Road to the North Pole

Plot

Brian takes Stewie to the mall, only to get a rude brush-off from the Santa who works there when he leaves for the night. As a result, Stewie vows to kill Santa for blowing him off and forces Brian to take him to the North Pole. Attempting to trick Stewie, he brings him to a Santa's Village amusement park. Soon discovering the charade, Stewie threatens to shoot Brian if he does not take him to the real North Pole. Stewie hitches a ride with a trucker and so Brian follows him all the way to Canada. On the way, Stewie accidentally causes a traffic pileup by discharging a flare pistol in the cab of the truck, which catches fire and explodes. Crashing his car in a chain reaction, Brian becomes angry and tells Stewie that Santa does not exist. Stewie becomes frustrated and continues to attempt to hitchhike, corecing Brian to join him. The pair then encounter a Canadian who gives them his snowmobile.

Continuing north, they soon run out of gas, but receive help from the Aurora Boreanaz, who instructs them to stay at a nearby cabin. The two survive the night in the cabin and set out on foot the next morning. They finally make it to Santa's workshop, only to find a dark, gloomy factory in a dreary, polluted, lifeless wasteland, Santa a sickly and depressed old man, the elves all horribly mutated and inbred due to Santa's attempts to keep up with the increasing gift demands year after year, and the reindeer carnivorous, feral monsters that eat the elves who wander out into the snow to die of exhaustion. Santa suddenly collapses and is too sick to deliver the presents. Brian and Stewie agree to do it, but end up wasting an hour and a half at their first house after the family discover their presence, before discovering they were in the wrong house. Realizing that they will not be able to complete the delivery in time, and understanding firsthand the impossibility of Santa's job, Stewie and Brian abandon the delivery in lieu of another plan.

On Christmas morning, everybody wakes up to find no presents under their trees. They turn on the news, which is broadcasting the same story. Brian and Stewie appear on the broadcast and bring the dying Santa out in a wheelchair, explaining that humanity's greed is killing him and if they don't shorten their demands to one Christmas present a year, they may have to give up Christmas altogether. Chastened, everyone agrees and by one year later, Santa has recovered, the workshop is once again a lively, colorful cottage and the elves and reindeer are all rejuvenated.

Production and development

"Road to the North Pole" is the sixth episode of the "Road to" episodes of the series which air through various seasons of the show. It was directed by Family Guy veteran Greg Colton, this being the first episode he has directed since the eighth season episode "Go Stewie, Go." This is also Colton's third "Road to" episode, the first being "Road to Germany" and the second being "Road to the Multiverse." The episode was written by Chris Sheridan and Danny Smith, this being the first Smith wrote since "Partial Terms of Endearment," and his first "Road to" episode. It included staff writers Alex Carter, Andrew Goldberg and Elaine Ko. It is an hour-long special with three musical numbers. Ron MacFarlane, Seth MacFarlane's father, served as the episode's narrator. This is also the first "Road to" episode to be composed by Ron Jones.

Two of the musical numbers, "All I Really Want for Christmas" and "Christmastime is Killing Us" were released as digital downloads on iTunes. "Christmastime is Killing Us" was available on December 3, 2010, while "All I Really Want for Christmas" was made available on December 10, 2010.

In addition to the regular cast, the episode also guest starred actress Drew Barrymore, voice actor H. Jon Benjamin, actor David Boreanaz, actress Karley Scott Collins, actress Carrie Fisher, actor Ron MacFarlane, father of series creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane, actor Bruce McGill, voice actor Will Ryan, voice actress Tara Strong and actress Nana Visitor. Recurring guest voice actors John G. Brennan, actor Chris Cox, actor Ralph Garman, writer Chris Sheridan, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin, actress Jennifer Tilly and writer John Viener also made minor appearances.

Reception

"Road to the North Pole" was broadcast on December 12, 2010, as a part of an animated television night on Fox, and was preceded by The Simpsons, and followed by Family Guy creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane's second show, American Dad!. It was watched by 8.03 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, despite airing simultaneously with the Desperate Housewives on ABC, The Amazing Race and Undercover Boss on CBS and Sunday Night Football on NBC. The episode also acquired a 3.9 rating in the 18–49 demographic, beating American Dad! and The Simpsons in addition to significantly edging out both shows in total viewership. The episode's ratings increased significantly from the previous week's episode.

This episode received generally positive response from critics. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave "Road to the North Pole" a positive review, stating that it is "a satisfying episode of Family Guy all around, filled with funny gags and nice moments." He especially praised the musical segments, and the portrayal of the North Pole, writing that "the way the episode kept piling more and more ridiculous horrors on top of each other kept the whole thing funny." He rated the episode an "A-". Jason Hughes of TV Squad also praised the songs and the depiction of Santa's factory, though he found the delivery of the episode's message "heavy-handed." Kate Moon of TV Fanatic gave the episode 3.6 out of 5 stars. She said, "I had mixed feelings about this one, despite its clever moments and hopeful ending. While I normally have no problems about Family Guy’s shocking or offensive themes, I felt bit disconcerted about the direction of this Christmas episode." She went on to say, "Perhaps it was the way that the series stomped on something as innocent as Santa and his elves and twisted them all around. Or perhaps it was the cannibalistic reindeer. Whatever the specific reason, the irreverent nature of Family Guy seemed just a little too graphic for me this time around." Tom Eames of entertainment website Digital Spy placed the episode at number twelve on his listing of the best Family Guy episodes in order of "yukyukyuks" and described the episode as "Christmas comedy gold", praising the 'Christmastime is Killing Us' song and Boreanaz's cameo.

The Parents Television Council, a conservative campaigning critic of Seth MacFarlane works, named Family Guy its "Worst TV Show of the Week" for "Road to the North Pole" for the week ending on December 17, 2010. It got this rating due to sexual content and excessive violent scenes including the scene in which Stewie beats a man to death with a baseball bat, and the scenes featuring Seth MacFarlane's father, Ron, while also stating, "Forget naughty or nice. This show was simply nauseating." Robin Pierson of The TV Critic gave "Road to the North Pole" a 47 out of a possible 100, said "A little more interesting plot wise than the usual fare but otherwise just as gruesome". He especially disliked the portrayal of Santa and his elves and the violence.

The episode was also nominated for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics (for song "Christmastime Is Killing Us", written by Ron Jones, Seth MacFarlane, and Danny Smith) and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation. It won for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation.

The series was successfully nominated in 2009, but failed to merit an award. Mark Hentemann, executive producer and showrunner of Family Guy said of the nominating process, "We had internal discussions in the writers' room, and it seemed like we were much more akin to the other primetime comedies than we were to children's shows in animation. We assumed we would not get anywhere, and so it was a great surprise when we got the nomination."

"Christmastime Is Killing Us" was nominated for Best Song Written for a Visual Media at the 54th Grammy Awards.