25 Years Later, Here Are the Best Texas Moments on Family Guy

It’s hard to believe, but it's been 25 years since Family Guy began airing on Fox, where it fundamentally changed adult animation forever.

Seth MacFarlane’s foul-mouthed sitcom wasn’t necessarily the first of its kind, as The Simpsons had already been a hit for a decade, and South Park was already successful enough to launch a cinematic spinoff in the same year. However, Family Guy quickly gained renown for its cheeky cutaway gags, ruthless takedowns of celebrity culture, bizarre pop culture references and deliberately offensive humor. Although it has frequently proved controversy, Family Guy is still operating at a creative high, with another season already in production.

As with many other MacFarlane creations (such as the ever-popular American Dad! and the Ted franchise), Family Guy has always operated on the premise that upsetting everyone is better than playing it safe. The show is an “equal opportunity offender,” and in many ways, a gag on Family Guy suggests that whatever it was making fun of was worthy of that distinction. Texas and Dallas, in particular, have been the subject of multiple Family Guy episodes since 1999. Here are some of our favorite moments.

1. “Da Boom” Parodies Y2K Through Dallas

The “Who shot JR?” craze on the classic network show Dallas was already the subject of a pretty great two-part episode of The Simpsons with the “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” cliffhanger, but Family Guy landed a more niche reference with “Da Boom.” In a clever parody of an iconic Dallas twist that reveals that an entire season was actually a dream, the Family Guy episode has Dallas star Pam Ewing informing the audience that what they just watched was part of a hallucination.

2. The Griffins Flee to the Lone Star State in “Boys Do Cry”

In perhaps Family Guy’s greatest Texan detour, the Griffin family goes on the run to Dallas after Stewie is accused of being a spawn of Satan for drinking communion blood. During their Texan adventure, Peter becomes a cowboy, Stewie enters a “Little Miss Texan Pageant” and Chris joins Meg in raiding the home of President George W. Bush to steal his underwear. Peter is nearly executed by a Texan militant group, but thankfully he is saved by his trusty horse (played in a voice cameo by Gilbert Gottfried).

3. A Civil War Reenactment Is Disrupted in “To Love and Die in Dixie”

Peter doesn’t usually hold the most progressive views, but he does have some surprising insights on the Texas educational system when a Civil War reenactment is held in “To Love and Die in Dixie.” The performers reframe a critical battle to imply that Texas and the Southern states actually won “the war of Northern aggression,” but Peter manages to tear down the show in the most chaotic way possible.

4. “Road to Rhode Island” Reveals Brian Griffin Is Actually a Texan

The “Road to” series of Family Guy episodes represent a unique story thread within the show that follows Stewie and Brian on a series of misadventures inspired by the road trip comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the 1940s. The first episode, “Road to Rhode Island,” reveals that Brian was born in Texas but was taken away by his mother. Stewie and Brian don’t make it to Texas in the episode, as they get sidelined trying to find his grandparents in Palm Springs.

5. “Mr. Griffin Goes To Washington” Takes on Bush-era Politics

Anyone who has seen MacFarlane’s comments about politics will likely understand why Family Guy is often so critical of Republican politicians. He’s never been exactly subtle about how he leans. While American Dad! is a more overtly satirical consideration of Bush-era Republicanism, the Texan president appears in the episode “Mr. Griffin Goes To Washington,” when he is made president of the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Company.

6. Peter Hits a Crime Spree in El Paso in “Joe’s Revenge”

“Joe’s Revenge” portays Peter, Quagmire and Joe teaming up to take down a former nemesis in an elaborate parody of classic Texas Western thrillers like The Outlaw Josey Wales and High Plains Drifter. Although the trio spends some time in El Paso and Dallas throughout their mission, they are eventually diverted when the villain Briggs escapes through the Rio Grande River.

7. Stewie Takes Vengeance on Matthew McConaughey in "You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Receives"

Matthew McConaughey has been parodied several times in the history of Family Guy, as Seth Green (who also voices Chris) has a fairly spot-on impression of the Academy Award-winning Texas actor. The first (and funniest) appearance of McConaughey is in "You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Receives," in which Stewie disguises himself as an air traffic controller to ensure that his plane crashes.

8. Meg Is Starstruck by Selena Gomez in “Quagmire and Meg”

Meg and Quagmire’s relationship gets even creepier in “Quagmire and Meg,” with cameos from a few Texan celebrities who show up at the Teen Choice Awards. Selena Gomez may have had to wait until this year to get her first Primetime Emmy Nomination for Only Murders in the Building, but she was met with immense praise from Meg when she visited the awards ceremony for her 18th birthday.

9. Glen Powell Guest Stars on “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater”

Glen Powell couldn’t have had a better 2024: Anyone But You was a sleeper hit that stuck in theaters for months, Hit Man earned praise as one of the year’s best films and Twisters proved to be a smash hit in a relatively underwhelming summer movie season. As if he hadn’t done enough already, Powell popped up in Family Guy’s annual Halloween special as Patrick McCloskey, the winner of a pumpkin contest who revels in humiliating Joe for coming in second place.

10. “HTTPete” Offers a Scathing Assessment of Austin Culture

Family Guy’s jabs at Texas can be forgiven, as the episode “HTTPete” makes the ultimate argument for why Dallas is a better city than Austin. After Peter tries to become “hip” by enriching himself with millennial culture, he discovers that “loving Sriracha or Austin” is enough of a personality to get by.

11. Brian Eviscerates Alex Jones in “Who’s Brian Now?”

Alex Jones’ relocation to Dallas has spurred many parodies and shocked reactions, and Family Guy offers a pretty scathing takedown in the episode “Who’s Brian Now?” After becoming drunk in the woods, Brian accidentally finds himself watching videos by Jones that claim “big yogurt” is part of an elaborate conspiracy theory.

12. A Dallas Joke Gets a Rare Apology From MacFarlane

Any show that's been on as long as Family Guy is bound to have a few jokes that haven't aged well, but MacFarlane has only occasionally expressed regret for past seasons. However, he did offer some regrets regarding a joke in the first season regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.