5 Family Guy scenes we bet even Seth MacFarlane regrets
(Credit: Netflix)

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5 Family Guy scenes we bet even Seth MacFarlane regrets

Created by Seth MacFarlane and voiced by him alongside a raging ensemble, Family Guy knows how to push one’s limits. From the lead protagonist Peter Griffin being a nutcase to his toddler son Stewie being a conniving character, the mother Lois being an overall inefficient mother and the entire family bullying Meg, as well as the nymphomaniac Quagmire, the show has a wide range of oddball characters.

With dark humour, offensive gags and recurring whacko characters, the show has garnered a cult-like following despite its borderline offensive jokes. 

Netflix has a large range of adult sitcoms including South Park, Paradise PD, Big Mouth and more. While Family Guy is no longer streaming on Netflix US or UK, it is still available in Canada, Asia and some other regions of Europe, streaming on a total of 23 countries. The show revels in its reputation of being alarmingly offensive, including jokes and references to sex, drugs, bestiality, incest, sexual crimes and more. 

Although the show is meant to be offensive, they often cross the line and have thus garnered unpopular opinions regarding some of the episodes. 

We, at Best of Netflix, decided to compile a list of Family Guy episodes that we bet even Seth MacFarlane regrets:  

5 Family Guy scenes we bet even Seth MacFarlane regrets

Terri Schaivo 

Terri Schaivo was a woman in a comatose state for fifteen years as her family squabbled among each other regarding whether she should be kept on life support or not. She finally passed away in 2005, five years before this joke aired on the show. 

The song about Terri was made in poor taste and aired at the beginning of the show. It showed how Stewie’s schoolmates put up a performance about Terri, involving lyrics in the musical that are utterly insensitive and rude. One can only take so much and referring to her as “mashed potato brains” or calling her “the most expensive plant you’ll ever see” is downright degrading. 

Herbert the Pervert

Despite Family Guy’s entertaining line-up of bizarre, idiosyncratic characters, Herbert the pervert is someone we all unanimously hate. Although his frail figure and ageing self is supposed to induce apathy in our hearts towards Herbert, we end up despising him. 

Herbert is a paedophile. He tries to lure the neighbourhood kids into his house and has disturbing fantasies about Chris Griffin. He is often seen stalking Chris, ending up in his bedroom. His lust for children along with his Nazi sentiments make him an uncomfortable and unsettling character we wish did not exist in the show. While we understand the comic element, sometimes Herbert’s thoughts might traumatise someone or trigger bad memories. 

Stewie’s Pregnancy 

Stewie is a toddler and seeing him pregnant was downright disturbing. It was worse when we got to know that Stewie impregnates himself with some of Brian’s DNA without the latter’s consent. What followed was a little toddler walking around with morning sickness and shooting maternity photoshoots with the ‘father’, making viewers cringe in disgust. 

Stewie’s delivery scene was even more distressing. Although they did not show it explicitly, the overall gruesome noises and the splatter of blood on the car’s windshield was pretty disgusting to watch. Later, they abandon their human-dog hybrid pups at the animal shelter and this gag was even worse than when Brian licked Stewie’s poop-filled diaper clean in an agonising three-minute clip with slurping noises. Pretty self-explanatory, right? 

Prom Night Dumpster Baby

We appreciate dark humour but with this particular gag, the show had taken it too far. Undeniably funny, the scene had a high shock value as it capitalised on the tragedy of teenagers getting pregnant on prom night and later having to abandon the baby. 

A baby pops from the garbage tin, sings the blues regarding being abandoned and not knowing who his parents are before he is joined by countless such babies, hanging off their umbilical cords. Strangely poignant, the scene is awfully grotesque and sad and often makes one wonder how it got approved by the censor board.  

Turban Cowboy 

Family Guy often forgets to pay heed to the thin line between offensive and humour. Humour is often supposed to offend but this gag takes the notch way too far. The episode reinforced the stereotype regarding associating Muslims with terrorism, driving in Islamophobia. The episode also featured the gruesome Boston Marathon where Peter drove his car through a sea of marathon runners, killing them. 

High on shock-value, it loses the satirical impact it tries to create and prevails as unfunny and downright abhorrent. From using a skin colour card to seeing what is acceptable to play on tragedy, alluding to 9/11, the episode deserved to be scrapped off.