Brace yourself, the Christmas specials are coming, and Family Guy's is taking aim at Hallmark's cozy festive romance films this year. The yarn will have all the trappings of a warm, cheesy romp, with Lois Griffin at the helm, because obviously.
"It gets harder and harder every year to try to think of an original - or what we hope is an original - Christmas episode," Alec Sulkin, an executive producer and showrunner on Family Guy, tells Collider. "So this year, we just decided to give up trying to be original and just used every single thing that's been used before."
It's a smart strategy, and there are plenty of tropes and stereotypes to joke on across the Hallmark's on-screen offerings. The special is titled, Disney's Hulu's Family Guy's Hallmark Channel's Lifetime's Familiar Holiday Movie (try saying that three times fast), and it'll feature Lois as a big city type sent to the village of Townsville to acquire a special recipe for her company's own use.
She gets more than she bargained for on the trip, including - shock - love, with a charming local mechanic named Peter who teaches her all about what really matters in life. I'm not sure on that last part, this is Family Guy after all, but the showrunners are coming from a place of understanding the appeal in the genre's gooey-ness.
"It's just like entertainment Xanax, those Hallmark movies," Silkin states. "Sometimes when you turn them on, you're like, 'You know what? Life in this town wouldn't be so bad.' There's absolutely an element of wish fulfillment."
Disney's Hulu's Family Guy's Hallmark Channel's Lifetime's Familiar Holiday Movie is due to premiere on November 28. Our new TV shows guide will make picking your viewing even easier this holiday season.
