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"A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" is the first Christmas episode of the FOX animated series Family Guy, produced in 2000 for the show's second season, but aired on December 21, 2001, as the sixteenth episode in the show's third season.

Synopsis[]

It is Christmas time in Quahog, and all Peter wants to do is relax and watch his favorite Christmas television specials, but Lois repeatedly reminds him that he needs to donate a present to charity. Lois also encourages Stewie to star as baby Jesus in a Nativity scene during the Quahog Christmas pageant. Although Stewie initially resists, he eventually plays along in hopes of pleasing Santa Claus, who he believes is omnipotent and thereby can supply him with plutonium.

Peter, meanwhile, mistakenly donates all of the family's Christmas gifts to a needy kids' charity. Lois seems unfazed by the mistake, but insists that the entire family shop for new presents at the mall. Peter reluctantly agrees, although he only wants to watch KISS Saves Santa on television; Brian, in the meantime, stays behind to keep an eye on the turkey cooking in the oven.

While the family is shopping, an ember shoots onto the rug from the fireplace; while Brian tries to deal with this crisis, the overcooked turkey begins to burn. Brian finds a fire extinguisher, but to his dismay it is merely a novelty item filled with plastic snakes, which, upon being released into the fire, promptly explode and make it worse. He curses Peter for this. The interior of the house is destroyed, but Brian escapes with minor burns. When the family returns, Lois amazingly maintains a cheerful attitude, saying that they just need to clean up a bit. But when Meg tells her that there are no more paper towels, Lois freaks out, in a parody of the "wire hangers" scene from Mommie Dearest. She screams at the family about how difficult it is to ensure that Christmas happens without a hitch, then runs from the ruined house on a rampage. (Meg then finds some paper towels mere seconds after Lois rampages out.)

Lois storms through town, berating happy people enjoying the season for their ridiculous optimism. When she reaches the town square, she begins to climb the huge Christmas tree there, bent on destroying the ornamental star on top. The rest of the family arrives and Stewie, eager to perform a good deed to earn Santa's grace, performs an extemporaneous monologue about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. Lois, watching Stewie, regains her sanity and begins to descend the tree; at that moment the police shoot her with a powerful tranquilizer dart at Peter's urging.

The next morning at Christmas, the family has gathered in the charred living room, happily opening their presents; Stewie gets his plutonium, Peter gets his own copy of KISS Saves Santa, and Lois, as Peter would put it, is as cheerful as ever, despite still being heavily sedated, sitting limply in a rocking chair and drooling. In the closing scene, the Griffins wish everyone a merry Christmas (though Lois is still too numb to speak clearly).

Notes[]

  • Peter having his VCR destroyed by FBI Agents as punishment for taping Monday night football without permission from the NFL is a reference to an old controversy regarding the legality of recording copyrighted TV broadcasts. The FBI agents quote almost verbatim the disclaimer given during nearly all sporting event broadcasts.
  • Bonnie mentions that Joe had his accident at Christmastime; this is a nod to his introduction in the episode "A Hero Sits Next Door", where he says that he broke his legs while fighting the Grinch (however, a later episode, "Joe's Revenge", would reveal that Joe was actually shot by a drug dealer).
  • The fictional special Kiss Saves Santa is a reference to the 1978 movie Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (and more generally, the tradition of Christmas specials involving the starring characters "saving Christmas").
  • The Age of Aquariums (the fish store where Peter chases the old woman) is named after "The Age of Aquarius", a song from the rock musical Hair.
  • During Lois' rampage through town, she pushes George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life off a bridge and melts Frosty.

Availability[]

FamilyGuyChristmasDVD

The cover to the f.y.e.-exclusive DVD release.

The episode was made commercially available on the Family Guy: Volume 2 DVD set, released in 2002.

In the United Kingdom, a DVD featuring the episode, titled Family Guy: Happy Freakin' Christmas, was released on November 27, 2006. The DVD also contained the episode "Da Boom!"

In 2008, a single-disc DVD release featuring the episode was sold exclusively at f.y.e. stores in the United States. This DVD also included the American Dad! episode "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" (which had not been made available on DVD prior to this release).

