing to a decline in the show's overall quality.

#15: Peter Saving the Whale

Peter Problems

When Peter gets promoted to forklift operator at work, he naturally starts having too much fun with his new vehicle. He tries to use it to rescue a beached sperm whale only to accidentally impale the poor mammal. Afterward, were subjected to a whole minute of Peter trying to dislodge the creature - only for it to fall completely apart in a grotesque display, as blood and organs topple out of the carcass. While we should maybe give props to the art directors and animators for not missing any gruesome details, fans were too busy gagging at the scene and feeling disheartened over the poor whales suffering.

#14: Vern & Johnny

Various Episodes

Every now and then in the first few seasons, the action would be interrupted by two vaudevillian performers named Vern and Johnny. While Vern tried and usually fails - to entertain viewers, Johnny was just there to play him off on a piano. Dont ask where the piano comes from. While their antics were mostly harmless, fans got tired of them disrupting the episode, and even then-producer David Goodman admitted that they used the duo way too much. The gag was finally laid to rest when Stewie shot them to death in season five, and aside from a few brief cameos, they havent bothered us since.

#13: Making Fun of President Trump

Trump Guy

Family Guy and its various animated sitcom competitors have never shied away from taking shots at high-profile figures. Political satire is an essential part of our media, but unfortunately, Trump Guy wasnt an excellent example of it. In this episode, Peter assists then-US President Donald Trump, getting into all sorts of shenanigans as his press secretary. The episode is obviously taking shots at the man and his various controversies, but many fans found his depiction lazy. It was a pretty gross depiction, at that, but the last straw for some was when he makes advances towards Meg. Some mightve quit this episode for making fun of a president they admired, while others just got agitated by the cheap humor.

#12: Jesus is a Virgin

The 2,000-Year-Old Virgin

The episode I Dream of Jesus, in which the Son of God is made a fully formed character, is one of the most beloved episodes of Seth MacFarlanes show. But a follow-up appearance in The 2000-Year-Old Virgin became one of the most hated. In Season 13, Peter tries to get the Lord and Savior laid, eventually trying it with Lois. But overall, the episode was criticized for being edgy to garner more viewers while lacking the substance to keep people laughing. And if there was a rock bottom moment for the episode, its the unfunny instance when Jesuss real middle name is revealed.

#11: Stewies Therapist

Send in Stewie, Please

Stewie has . . . a lot of issues, so its no surprise that a visit to a child psychologist sees him sharing his a lot of secrets and insecurities. Towards the end of the session however, the doctor starts having a heart attack, and asks Stewie to hand him his medicine but Stewie refuses. Its true that Stewies a sadistic little toddler and has killed plenty of times, but this was especially shocking because he didnt even get his hands dirty. Instead, he elected to ignore the pleas of someone who only wanted to help him, and let the poor therapist suffer a slow, agonizing death taking all of Stewies secrets with him to the grave.

#10: Male Sexual Assault is Disregarded

Peter-assment

Humor can be a great way to bring awareness to serious topics in the real world, but the Family Guy team poorly handled this one. In Peter-assment, Peter gets blackmailed and inappropriately harassed by his boss Angela. The episode plays out very cynically, with one particular moment between Peter and Lois hitting a sore point for male victims. While this highlights a real problem with these cases, the episode ends trying to create sympathy for the perpetrator. It was a bizarre episode and even weirder for the late Carrie Fisher to be playing the role of an aggressor when she was a silent champion to victims of such crimes.

#9: Stewie Gets Herpes

Herpe, the Love Sore

This moment removed any shadow of likeability for Brian Griffin. After seeing a blood brothers ritual on television, Stewie asks Brian if they can share blood in the same way. Brian accepts, knowing full well he has a transmittable disease, and ends up getting Stewie infected. The show pulls no punches, showing disgusting, hard-to-watch imagery relating to the condition. While Stewie has been horrendously hurt before in episodes like Brian Griffin's House of Payne, the difference here is the perpetrator shows no remorse for his actions. It transforms Brians character into an insensitive jerk, which we saw hints at just episodes before with Brian's a Bad Father.

#8: Lois Cheats on Peter

Go, Stewie, Go!

Lois and Peter have never had the best marriage in the world, but theyve always stuck together no matter what. However, this episode destroyed any respect you had for the matriarch of the Griffin household. Peter has been neglecting and insulting Lois recently, so she attempts to get with Megs boyfriend, Anthony. The action of cheating on Peter is terrible enough, but whats worse is her interaction with her daughter afterward. Lois doesnt face any consequences for her actions and instead lays all the blame on Peter. While its a complex situation, it doesn't shine a very nice light on Loiss character.

