Reception
"MacFarlane penned the premiere segment, whose storyline largely involves Peter and Lois heading off on a second honeymoon to bring the passion back to a marriage that leaves her fantasizing about George Clooney during sex. As if that isn't offensive enough there's also copulation that occurs atop the carved mountain Mount Rushmore icons. It's funny stuff, sometimes too smugly self-aware of its own outrageousness. But hey, you can bet the DVD is gonna be huge."
Ray Richmond, The Hollywood Reporter."North by North Quahog" was broadcast on May 1, 2005 as part of an animated television night on Fox, was preceded by two episodes of The Simpsons (including the show's 350th episode), and was followed by the premiere of MacFarlane's new show, American Dad!. It was watched by 11.85 million viewers, higher than both The Simpsons and American Dad. The episode's ratings were Family Guy's highest ratings since the airing of the season one episode "Brian: Portrait of a Dog". Family Guy was the week's highest-rated show among teens and men in the 18 to 34 demographic, and more than doubled Fox's average in its timeslot. The episode's first broadcast in Canada, on June 5, 2005, on CTV, was watched by 1.27 million viewers, making it fourth for the week it was broadcast, behind CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami and Canadian Idol.
The reactions of television critics to "North by North Quahog" were mostly positive. In a simultaneous review of the two episodes of The Simpsons that preceded this episode and the American Dad! pilot, Chase Squires of the St. Petersburg Times stated that "North by North Quahog" "... score the highest". Multimedia news and reviews website IGN was pleased to see Stewie and Brian get more screen time as a duo, something they thought had always been one of the show's biggest strengths. IGN placed Peter's idea to pose as Mel Gibson and steal Passion of the Christ 2 in 9th place on their list of "Peter Griffin's Top 10 Craziest Ideas". Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe commented that the episode's material "would wear thin after a while if the character's weren't as distinct and endearing as they are, most notably Stewie, the wrathful infant."
Critics reacted positively to the opening sequence; in his review of the episode, Mark McGuire of The Times Union wrote: "... the first minute or so of the resurrected Family Guy ranks among the funniest 60 seconds I've seen so far this season." Variety critic Brian Lowry considered the opening sequence to be the best part of the episode. M. Keith Booker, author of the book Drawn to Television: Primetime Television from The Flintstones to Family Guy, called the opening sequence an "... in-your-face, I-told-you-so rejoinder to the Fox brass followed by one of the most outrageous Family Guy episodes ever".
However, the episode also garnered negative responses. Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer stated that "Three years off the air has not made the 'Family Guy' team that much more creative". Kevin Wong of PopMatters thought the episode made fun of easy targets such as Gibson and The Passion of The Christ, although he felt Family Guy regained "... its admirable mix of niche nostalgia and hysterical characterizations" after the first two episodes of the new season. Though Alex Strachan, critic for The Montreal Gazette, praised the opening sequence, he felt "it's all downhill from there". Bill Brioux of the Toronto Star considered the show to be similar to The Simpsons. Media watchdog group the Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of the show, branded the episode the "worst show of the week".
"North by North Quahog" was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour), the eventual recipient of the award being South Park episode "Best Friends Forever". Peter Shin, director of the episode, won the Annie Award for Best Directing in an Animated Television Production. Fellow Family Guy director Dan Povenmire, was nominated for the same award for directing "PTV".
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