Family Guy season 12

*Family Guy*
Family Guy
Season 12
	DVD cover
Starring	Seth MacFarlane; Alex Borstein; Seth Green; Mila Kunis; Mike Henry;
No. of episodes	21
Release
Original network	Fox
Original release	September 29, 2013 –; May 18, 2014
Season chronology
	← Previous; Season 11 Next →; Season 13
	List of episodes

The twelfth season of Family Guy aired on Fox from September 29, 2013, to 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 motorist 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 in the episode "Christmas Guy", Stewie goes back in time and saves him, effectively changing the future so that he never dies.

The show was initially airing in its usual timeslot of 9:00 PM Eastern. Beginning on March 9 and continuing for the rest of the season, Family Guy moved to 8:30 PM Eastern; the move came as a result of the addition of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey to the network's lineup.

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, Adam Levine, and Ariana Grande.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

This is the last season to be secondarily composed by Ron Jones, leaving Walter Murphy in charge of the musical score for the rest of the series.

Marketing

At San Diego Comic Con 2013, It was revealed by showrunner Steve Callaghan that one member of the Griffin Family would be killed off. Though many assumed to be Meg Griffin, the cast remained silent. This would later be revealed, with Brian Griffin being killed off. In addition, a preview was released.^[10] It was also revealed that a crossover episode with The Simpsons was in the works, which released in September 2014, titled The Simpsons Guy.^[11]

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 (2013-09-29)	BACX01	5.23^[12]
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 (2013-10-06)	BACX02	5.20^[13]
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 (2013-11-03)	BACX03	4.87^[14]
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 father) 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 (2013-11-10)	AACX22	4.18^[15]
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 (2013-11-17)	BACX04	4.46^[16]
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 (2013-11-24)	BACX05	4.58^[17]
After a time travel escapade goes horribly wrong, Stewie destroys his time machine, but regrets his decision when Brian is fatally injured by a car.
217	7	"Into Harmony's Way"	Brian Iles	Julius Sharpe	December 8, 2013 (2013-12-08)	BACX06	5.36^[18]
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 (2013-12-15)	BACX07	6.37^[19]
Peter tries to get his father-in-law Carter to repent his Christmas-hating ways. Meanwhile, Stewie travels back in time to save Brian's life.
219	9	"Peter Problems"	Bob Bowen	Teresa Hsiao	January 5, 2014 (2014-01-05)	BACX08	5.76^[20]
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 (2014-01-12)	BACX09	5.22^[21]
The Griffins put a new Quahog spin on three 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 (2014-01-26)	BACX10	4.11^[22]
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 (2014-03-09)	BACX11	4.56^[23]
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 (2014-03-16)	AACX17	4.62^[24]
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 (2014-03-23)	BACX13	4.38^[25]
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 (2014-03-30)	BACX12	4.17^[26]
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 (2014-04-06)	BACX16	4.77^[27]
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 (2014-04-13)	BACX14	4.39^[28]
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 (2014-04-27)	BACX15	4.02^[29]
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 (2014-05-04)	BACX17	4.40^[30]
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 (2014-05-11)	BACX19	4.16^[31]
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 (2014-05-18)	BACX18	3.88^[32]
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

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