Season 4 · Episode 1 · First aired 1 May 2005

North by North Quahog

Episode 1 of Family Guy season 4 (S04E01), the 51st Family Guy episode overall. Written by Seth MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin. First broadcast on 1 May 2005.

Story

Peter tells the family the show has been cancelled and lists 29 Fox series that must fail before it can return. Peter and Lois leave Brian in charge and go on a second honeymoon to revive their marriage. After crashing the car, Peter poses as Mel Gibson to enter the actor's hotel suite. Inside he finds a reel: the sequel Gibson has shot to The Passion of the Christ. Peter steals the film and two priests working for Gibson give chase. He buries the reel, but the priests kidnap Lois and demand it at Gibson's home on Mount Rushmore. Peter hands over dog mess instead, and Gibson falls from the monument in the chase that follows. At home Brian and Stewie chaperone a dance where Chris is caught with Jake Tucker's vodka. When Jake's father refuses to believe them, they plant cocaine in Jake's locker.

Production and reception

Fox cancelled the series in 2002; Adult Swim reruns averaging 1.9 million viewers and DVD sales of more than 2.2 million copies led Fox to order 35 new episodes in 2004. Wikipedia, North by North Quahog
Seth MacFarlane wrote and Peter Shin directed, the same pair who made the pilot; the script was adapted from one of five unproduced scripts ordered at the end of season three. Wikipedia, North by North Quahog
The original script featured Boba Fett and later Aaron Spelling; the release of The Passion of the Christ led the writers to build the story around Mel Gibson, voiced by André Sogliuzzo. Wikipedia, North by North Quahog
The plot, title and music parody Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 film North by Northwest, with Walter Murphy's orchestra recording an arrangement of Bernard Herrmann's score. Wikipedia, North by North Quahog
The episode drew 11.85 million US viewers on 1 May 2005, ranking 25th for the week and beating both The Simpsons and American Dad!; it had premiered three days earlier at the University of Vermont. Wikipedia, North by North Quahog

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin, Tricia Takanawa, Hooker
Seth Green	Chris Griffin, Classmate, Messiah Guards
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Lori Alan	Diane Simmons
Chris Cox	Abraham Lincoln
Hunter Gomez	Pinocchio
Mike Henry	John Herbert, Greased-up Deaf Guy
Richard Kuhlman	G.I. Joe, Mel Gibson
Don LaFontaine	Narrator

Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.

Guest voices

Don LaFontaine as himself
Hunter Gomez as Pinocchio
Bill Ratner as Flint
André Sogliuzzo as Mel Gibson
Lori Alan as Diane Simmons

Season 4: episode 1 of 30

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 30 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 4 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: North by North Quahog
Wikidata Q2062165
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
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Licence: Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
Note: The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.