Season 11 · Episode 3 · First aired 4 November 2012
The Old Man and the Big 'C'
Episode 3 of Family Guy season 11 (S11E03), the 191st Family Guy episode overall. Written by Mike Desilets and Anthony Blasucci and directed by Brian Iles. First broadcast on 4 November 2012.
Story
Quagmire loses his toupee while chasing a fly ball during a Red Sox game, the moment goes up on the scoreboard and onto YouTube, and he gives up the wig until his friends push him towards a hair transplant. At the hospital Brian overhears that Carter Pewterschmidt has terminal cancer, but the family finds Carter in good health and Lois turns on Brian. Brian and Stewie follow Carter through Pewterschmidt Industries to a laboratory below ground and learn that the specimen held there is a cure for cancer, kept back since 1999 to protect sales of treatments. Stewie takes it, Lois confronts her father and he agrees to make it public, then announces only a new deodorant.
Production and reception
- It took a 2.5 rating and 5.11 million viewers, second on the Fox animation line-up that night behind The Simpsons on 5.54 million. Wikipedia, The Old Man and the Big 'C'
- The broadcast was moved from 21 October 2012 to 4 November after a rained-off National League Championship Series game displaced the whole animation line-up. Wikipedia, The Old Man and the Big 'C'
- Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club graded it B and called it the funniest instalment of the season to that point, with many throwaway lines and cutaways working. Wikipedia, The Old Man and the Big 'C'
- Carter Dotson of TV Fanatic rated it 3 out of 5, judging the cancer cure strand half-baked and its point about drug firms left exactly where it started. Wikipedia, The Old Man and the Big 'C'
Voices
| Voice | Characters |
|---|---|
| Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin |
| Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin, Barbara Pewterschmidt, Girl #2 |
| Seth Green | Chris Griffin |
| Mila Kunis | Meg Griffin |
| Mike Henry | Man |
| Steve Callaghan | Barista, Executive |
| John de Lancie | Pewterschmidt Industries Executive |
| Ralph Garman | Pewterschmidt Industries Employee |
| Mark Hentemann | Man |
| Phil LaMarr | Stand-Up Comedian |
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
- John de Lancie as Pewterschmidt Industries Executive, Man
- Phil LaMarr as Stand-Up Comedian, Comedian
- Jerry Lambert
- Sherry Romito
- Mae Whitman as Girl, Woman
- Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
- Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson
- John Viener as Doctor
Season 11: episode 3 of 22
- E1Into Fat Air
- E2Ratings Guy
- E3The Old Man and the Big 'C'You are here
- E4Yug Ylimaf
- E5Joe's Revenge
- E6Lois Comes Out of Her Shell
- E7Friends Without Benefits
- E8Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
- E9Space Cadet
- E10Brian's Play
- E11The Giggity Wife
- E12Valentine's Day in Quahog
- E13Chris Cross
- E14Call Girl
- E15Turban Cowboy
- E1612 and a Half Angry Men
- E17Bigfat
- E18Total Recall
- E19Save the Clam
- E20Farmer Guy
- E21Roads to Vegas
- E22No Country Club for Old Men
SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 11 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: title, date, numbering and credits agree
- 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.