Season 4 · Episode 27 · First aired 14 May 2006
The Griffin Family History
Episode 27 of Family Guy season 4 (S04E27), the 77th Family Guy episode overall. Written by John Viener and directed by Zac Moncrief. First broadcast on 14 May 2006.
Story
Burglars break into the Griffin house and the family retreats to Peter's attic panic room. It has no phone and no inside handle, so Peter passes the time with tales of his ancestors, beginning with the Big Bang, a Stone Age Griffin who invented the wheel, and a Griffin Moses leading the Israelites. Meg is pushed through a vent to fetch help, but Peter's loudspeaker gives her away. Peter continues with Nate Griffin, taken from Africa into slavery, who raised a secret family with the plantation owner's daughter and founded the Department of Motor Vehicles. A flare gun sets off the sprinklers and the room floods. Further tales cover a silent film star ruined by his voice and his great uncle Peter Hitler. As the family argue about The Godfather, Joe opens the door and drains the room. The burglars are under arrest, and pressing harassment charges against Meg.
Production and reception
- John Viener wrote the episode and Zac Moncrief directed; the script earned Viener an Annie Award nomination in the animated television writing category. Wikipedia, The Griffin Family History
- The premise and the panic room design come from the film Panic Room, and the Nate Griffin story refers to Roots and the O. J. Simpson pursuit. Wikipedia, The Griffin Family History
- The argument over The Godfather is drawn from a real dispute in the writers' room, and Peter's verdict on the film came from Seth MacFarlane's college film professor, who had said it of The Sound of Music. Wikipedia, The Griffin Family History
- The writers removed a rape joke from the plantation storyline of their own accord rather than at the request of broadcast standards. Wikipedia, The Griffin Family History
- The episode placed 49th in its week with a Nielsen rating of 8.03; Bob Sassone of TV Squad and Michael Drucker of IGN both gave mixed to negative reviews. Wikipedia, The Griffin Family History
Voices
| Voice | Characters |
|---|---|
| Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin |
| Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin, Jewish Woman |
| Seth Green | Chris Griffin |
| Mila Kunis | Meg Griffin |
| Lori Alan | Diane Simmons, Eva Braun |
| David A. Goodman | Jewish Man |
| Mike Henry | Cleveland Brown, Bruce the Performance Artist |
| Phil LaMarr | Burglar, Caveman, Ollie Williams |
| Judith Light | Judith Light |
| Chris Sheridan | Man at DMV |
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
- Lori Alan as Diane Simmons
- Judith Light as herself
- Chris Sheridan as various characters, Chugs
- Joey Slotnick as various characters
- Danny Smith as various characters
- Phil LaMarr as various characters, Ollie Williams
- Khary Payton as various characters
- Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
- Alex Borstein as Eva Braun
- John Viener as Adolph Hitler
Season 4: episode 27 of 30
- E1North by North Quahog
- E2Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High
- E3Blind Ambition
- E4Don't Make Me Over
- E5The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire
- E6Petarded
- E7Brian the Bachelor
- E88 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter
- E9Breaking Out Is Hard to Do
- E10Model Misbehavior
- E11Peter's Got Woods
- E12Perfect Castaway
- E13Jungle Love
- E14PTV
- E15Brian Goes Back to College
- E16The Courtship of Stewie's Father
- E17The Fat Guy Strangler
- E18The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz
- E19Brian Sings and Swings
- E20Patriot Games
- E21I Take Thee Quagmire
- E22Sibling Rivalry
- E23Deep Throats
- E24Peterotica
- E25You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives
- E26Petergeist
- E27The Griffin Family HistoryYou are here
- E28Stewie B. Goode
- E29Bango Was His Name, Oh!
- E30Stu and Stewie's Excellent Adventure
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- Data refreshed
- 6 September 2026
- Verification
- Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: IMDb differs on title (Untitled Griffin Family History)
- 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.