Top 10 Times Peter Griffin Was Actually Nice to Someone

“The Courtship of Stewie’s Father”

In the early seasons, Peter wants to be a good dad. When Lois tells Peter to bond with Stewie in this episode, he does so by teaming up with his baby to torture his wife over and over again. Of course, this backfires, and Lois ends up punishing Stewie, who becomes mad at Peter after he doesn’t take his side. To make it up to Stewie, Peter takes him on a surprise trip to Disney World. It is an example of Peter’s tendency to excess. If he wants to do something nice, it’s going to be over the top.

“Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington”

When a tobacco company took over the toy factory Peter worked at, it promoted him to an executive position and gave him countless perks. Peter was able to give his family lobster for dinner, and he was even given his own company suckup. However, the company eventually wanted Peter to lobby politicians in Washington, D.C., and when he sees that his son is addicted to cigarettes, he urges congress to fine the tobacco company. Early episodes often gave Peter a moral test that he eventually passed, but we’re not so sure Peter in the later seasons would be so honorable.

“Turkey Guys”

After Peter irresponsibly eats a turkey reserved for a thanksgiving dinner, Lois tasks him with finding another turkey for them to eat. Peter and Brian go on a long journey, which includes breaking into a zoo to get a live turkey. However, when Peter brings the turkey home and is about to butcher the animal with a golf club, he backs out. At the risk of enraging Lois further and ruining Thanksgiving, Peter decided he couldn’t bring himself to kill an innocent creature. Unfortunately, this touching act of compassion is spoiled by Chris.

“Padre de Familia”

Peter starts off this episode as fiercely anti-immigrant, calling for an office policy at his workplace where everyone must prove their citizenship. However, it is revealed that Peter was actually born in Mexico and his mother never bothered to have him naturalized. As a result, he loses his job and must work for Carter. While working at Carter’s estate, he comes into contact with immigrant families, finding out how hard they work and how rough they have it. Thinking of others for a change, Peter takes it upon him to stand up for the marginalized group. The episode has a nice arc for Peter where he screws himself with bad karma and redeems himself with good karma.

“The Son Also Draws”

Of his three children, Peter is probably most supportive of Chris, though that support tends to be misguided. Such as the case in this episode when Peter tries to get Chris reinstated in scouts despite his son no longer wanting to be part of the organization. When Peter and Chris are alone in the woods as part of a vision quest, Chris opens up to him about how he really wants to draw rather than participate in scouts. Although initially hesitant, Peter decides that Chris should pursue his passion, complimenting his artistic talent. Given how much of a monster he is to Meg and how indifferent he is to Stewie, this is about as good as it gets when it comes to Peter and parenting.

“McStroke”

Brought in to help fight a fire at a burning restaurant, Peter rushes in to save the manager. However, in the process, Peter loses his mustache, which ironically inspired his act of bravery. In the first part of the episode, Peter put a lot of effort into growing his mustache and it changed his outlook on the world. This made the sacrifice all the more meaningful, and we recognize how lost Peter is without it. At least he was rewarded with an unlimited supply of hamburgers for his heroic deed… which he naturally takes too far.

“Let’s Go to the Hop”

To encourage students at James Woods High to stop licking hallucinogenic toads, Peter adopts the fake persona, Lando Griffin. The act works, and Lando becomes the most popular person at the school, having scored a date with Connie D’Amico at the Winter Ball. However, having counted on Lando to boost his popularity, Meg is distraught with this decision. At the ball, Peter sets things right by pretending that he wanted to go out with Meg but was rejected. With this act, Peter was giving up a second chance to be the cool kid at high school, but he made Meg look good.

“Death Lives”

At the beginning of this episode, Peter decides to play golf with his buddies rather than celebrate his wedding anniversary with Lois. After a freak accident, Death comes to Peter and shows him how he’s taken Lois for granted. Having realized his mistake, Peter asks Death to coerce legendary artist Peter Frampton to play one of his songs live as an anniversary gift for Lois. While this favor isn’t nice for Peter Frampton - forcing him to play music against his will - it is a sweet romantic gesture on Peter’s part toward his wife.

“BFFs”

This good deed came from an episode of “The Cleveland Show,” where Peter made a rare appearance. Feeling snubbed by Peter, Cleveland invites his friends from Stoolbend, VA on a camping trip. Unfortunately, they end up getting kidnapped by a bunch of hillbillies. However, Peter comes in at the last minute and saves the day with the help of the Evil Monkey. He was able to figure out what the hillbillies’ intentions were just from picking up on Donna telling him Cleveland was going camping with friends. Though Peter isn’t always the ideal friend, he is incredibly loyal.

“Brian: Portrait of a Dog”

Brian is grateful to be a part of the Griffin family after Peter took him in when he was a stray. However, in this episode, Brian feels unappreciated by Peter, and leaves the family to strike out on his own once again. Things don’t go well for Brian, and he’s put on trial where he could be euthanized. Peter shows up as a character witness for Brian and pours his heart out to the jury. And when that doesn’t work, he gives them each a bribe of twenty bucks to let Brian go. In doing so, Peter shows Brian he will always have support in the Griffin household.