Cast[]

Voice actor/actress Character(s)
Seth MacFarlane Peter Griffin
Brian Griffin
Stewie Griffin
Glenn Quagmire
Santa Claus
Johnson
Frosty
Hipster Son #1
Bob Hope
Store Manager
Alex Borstein Lois Griffin
Female Hipster
Julie
Grandma
Seth Green Chris Griffin
Man #2
Mila Kunis Meg Griffin
Peter Criss Himself
Ace Frehley Himself
Mike Henry Cleveland Brown
Gene Simmons Himself
Danny Smith Asian Shopper
Herbie the Elf
Joaquin
Kid
Old man
Skeeter
Snuggles
Wise Man #1
Paul Stanley Himself
Jennifer Tilly Bonnie Swanson
Patrick Warburton Joe Swanson
Wally Wingert

External links[]

20th Century
Movies
Miracle on 34th Street (1955 remake) (1973 remake) (1994 remake) • Die HardDie Hard 2Home AloneHome Alone 2: Lost in New YorkGeorge Balanchine's The NutcrackerTrapped in ParadiseJingle All the WayHome Alone 4The Family StoneDeck the Halls12 Men of ChristmasHome Alone: The Holiday HeistJingle All the Way 2Home Sweet Home Alone
Television episodes and specials
20th Television
M*A*S*H "Dear Dad" • "Dear Sis" • "Death Takes a Holiday" • "All About Christmas Eve"
Tracey Ullman "Santa Baby" • "Kay's Gift" • "Merry Catnip"
The X Files "Christmas Carol" • "Emily" • "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas"
Malcolm in the Middle "Christmas" • "Christmas Trees" • "Pearl Harbor" • "Hal's Christmas Gift
Bones "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" • "The Santa in the Slush" • "The Goop on the Girl"
How I Met Your Mother "How Lily Stole Christmas" • "Little Minnesota" • "False Positive" • "Symphony of Illumination" • "The Over-Correction" • "The Final Page, Part 1" • "The Final Page, Part 2"
Glee "A Very Glee Christmas" • "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" • "Glee, Actually" • "Previously Unaired Christmas"
New Girl "The 23rd" • "Santa" • "LAXmas" • "Christmas Eve Eve"
The Mindy Project "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" • "Christmas Party Sex Trap" • "Christmas" • "When Mindy Met Danny"
Last Man Standing "Last Christmas Standing" • "Putting a Hit on Christmas" • "Elfie" • "Wedding Planning" • "Gift of the Wise Man"
Other shows "Christmas Story" • "The Worst Noel" • "Haus Arrest" • "Amends" • "Blue Christmas" • "A Christmas Story" • "Cookies for Santa" • "In God We Trust" • "Road to Tradition" • "Afternoon Delight" • "Christmas" • "The Glitch That Stole Christmas" • "Secret Santa"
20th Television Animation
The Simpsons "Simpson Christmas" • "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" • "Marge Be Not Proud" • "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" • "Grift of the Magi" • "Skinner's Sense of Snow" • "She of Little Faith" • "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" • "Simpson Christmas Stories" • "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" • "The Fight Before Christmas" • "Holidays of Future Passed" • "White Christmas Blues" • "I Won't Be Home for Christmas • "The Nightmare After Krustmas" • "'Tis the 30th Season" • "Bobby, It's Cold Outside" • "The Way of The Dog" • "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas" • "Manger Things" • Feliz Navidad
King of the Hill "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" • "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" • "Hillennium" • "'Twas the Nut Before Christmas" • "The Father, the Son, and J.C." • "Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane" • "Ms. Wakefield"
Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" • "The Best Christmas Story Never" • "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" • "Rapture's Delight" • "A Cleveland Brown Christmas" • "Road to the North Pole" • "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" • "Murray Christmas" • "Season's Beatings" • "Die Semi-Hard" • "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" • "'Tis the Cleveland To Be Sorry" • "Minstrel Krampus" • "Christmas Guy" • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" • "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" • "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" • "Ninety North, Zero West" • "Gifted Me Liberty" • "Don't Be a Dickens At Christmas" • "Santa, Schmanta" • "Christmas is Coming" • "Yule. Tide. Repeat." • "The First No L" • "Christmas Crime" • "The Return of the King (of Queens)"
Futurama "Xmas Story" • "A Tale of Two Santas" • "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" • "I Know What You Did Next Xmas"
Bob's Burgers "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins" • "Christmas in the Car" • "Father of the Bob" • "Nice-Capades" • "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" • "The Bleakening" • "Better Off Sled" • "Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas" • "Yachty or Nice" • "Gene's Christmas Break" • "The Plight Before Christmas" • "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas"
Other cartoons "Hook's Christmas" • "A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman" • Olive, the Other ReindeerIce Age: A Mammoth Christmas • "The War on Grafelnik" • "Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard" • "A Very Solar Holiday Opposites Special" • "Dip the Halls Adventure" • "Xmas with The Skanks Adventure"
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