text: meet the quagmires " meet the quagmires " is the 18th and final episode of the fifth season of the animated comedy series family guy . it originally aired on fox on may 20 , 2007 . the episode features peter after he goes back in time , in order to live the single life a little longer , before he meets future wife lois . this causes quagmire to make his own move on lois , and they ultimately end up marrying and having children ; peter is horrified by this " alternate timeline " and resolves to go back in time again and set things right . the episode was written by mark hentemann and directed by dan povenmire and chris robertson . it received mostly positive reviews from critics for its storyline and many cultural references . according to nielsen ratings , it was viewed in 9 . 1 million homes in its original airing . the episode featured guest performances by luke adams , jeff bergman , adam carolla , beth littleford and will sasso , along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series . plot after hearing quagmire brag about his sexual exploits , peter feels that he has missed out on enjoying the single lifestyle . death is summoned to the drunken clam on a false alarm ( thinking that horace had died ) , and decides to grant peter 's wish by sending him , along with brian , back to 1984 for one night . he notices his friend cleveland , in his ' 80s look , who high - fives him around the pool . he then sees 18 - year - old lois pewterschmidt walking around the country club pool , taking her high - heeled shoes off and jumping off the diving board into the pool with " mr. night " playing in the background , a reference to the movie , caddyshack . appearing to others as his 18 - year - old self , peter cancels his scheduled movie date to see ! with lois , instead accepting an invitation from cleveland to go and party at a bar . peter enjoys the evening , and ends up making out with actress molly ringwald before death appears to return him to the present . back in the present day , peter discovers that his past actions have had drastic effects on the world : he and molly have been married for 20 years ; judd nelson crashes at their house once or twice a week ; lois is married to quagmire ; al gore is now president ; chris , meg , and stewie have quagmire 's chin , nose , and mannerisms ; and chevy chase is the host of the tonight show . brian explains to peter that by missing out on his date with lois and making out with molly , he altered the time line . despite brian 's objections about leaving the " perfect " world ( in which there are flying cars that run on vegetable oil and gore has killed osama bin laden by strangling him with his bare hands ) , peter wants to go back to the past so he can undo his mistake . brian says that this is impossible because death can only be summoned if someone dies and thanks to gore 's universal health care , people are living much longer along with a strong , well - funded educational system and zero tolerance gun control that has eliminated street crime . however , when jane jetson suddenly falls on the sidewalk and dies , death arrives and again grants peter 's wish to return to the past . back in the past , peter is determined to accept lois ' invitation but repeatedly blows his opportunity and ends up repeatedly asking death for a do - over . when peter finally gets it right , he forgets a few hours later and parties with cleveland instead of keeping the date . he asks death for another chance but death , fed up with peter 's continued blunders , tells him that he will have to fix the problem on his own . when peter tries to apologize the next day , lois is still upset with him for missing their date and has decided to go to the country club dance with quagmire . later that night , peter and brian sneak into the dance to prevent the kiss that caused lois to fall in love with quagmire . they get in by crawling through the air vent , but crash through and kill one of the guys playing in the band on the stage , so brian has to play guitar and sing . peter tries to convince lois that they belong together but she stubbornly informs peter that he had his chance and blew it , and therefore she loves quagmire now . peter almost gives up but brian notices chris , stewie , and meg disappearing from a family picture , indicating that they have fallen off the plane of existence and tells peter it is his last chance to do something that proves he loves lois . peter then demonstrates his passion by punching quagmire and kissing lois , showing that he cares deeply for her and wins back her love . he asks her to marry him and she accepts . in honor of this success , brian and the band play " never gonna give you up " by rick astley . the episode ends with things seemingly back to normal , with the exception of roger from american dad ! apparently living with the family . production the episode was written by series regular and future showrunner mark hentemann , and directed by chris robertson and series regular dan povenmire , who left the series after completing the episode , in order to create his own series for the disney channel entitled phineas and ferb , which has since been nominated for three emmy awards . peter shin , james purdum and chris robertson acted as supervising director . series creator seth macfarlane , david a. goodman , danny smith , mark hentemann , steve callaghan and chris sheridan acted as executive producers . alec sulkin , wellesley wild , alex borstein and mike henry worked as supervising producers . cherry chevapravatdumrong and patrick meighan worked as executive story editors . the episode 's original premise was based on cleveland 's divorce from his wife , loretta , with cleveland going on to become a hot bachelor in quahog , causing peter to become jealous , and desiring to become single again . due to warner bros. ' s ownership of hanna – barbera , the scene involving the jetsons was completely reanimated by povenmire , including the backgrounds and scenery for the sequence . meet the quagmires , along with four other episodes from the fifth season , and the first seven episodes of the sixth season , were released under the title " volume 6 " by 20th century fox in the united states and canada on october 21 , 2008 , five months after they had completed broadcast on television . the dvd release also features bonus material including deleted scenes , commentaries , and a ' making of ' featurette . in addition to the regular cast , the episode featured guest performances by voice actors luke adams and jeff bergman , actors adam carolla and beth littleford , and comedian and actor will sasso . recurring guest voices include alex breckenridge , voice actors johnny brennan and chris cox , and writers mark hentemann , alec sulkin , and john viener . cultural references in the opening scene of the episode , horace the bartender is suddenly knocked unconscious after falling off a ladder , causing death to appear . after it is discovered that horace is not actually dead , death complains that he never likes to be too far from journalist mike wallace . wallace was still alive as of the original airing date . the back to the future trilogy is parodied and referenced throughout the episode , along with many other movies and famous people throughout the 1980s . other cultural references include how after going back in time , peter becomes excited about his new prospects in life , and states to cleveland that he is going to " raise more hell than hellraiser " from the 1987 horror film hellraiser . it also depicts pinhead as weak and ridiculous , stating that the worst he can do is unscrew a salt shaker and trick someone into using it , causing salt to come out all over their food . the first scene where lois appears at the swimming pool is a reference to a scene from the 1980 film caddyshack , featuring the song " mr. night " by kenny loggins . once lois appears , she asks peter if he would like to see the 1982 film ! . rejecting her offer , peter decides to go partying with cleveland instead and play the video game menstrual ms. pac - man , in addition to making out with actress molly ringwald . while there , brian gets into a fight , and instructs the bar patron to meet him on top of the world trade center to fight him at eight a.m. on september 11 , 2001 . while downstairs in the alternate universe , peter makes a reference to the twilight zone episode , " the eye of the beholder . " the joke about the world trade center has been edited from current versions of the show accessible on netflix as of january 2012 . returning to the present , peter and brian decide to watch television , and are shocked to discover that actor chevy chase is now the host of the tonight show . they also discover that former vice president al gore is now president of the united states , and flying cars running on vegetable oil exist . a parody of the 1962 abc animated series , hanna - barbera 's the jetsons , is then shown . in the alternate reality , death refers to the dick cheney hunting accident , explaining that the " chairman of halliburton " accidentally shot and killed karl rove , antonin scalia , and tucker carlson ( brian groans that peter and he can 't change this wonderful future , but peter flatly says " i don 't know who any of those people are " ) . the main plot of the episode , complete with the scene in which peter and brian are in the living room , with brian explaining to peter what happened using a chalk board , is a reference to the alternate universe scene in back to the future part ii . in the past once again , peter suggests to lois that they see the 1983 film krull instead . later , peter and cleveland , dressed up as michael jackson in the iconic red jacket of his video clip " thriller , " dance to the beverly hills cop theme . in order to make everything right about the future , peter and brian decide to sneak into the prom through a vent . while inside it , peter recites a line from the 1988 action film die hard . the sequence that follows is a parody of the 1985 film back to the future . after crashing through the vent to the stage , the band begins playing " earth angel " by the penguins , and , after peter kisses lois , brian sings the 1987 single " never gonna give you up " by musician rick astley . while brian sings " never gonna give you up " , rick astley 's cousin marvin calls him to say he 's found the " mediocre , generic sound " that astley has been looking for , a reference to back to the future . in the closing scene of the episode roger the alien from series creator seth macfarlane 's second show american dad ! suddenly appears in the griffin family home , inquiring about pecan . reception in a significant improvement over the previous week , the episode was viewed in 9 . 15 million homes in its original airing , according to nielsen ratings . the episode also acquired a 3 . 2 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic , slightly being edged out by the simpsons , while significantly winning over american dad ! , in both rating and total viewership . reviews of the episode were mostly positive , noting its ability to " capture some of the appeal from the pre - cancellation days . " ahsan haque of ign praised the episode 's story , writing that it had " a great storyline and the right combination of irrelevant and relevant jokes " , giving the episode an 8 . 4 out of 10 . in another positive review , brett love of tv squad called the episode " solid , " and praised the scenes set in 1984 , and the alternate world . love went on to state , " the show has lost a little of the luster that it once had , but that 's no reason to count them out . there were enough bright spots to give hope for a return to that old form when season six comes around in the fall . " he graded " meet the quagmires " 5 out of 7 . the episode was voted # 10 on bbc three 's list of top ten family guy episodes .