‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Family Guy,’ and ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Share the Ultimate Animation Crossover: Watch First Look
Wilson Chapman
What’s the biggest TV event happening on March 12? Some might say the Oscars ceremony, while others might point to the season finale of “The Last of Us”. But Fox is giving both a run for their money with their newest episode of “Family Guy,” which will see the raunchy animated program stage a three-way crossover with its Fox channel brethren “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers”
“Family Guy” previously crossed over with “The Simpsons” in 2014 during the show’s Season 13 premiere “The Simpsons Guy,” but this is the first time that the two series’ younger Fox sibling “Bob’s Burgers” is getting added to the mix. However, unlike “The Simpsons Guy” — an extra-long 44-minute extravaganza for the two rival shows — the upcoming episode (titled “Adoption”) doesn’t appear to focus on the interplay between the three shows, instead featuring characters from “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers” in a scene released by Fox as a clip before airing. According to Fox’s episode description, the rest of “Adoption” focuses on Lois’ father Carter (MacFarlane) adopting a young girl from an orphanage in order to save his reputation, provoking jealousy from Lois.
In the released clip, Peter (Seth MacFarlane), getting an earful from his wife Lois (Alex Borstein), slowly backs away out of their house to end up in the titular “Bob’s Burger” restaurant. Also there are Bob Belcher (H. Jon Benjamin, making a vocal cameo) himself manning the diner, as well as Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta, who doesn’t lend his voice to the scene), eating a burger. “I’ve backed all the way into the show before us,” Peter says, before sitting down.
“Why are there two sets of prices,” he asks Bob, who replies, “One is the Emmy winner discount.” “Ahh,” Peter — whose show is the only one of the three to not win the Outstanding Animated Program Award at the Emmys — dejectedly says before ordering a black coffee and toast.
The scene brings together three of the four shows on Fox’s long-running Sunday night Animation Domination programming block — the fourth, “The Great North,” premiered in 2021. And all three shows have had serious staying power for Fox: “The Simpsons” has run since 1989 for a mind-boggling 34 seasons and has been renewed through 2025 on its way to hitting 800 episodes, “Family Guy” is on Season 21, while “Bob’s Burger” is merely on its 13th outing. All three shows were renewed for two additional seasons last January. “The Simpsons” and “Bob’s Burgers” also both spawned feature films, with “The Simpsons Movie” hitting the big screen in 2007 and “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” debuting just last year.
“Family Guy” airs 9:30 p.m. Sundays on Fox. Check out the first look from the episode below.
