Family Guy (season 12)

Family Guy (season 12)
Region 1 DVD cover art featuring the Griffin family looking at Brian's grave
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	21
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	September 29, 2013 – May 18, 2014

Family Guy's twelfth season began airing on Fox on September 29, 2013, and ended on May 18, 2014.^[1][2][3]

The series follows the Griffin family, a dysfunctional family consisting of father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie, and the family dog Brian, who reside in their hometown of Quahog.

During this season, Peter gets a vestigial twin ("Vestigial Peter"); the Griffins travel to Italy ("Boopa-dee Bappa-dee"); Quagmire and Peter form a folk band ("Into Harmony's Way"); and, as confirmed by series creator Seth MacFarlane, Cleveland moves back to Quahog along with his family, since The Cleveland Show was cancelled ("He's Bla-ack!").^[4] Also, as mentioned by Steve Callaghan in the 2013 Comic-con Panel, a member of the Griffin family was killed off in a special episode.^[5] After much speculation, that member was Brian, after being hit by a car in the episode "Life of Brian". This elicited strongly negative reactions from fans of the show, and a petition demanding Brian to be resurrected garnered over 100,000 signatures. His death turned out to be only temporary as, two episodes later, Stewie goes back in time and saves him, effectively changing the future so that he never dies.

Guest stars for the season include Conan O'Brien, Lea Thompson, Jeff Daniels, Michelle Dockery, Tony Sirico, Yvette Nicole Brown, Gary Cole, Lauren Bacall, Liam Neeson, Bryan Cranston, Peter Dinklage, Adam Levine, and Ariana Grande.^[6][7][8][9]

