“Untitled Griffin Family History”
Family Guy episode
The family gather in Peter's panic room.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 27
Written by	John Viener
Directed by	Zac Moncrief
Guest stars	Judith Light
Production no.	4ACX30
Original airdate	May 14, 2006
Season 4 episodes
Family Guy - Season 4 May 1, 2005 – May 21, 2006
North by North Quahog Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High Blind Ambition Don't Make Me Over The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire Petarded Brian the Bachelor 8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter Breaking Out Is Hard to Do Model Misbehavior Peter's Got Woods Perfect Castaway Jungle Love PTV Brian Goes Back to College The Courtship of Stewie's Father The Fat Guy Strangler The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz Brian Sings and Swings Patriot Games I Take Thee Quagmire Sibling Rivalry Deep Throats Peterotica You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives Petergeist Untitled Griffin Family History Stewie B. Goode (1) Bango Was His Name Oh! (2) Stu and Stewie's Excellent Adventure (3)
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List of Family Guy episodes

"Untitled Griffin Family History" also know as "The Griffin Family History", is the twenty-seventh, and season four finale episode of Family Guy. The episode originally broadcast on May 14, 2006. Judith Light guest stars in the episode. The episode follows Peter telling the family history of his ancestors, while the Griffins are stuck in a panic room due to burglars breaking in downstairs. Overall, the episode received mainly negative reviews from critics, achieving a Nielsen rating of 8.03.^[1]

Plot

While attempting to get Peter to brush his teeth, Lois hears a noise from downstairs. Upon investigation, the couple discover three robbers in their home. The rest of the family awake and flee to Peter's self-built panic room and begin to monitor what the robbers are doing through cameras. Due to the room not having a telephone or an inside door handle, Peter begins to tell stories about the history of the Griffin family.

The stories begin with the big bang in the Paleolithic Age, where it is discovered that Peter's ancestor invented the wheel. The second story sees another Moses as a member of the Griffin family during the Bronze Age leading the Israelites to freedom. The family soon discover that Meg can fit through the vent, so they force Meg through the vent and into the kitchen, but Peter uses a loud speaker to contact Meg from the panic room, therefore alerting the burglars that somebody is in the kitchen. in order to take the families mind off Meg being captured, Peter tells the story of Nate Griffin, who lived in the small village of Quahogsuana, but was captured by a white man from South Carolina and taken to American, presumably to be sold as a slave. He, along with Quagdingo (Glen Quagmire) and Joe Mama (Joe Swanson) prank the ship captain by moving his bed so it is floating overboard the shop in the water with him awakening to discover this. Nate is discovered after briefly escaping and forced to work on a plantation, where he falls in love with the owners daughter, and together, they bring up a secret family. After being discovered by his lovers father, Carter, the couple and their children escape, where Nate sets up the Department of Motor Vehicles to "get back at the white man".

After finishing the story, Peter carelessly aims a flare gun through an air vent, leading sprinklers to come on. Meg is attempting to be raped by the burglars downstairs, whereas the rest of the family are preparing to potentially drown, which prompts Peter to tell the story of his ancestor, who was silent film-star in the 1920s, but his career began to fail after his success due to his differing voice. Peter thens tells his family about his cousin, Peter Hitler. Peter Hitler was able to provide Hitler with success at his Munich speech. As the water from the sprinklers almost reaches its peak, Joe rescues them, draining the water out of the room, therefore saving their lives. Joe informs the family he has arrested the burglars, but they are pressing sexual harassment charges against Meg. The family ignore Joe when he tells them she needs a lawyer to fight the charges, and she is taken away to the police station.

Production

During the episodes depiction of how the universe was created, God exclaims "you smell that?" after holding a lighter to his butt when performing flatus; this sketch was not broadcast on the Fox version of the episode.^[2] An additional scene not broadcast on the televised version was when the Griffins are depicted as dinosaurs.^[3] During the DVD commentary, show creator Seth MacFarlane credits the color department of the production, commenting "[the color] is a lot richer than [the show] usually goes".^[2] Originally, a Michael Jackson-related scene was to be included in the episode, however, it was re-scheduled for a later episode due to limited time on this episode.^[2] In the original draft of the episode, Brian's speech informing Peter of the dangers in the woods during the Nate Griffin story was intended to be longer, including Brian talking about automobile ratings, although it was shortened for unknown reasons.^[2] MacFarlane praises the animation sequence showing a horse running around Lois' bedroom, describing it as "a piece of brilliance".^[2]

Show producers removed a sketch which would include a rape joke upon Carter discovering his daughter, Lois, with her secret family on the southern plantation, although at their own decision – not due to broadcasting standards objections.^[2][4] The sequence showing Peter's silent film star ancestor being stabbed in a card fight was omitted from television broadcasting to save time.^[2][2] Near the end of the episode, the Griffins are shown arguing over the quality of The Godfather; this scene is relevant to an actual argument that has taken place in the Family Guy writing room over its quality.^[5] Hitler talking to his wife about his annoyance at Peter was also removed from television broadcasting for timing purposes.^[5][6]

Cultural references

The story of Nate Griffin, an ancestor of Peter, makes references to the first installment of Roots.^[2] The ship captain who is thrown overboard while asleep by Peter and his friends during the Nate Griffin story is a reference to Meatballs, as is the music heard in the background.^[5] Near the end of the episode, the Griffins are shown to be arguing over the quality of The Godfather, a reference to the films content.^[5]

Reception

"Untitled Griffin Family History" finished 49th in the weekly ratings for the week of May 8–14, 2006, with a Nielsen rating of 8.03.^[1] In his review of the episode, Bob Sassone of TV Squad commented "All in all, a so-so episode. It started rather strong but got weaker as it went along."^[7] In his review of Family Guy, volume four, Michael Drucker of IGN stated "Untitled Griffin Family History" to be "as cliché as the tropes they're mocking".^[8]

References

External links

• "Untitled Griffin Family History" at TV.com
• "Untitled Griffin Family History" at The Internet Movie Database
• "Untitled Griffin Family History" at Family Guy Wiki.