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The season premiere of the Fox animated sitcom 鈥淔amily Guy鈥� found the Griffin family meeting the Simpsons family of Fox's other famous cartoon series.

鈥淔amily Guy鈥� creator Seth MacFarlane told Entertainment Weekly that the crossover effort was led by Richard Appel, who was once a 鈥淪impsons鈥� writer and is now executive producer and co-showrunner for 鈥淔amily Guy.鈥澛�

鈥淵ou need somebody who can be in that room and say with experience, 鈥楴o, no, I wrote for this show 鈥� that鈥檚 not something Homer would say,鈥欌�� MacFarlane said of the process. 鈥淭his feels like it will be very satisfying to fans of both shows.鈥�

The installment included Simpson father Homer and Griffin family patriarch Peter getting into a fight and "Family Guy" character Stewie going after the 鈥淪impsons鈥� bully character Nelson. There was plenty of meta commentary and jokes about both shows, including Homer flinging Emmy Award statuettes at Peter during their fight (Peter objected, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 no fair! I don鈥檛 got none of them!,鈥� according to the website聽Mashable) and "Family Guy" son Chris discussing cross-overs and saying, 鈥淎 crossover always bring out the best in each show! It certainly doesn鈥檛 smack of desperation! The priorities are always creative and not driven by marketing.鈥�

How you viewed the episode seemed to depend on what you think of both animated shows and whether they鈥檙e past their prime.聽

鈥淎fter 26 years,聽聽The Simpsons聽isn鈥檛 funny,鈥� USA Today writer Mike Foss wrote of the episode. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a very long time since聽The聽Simpsons聽had its edge, and the pairing of聽Family Guy聽seemed like a perfect opportunity to find it again 鈥� if only for an episode鈥� MacFarlane often recounts how watching聽The Simpsons聽made him change his聽career ambitions. Yet, none of that inspiration was able to come through Sunday night because it was a MacFarlane production 鈥� to our detriment, Groening sat this one out.鈥�

Jesse Schedeen of the website IGN wrote that 鈥渢he results are stronger than average for [鈥楩amily Guy鈥橾 given its recent quality, even if the episode never takes full advantage of the crossover premise鈥� In general, this episode is pretty successful in its attempts at meta-humor. It pokes fun not just at the similarities between the two shows, but other animated sitcoms... The novelty of seeing these two animated worlds cross paths can only support an episode for so long, and this is where 鈥楾he Simpsons Guy鈥� falters.鈥�

Meanwhile, Jason Hughes of TheWrap wrote that the episode brought out the best of both fictional worlds, though he doesn鈥檛 think it should happen again.聽

鈥淭here were plenty of laughs and highlights along the way,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭he courtroom scene putting the two shows鈥� characters side-by-side with their closest counterpart was a hilarious nod to the similarities between the two animated worlds, while it was impressive how many nods to both shows they managed to squeeze in鈥� 鈥楩amily Guy鈥� is a much darker and scarier animated reality than 'The Simpsons' and these two worlds should definitely not cross over again any time soon鈥� Easily one of the most entertaining hours on television, neither show will likely match its sharp wit and cutting satire for the remainder of their respective seasons.鈥