12 Times When Peter Griffin Proved He's Not A Family Guy

Seth MacFarlane's brainchild, "Family Guy," first graced our TV screens on January 31, 1999, and has gifted viewers with one of the best (and most dysfunctional) families in America ever since. After being canceled in 2002, the show returned in 2005 and surged on to pick up eight Emmy Awards over the years and produce its 21st season in 2022. Although mainly known for its crude and raunchy humor that is in no way suitable for the kids at home, "Family Guy" often targets the "shallow and pedantic" actions of Americans and famous celebrities. At the center of the show is Peter Griffin (voiced by MacFarlane), the buffoonish protagonist whose nonsensical, but hilarious actions usually make up each week's episode. 

During the first few seasons, each episode would end with a somewhat moral lesson that brought the family together. However, as the seasons have progressed, the show has become more chaotic, with Peter breaking the law and resorting to violence quite often. Although it's impossible to compile all the times that Peter went too far, here are 12 times when Peter Griffin did not act like a family guy.

Peter is a man of many talents, be it downing several beers in one go or setting up the best cutaway gags in the show, but he doesn't take too kindly to insults. In Season 5, Episode 11, "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou," Peter goes over to his neighbors' to reason with 13-year-old Kyle, who has been bullying his son, Chris. After the brash kid hurls some insults at Peter, particularly regarding his weight, Peter unloads a flurry of punches on Kyle, beating him bloody. He then flees the scene in classic Peter fashion and hides in his living room. Much like all his crimes, Peter once again faces no consequences for pulverizing a child.

Peter also has a unique way of responding to scary teenagers, noting, "I used to be afraid of them until I realized they were just misunderstood." When a teenager dressed like a punk demands Peter's wallet, he misleads the kid with, "What I think you really want ... is love," before battering him into a bloody mess. Of course, he also steals the kid's sneakers — for a lesson on consequences, maybe?

We all remember Glenn Quagmire (also voiced by MacFarlane) as the degenerate with proclivities toward all things sexual. However, in later seasons, the "Family Guy" writers have helped Quagmire grow from a sex-crazed maniac to a more mellowed and healthier individual (by the show's standards, anyway). One of the lesser-known sides of the commercial airline pilot is revealed when he introduces the gang to a stray cat he finds in Season 7, Episode 12, "420." He names the cat James and comes to love the feline dearly, but Peter and his friends are irritated with this seemingly reformed Quagmire and decide to shave the cat.

Peter, however, goes overboard and instead of just a shave, ends up accidentally killing James. Worse, he keeps slicing the cat because, after all, it's supposed to have nine lives. Quagmire starts searching for his beloved James frantically, even offering a reward for anyone who can find him. In the end, he approaches the Griffins and offers them $50 in exchange for information about the feline, when Peter takes the money, admits, "I killed your cat," and slams the door in his face. Who knows? Quagmire might have called PETA on Peter for this one.

If we had to summarize Peter in a line, nothing fits better than how he describes himself: "I don't think before I act." Peter casually destroys lives and property in Quahog and life goes on as usual, just like when he destroyed a children's hospital in Season 7, Episode 6, "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing." Peter decides to destroy a billboard by the rival beer company, Anheuser Busch, to impress his boss, Angela. However, much like everything else he does, Peter messes up the process and blows up a children's hospital right next to the billboard. However, because the billboard also burns down, Peter sighs peacefully, "There we go, everything worked out."

It seems Peter developed a knack for destroying hospitals after this, and he even parodies a famous scene from 2008's "The Dark Knight" in doing so. Dressed as Heath Ledger's Joker, he recreates the hospital explosion scene in Season 15, Episode 6, "Hot Shots." Apparently, during the family's anti-vaxxer phase, Peter got carried away and destroyed every vaccine in Quahog by blowing up the hospital.

You cannot picture Peter in his natural habitat without two things: his TV and a bottle of beer. Peter loves alcohol a little too much, at least more than he loves his children. However, guzzling down innumerable glasses of beer throughout the 21 seasons is just the foam of his intoxicated iceberg because, over the years, he has also indulged in various other drugs, most of which are downright dangerous. Throughout the show, he also got addicted to smoking cigarettes and drinking Red Bull.

In Season 8, Episode 16, "April in Quahog," Peter asks Chris to join him in a "father and son" bonding moment. Aside from the fact that he rips out his own eyeball and jumps out of a second-floor window after taking drugs, Peter isn't exactly the best role model for his kids. We also get to see the alternate version of what would happen if Peter didn't stop drinking alcohol. In this version, Peter smashes whiskey bottles on the kitchen floor and gives cigar burns to everyone in the family. Although he has caused the most damage while drunk, his afflictions with the other drugs make him a threat to himself and the ones around him.

