40 Best Family Guy Episodes Ranked, According To IMDb

Once the province of high school boys and 20-somethings who should know better, Seth MacFarlane's sometimes sophomoric and ever-irreverent "Family Guy" has now become an institution of American animation. First introduced in 1999, it was canceled in 2002, but syndicated reruns and DVD sales were successful enough that Fox resurrected the show and it's been on ever since. It has spawned everything from video games to the spin-off series "The Cleveland Show," and — believe it or not — has collected quite a few awards, including Primetime Emmys and Annies.

While there are some episodes that you can probably skip, "Family Guy" is absolutely hilarious when it's at its best. The following episodes are the finest the show has to offer, according to IMDb voters. There are some prime classics on here, some unlikely suspects, some complete surprises, and several throwbacks to the early days of "Family Guy." In the unlikely event you don't see your favorite entry on the list, get voting to change the ranking! For now, here are the 40 best episodes of "Family Guy" according to IMDb scores.

In this parody of the 1982 horror classic "Poltergeist," Peter gets so jealous of Joe's home cinema that he tries to one-up him by building a movie theater in his backyard. During construction, he finds the skull of a Native American. His disturbance of a burial site angers spirits, who invade the Griffin home — TV static hypnotizes Stewie (who gets sucked into another dimension), and Peter rips off his own face skin to reveal he's "really" Hank Hill from "King of the Hill." To find and retrieve Stewie, the Griffins bring in soft-spoken Bruce, who apparently works as a medium. Since Stewie won't emerge from the exit (Meg's rear end), Lois gets him herself — only for the spirits to steal the Griffins' house. To get it back, they have to rebury the skull, which Peter threw out. It was subsequently claimed by prop comedian Carrot Top.

It doesn't get much more absurd than a psychedelic toad-licking epidemic, Peter passing as a charismatic 17-year-old high school student, and Meg wanting her dad to take her to the school dance to win over the popular crowd, but that's exactly what happens in Season 2's "Let's Go to the Hop." After a drug cartel plane comes crashing down, releasing its cargo of hallucinogenic toads across Quahog, teens pick up the toads as their drug of choice. To help keep his children on the right, drug-free path, Peter infiltrates Meg's school disguised as the new kid, Lando Griffin.

Using his old-school charm and a catchy musical number, Lando convinces all the students that saying no to drugs is the coolest thing you can do. With Peter now one of the popular kids, Meg urges her dad to take her to the school dance as Lando. However, believing his own hype, Peter takes popular girl Connie instead, leaving Meg hurt by the rejection of her own father. From the absurd Peter-centric plot to the throw-away side jokes, there are a lot of unforgettable laughs in this classic episode.

"A Lot Going On Upstairs" finds the ordinarily precocious and jaded Stewie Griffin dealing with actual toddler problems, specifically nightmares about monsters and a Glenn Close-hosted dinner party that are so terrifying he forgets the lyrics in the "Family Guy" theme song. With his vow to never sleep again proving futile, Brian helps Stewie address the subconscious, psychological root of his problem — which turns out to be a fear of disappointing Brian.

Because Stewie is sleeping in his parents' bed for comfort and solace, Peter is forced to bunk down elsewhere and turns the attic into a man cave he calls "Pete's Pad." He and his friends end up getting stuck in there after angering Lois with their dangerous games of lawn darts and their insulation fights.

The average "Family Guy" episode usually involves some kind of barely controlled chaos, a description that could also apply to Halloween. In "Halloween on Spooner Street," very little goes right as each Griffin has their own nightmarish experience with the holiday. Chris winds up at a party and makes out with a girl in a dark closet ... who turns out to be his sister Meg. Already apprehensive about costumed people in the night, Stewie gets his candy stolen by some awful teenagers who spray-paint Brian a shade of pink. Lois steps in to get his candy back by going directly to one of the kids' moms, who she extorts cash from, too. Meanwhile, Peter and his friends start out playing pranks on Quagmire, who exacts revenge with a terrifying flight on a stolen Japanese World War II fighter plane.

One of the weirder, more mysterious episodes of "Family Guy," "Forget-Me-Not" finds Peter, Brian, Joe, and Quagmire getting drunk at the Drunken Clam, and after encountering some eerie lights, blacking out. They awake in a hospital with extreme amnesia, no memory of who they are or what happened, and in a Quahog that is devoid of all human life. A little investigative work leads the guys to the Griffin house, where they wrongly ascertain that Brian is Quagmire's dog, that Joe is an exotic dancer, and — based on a fake newspaper printed at a laser tag arena — that Peter is a laser-wielding alien who annihilated Quahog. A straight-up war breaks out that ends in Brian's death (but he's fine, because the whole thing was just a simulation cooked up by Stewie).

