Family Guy’s Christmas Special Goes Full Hallmark — And They’re Not Even Pretending It’s Original
Lois and Peter step into the spotlight at the heart of the romance, with sparks, stakes, and a shake-up on the way.
Holiday TV is about to pile up, and Family Guy is jumping in with a Christmas special that goes straight for the Hallmark-style rom-coms. It stars Lois, a cozy town, a life lesson, and yes, a small-town hunk named Peter. You can probably see where this is going — and that is absolutely the point.
'It gets harder and harder every year to try to think of an original — or what we hope is an original — Christmas episode. So this year, we just decided to give up trying to be original and just used every single thing that’s been used before.'
— Alec Sulkin, executive producer and showrunner, speaking to Collider
The setup
- Title: 'Disney's Hulu's Family Guy's Hallmark Channel's Lifetime's Familiar Holiday Movie' — a title so long it doubles as a bit.
- Plot: Lois is the big-city go-getter sent to the quaint village of Townsville to snag a prized holiday recipe for her company.
- Romance: She falls for a local mechanic named Peter (yes, that Peter), who proceeds to show her 'what really matters' in life — at least until the show undercuts it with a joke.
- Premiere: November 28.
Sulkin and the team are not pretending this is anything but a loving roast. He compares Hallmark movies to pure comfort viewing — the TV equivalent of taking the edge off — and he gets why people eat them up: small towns where everyone is nice, stakes that barely exist, and wish fulfillment baked into every snow-dusted frame. Family Guy is leaning into all of it.
Even the title is a gag: a Frankenstein mash-up of brands — Disney, Hulu, Family Guy, Hallmark, Lifetime — that tells you exactly what flavor of syrupy holiday movie they are lampooning before the first joke lands. And putting Lois at the center is a smart move; she’s the perfect foil for the genre’s twinkly optimism.
Bottom line: expect every cliché in the book, used on purpose, with Family Guy’s usual grin. If you want your holiday cheese with a side of sarcasm, mark your calendar for November 28.