Peter and chaos go together better than Han and Chewie from the Star Wars franchise, be it destroying Cleveland Brown's house repeatedly or charging at his father-in-law Carter Pewterschmidt in a limousine with a lance at hand. However, he has been known to go a little too far at times in his pursuit of doing things that don't make much sense — like murdering people. Peter's exact kill count is a very disputed subject, with he himself admitting, "Reddit says I've killed 39." On multiple occasions, Peter is seen casually murdering people, not to mention the several children he runs over during his drunk-driving incidents.

While acting out a Scooby-Doo parody in Season 18, Episode 10, "Connie's Celica," Peter rips off a few people's faces, right to the skull, and on another occasion, he murders a deaf child, mistaking him for Chris's bully. He has killed animals, including the beloved Yogi Bear, two birds, a well-dressed human-sized spider, and even Oscar from "Sesame Street." In Season 16, Episode 5, "Three Directors," Peter murders several Tricia Takanawa-looking masked swordswomen in the "Kill Bill" parody, before taking a Quentin Tarantino-esque revenge on his boss Angela. As if these many murders aren't enough, in a rather grim cutaway in Season 11, Episode 15, "Turban Cowboy," Peter runs over countless people in the Boston Marathon with his trusted red station wagon. Given all his crimes, it's a wonder that Peter isn't serving multiple life sentences, at least.

If we had to make a list of the most disliked characters in "Family Guy," it wouldn't be topped by Glenn Quagmire or even Mr. Herbert. Instead, it's the unassuming teenager Meg Griffin, who has to bear the brunt of all the abuse one can think of. Her classmates bully her, her teachers despise her, and her mother Lois constantly neglects and ignores her. However, these actions are nothing compared to the way Peter treats her.

No amount of therapy will be enough to help Meg get over how Peter uses her face as a farting cushion regularly, or the constant shaming and ill-treatment she suffers from him. He throws hot soup at her face when she's bedridden with the mumps and lassos her down the stairs on horseback on another occasion. Peter hits his daughter with a baseball bat and shoots her with a gun for just walking into the living room, and then wonders why the fresh-out-of-prison Meg beats him violently. In Season 10, Episode 2, "Seahorse Seashell Party," Meg finally confronts her family, especially Peter, but he throws a tantrum and hides in a closet until Meg apologizes for lashing out. In the end, she gives up trying to get her family to treat her better and the cycle of abuse continues. Even "Family Guy" fans think this episode goes too far, which really says something considering how much Meg has gone through.

Peter has a rather average job that pays meagerly, but he still always has the dough lying around to buy the Petercopter, Peterdactyl, and even the HindenPeter, which makes his neighbor Joe Swanson exclaim, "How can you afford these things?" For Joe and anyone else who ever had the same query, Peter led us to the truth in Season 12, Episode 19, "Meg Stinks!" In a rare episode where he actually takes a liking to Meg, Peter brings her along to a bank and explains, "how on earth [he pays] for all [his] shenanigans."

As it turns out, the simplest way Peter gets the money for vehicles that would make Bruce Wayne envious and all his other campy ideas is by robbing banks. He produces a rifle out of thin air and hands another to Meg before barking orders to kill anyone who moves. Meg protests violently but apparently they must rob the bank because they're buying a zebra the following week. He's surprisingly well-versed in the workings of the bank alarm system, which goes to show that he has robbed banks quite a few times now. Accidentally, Meg ends up shooting the manager, so now the two have to kill the rest of the hostages in the bank to leave no witness to this failed heist.

Of all the insults you can call Peter, probably the worst thing to call him is "chicken," and for good reason. Peter's arch-nemesis in the show is Ernie the Giant Chicken and whenever the two meet, they have a tremendous fight, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. In Season 9, Episode 8, "New Kidney in Town," we find out that the bumbling Dr. Hartman had created Ernie when he tried cloning a chicken but ended up with a man-sized one that was "incredibly hostile." Although Peter regularly blows up buildings, his fights with the chicken are especially catastrophic, as they destroy amusement parks, derail trains, blow up entire ships, and even explode a space station, when they accidentally reach space.