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	U.S. viewers (millions)
211	1	"Finders Keepers"	John Holmquist	Mike Desilets & Anthony Blasucci	September 29, 2013	BACX01	5.23[10]
Peter is convinced that a placemat at a restaurant is a treasure map. The rumor of supposed treasure sparks a city-wide search, turning the residents of Quahog against each other.
212	2	"Vestigial Peter"	Julius Wu	Brian Scully	October 6, 2013	BACX02	5.20[11]
Peter finds a strange lump on his neck that turns out to be a vestigial twin, who ends up winning over Peter's family and friends with his optimism and sense of wonder.
213	3	"Quagmire's Quagmire"	Pete Michels	Cherry Chevapravatdumrong	November 3, 2013	BACX03	4.87[12]
Quagmire dates a woman named Sonja, who is just as sexually active as he is, but things take a turn for the worse when she kidnaps him to be her sex slave, so Peter, Joe and Ida (Quagmire's transgender mother) must search the seedy back alleys of Quahog to rescue him. In the meantime, Brian, Stewie and Rupert get involved in a most unusual love triangle.
214	4	"A Fistful of Meg"	Joe Vaux	Dominic Bianchi & Joe Vaux	November 10, 2013	AACX22	4.18[13]
Meg angers a psychopathic bully who threatens to kill her in a fight at the school's backyard. Meanwhile, Brian is disturbed by Peter exposing his nudity to him.
215	5	"Boopa-dee Bappa-dee"	Mike Kim	Wellesley Wild	November 17, 2013	BACX04	4.46[14]
The Griffins go to Italy on vacation, but Peter wants to stay there permanently, as he feels life in America has gotten boring, so he disintegrates their passports.
216	6	"Life of Brian"	Joseph Lee	Alex Carter	November 24, 2013	BACX05	4.58[15]
When Brian tragically dies in a car accident, the family buys another anthropomorphic dog, Vinny.
217	7	"Into Harmony's Way"	Brian Iles	Julius Sharpe	December 8, 2013	BACX06	5.36[16]
Peter and Quagmire find out that their voices create beautiful harmony when they get frightened by a bee and become a Simon & Garfunkel-style singer/songwriter duo — and, like the real Simon & Garfunkel, Peter lets fame go to his head and the duo begin feuding.
218	8	"Christmas Guy"	Greg Colton	Patrick Meighan	December 15, 2013	BACX07	6.37[17]
Peter tries to get his father-in-law Carter to repent his Christmas-hating ways. Meanwhile, Stewie (who still misses Brian) successfully finds a way to go back in time and prevent his best friend's death.
219	9	"Peter Problems"	Bob Bowen	Teresa Hsiao	January 5, 2014	BACX08	5.76[18]
When Peter gets fired for crashing a forklift into a business meeting, Lois takes a job at the grocery store while Peter becomes a stay-at-home dad — which leads to poor bedroom performance.
220	10	"Grimm Job"	Joe Vaux	Alec Sulkin	January 12, 2014	BACX09	5.22[19]
The Griffins put a new Quahog spin on three Grimm fairy tales: Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella.
221	11	"Brian's a Bad Father"	Jerry Langford	Chris Sheridan	January 26, 2014	BACX10	4.11[20]
Brian's human son, Dylan, returns, now a teen TV star. Rather than be a good father to his estranged son, Brian uses his son's television connections to further his own writing career. Meanwhile, after Peter "accidentally" shoots Quagmire on a hunting trip, the two friends clash and Joe must choose a side.
222	12	"Mom's the Word"	John Holmquist	Ted Jessup	March 9, 2014	BACX11	4.56[21]
When Peter's mother dies, he befriends her longtime friend, Evelyn, who then tries to seduce him. Meanwhile, Brian tries to help Stewie overcome his fear of death.
223	13	"3 Acts of God"	Bob Bowen	Alec Sulkin	March 16, 2014	AACX17	4.62[22]
Peter is sick of opposing football teams thanking God for beating the Patriots, so he and the guys go on a quest to find the Lord and ask Him to stop determining the outcomes of football games. Cleveland Brown drops by to assist Peter.
224	14	"Fresh Heir"	Mike Kim	Steve Callaghan	March 23, 2014	BACX13	4.38[23]
Lois's father Carter names Chris as his heir, but Chris says he doesn't want the money.
225	15	"Secondhand Spoke"	Julius Wu	Dave Ihlenfeld & David Wright	March 30, 2014	BACX12	4.17[24]
Peter is asked to be the face of an anti-smoking campaign just as he has taken up the habit of smoking cigarettes, while Stewie helps Chris face bullies at school.
226	16	"Herpe the Love Sore"	Greg Colton	Andrew Goldberg	April 6, 2014	BACX16	4.77[25]
Stewie and Brian become blood brothers, which leads to Stewie contracting herpes from Brian. Meanwhile, a gang occupies Peter, Joe and Quagmire's booth at The Clam and they have to fight to take it back.
227	17	"The Most Interesting Man in the World"	Joseph Lee	Tom Devanney	April 13, 2014	BACX14	4.39[26]
Peter decides to make some changes to his behavior after he returns from the park with the wrong baby.
228	18	"Baby Got Black"	Brian Iles	Kevin Biggins & Travis Bowe	April 27, 2014	BACX15	4.02[27]
Chris is forbidden to see Jerome's daughter Pam, so when the kids run away together, Jerome and Peter must work together to find them.
229	19	"Meg Stinks!"	Bob Bowen	Danny Smith	May 4, 2014	BACX17	4.40[28]
Meg parties with Peter at a college where he takes her for an interview, while Brian is forced to live in the wild after he is sprayed by a skunk and prevented from coming into the house.
230	20	"He's Bla-ack!"	Steve Robertson	Julius Sharpe	May 11, 2014	BACX19	4.16[29]
With his spin-off show cancelled due to low ratings, Cleveland returns to Quahog, with his new family accompanying him. When a conflict arises between Lois and Donna, it is up to Peter and Cleveland to reconcile their wives in order to save their friendship.
231	21	"Chap Stewie"	Joe Vaux	Artie Johann & Shawn Ries	May 18, 2014	BACX18	3.88[30]
Stewie gets upset over having his TV time interrupted, so he heads back in time to see that Lois and Peter break up before he is conceived, thus he would never be born into the Griffin family. However, when he finally is born, it is into a Downton Abbey-esque household in Great Britain.

