10 Years Later, Family Guy Finally Brings Back Its Best Kind of Episode

Family Guy has finally brought back its best kind of episode after ten long years, and it continues a tradition that has been around since the earliest seasons of the animated series. Family Guy recently crossed over an impressive 450th episode, and is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon as it continues to air through Season 24 with Fox. Airing two new episodes a week, this newest batch of episodes keeps a streak going that revisits a particular kind of episode every ten or so years to fan delight.

Family Guy‘s “Viewer Mail” episodes are one of fans’ most favorite kind of formats as it allows the series to not only poke fun at the series with “ideas” from fans, but also has a fun anthology as a result. The latest season of Family Guy brings this kind of episode back for its fourth iteration, and “Viewer DMs” offers a new kind of anthology that parodies The Lord of the Rings franchise, the Oregon Trail, and what it would look like if Quagmire had his own spinoff show.

Family Guy Viewer Mail Episode Returns in 2026

The first “Viewer Mail” episode came during Family Guy’s third season back in 2001, and ended up being the actual series finale for the show when it was first cancelled by Fox. Luckily the series would be picked up again thanks to strong DVD sales and rerun outings, and Family Guy would then return for a new “Viewer Mail #2” episode ten years after in 2001 (as the final episode of Season 9). The tradition then would surprisingly continue with a “Viewer Mail #3” another sixteen or so years later as the final episode of Season 15 in 2016.

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Family Guy Season 24 Episode 6, “Viewer DMs” sees Brian and Stewie return to the same director’s chairs as seen in the previous iterations of the episode. Addressing the fact it’s been ten years since the last entry, and the fact that modern audiences don’t really “mail” anything anymore, the two of them decide to share episodes answering direct messages they’ve gotten from fans online. Addressing Chris’ earring going missing after the first season, how the Griffin family made it to Rhode Island, and Quagmire’s secret spinoff, it was a wild anthology.

Family Guy Always Has Fun Anthologies

Family Guy has done many anthology episodes over the years, but they often have a central theme tying them together like seen with its take on Hulu shows not long ago, HBO shows, famous award winning shows, Oscar movies, famous directors and more. This particular kind of anthology allows the team to share three distinct stories without having to worry about getting them in a singular theme, and just feels a bit more fun than the others for how rarely it pops up.

Though looking at its take on The Lord of the Rings does make you wish Family Guy dedicated more time to it like it has done with Star Wars in the past, this is still a breezy anthology with fun ideas. With the animated series still in the midst of its four season renewal with Fox, there’s a good chance we might see this anthology return in another ten years.

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