Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Family Guy’ Season 22 on Fox and Hulu, Featuring Still More Griffin Fam Foolery And Pop Culture Snark

Back in January, Fox officially renewed Family Guy for two more seasons, alongside identical renewals for The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. On the broadcast side of things, that means the network’s animated stalwarts can continue to anchor its prime time programming. And since Family Guy is also available to stream on Hulu, where it consistently scores huge numbers, keeping new seasons coming from creator and voice actor Seth MacFarlane’s long-running animated comedy seems like a win-win for everybody. Or at least for the people who make it. The question is, after running with basically the same format, characters, and tone since 1999, is Family Guy still funny?     

FAMILY GUY – SEASON 22: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: The usual static exterior shot of the Griffin home. Inside, Meg (Mila Kunis), Chris (Seth Green), and Stewie (MacFarlane) sit at the breakfast table with Lois (Alex Borstein) nearby.

The Gist: When Stewie needs a ride to the bowling alley for a birthday party, various Griffin family circumstances lead to Meg and Chris becoming his chauffeurs. But while Stewie engages a competitive fellow toddler in a war of wills across the gutter guards, the kids observe Peter a few lanes over. He blew off driving Stewie to meet his pals instead, and Quagmire (MacFarlane), Cleveland (Arif Zahir), and Joe (Patrick Warburton) look on as a side bit emerges that features Peter bowling on twinkle toes like Fred Flintstone. These days Bruce (Mike Henry), a local resident with numerous jobs, is the guy running things at Quahog Bowl. And when Meg offers to help him clean up the lanes, she reveals two things. One, that she carries emergency kitty litter in her purse (can’t always locate a restroom…). And two, that she’d be happy to act as a surrogate for Bruce and his husband Jeffrey (also voiced by Henry), who long to start a family.

Peter and Lois balk at that idea. (And Family Guy takes it as an opportunity to make a distasteful joke about reproductive rights.) But soon enough, Meg’s at the hospital with Bruce and Jeffrey, an egg the couple bought online is fertilized, and the process is begun using an “implantation cannon.” Cue a sequence then of passing trimesters, peppered with cutaway jokes involving the terribleness of Papa John’s pizza, different kinds of farts, and Peter developing an addiction to methamphetamine – sure, because that’s hilarious? – which makes him appear emaciated and bloodied. And the next thing we know, Meg’s water is breaking in the Griffin family dining room.

Initially, Bruce and Jeffrey seem more interested in decorating and buying for baby “Liza Judy Barbra” than the prospects of loud crying and pee and poop maintenance, and the infant instead stays with the Griffins. Meg’s nurturing instincts are unlocked, Lois leans into her new status as the neighborhood’s hottest grandma, and Peter can show off his expert knowledge on the topic of accidents in diapers and their tiered severity. Have Bruce and Jeffrey been ignoring their responsibilities as parents? Will Meg remain the baby’s primary caregiver, out of necessity and for her own edification? It could go either way, but given Stewie’s cutting, territorial look at the new addition, Liza Judy Barbra better watch her baby back.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? With its generational animated hits still kicking, Fox is adding a new tier of toons to its programming with stuff like Krapopolis and The Great North. Seth MacFarlane’s other animated comedy American Dad! debuted its 20th season on TBS earlier this year. And though it doesn’t have a current release date, Peacock will apparently be the home of MacFarlane’s series adaptation of Ted, which will take place in 1993 and feature his foul-mouthed sentient teddy bear palling around with a younger version of Mark Wahlberg’s character from the films.  

Our Take: After 22 seasons, Family Guy’s act might be a little bit tired. But also after 22 seasons, Family Guy was never writing for the naysayers, anyway, and it still very much isn’t. The season premiere finds time for jokes about edible underwear appearing in non-sexual situations – you know, like when an alternate, convicted murderer version of Peter Griffin is about to get fried in an electric chair – clowns dying in circus cannons, Meg’s apparent incontinence, Chris’s sexual deviance (which in one bit combines with Quagmire’s on-brand deviance), and Stewie traveling back to Boston in 1773 to highlight Americans’ obsessiveness over varieties of tea. After over two decades, after over 400 episodes and counting, Family Guy sticks faithfully to its script, which is to find twisted glee in doing or saying offensive things and allow the series to turn the ideal dynamic of a suburban American family wholly on its ear. Or ass. Or some other body part that might generate a laugh. 

On one hand, you could say this makes Family Guy a cartoon of itself. But since its format already has that covered, it seems content to emphasize how its core characters can just be vessels for the next outrageous bit. Meg’s glimmer of emotional growth after giving birth is notable, since she is rarely offered that opportunity. But inside the show’s frame, those moments aren’t built to last. Family Guy will be off on a new set of hijinks before a new episode even begins, a new set of random asides that are themselves designated receptacles for more gags observant of pop culture. This is where the series continues to live, this is its established satirical bent, and wherever or whenever you access it, this is what you’ll get. With broadcast, streaming, and syndication, Family Guy is always out there somewhere, un-subtly blabbing the quiet part loud.         

Sex and Skin: Family Guy still loves to revel in sidelong crass, from Lois flaunting her “hot grandma” GILF merch to Chris referencing a site on the dark web he frequents while salivating over the concept of his sister using a pump for breast milk.

Parting Shot: All’s well that ends well. The Griffin family gathers on the couch, where they’re joined by Bruce and Jeffrey holding Liza Judy Barbra. And when it’s time for the baby’s nap, Jeffrey flicks the overhead lights to impersonate a strobe while Bruce coos some a capella Hi-NRG dance beats.

Sleeper Star: Brian Griffin, the MacFarlane-voiced family dog, doesn’t see a whole lot of action in the season 22 premiere. But the character has really been Family Guy’s sleeper star right from the beginning. (There was a bit of fan uproar and to-do when Brian briefly died, a decade and ten seasons ago.) Whether he’s clutching at a martini, offering up a few kernels of reason to the absurdities occurring all around him, or getting involved in far-flung side quests with Stewie, Brian’s is a voice Family Guy has always sorely needed as a vital counterweight to its typical tone.   

Most Pilot-y Line: Another thing Family Guy inexplicably never tires of is ridiculing the character of Meg and diminishing her agency, so it’s at least somewhat promising when her experience with surrogacy offers some empowerment. “This baby needs me,” Meg tells Lois. “It’s the first living thing that’s ever needed me. For once, my life has purpose.”

Our Call: Season 22 of Family Guy is a definite STREAM IT for the longtime fans of the series. They’ll get what they came for in the minute-by-minute stream of crassness the show for which the show is (in)famous. And since it seems to be doing just fine catering to that audience, don’t look to the Griffin family for any growth or nuance beyond the next fart joke.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.