Family Guy's Top 10 Episodes All Share The Same Thing In Common (Except 1)

Summary Family Guy's top 10 episodes heavily rely on special gimmicks like time travel and crossovers with popular franchises.

"PTV" is the only episode in Family Guy's IMDb top 10 not to feature a gimmick.

The top 10 prove that Family Guy excels at high-concept storytelling.

Family Guy is one of the longest-running shows on TV, and despite the impressive collection of episodes boasted by the animated comedy, almost all the top 10 installments share a common trait. While there is an outlier in this trend, the fact that so many episodes boil down to such a similar group proves an interesting truth about Seth MacFarlane's biggest show. While not all the best Family Guy episodes share the same format, one narrative framework seems to come out on top again and again.

Seth MacFarlane voices several Family Characters, so his workload is often much more than the rest of the cast. As such, the show's creator is often the figure most in the limelight in Family Guy episodes, and this is also true in the top 10 stories. One iconic Family Guy episode, while it makes the top 10, ranks shockingly low when compared with the others. However, this only goes to show how hugely successful the episode's competitors are and how well they've been put together by the Family Guy team.

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90% Of Family Guy's Top 10 Episodes On IMDb Heavily Rely On A Special Gimmick

Only one of Family Guy's best episodes avoids gimmicky storytelling

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Almost every Family Guy episode ranked in the top 10 on IMDb falls outside the category of a run-of-the-mill narrative. Although Family Guy is arguably never run-of-the-mill due to the Griffins' chaotic antics and signature irreverence, most of the cream of the crop separates itself from the others by being surprisingly high-concept. As well as time-travel and multiverse stories, IMDb's Family Guy top 10 includes a crossover with The Simpsons and even an extended Star Wars parody.

Family Guy's Top 10 Episodes On IMDb Ranking Season Number Title Gimmick 1st 8 1 Road to the Multiverse Multiverse travel 2nd 10 5 Back to the Pilot Time travel 3rd 9 1 And Then There Were Fewer Murder Mystery 4th 4 14 PTV None 5th 13 1 The Simpsons Guy Crossover with The Simpsons 6th 6 18 Meet the Quagmires Time travel 7th 11 4 Yug Ylimaf Reversed time 8th 6 4 Stewie Kills Lois Simulation 9th 6 5 Lois Kills Stewie Simulation 10th 6 1 Blue Harvest Star Wars Parody

Family Guy season 4, episode 14, "PTV," is the only episode in the top 10 that could be considered a "normal" installment of the show. Compared to the others, even with its show-stopping musical number, "PTV" aligns perfectly with Family Guy's regular formula. While Family Guy season 6's "Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie" two-parter doesn't appear to be anything too out of the ordinary, the story ends with the reveal that it was all a simulation being run by Stewie to see how murdering his mother would play out.

Family Guy's "Blue Harvest" In 10th Place Proves The Strength Of Its Other Concept Episodes

"Blue Harvest" is a detailed Star Wars parody

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Family Guy season 6, episode 1, "Blue Harvest," is so much more than just one of Family Guy's funniest spoof episodes. The extended installment is a loving parody of one of the most important science-fiction movies ever made, as it hits almost every beat from 1977's Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. The increased budget and effort that went into the production of "Blue Harvest" is evident throughout the episode, as Family Guy perfectly slots its characters into George Lucas' sprawling universe.

It's possible that "Blue Harvest" loses points due to it being one big reference to Star Wars, which could alienate or simply not appeal to certain portions of the Family Guy fan base.

The quality of "Blue Harvest" makes it surprising that it barely makes it into Family Guy's top 10 episodes on IMDb, but it also speaks volumes of how strong the other nine are. It's possible that "Blue Harvest" loses points due to it being one big reference to Star Wars, which could alienate or simply not appeal to certain portions of the Family Guy fan base. However, if that is the case, then the episode has still done incredibly well to overcome that disadvantage and place so highly in the overall episode rankings.

Family Guy Does Concept Episodes Very Well (& Its Top Episodes Prove It)

Seth MacFarlane's animated sitcom isn't a one-trick pony

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Considering Family Guy's main purpose is to make the audience laugh, it's perhaps surprising how good the show is when it embraces more complex ideas. MacFarland's animated comedy shines when it explores concepts usually reserved for science-fiction. For example, time travel can often get out of hand very quickly if it's not handled correctly, but Brain and Stewie's temporal adventures adhere to an impressive level of established logic. Similarly, Family Guy season 8, episode 1, "Road to the Multiverse," is the show's highest-rated episode on IMBd, and it leans very hard into a beloved sci-fi trope when executing the story.

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Family Guy doesn't limit itself to sci-fi when it becomes more high-concept. For instance, the Family Guy season 9 opener, "And Then There Were Fewer" is a textbook murder mystery story. While the episode certainly has one foot outside Family Guy's primary category, the show still somehow fires out the jokes at the same rate as any other episode. The lowest-ranked episode in Family Guy's IMDb top 10 still scores an 8.2, which is a more-than-respectable score, but while the show has made other gimmicky episodes, they haven't broken into this elite group.

Family Guy seasons 1-22 are available to stream on Hulu.