Family Guy is officially back on screens with new episodes as part of FOX’s midseason schedule for the Winter, and the first episode of the new season has called out one of Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick‘s biggest flaws. Family Guy has finally returned for Season 23 of the long running animated series after fans have been waiting over a year to see the new episodes. FOX had moved the series from its potential return in Fall 2024, and now Family Guy is leading the Animation Domination block of new episodes every week through the rest of the Winter.
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Family Guy Season 23’s premiere episode kicked off the new season with a new parody take on Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick, “Fat Gun.” Like in previous seasons where Family Guy dedicated an entire half hour to a complete movie parody (with “PeTerminator” being a standout example of this time), this premiere imagines each of Family Guy‘s characters within that movie universe. And with that idea also makes sure to call out the biggest flaw with Top Gun: Maverick as it loses some of the major characters in the years it took to make a sequel.
What Happens in Family Guy Season 23’s Premiere?
Family Guy Season 23’s premiere, “Fat Gun,” kicks off with a full in-universe take on Top Gun. Imagining Peter as Maverick and Joe as Goose, it’s not long before Joe dies in the midst of a training exercise that goes wrong when Peter tries to tune their jet to a particular radio station. But while the episode doesn’t stray far from the events of either movie in its retelling, it makes some key changes when it gets to the Top Gun: Maverick part by setting up one of the episode’s running gags. The fact that Top Gun’s lead actresses don’t return for the sequel.
One of the jokes throughout the episode had Peter continuously say that certain characters would be back for the sequel. He even went around promising that Charlie (Kelly McGinnis’ character in the original) and Carole (Meg Ryan) would “definitely” make a return in the sequel. Only for the sequel parody to come and their characters be written out entirely. But the twist here is that Charlie and Carole end up kidnapping Peter and the others as they were angry over the fact that they were taken out of the sequel. Only to then get more empty promises about their return.
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Family Guy Takes Aim at Top Gun: Maverick
Writing out these two prominent characters from Top Gun: Maverick despite playing huge roles in the original was one of the major criticisms lobbed at the highly successful sequel. It’s something Family Guy honed in on to the point of making it a full plot within its parody of the franchise, and helps put it in this hilarious new light. Which makes the rest of the coming season all the more exciting as well.
Family Guy Season 23 is now going to be airing on Sunday evenings with Fox at 8:00PM ET as part of the Animation Domination block for the Winter 2025 midseason schedule. Now that these new episodes are finally kicking it, you can also catch up with the latest season on Hulu the next day after their initial airing. It’s also where you can check out the previous 22 seasons of the series too if you’re interested in going back along with their airing on channels like Adult Swim, Comedy Central, FXX, and more.