In this episode, viewers discover that Peter Griffin actually does have a talent. It's not insulting people, ignoring his kids, or his drinking (although it is alcohol-adjacent). So, what is it? The mostly useless father-of-three can expertly play obscure TV theme tunes on the piano when intoxicated. As Lois puts it, "You're like the idiot from 'Shine.'" But, with less class, obviously. Another reason that this episode remains so well thought of is the Willy Wonka-esque Pawtucket Pat, who is good for several belly laughs.

This episode features a newly feminized Peter attempting to breastfeed Stewie, something that you simply cannot unsee. Luckily, the rest of the episode features some fantastic comeuppances, the best being Peter's bottom lip getting pulled to the back of his head as punishment for making sexist jokes at a women's retreat. The experience — purportedly about as painful as childbirth — chastens Peter and makes him less hateable. When he inevitably reverts back to toxic masculinity, for a few seconds it actually feels like a genuine loss, akin to that episode of "The Simpsons" where Homer, unable to tolerate the misery of intelligence, sticks the crayon that kept him stupid back up his nose.

With its fantastical cutaway gags and talking animals, "Family Guy" eschews realism, embodied by the fact that the personification of Death — a scythe-wielding Grim Reaper — is a recurring character. He and Peter are pretty good friends, and in the episode "Death Lives," Death shows up to collect Peter's soul after he's killed by a falling tree during a golf game. In a twisted take on "It's a Wonderful Life," Death takes Peter on a tour of his life to show him where he strayed, but he's too dim to learn any lessons that would merit him returning to life. Instead, Peter brokers a deal: He can go back and live with Lois in exchange for helping the lovelorn, bad-with-women Death land a date with his crush (who turns out to be extremely dull).

Stewie really is the center of the universe. Yes, according to "Family Guy" lore, without that evil little genius, nothing would exist. Also, he's responsible for some of the world's best art. But we think the real reason "The Big Bang Theory" made this list isn't just down to the hilarious time-travel gags. It's really about Brian discovering that he's the Art Garfunkel of the universe, which (almost) completely explains all of his character flaws. Also, any time Wallace Shawn (the voice of Stewie's nemesis Bertram) is involved, you know you're in for a good time. It's almost sad when Bertram is finally dispatched — though we're still not quite sure how Stewie managed to invent cryogenesis during the Renaissance.

If you know your "Family Guy," you won't be shocked to learn that "Road to Germany" made this list. Despite the slightly risky central theme, it's full of non-stop gags and film references dating all the way back to World War II-era Germany. From the superb "Little Shop of Horrors" set up to "The Blues Brothers," "Back to the Future," and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," there's an astonishing array of movie jokes on display here. The episode also features one of the show's many and varied takes on idiotic Nazi leadership. All this, and they still have time to muse over how weird French cows sound, how gross Quagmire is, and the vagaries of bacon pants.

In "Road to Rhode Island," Stewie gets kicked out of his grandparents' holiday house after misbehaving — he decides to frame one of the maids for stealing out of boredom. Brian volunteers to bring him home and the trip becomes something of an origin story for the Griffin family dog as they make their way back from Palm Springs. Stewie makes amazing use of the underappreciated word "slattern" at one point, and a classic "Family Guy" trope is born. Spawning some of the show's most flamboyant musical numbers, this entry is a surprisingly dark affair, to the point that Brian buries his stuffed mom in a random park. Never let it be said that "Family Guy" lacks range.

Peter will go to insane lengths to get his own swimming pool, as Season 2's "E. Peterbus Unum" proves. When he discovers that his property is technically not part of the United States, Peter establishes the nation of Petoria and names himself president. Things come crashing down when annexes Joe's pool and throws a dictator party, with Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Slobodan Milošević all attending. In the end, the U.S. intervenes with Operation Desert Clam. The episode is an allegory for the Iraq War that's best remembered for one thing: naked Bill Clinton. The show's version of Clinton has always been the best of many, many caricatures, standing the test of time.

