Family Guy's 'Road To...' Episodes, Ranked From Worst To Best

"Family Guy" has parodied plenty of stories over the years. One of creator Seth MacFarlane's favorite episodes, "And Then There Were Fewer," pays homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." Naturally, the show parodied the original "Star Wars" trilogy, with each film getting its own elongated episode. However, one of the best parodies the show frequently dabbles in is its "Road To..." series where Brian and Stewie, both voiced by MacFarlane, travel to various locales to get into various misadventures and learn a little something about one another. 

The installments are based on the "Road To..." movies that were prominent in the 1940s starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour. Each film more or less has the same gimmick where the main characters would have a reason to travel somewhere, but the plot doesn't matter a great deal. The journey is mostly an excuse for Hope and Crosby to get into a bunch of comedic mishaps and sing songs, with the best of the bunch being 1942's "Road to Morocco," which ranks as one of the best road trip movies of all time. The "Family Guy" episodes with this format are largely the same, but that doesn't mean they're all equal in quality. 

As a long-time "Family Guy" fan, I've taken it upon myself to rank every "Road To..." episode from worst to best based on the quality of the jokes and musical numbers. If a show is going to parody something, it only seems appropriate to judge how successful they are by pulling off a story that does justice to the source material.

"Road to India" is the latest "Family Guy" "Road To..." episode at the time of writing, and it aired all the way back in 2016. Given how it was apparent the gimmick was running on fumes, perhaps it's for the best the installments have been paused for the time being. In this episode, Brian falls in love with an Indian woman named Padma (Sheetal Sheth), so he and Stewie travel to India so that he can meet her. 

Right off the bat, "Road to India" gets some points knocked off because we don't really get to see the pair travel, which is usually the best part. They just wind up there, eliminating any travel gags. In this way, the story doesn't really feel like a "Road To..." episode, and if it wasn't for the special title card designating it as such, I honestly would've forgotten to include it in this list. There's also the driving force of the episode, which is whether Brian and Padma will wind up together. Given the status quo nature of sitcoms, we already know they can't, so it's a bit of a moot point. 

The jokes are also precisely what you would expect from "Family Guy" with this premise. Many jokes come at the expense of Indian culture, and even though "Family Guy" can still get away with being controversial, it doesn't always mean the gags land. The best part of the episode is the musical number inspired by Bollywood dance routines, which is fairly inventive, but it's not enough to save the episode as a whole. 

The second "Road To..." episode, "Road to Europe," proves there were still some kinks to work out. At least with this one, there's an actual journey, as Stewie stows away on a plane so that he can get to London to join the cast of his favorite show, "Jolly Farm Revue." Brian tags along, and they have to get creative upon realizing their plane took them to the Middle East. Some stereotypical moments aside, there are plenty of great bits once they arrive in Europe, from knocking over the pope in a hot air balloon to feeling a little funny in an Amsterdam cafe. 

The song, "You and I Are So Awfully Different," is perfectly suitable. This was back when making gay jokes toward Stewie was still fairly new, even if it's since become old hat at this point. But the main reason why this episode falls so low on the list technically has nothing to do with the "Road To..." story itself. It has to do with the B-plot involving Peter (Seth MacFarlane) and Lois (Alex Borstein) going to a KISS concert. That storyline is great, and it's the one I most associate this episode with.

The best parts of the episode are in that storyline, like Peter getting into a KISS trivia contest with a nudist and Lois off-handedly mentioning how she also slept with J. Geils in addition to KISS. All in all, it's a great episode, but the "Road To..." aspects simply get overshadowed by the KISS story, so it has to rank a little lower. 

By season 11, it's fair to say that "Family Guy" needed to change things up with its "Road To..." series. "Roads to Vegas" is a fascinating effort, as Stewie and Brian decide to teleport to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion perform. However, they get stuck in Quahog and have to travel regularly while the teleportation device creates clones of them that wind up in Vegas and have the best luck imaginable (to an extent). Once our Brian and Stewie get there, they lose all their money and run afoul of a loan shark. It's a big swing you can't help but appreciate. 

The biggest problem with this episode is that there's no musical number, which feels like it should be a requirement. It's even more ridiculous, seeing as they traveled to Las Vegas, which is known for having a ton of great artists with residencies over the years. Heck, Brian and Stewie specifically travel there to see Celine Dion, and even though, she normally doesn't have songs that lend themselves to the type of parodies featured in "Road To..." installments, they could've done something. 

Instead, the episode descends into a pretty dark place when the loan shark murders the clone of Stewie. Without any money, the original Brian jumps off a building to his death, so at the episode's conclusion, we're left with the first Stewie and a clone of Brian. Yup, from this episode forward, we're not actually seeing the Brian we had become accustomed to for years. Allow that to unsettle you whichever way you see fit. 

When Brian accidentally sells Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert, the pair travel to Aspen, Colorado, to get him back in "Road to Rupert." It's a solid "Road To..." outing that's probably best known for featuring a dance sequence from "Anchors Aweigh," which ranks among Gene Kelly's 10 best movies. The unedited scene sees Kelly dance with Jerry from "Tom and Jerry," but here, the mouse is replaced with Stewie dancing alongside him. It may not be a straight-up song that's expected in "Road To..." episodes, but it's pretty neat all the same. 