Reception

The season received mixed reviews.

Review grades

#	Title	Air date	The A.V. Club (A-F)	TV Fanatic (5)
1	"Finders Keepers"	2013-09-29September 29, 2013	7C	N/A
2	"Vestigial Peter"	2013-10-06October 6, 2013	9-1C+	N/A
3	"Quagmire's Quagmire"	2013-11-03November 3, 2013	6B+	N/A
4	"A Fistful of Meg"	2013-11-10November 10, 2013	8D	N/A
5	"Boopa-dee Bappa-dee"	2013-11-17November 17, 2013	2C-	N/A
6	"Life of Brian"	2013-11-24November 24, 2013	7A-	N/A
7	"Into Harmony's Way"	2013-12-08December 8, 2013	5B-	N/A
8	"Christmas Guy"	2012-13-15December 15, 2013	7B+	N/A
9	"Peter Problems"	2014-01-05January 5, 2014	6D	N/A
10	"Grimm Job"	2014-01-12January 12, 2014	9-2C-	N/A
11	"Brian's a Bad Father"	2014-01-26January 26, 2014	3C-	N/A
12	"Mom's the Word"	2014-03-09March 9, 2014	5C+	N/A
13	"3 Acts of God"	2014-03-16March 16, 2014	4B	N/A
14	"Fresh Heir"	2014-03-23March 23, 2014	8D	N/A
15	"Secondhand Spoke"	2014-03-30March 30, 2014	7B	N/A
16	"Herpe the Love Sore"	2014-04-06April 6, 2014	4C-	4.6
17	"The Most Interesting Man in the World"	2014-04-13April 13, 2014	6B+	4.6
18	"Baby Got Black"	2014-04-27April 27, 2014	9-2D+	3.8
19	"Meg Stinks!"	2014-05-04May 4, 2014	3B	4.6
20	"He's Bla-ack!"	2014-05-11May 11, 2014	5B-	3.8
21	"Chap Stewie"	2014-05-18May 18, 2014	6B-	4.8

References

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2. "Fox Announces Fall Premiere Dates for the 2013-2014 Season". ComingSoon.net. June 26, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
3. Kondolojy, Amanda. "Fox 2013-14 Schedule Announced: 'Bones' On the Move + 'Sleepy Hollow' Monday, 'Glee' Gets Midseason Break & More (Updated)". Zap2it. TV by the Numbers.
4. "Season 12 Trailer from Comic-Con | FAMILY GUY | ANIMATION on FOX". YouTube. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
5. "Family Guy to kill off 'major character' as Ashton Kutcher is lined up for guest role". Metro. DMG Media. July 21, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
6. "Shows A-Z - family guy on fox". The Futon Critic. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
7. "Get Ready for Star-Filled "Animation Domination" Sundays This Fall on FOX". FOX Flash.
8. Video: FOX FanFare 2013 - "Family Guy" Sneak Peek at Comic-Con! | TheFutonCritic.com
9. 'Family Guy': Maya Rudolph and Glenn Howerton to guest in episode -- EXCLUSIVE
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12. Kondolojy, Amanda (November 5, 2013). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'The Amazing Race' Adjusted Up; 'The Simpsons' Adjusted Down + Final NFL Ratings". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
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16. Bibel, Sara (December 10, 2013). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'The Simpsons', 'Family Guy', 'Revenge' & 'The Mentalist' Adjusted Up; 'Once Upon a Time', 'Betrayal' & '60 Minutes' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
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28. "Sunday Final Ratings: 'Once Upon a Time', 'The Simpsons', 'Dateline' & 'Resurrection' Adjusted Up; 'The Good Wife' Adjusted Down". Tvbythenumbers. 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
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30. "Sunday Final Ratings: 'The Amazing Race' & 'American Dream Builders' Adjusted Up". TVbytheNumbers. 2014-05-20. Retrieved 2014-05-20.

External links