Family Guy (season 5) - Reception

Reception

The fifth season premiere "Stewie Loves Lois" received a 3.5 rating share in the Nielsen ratings among viewers age 18 to 49, attracting 9.93 million viewers overall, the highest rated episode of the entire season. Both of these figures significantly built upon numbers set by the fourth season finale. In the weeks following "Stewie Loves Lois", viewership ratings hovered just over 8 million. Aside from the premiere, "Hell Comes to Quahog", the third episode for the season, garnered the most viewers thereafter with 9.66 million, a high for the fifth season. While the episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One" received the lowest amount of viewers for the season with 7.22 million.

Episodes of the fifth season won several awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award. "No Chris Left Behind", which won for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation, became the third episode of the series to win an Emmy Award, and was awarded to Steven Fonti for his storyboard work in the episode. In addition, that same episode won an Annie Award for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production. The season was nominated for three other Annie Awards—Character Animation in a Television Production (Eileen Kohlhepp for the series itself), Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production (Mila Kunis for "Barely Legal"), and Writing in an Animated Television Production (Kirker Butler for "Barely Legal").

The Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of Family Guy, branded "Stewie Loves Lois", "Barely Legal", "No Meals on Wheels", and "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey" as the "worst show of the week." In response to this criticism, executive producer David Goodman claimed that Family Guy is "absolutely for teenagers and adults", and that he does not allow his own children to watch the show.

The season received varied reviews from critics. Ahsan Haque of IGN wrote mixed comments about the season, saying, "The ratio of bad to good episodes was not too favorable in this season of Family Guy. Far too many episodes were either seriously lacking in humor or were just plain poorly written", but added, "While much of the original appeal seems to have washed-off, there are still a few moments from this season that really stand out", listing "Chick Cancer", "Road to Rupert", "Saving Private Brian", and "No Meals on Wheels" as the best episodes of the season. Haque also gave praise to "Blind Ambition", "No Chris Left Behind", "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey", and "Meet the Quagmires". Manisha Kanetkar of Smart House, however, felt that the series saw "no sign of tiring" and had "as many funny moments as ever." Nancy Basile of About.com regarded "Airport '07", "Prick Up Your Ears", and "Barely Legal" as "gem episodes." In his review for the Family Guy volume five DVD, Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk said "There are several points to criticize when it comes to this set, including a series that's losing some of its steam and relying on comedic crutches and an oddly constructed episode structure, but in the end, the series is fun to watch, which is all you really ask for from a cartoon sitcom." In a later review, Rizzo added "Is Family Guy coasting on it's past successes? It could be argued, as the series doesn't surprise or shock the way it once did, instead doing the things that have worked before and doing them more and larger. The DVD releases are predictable and consistent, with high quality and impressive rafts of bonus material, but if the show doesn't do it for you, that doesn't make much of a difference."