| Season Number: | 12 |
| Bgcolour: |
|
| Num Episodes: | 21 |
| Network: | Fox |
| Prev Season: | Season 11 |
| Next Season: | Season 13 |
| Episode List: | List of Family Guy episodes |
The twelfth season of Family Guy aired on Fox from September 29, 2013, to May 18, 2014.
The series follows the Griffin family, a dysfunctional family consisting of father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie, and the family dog Brian, who reside in their hometown of Quahog.
During this season, Peter gets a vestigial twin ("Vestigial Peter"); the Griffins travel to Italy ("Boopa-dee Bappa-dee"); Quagmire and Peter form a folk band ("Into Harmony's Way"); and, as confirmed by series creator Seth MacFarlane, Cleveland moves back to Quahog along with his family, since The Cleveland Show was cancelled ("He's Bla-ack!"). Also, as mentioned by Steve Callaghan in the 2013 Comic-con Panel, a member of the Griffin family was killed off in a special episode. After much speculation, that member was Brian, after being hit by a motorist in the episode "Life of Brian". This elicited strongly negative reactions from fans of the show, and a petition demanding Brian to be resurrected garnered over 100,000 signatures. His death turned out to be only temporary as in the episode "Christmas Guy", Stewie goes back in time and saves him, effectively changing the future so that he never dies.
The show was initially airing in its usual timeslot of 9:00 PM Eastern. Beginning on March 9 and continuing for the rest of the season, Family Guy moved to 8:30 PM Eastern; the move came as a result of the addition of to the network's lineup.
Guest stars for the season include Conan O'Brien, Lea Thompson, Jeff Daniels, Michelle Dockery, Tony Sirico, Yvette Nicole Brown, Gary Cole, Lauren Bacall, Liam Neeson, Bryan Cranston, Adam Levine, and Ariana Grande.
This is the last season to be secondarily composed by Ron Jones, leaving Walter Murphy in charge of the musical score for the rest of the series.
At San Diego Comic Con 2013, It was revealed by showrunner Steve Callaghan that one member of the Griffin Family would be killed off. Though many assumed to be Meg Griffin, the cast remained silent. This would later be revealed, with Brian Griffin being killed off. In addition, a preview was released. It was also revealed that a crossover episode with The Simpsons was in the works, which released in September 2014, titled The Simpsons Guy.
| Title | Air date | The A.V. Club (A-F) | TV Fanatic (5) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Finders Keepers" | C | |||
| 2 | "Vestigial Peter" | C+ | |||
| 3 | "Quagmire's Quagmire" | B+ | |||
| 4 | "A Fistful of Meg" | D | |||
| 5 | "Boopa-dee Bappa-dee" | C- | |||
| 6 | "Life of Brian" | A- | |||
| 7 | "Into Harmony's Way" | B- | |||
| 8 | "Christmas Guy" | B+ | |||
| 9 | "Peter Problems" | D | |||
| 10 | "Grimm Job" | C- | |||
| 11 | "Brian's a Bad Father" | C- | |||
| 12 | "Mom's the Word" | C+ | |||
| 13 | "3 Acts of God" | B | |||
| 14 | "Fresh Heir" | D | |||
| 15 | "Secondhand Spoke" | B | |||
| 16 | "Herpe the Love Sore" | C- | 4.6 | ||
| 17 | "The Most Interesting Man in the World" | B+ | 4.6 | ||
| 18 | "Baby Got Black" | D+ | 3.8 | ||
| 19 | "Meg Stinks!" | B | 4.6 | ||
| 20 | "He's Bla-ack!" | B- | 3.8 | ||
| 21 | "Chap Stewie" | B- | 4.8 |