I'll be honest; the best part of this episode is the bit where Stewie and Brian are hitchhiking and Brian starts singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Stewie asks who sings the song, with Brian replying, "James Taylor," and the joke concludes with Stewie saying, "Let's keep it that way." This episode came out when I was in high school, and my friends and I thought "Let's keep it that way" was super funny. Anytime one of us randomly sang something, we'd always ask who sang it before concluding with "Let's keep it that way." It's a solid joke. 

The B-plot with Meg (Mila Kunis) driving Peter around after he gets his driver's license suspended is okay, if not a sign of things to come with the Griffins abusing Meg in increasingly violent ways. Overall, it's a decent episode with enough going for it to make it a highlight of season 5. 

"Family Guy" faced backlash for the season 3 episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," due to Peter expressing various Jewish stereotypes. The sitcom makes fun of everyone and anyone, but it's been known to cross the line of good taste every now and then. The show sending one of its only Jewish characters, Mort Goldman (Johnny Brennan), back to Nazi-occupied Europe circa 1939 sounds like it would be rife with bad-taste jokes, but it actually does a decent job of toeing that line. 

"Road to Germany" begins with Mort accidentally stepping into Stewie's time machine, so Stewie and Brian go back to return him to the modern day. The episode wisely decides to forgo any B-plot so that we can focus exclusively on the WWII adventure, and there's plenty to like with that sole story. The trio gets into a "Back to the Future"-style chase, and the Hawk Men from "Flash Gordon" show up during an aerial battle. The episode has ample jokes, but it's also pretty impressive how they have a ton of action sequences with a ton of moving parts. Some kudos definitely go out to the animators who had to bring all these wacky set pieces to life. 

"Road to Germany" doesn't have a song, but that's okay, too. As the fourth installment in the "Road To..." series, audiences probably expected one, but right before Stewie and Brian are about to break into one, Mort yells at them, "Will you two just get in the f***ing time machine!?" It's a perfect fake-out, and it's something future "Road To..." episodes lacking a song should've utilized. 

"Road to the North Pole" is an hour-long "Family Guy" special that works great as both a "Road To..." installment and a holiday episode. Stewie feels ripped off by his local mall Santa, so he and Brian go to the North Pole so that he can exact revenge. But when they get there, they discover that Santa welcomes the sweet embrace of death, as he and his inbred elves detest Christmas now that the world has become so greedy, demanding more and more from them. 

It's a fantastic reversal, with Stewie initially seeking revenge and then trying to convince Santa that Christmas is still the most magical holiday. There are actually a few musical beats in the episode, but "Christmastime Is Killing Us" is easily the standout. It has the jaunty tones of a classic holiday song, but the lyrics and dancing showcase the grim reality Santa is under. You might think the episode goes downhill after that, but then, Stewie and Brian try to keep Christmas going on their own, only for the first house to have everything go wrong. 

It sounds cynical, but it actually ends on a pretty heartwarming note, with Stewie and Brian showing the world how their greed is killing Santa. Everyone agrees to ask for a little less. While the episode's ample dark humor is par for the course for "Family Guy," it's the kind of Christmas special you actually want to watch every year around the holidays to enjoy a pretty spectacular journey. 

"Road to Rhode Island" is the first "Family Guy" "Road To..." episode, and it also kind of perfected the formula. Brian travels to Palm Springs, California, to pick up Stewie, but when he loses the airplane tickets, they have to get creative to make it back to Rhode Island. What's most astonishing about this episode is that it helped prove that Stewie and Brian work great together as a duo. Remember: This episode came out in the second season when Stewie was mostly trying to kill Lois and Brian was the voice of reason. They never had a ton of time together, so giving them their own A-plot was a risky gamble that ultimately worked out, as the two have become inseparable in later seasons even outside of the "Road To..." installments. 

The musical number, also called "Road to Rhode Island," comes in toward the end but has a great old-timey feel to it to really call to mind those old Bing Crosby and Bob Hope numbers. There are some great jokes, like Stewie believing his home phone number is 867-5309 (like the song), but there's some real emotion here, too, as Brian visits the farm he was born at, only to discover his mother has died and been stuffed.

The B-plot is great, too, without distracting too much from the A-story, as Lois makes Peter watch relationship videos to bolster their relationship, only for them to be pornographic in nature. Honestly, it's just a good episode of "Family Guy" that doesn't overstay its welcome. 

"Road to the Multiverse" isn't just the best "Road To..." episode of "Family Guy." It's one of the best classic "Family Guy" episodes ever, with Stewie inventing a device that allows him to travel to parallel worlds with Brian tagging along. The problem is the device can't automatically bring them back to their universe, so they have to keep going from universe to universe until they find the path home. This is a great set-up for an episode, as it allows ample gags with each reality having something off about it, from a world where everyone's hot to a reality where humanity is much more technologically advanced.

One memorable set piece transports them to a Disney universe, leading to the song, "It's a Wonderful Day for Pie." It's honestly a great attempt at the kind of inane song one might find in early Disney work before it takes a disturbingly dark turn. There's also an intriguing reversal of fortunes when they go to the universe with the most screen time — one in which dogs rule all while humans are their pets. 

The multiverse may be old hat at this point, but it's the perfect platform for this kind of story. Rapidly going from one reality to the next allows for ample cutaway gags that are simultaneously random yet work within the plot. It's a fantastic episode where the writers really get to stretch their creativity, and if we ever get another "Road To..." episode, hopefully, it's on par with this.