Season 10 · Episode 9 · First aired 11 December 2011

Grumpy Old Man

Episode 9 of Family Guy season 10 (S10E09), the 174th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Dave Ihlenfeld and David Wright and directed by John Holmquist. First broadcast on 11 December 2011.

Story

Carter Pewterschmidt falls asleep at the wheel in a snowstorm with Stewie and Barbara aboard and hits a tree. At the hospital Joe tells him his driving licence has to go, and Barbara persuades him to retire from his company. Carter starts turning up at the Drunken Clam and then moves in with the Griffins, so Peter proposes a retirement community in Florida. Carter balks at it until Peter talks him round over bingo and the room thermostat. Six months later Barbara reports that he has become lethargic, and Peter revives him by ordering his secretary to modernise the business, which Carter furiously rejects. He vows to run the firm until he dies. Peter's mother Thelma rings from her own home, and he and Lois leave her there.

Production and reception

John Holmquist directed, his second of the season after "Amish Guy", from a script by Dave Ihlenfeld and David Wright in their first episode for the series. Walter Murphy scored it. Wikipedia, Grumpy Old Man
Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein voice Carter and Barbara Pewterschmidt alongside their regular parts as Peter and Lois. Wikipedia, Grumpy Old Man
The episode establishes that Peter's mother Thelma has moved into a retirement home. Phyllis Diller, who voiced Thelma, died eight months after it aired. Wikipedia, Grumpy Old Man
Guest voices included Adam Carolla, R. Lee Ermey, Mae Whitman, Jack Carter, Christine Lakin, D. C. Douglas, Joel David Moore, Wally Wingert, Linda Porter and Floyd Van Buskirk. Wikipedia, Grumpy Old Man
Nielsen put the first airing at 6.10 million viewers with a 3.1/7 share in the 18 to 49 group, down on "Cool Hand Peter". The title points to the film Grumpy Old Men. Wikipedia, Grumpy Old Man

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin, Babs Pewterschmidt
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Mike Henry	Consuela, Consuela
D.C. Douglas	Superman
Danny Smith	Aquaman, Bingo Guy, Sex Offender #1
Adam Carolla	Death, Super Death
Jack Carter	Old Man
R. Lee Ermey	Warden

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

Adam Carolla as Death
Jack Carter as Various
D. C. Douglas as Superman
R. Lee Ermey as Drill Sergeant, General
Christine Lakin as Joyce Kinney
Joel David Moore as Avatar
Linda Porter as Old woman
Floyd Van Buskirk as Various
Mae Whitman as Fat girl
Wally Wingert as Various
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
Adam West as Mayor Adam West
Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson
Mike Henry as Herbert

Season 10: episode 9 of 23

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 23 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 10 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Grumpy Old Man
Wikidata Q5612071
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
This page as: Markdown, JSON-LD, or request it with Accept: text/markdown
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.