#7: Peter in the Boston Marathon

Turban Cowboy

While the rest of the episode Turban Cowboy was nothing to boast about, the worst moment came when Peter recalled how he won the Boston Marathon. Turns out that he drove his car to the finish line killing everyone in his path. It was an uninspired joke at the time, but then tragedy struck one month later with the Boston Marathon bombings. Fox pulled the episode from the airwaves and streaming services, and professional conspiracy theorist and tragedy troll Alex Jones went so far as to blame Family Guy for inspiring the incident. While that was quite a stretch, any way you look at it, the gag was in poor taste - especially in retrospect.

#6: Meg the Martyr

Seahorse Seashell Party

Shes constantly tormented at school, and her own family treats her like garbage. In Season 10s Seahorse Seashell Party, shes finally had enough and tears Chris, Lois, and Peter a new one. The scene is unbelievably cathartic until Meg sees the way the family turns on each other, and decides to allow herself to be their lightning rod. This could be seen as a noble act on paper, but it really shows how toxic and dysfunctional the Griffin family is if they have to rely on Megs misery to stay somewhat stable. A similar moment that made us rage quit was when Meg faked her death to get away from her family, but eventually came back. So close to freedom!

#5: Quagmires Trial

Quagmires Mom

Quagmire is very controversial in this day and age since the characters humor revolves around questionable intimate situations. During a party, Quagmires hookup with a girl gets him promptly arrested. At his trial, he explains he ended up the way he is because his mother was very promiscuous. While this does give context to his character, this shouldnt absolve him from his antics. In fact, it almost doesnt, but his mother is able to curry favor with the judge. Instead of holding Quagmire somewhat accountable, all the blame is laden on a throwaway character. We couldve seen a slightly mature response to his hijinks, but it gets disregarded using a lackluster excuse.

#4: Peter Marrying Chris

Fresh Heir

After Chris bonds with his grandpa Carter, Carter makes him the sole heir of the Pewterschmidt family fortune. A jealous Peter tries unsuccessfully to get on Chris good side to earn a chance at the money but things turn creepy real fast. Peter asks Chris to marry him and Chris agrees. What makes this really tragic is that the only reason Chris went along with the escapade was so that he could spend time with his father which by itself couldve made for a decent enough theme . . . without the proposal thrown into the mix. Peters uncomfortable jokes do nothing to help.

#3: Stewie Gets Pregnant

Stewie is Enceinte

We really, REALLY wish we were joking, but no. Wanting to spend more time with Brian, Stewie uses Brians DNA to impregnate himself. It mightve been funny watching Stewie discover the joys of being an expectant mother . . . if he wasnt a toddler himself. When the childbirth finally comes, its horrifically gruesome - even without seeing the actual birth. Worst of all, their children turn out to be human-puppy hybrids. Thanks to birth defects, some end up dying, while Stewie and Brian abandon the rest at a shelter. They might be an iconic duo, but this was a huge, disturbing no-no.

#2: Jeff Fecalman

Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.

We first met Quagmires sister Brenda in season 8, where we learnt that shes constantly beaten by her boyfriend Jeff. In Season 10s Screams of Silence: the Story of Brenda Q, we got another look at their toxic relationship . . . and its a nightmare to watch. Jeff pushes Brenda around for the pettiest of reasons, and a lot of the blame is shifted onto Brenda for staying with him. Domestic violence is normally played for laughs on Family Guy, and in this episode they tried to take it seriously and failed . . . which was somehow even more uncomfortable. Even the happy ending was more bittersweet than it shouldve been.

#1: The Life of Brian Ratings Trap

Life of Brian

In the infamous episode Life of Brian, Brians unexpected death forced fans to bid a tearful goodbye to one of the shows most beloved characters. Needless to say, fans were horrified, or just enraged, and even launched a petition to bring the dog back. However, Brian was miraculously saved via time travel two episodes later, and Seth MacFarlane Tweeted that it was supposed to teach viewers a lesson about taking loved ones for granted. Unfortunately, this came off as emotionally manipulative, and felt like a major ratings trap resulting in probably the biggest backlash in Family Guy history.

Which Family Guy moment nearly made you give up on the series? Let us know in the comments below!