Bones: How Stewie From Family Guy Ended Up In Season 4

Crossovers between different TV shows are almost as old as the medium itself — just look to special events like "The Flintstones" meeting "The Jetsons." Still, few sound as bizarre as the appearance of an animated character from Seth MacFarlane's hit sitcom "Family Guy" popping up on a crime procedural series like "Bones."

All the same, that's exactly what happened on Season 4, Episode 25 ("The Critic in the Cabernet"). The episode sees Booth (David Boreanaz) reeling from the knowledge that he may have to step up and be a dad after Brennan (Emily Deschanel) asks him to be a sperm donor for her child. Later on, Booth goes on to hallucinate that Stewie Griffin (MacFarlane) from "Family Guy" is speaking to him from a television set.

"Bones has been really cool to us. We've worked with them a bunch of times," MacFarlane told Hit Fix (via BuddyTV) about the cross-genre cameo. "Every time we have a live-action gag on the show, it's usually shot on the Bones set by the Bones team. They've really been very neighborly. They came to us, and they said it'd be really cool to have Stewie do a guest spot, and we were like, 'Absolutely. It's the least we can do. We owe you a hundred times over.'" 

Although the idea may sound unorthodox, it actually ended up working out quite well. 

The scene occurs when Booth goes to a clinic to donate sperm. In his private donation room, Stewie appears on the television and begins to mock Booth for not just consummating his relationship with Brennan, something Booth actually does later on in the series. In a bit that hasn't aged terribly well, Stewie also calls into question Booth's masculinity despite remarking that he's "not a bad-looking fellow."

"We sent over a bunch of options for them to choose from," Seth MacFarlane said in his Hit Flix interview, indicating that there were many other ideas for how to bring the youngest member of the Griffin family into the world of "Bones." 

While there have been much more likely and understandable Fox crossovers between shows like "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," and "King of the Hill," the "Bones" crossover definitely has a novelty to it. That has no doubt helped the episode stand out in the memories of fans.