11th Apr 2025
Tales of a Third Grade Nothing - S7-E6
Other mistake: In the cutaway at Ford's Theater, Abraham Lincoln receives a cell phone call from someone who is implied to be Thomas Jefferson. While the anachronism of a cell phone in the Civil War can be ignored as humorously deliberate, Lincoln can't be talking to Jefferson; by April of 1865, when Lincoln was assassinated, Jefferson had been dead for nearly 40 years.
Suggested correction: Where are you getting the implication that it is Thomas Jefferson? You seem to have misunderstood the joke. "I hear you took that black chick home. You're welcome." is not a reference to Jefferson sleeping with one of his slaves. It's simply a reference to Lincoln freeing the slaves. Tom is just a generic name. (Besides, if you're complaining about historical anachronisms in Family Guy cutaways, you're probably missing the point.)
I concede that it's a bit of an assumption, but can you really fault me for making it? Yes, Thomas and its derivations can be common given names, but off the top of my head, I can't think of any from Lincoln's era famous enough for casual viewers to automatically make that assumption.
Conversely, since the allegations about Jefferson and Sally Hemings have endured for 220 years, Occam's Razor suggests it's the first thing probably 99% of us would immediately think of upon hearing "Thomas" and "black chick." And I have no problem with the historical anachronism of Lincoln owning a cell phone. Believe me, I get the joke; his obnoxious behaviour is why Booth shot him, and cell phones are so ubiquitous, it's something we in the 21st century can relate to.
The issue I have is of a factual nature. Even for an animated sitcom, there are certain tenets of reality that I think must be adhered to if a joke is going to be set in a specific time period, two of which are the passage of time and the finality of death. For the sake of argument, humor me and assume that it is Jefferson; it is well-documented historical fact that Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50-year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence's adoption.
The reason why it's so well-documented is because, in one of the biggest coincidences in American politics, John Adams, a political frenemy of Jefferson's, and under whom he served as vice president, also died that day. My argument is that, given the limited context of the scene, under an assumption that 99% of us would make, the Thomas calling Lincoln can't be who it's implied to be, because who it's implied to be had been dead for nearly four decades.
Except Thomas Jefferson wasn't from Lincoln's era. You say yourself he had died almost 40 years earlier. This error seems to boil down to, "I'm going to assume that it is a Thomas Jefferson reference. I'm also going to assume that everyone else will see it that way. And that the producers didn't realise Jefferson was dead at the time. Therefore, it is an error based on my unfounded assumptions."
27th Oct 2021
Factual error: Joe's plan to trick OJ into confessing to the 1994 murders is moot since, having been acquitted, the double jeopardy provision would prevent him from being tried for the same crime twice, and as a cop, Joe would know that.
Suggested correction: The plan to get OJ to confess had nothing to do with getting the confession, so he could be arrested or tried again. And at this point, the civil trial already found OJ "responsible" for the murders. Since OJ has always maintained his innocence, getting a confession on tape would just be big news.
8th Sep 2016
Trivia: Upon seeing Joe is handicapped, Peter exclaims "holy crip, he's a crapple." Such an error in speech, in which vowels or consonants in a word are switched around (i.e. He meant "Holy Crap, he's a cripple"), is called a spoonerism; somewhat appropriately, the Griffins and their neighbors live on Spooner Street.
15th Sep 2014
Audio problem: In the flashback of Handful of Peter singing about the Indian chief, the musical notes Peter and Lois play continue to change pitch after they take their hands off their instruments' frets, which should default back to the open string notes.
15th Sep 2014
Factual error: When Lois, Meg, and Chris go to the stage show on the West End, "theater" is spelled with the Americanism "-er" instead of the UK spelling "-re."
29th May 2014
Trivia: According to Seth MacFarlane, all of the abuse Meg suffers is due to the show's male writers' inability to write for a teenage girl.
7th Dec 2013
Trivia: The prison warden in Louisiana, voiced by guest star Bob Gunton, is based on Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption.
22nd Feb 2012
Something, Something, Something, Dark Side - S8-E20
Continuity mistake: When Han lands the Millennium Falcon in the "handicapped" crater on the asteroid, the handicapped parking logo disappears from the ground. (00:22:45)
19th Jan 2011
Trivia: "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" is the only one of the three "Star Wars" spoofs in which the title doesn't come from something related to "Star Wars." It instead comes from a cutaway gag in the season 5 episode "Barely Legal."
19th Jan 2011
19th Jan 2011
Fifteen Minutes of Shame - S2-E12
Trivia: When the Griffin family is replaced by actors on their reality show, Lois complains that she sounds nothing like what Fran Drescher makes her out to. Ironically, Drescher in this episode is actually voiced by Alex Borstein, who also voices Lois.
2nd Jan 2011
I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar - S2-E8
Continuity mistake: Peter complains about having to spend a week at a women's retreat for sensitivity training, but when he returns, the caption reads "two weeks later."
29th Dec 2010
Continuity mistake: In the flashback when Peter fights Ernie the Giant Chicken, Peter gets knocked off the top of an eighteen wheeler and grabs the second rung at the bottom of the truck's ladder. But when the truck driver sees the pair in his side view mirror, Peter is hanging off the top of the ladder. (00:02:00)
29th Dec 2010
2nd Sep 2009
Not All Dogs Go to Heaven - S7-E11
Trivia: Denise Crosby, who guest stars as herself, is a distant cousin of Seth MacFarlane.
17th Aug 2009
Continuity mistake: When Mort runs into Stewie's room, thinking it's the bathroom, there is a sign on the door that reads "Stewie's Room - Keep Out Brian." But a few moments later when Brian enters the room looking for Mort, the sign has disappeared.
20th Nov 2008
Continuity mistake: In the flashbacks to 1984, Peter and Lois are both 18, but in a previous episode, Lois says that she's two years younger than Peter.
22nd Sep 2008
Blue Harvest - S6-E1
Trivia: The joke about Harrison Ford being the only actor whose career wasn't destroyed by Star Wars reportedly offended Mark Hamill. After the trilogy's success, Hamill became famous as a voice actor, playing the Green Goblin on "Spider-Man" and, more prominently, the Joker on various animated "Batman" series.
12th Jun 2008
Question: How was the scene where Stewie dances with Gene Kelly achieved?
Chosen answer: According to the episode commentary, it is literally just frame by frame editting of a sequence from the film "Anchors Aweigh", in which Gene Kelly dances with Jerry Mouse (from Tom and Jerry). They drew Stewie over Jerry in each frame, which is why he seems to stretch oddly in some parts (they had to match Jerry's movements exactly).