The fallout from the many battles between Peter and Ernie is the millions of dollars worth of property damage, besides the people who have died during their fights. Over the years, Peter has killed the chicken several times, but miraculously, Ernie keeps getting resurrected with a vengeance. Peter even addresses the enormous bill that the two have racked up, telling Ernie, "If you die, I'll be solely responsible for all the destruction we've caused over the years." Although it's sweet to see Peter having grown fond of the bird, it looks like he'll have to rob several banks to pay off all the damages he and Ernie have caused.

Be it getting drunk at The Clam until they can't walk straight, or going on their usual wacky adventures, Peter is usually joined by his three best friends — Joe Swanson, Glenn Quagmire, and Cleveland Brown. Together they've gone on numerous outings, from road trips to spending a night at an asylum. However, this perfect friendship is peppered with multiple occasions in which Peter has endangered the lives of his friends, sometimes near-fatally.

In Season 12, Episode 11, "Brian's A Bad Father," the guys are on a hunting trip when Peter carelessly shoots Quagmire in the arm with a rifle to prove a point. Quagmire's arm is in a sling and he ceases friendship with Peter out of anger. Joe usually bears the brunt of insensitive jokes about his handicap, but in the Season 10 premiere, "Lottery Fever," Peter treats both him and Quagmire terribly. While making the two sing and dance to Frank Sinatra's "Makin' Whoopee," Peter shoots Joe in the eye with a BB gun, almost blinding him. Finally, in Season 12, Episode 20, "He's Bla-ack," the unpredictable Griffin crashes his car with Cleveland in the passenger seat, but only Peter's side has functioning airbags. As a result, Cleveland ends up in the hospital in a full-body cast. Given the way Peter has treated his friends, it makes sense that Quagmire shot him in the head to settle their differences in "Brian's A Bad Father."

Peter isn't winning any husband of the year contest just like he's not that popular in the father of the year field. However, at times, he really pulls out the brakes when he insults Lois in sexist and inappropriate ways. For starters, during a surprise birthday party thrown for her in Season 11, Episode 6, "Lois Comes Out Of Her Shell," Peter gives a speech brutally attacking her age when she was already feeling down for getting older. He refers to her as his "reliable, old plow-horse," good for menial chores around the house. As if that's not enough, in Season 4, Episode 23, "Sibling Rivalry," he force-feeds Lois to fatten her up. This leads to her having a heart attack during an intimate moment. Seriously, Mrs. Griffin should consider getting a divorce.

The "lovable idiot" Peter finds several other ways to embarrass and humiliate Lois throughout the series. Peter starts a children's TV show called "Petey's Funhouse" in the Season 10 episode "You Can't Do That on Television, Peter," and creates a horrible sock puppet of Lois with a crude name. Although everything returns to normal at the end of every episode, Lois might not be the happiest with her spouse, especially after so many years.

"Family Guy" viewers are well aware that it's very easy to excite Peter and get him hooked on anything if you explain it to him hard enough. When he finds Brian's chewing rope in Season 13, Episode 4, "Brian The Closer," he quickly changes moods from "it's gross" to "I want it." However, Brian won't part with his favorite toy that easily, so Peter tries various ways to get the rope, before resorting to violence as usual. He ties the chew toy with a rope and drags Brian through the street while driving his car, casually running over a child on a bike in the process.

Seeing how Brian won't let go of the toy, Peter speeds up before swerving suddenly, launching his pet dog face-first into a fire hydrant. Brian shatters all of his teeth and is horribly disfigured, with blood gushing from his mouth. The Griffins refuse to pay for Brian's denture expenditure, and Peter later throws the chew toy back at Brian when he's bored with it. Clearly, Peter isn't very friendly toward a man's best friend.

There's not enough space to list all the insane things that Peter has done throughout the years, which also include breaking into a rehabilitation center for hanging out with Brian to bringing a talking dolphin home. However, probably one of the worst and craziest things that he did is declare war on the United States in Season 2, Episode 18, "E. Peterbus Unum." Upon accidentally discovering that his house isn't on the map of the country, he declares himself the President of the newly-formed microstate, Petoria — a small plot of land with a goofy face of Peter on the flag. Irritated that he's not taken seriously at the global leaders' meet, Peter invades U.S. territory, claiming his neighbor Joe's swimming pool for himself.

Now that he's an illegally-land-seizing dictator, Peter invites horrible dictators from all around the world for a barbecue session in Petoria. The U.S. military step in to cut the power and water supply on the property. Finally, after Lois and the kids leave Peter and migrate to the U.S., he's forced to repatriate his state to America and give back the seized property. Well, he didn't have much choice in the matter anyway, having a massive missile facing his front yard.