TV Recap: "Disney’s Hulu’s Family Guy’s Hallmark Channel’s Lifetime's Familiar Holiday Movie” is a Perfect Sendup of Oft-Lambasted Hallmark Holiday Movies

For the second year in a row, Family Guy is once again gracing Hulu with an exclusive festive-themed episode, poking fun at the seemingly endless stream of Hallmark Channel holiday films. In fact, this episode has an endless stream of a title, hilariously called “Disney’s Hulu’s Family Guy’s Hallmark Channel’s Lifetime’s Familiar Holiday Movie.” Below, you’ll find my recap and thoughts on this special holiday edition of Family Guy.

The episode opens with a shot of the small town of Townsville, before we see the title of the episode being urinated into the snow by Peter. We then cut to the City of Cityopolis, where Lois plays an overworked big-city executive obsessed with becoming CEO of the corporate giant Big Pie. We begin to hear a humorous introductory song sang by a street performer, voiced by country music star Lainey Wilson, set to a montage of Lois around the city. In her corporate office, she's working with Quagmire, who gets to say a line that has to feature in most Hallmark movies: "when are you going to slow down and find a man?"

After the company keeps losing awards to a tiny rural pie shop, her demanding boss (Mr. Pewterschmidt) sends her to a small town to steal Aunt Maude’s secret recipe—a classic Hallmark setup. On her drive there, Lois gets into a snowy car accident and finds herself stranded in the quaint town of Townsville, where she meets Peter, a rugged small-town mechanic and pie baker, along with his son Stewie – who ends up pointing out a lot of the flaws of the types of movies this episode is parodying. In this episode, Bonnie is Peter's girlfriend, taking on the role of an attractive female hired to bring in the male audience that will inevitably never come.

Lois has to wait three days for her car repairs, as the small town only has one ladder. In the meantime, Peter takes Lois on a tour of the town to explore how it celebrates Christmas, before Peter hilariously becomes stuck under an ice rink. We then learn that Peter is the owner of Aunt Maude’s Pie Shop, which throws a wrench in Lois' plans to steal the secret recipe, as she's slowly falling in love with Peter. Lois is introduced to two local townsfolk, played by Cleveland and Joe, in a scene that Peter says can easily be edited out without loss of continuity in certain red states. Peter shares that the recipe came from his grandma Maude, while he recounts a story about his dead wife – who isn't actually dead, as Stewie is quick to point out.

Despite Lois thinking that the townspeople are very nice, Mr. Pewterschmidt continues to pressures her to steal the recipe during the Christmas pageant, now with the additional goal of bankrupting the entire town. A oft-used joke with older people is used when Mr. Pewterschmidt can't hang up the phone, which derails into a conversation about the 2004 comedy Taxi, starring Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah. Lois goes on to spends time with Peter’s chaotic family, which includes a meth-addicted Chris – a memorable single appearance for the character in the episode – and begins feeling conflicted about her mission. When Peter catches her snooping for the recipe, he’s heartbroken and storms off, possibly ill with COVID, though played for comedic denial. Realizing she’s made a mistake, Lois seeks advice from a Hallmark-style wise mentor figure played by Andie MacDowell (but as pointed out, definitely not voiced by her), who encourages her to fight for love.

At the Christmas pageant, the town prepares for its big duet, but Peter’s partner Bonnie is sick. Lois volunteers to step in, and despite his anger, Peter agrees to perform with her. Singing back-to-back so their touching butts won’t distract him, the duet rekindles their feelings in a hilarious performance of "Let it Snow." Peter proposes to Lois after the performance, but Lois finds out she’s been chosen as CEO of Big Pie with after Mr. Pewterschmidt gets fired. Peter, supportive, tells her to follow her dreams. Lois accepts the job and returns to the city, leading corporate meetings and approving new flavors, though she eventually admits she misses Townsville and Peter. She decides to follow her heart, but the snowy landscape causes her to trip in a scene recalling Peter's iconic knee pain.

Lois eventually returns to Townsville, but she's become disabled in a similar vein to Stephen Hawking, with a hilarious recorded version of her voice. Peter doesn't want to go for this, so he shrugs her off, blaming the town's lack of ADA accessibility, as the episode comes to an unexpected but perfect ending. Just before the credits, we get to see Cleveland present some "deleted scenes" from the episode to be shown only in blue states – a final meta joke about the Hallmark's demographic.

This is a perfect episode to get you in the festive spirit, with Family Guy's usual blend of heartwarming humor and meta references. There's a lot of the latter on display here, with the episode pretty neatly distilling what makes Hallmark movies so cringeworthy in the eyes of many. Alongside the previously released Halloween special, “Disney’s Hulu’s Family Guy’s Hallmark Channel’s Lifetime’s Familiar Holiday Movie” serves as a great way to whet our appetites while we wait for Family Guy to return for a new season in the spring.

"Disney’s Hulu’s Family Guy’s Hallmark Channel’s Lifetime’s Familiar Holiday Movie" is now available to stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.