Peter Griffin

"Of course I love you, Lois. You're the most important person world to me."

- Peter Grffin

Peter Löwenbräu Griffin, Sr. (Peter Löwenbräu McFinnigan) is the obnoxious, boisterous man who is the main protagonist of the show and origin of the title "Family Guy". He's a man of Irish descent currently residing in Quahog, Rhode Island with his wife Lois Griffin. However, he was born in Mexico, where his mother had tried unsuccessfully to abort him. They have three children, Chris, Meg, and baby Stewie. After a mix up at a sperm bank, Peter also became the biological father of Bertram. In addition, he and Lois had a child named Peter Griffin Jr. who died when Peter shook him too much. Out of pity he also adopted an intellectual talking dog named Brian Griffin who formerly lived on the street as a stray, an accepted fact in Brian's two adoption stories. In The Real Live Griffins he was portrayed by Tom Arnold. He can also be quite villainous at times.

Personality
Similarly to Archie Bunker from All in the Family, Peter appears to be unintelligent and is consistently depicted as crude and lowbrow (though sometimes to a greater extent) and is uninterested in things that are high class (with exceptions). He enjoys activities such as going to up-market tailors and farting inside the suits. His favorite pastime is watching TV. A running gag on the show is Peter's preference for Pauly Shore movies over classic films such as The Godfather and Citizen Kane. He is also a huge KISS fan and followed them during the KissStock shows and even got a copy of Kiss Saves Santa for Christmas. Peter is also an ardent fan of Barry Manilow, though this is a fact he has been known to deny in public (to a certain extent, anyway). Peter also mentions that he wears the male deodorant Speed Stick to his wife Lois, saying "Smell my Speed Stick?" while he is standing behind her in the office. Peter also mentioned that he enjoys the following breakfast cereals: Total, Trix, and Boo Berry. Additionally, Peter is an avid Star Trek fan and at the annual Quahog Star Trek Convention, mistook a person with the mumps as being in costume as an alien.

An I.Q. test confirms that his low intellect places him in a category below mentally retarded. His mental shortcomings have resulted in various accidents to other people; most notably the death of his step-father Francis Griffin, and injuries on multiple occasions to his wife Lois Griffin. His attention span is also incredibly short. When he discovers his mental retardation in Petarded, he closes his eyes while driving, wishing "it would all be over" (hitting Tom Tucker with his car instead). Given his short attention span, as well as his erratic and frequently inappropriate behavior, it is conceivable that Peter suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD.

Peter also has a habit of proving his masculinity, not wanting Lois to fall for another man. He is incredibly jealous of other attractions Lois has in her life, an attitude that tends to get out of hand in most cases; in Stuck Together, Torn Apart, he goes so far as to punch his reflection in the mirror after Lois comments on it being handsome. In Brian Sings and Swings, he tells Lois, "Remember what I always tell you, if I come home in the middle of the day and catch you having sex with someone, I'll kill you both" (though when he catches her in bed with Bill Clinton in Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey, he takes no hostile actions whatsoever). However, he seems not to mind the fact that she slept with other men before they met, just so long as she doesn't do so again; he is particularly proud of the fact that she once slept with Gene Simmons of Kiss when he discovers this in Road to Europe, but forbids any sexual activity between the two now as seen in Don't Make Me Over.

Peter seems to find it frustrating that he is "wrong" while Lois is "right" about issues all the time, and apparently takes these issues competitively, just waiting for the day she slips up. This day finally comes in the episode PTV after settling a conflict with Lois about censorship on television that she appeared sure to win. In an ironic twist that forces Lois to concede defeat, Peter celebrates by opening a secret compartment within the ceiling containing balloons, streamers, confetti, and a banner reading "PETER'S RIGHT!"; Peter then claims that he set this up 15 years ago, suggesting that this hed been a pretty major issue for him for quite some time (there was also a clown in the stall, but he had died after being in there for so long). Curiously, in the non-canon episode Da Boom, after Lois admits he was right about the end of the world and she was wrong, Peter makes no reference to the compartment, though he had been bragging about his "victory" for two weeks straight. Maybe the compartment had been damaged in the nuclear devastation.

Among the members of his family, he tends to treat Meg with the least respect; in Peter's Daughter, for example, he reminisces about the various pranks he played on her, including tripping her, flicking her nose with his finger, and even shooting her at one point. Also, (in a flashback) he wipes a boogie on her hat saying "Hey Meg...Proud of you". He is known to embarrass her at times and with things that mean the most to Meg; the entire family once huddled together to read her diary and continue after Meg catches them. However, later episodes of the series show Peter developing greater respect and unity between himself and his daughter (such as in Road to Rupert and the aforementioned Peter's Daughter), though these moments tend not to last for very long.

The episode I Dream of Jesus reveals that his favorite song is the Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird", and loves the song to the point of repeatedly singing it, playing the record of it, and trying to convince others that "the bird is the word". In the episode Wasted Talent, a running gag debuted when someone, usually Peter, will be running and fall and then hold his shin exclaiming the sound "Ssss Ahhhh" once or multiple times.

Peter also accused Mr. Washee Washee of stealing his shirt, inviting him over for dinner and sneaking into his house to retrieve what he thinks is his shirt. When Peter discovers the shirt isn't his, Mr. Washee Washee challenges Peter to and defeats him in a fight.

Heroic Deeds

 * Da Boom - Helped people rebuild Quahog.
 * Blind Ambition - Saved the bartender of the Drunken Clam before it got burned down.