"Family Guy" once got an Emmy nod in the outstanding comedy series category and Seth MacFarlane has won a few times for outstanding character voiceover performance, but, relative to how long it's been airing, it seems like the Emmy committee habitually overlooks the show. That might not seem surprising given the show's flippant, juvenile tone, which isn't exactly typical awards fare. Still, the snubs apparently sting. This episode pokes fun at any and all shows with an Emmy to their name. Sofia Vergara of "Modern Family" fame becomes the new Lois and Chris becomes the new Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory," for example. There are also a bunch of nods to "Cheers" in this memorable, highly-rated installment.

"Blue Harvest" is by far the most original and best of the "Family Guy" Star Wars reimaginings, a witty, hilarious, and heartfelt love letter to the movie that changed a generation. The entire team is clearly having a blast (no pun intended), filling the episode with Star Wars Easter eggs. But even with "A New Hope" at its core, this is still an essential "Family Guy" episode. One of the highlights is hearing Darth Vader's theme as elevator muzak, and Meg as the garbage monster is never not funny. It also features an extended couch gag that would make "The Simpsons" blush. All that plus an extended run time and a crawl written by and for Peter himself make this a must-see.

In this episode, Peter and Lois invite some friends over for a game night. Knowing that Peter won't be able to hold his own in a game of regular Trivial Pursuit, Lois replaces his questions with some from the pre-school edition. However, this backfires when Peter — who manages to get the questions right — becomes convinced that he's a genius. This rubs Brian up the wrong way and he tells Peter to apply for the MacArthur Genius Grant if he's so clever. When he applies, he learns that he is actually intellectually disabled. It's an undeniable classic that contains one of the most surreal cutaways of the show's entire run so far: Fire trucks hunting gazelle on the savannah.

While Stewie almost immediately regrets getting rid of his dear mama in "Stewie Kills Lois," everyone else seems just fine. Peter's dating and even Meg is incredibly comfortable playing mom to her youngest sibling. The Griffins appear to move on very quickly. For our money, though, this episode made the list purely because of Joe: He dresses up as Lois to get Chris to go shopping. His commitment to the character doesn't extend to changing his voice, yet Chris somehow fails to notice that his mother sounds exactly like Joe — or that she's now in a wheelchair. Chris and Joe are definitely underutilized as a duo.

A lot of comedy crossovers turn out to be disappointing affairs, though "The Simpsons Guy" is anything but. The long-awaited, hour-long team-up between "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons" sees the Griffins arrive in Springfield after fleeing Quahog — they're forced to leave after Peter writes an offensive comic strip. Peter and Homer strike up a friendship that doesn't last (the epic fistfight between the pair rivals all of Peter's scraps with Ernie the Giant Chicken), Stewie becomes obsessed with Bart to the point that he kidnaps Bart's bully Nelson, and Meg discovers that she's actually great at the saxophone, exposing Lisa's jealous side. It's animated gold from start to finish.

This episode contains the most disturbing of all the "Family Guy" alternate realities, and it's not just about the creepy hellspawn that Quagmire's genes produce. Here, we see that Lois is happier as Mrs. Quagmire than she ever was as Mrs. Griffin. Throw in the idea that they now inhabit an almost perfect world, and you have grounds for someone putting an end to Peter right there and then. We're looking at you, Brian. "Meet the Quagmires" represents the height of Peter's pathological need to get his own way, and, apparently, everyone is just fine with that — even when giving Peter his own way means going back to a world where literally everyone is unhappy. It's an unsettling thought that the many funny gags help you forget.

"And Then There Were Fewer" is what happens when "Family Guy" takes a shot at an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. The episode is not only a successful pastiche of the cozy crime stories popularized by the British author, but it's also a successful whodunit in its own right, with a plot that would make Christie herself proud. Beautiful, funny, and full of twists and turns, the episode confirms that no one is better prepared or more psychotic than Stewie Griffin. A lovingly crafted homage to a bygone era, "And Then There Were Fewer" proves that just because the writers of "Family Guy" are good at fart gags doesn't mean they can't do sumptuous murder mysteries.

"Road to the Multiverse" is the best "Road" episode, and, according to IMDb, the finest of all "Family Guy" episodes. It's packed with gags, what-ifs, and a sickening vision of the future that features flying cars, lightspeed rail travel, and a human race 1,000 years more advanced than ours. Remote bathroom breaks, anyone? What's more, there's a hilarious dig at Disney, a two-headed universe, the eating of Mayor McCheese's hamburger brains, and the genius role-reversal of the canine universe. It cannot be denied that Peter works way better as a dog. Gross and hilarious, these 20-odd minutes of TV encapsulate the essence of "Family Guy" in every sense.