The Pewterschmidts are a fictional family on the animated television series Family Guy. They are very rich and were among the first families to colonize America from England, settling in Newport, Rhode Island.

One of the estates they owned, Cherrywood Manor, was a former brothel where several historical American figures (including Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant) hired prostitutes. The Pewterschmidts also own an ocean front mansion in Palm Beach, Florida and a mansion in Palm Springs, California.

Carter Pewterschmidt

Carter Pewterschmidt is 68 years old and socializes with others who are extremely rich and powerful. He plays poker regularly with Bill Gates, Michael Eisner, and (reluctantly) Ted Turner, winning CNN in the process. He owns U.S. Steel and once owned a greyhound, which he raced successfully until she became pregnant with what were thought to be Brian Griffin's puppies. He does not approve of gay marriage or voting rights for homosexuals. He believes the secret to happiness is money, not love, and he believes his children should not be happy. Carter shows a highly sadistic streak, amusing himself by inflicting gruesome torments on Peter and other individuals. His voice and appearance can be comparable to Laura Petrie's father on the Dick Van Dyke Show. He is also a member of the Skull and Bones fraternity.

It is also implied in Screwed the Pooch that he had an extramarital affair with a black women that resulted in a child.

Carter has deeply hated Peter Griffin since the moment he first met him. Only seconds after meeting him for the first time, Carter knocked Peter out with a bronze Etruscan statue and had him dumped naked in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. When he realizes Peter has survived this, he attempts to bribe Peter with a million dollar check to stay away from his daughter Lois, whom Peter was dating at the time; Peter immediately turns it down, choosing to marry her instead. Peter has gotten revenge on several occasions, like when he beat Carter in a boat race and knocked him out with a single punch.

They seem to care for their grandchildren. Barbara seems to show affection for Stewie while he stays with them (although this could be because Stewie's mean-spirited temperament and penchant for luxury and power matches their lifestyle and values better than his more laconic immediate family). When Carter asks Chris what the secret to happiness is, Chris says money and Carter rewards him. Carter also attends his wedding in the future. After Chris gets expelled from James Woods High School, he helps him fit in at his new school, and he gets Chris back to James Woods High when Chris discovers that he doesn't want to stay at his school. It's also implied that Carter had an acquaintance with Herbert, the elderly pedophile. He introduces Herbert to Chris at the Skull and Bones as his Master, When Chris announces that he's not interested in the school anymore and rejects to go into closet, Herbert remarks "You better get your ass in that closet Pewterschmidt, I am so tired of you".

The episode "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey" shows that Carter has little, if any, sexual attraction to his wife Barbara, as he won't even look at the back of her head anymore. Unbeknownst to him, Barbara and Peter are sexually attracted to one another and the two almost have sex until Peter reconsiders. After Peter is then seen naked in his house, he decides that Peter is "all right". From that episode onward, they seem to be at least temporarily at peace. He also enjoys watching Medium and wishes he himself could talk to ghosts.

In the episode "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air," Peter observed that Carter has a similar voice to Doctor Hartman (played by Seth MacFarlane), who also turns out to be Carter's doctor. After a few seconds, both men noticed the resemblance in their voices as well. They went on to point out that there were only so many voices in the world, and that it wasn't such a big deal, since they rarely spent any time together, thereby rationalizing the situation to the viewers without (directly) breaking the fourth wall.

One of Carter's ancestors, starts a family with one of Peter's ancestors Nate Griffin. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that he also has Griffin ancestry, and that Peter and Lois unintentionally had an incestuous relationship without knowing that they were related until they found out that Peter was never related to Francis Griffin.

Carter is voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

Barbara "Babs" Pewterschmidt

Barbara Pewterschmidt, often referred to as "Babs", is Carter's wife. She once had an affair with Jackie Gleason, which traumatized their son, Patrick (see below); however this info is according to Patrick himself, meaning it may have been the deranged sibling's hallucination. She was also briefly married to Ted Turner. Her age is never specifically indicated but she appears, however, to be in her mid-sixties.

Her name may be a nod to Barbara Bush.

Both Carter and Barbara Pewterschmidt have an addiction to sleeping pills and alcohol. They have an open marriage since Barbara only married Carter for the money.

Barbara appears to be more tolerant of Peter than her husband. In fact, she and Peter find themselves sexually attracted to each other, which Lois finds very disturbing. Peter's only explanation is that "she's hot," whereas Barbara claims that she craves voluptuous action since Carter no longer even looks her in the back of the head. The two almost have sex in "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey" at Lois' insistence to set right a "little snag" in her marriage with Peter (Lois in fact had an extramarital affair with former-President Bill Clinton), though Peter quickly reconsiders. Barbara seems to be very fond of her grandchildren and offers them expensive presents, such as telling Meg she would get a Gift Certificate for Lyposuction for Christmas, to which Meg responds, "Thank you, Nana!"

• Some "Family Guy" fans have noted that Bab's Pewterschmidt sounds like Queen Machina from Power Rangers: Zeo in which Alex Borstein also had that role.

Voiced by Alex Borstein.

Lois Pewterschmidt

Lois Griffin is the middle child and eldest daughter of Carter and Barbara Pewterschmidt. Though a Pewterschmidt by birth, she gave up the wealth and elitism of her family to be with the less sophisticated Peter Griffin, who worked at the country club as a pool towel boy at the time. Bored and cooped up with her classy lifestyle, she fell for Peter due to his clever, lowbrow sense of humor and carefree nature, thus allowing her to experience greater freedoms in life. She has a rather testy relationship with her parents, especially her father, because of this, though she still cares for them very much and wishes for them what she feels is best. She is now a middle-class citizen married to Peter, as well as the mother of three children by him.

Voiced by Alex Borstein.

Carol Pewterschmidt

Carol Pewterschmidt is the youngest child and daughter of Carter and Barbara, and currently lives in Texas. Carol and Lois seem to be rather close. Carol has light brown hair and body structure similar to Lois'. It is unknown if Carol knows about her long-lost brother Patrick. Carol has been married and divorced eight times; one of her husbands, Ted, left her while she was pregnant with their son, whom she birthed in "Emission Impossible." Carol currently resides in Texas with her 9th husband. The Griffin family briefly used her Texas home in "Boys Do Cry" while waiting for rumors in Quahog that Stewie was possessed to blow over. Unlike her father, Carol gets along well with Peter and apparently finds his lowbrow humor amusing (such as when he uses her ex-husband's shirts to enact a mock of the Incredible Hulk transformation) despite the fact that Peter, by his own admission, makes dirty phone calls to Carol while drunk.

She is voiced by Carol Kane.

Son of Carol Pewterschmidt

This unnamed baby boy is Carol Pewterschmidt's only child and is, as such, Lois and Peter's nephew. The doctor who was to deliver him received various diseases from used needles while searching through what he thought was his glove compartment, forcing Peter to deliver him. Peter mistook his newborn nephew for a girl with a penis, and tried to cut it off before Lois pointed out that it was a boy.

Since Ted, Carol's husband, left her before she gave birth, it is assumed that the baby's last name is "Pewterschmidt" as well.

Patrick Pewterschmidt

Patrick Pewterschmidt is the eldest child and only son of Carter and Barbara, and the most unforgiving member of the Pewterschmidt family. Lois had no memory of him in her childhood, first discovering Patrick on a folded-back Christmas picture. He was locked away in a mental institution by Carter and Barbara after he walked in on his mother performing oral sex on Jackie Gleason. He had a nervous breakdown and came to the conclusion that Gleason was evil because he was fat, leading him to hate fat people. Believing him to be mentally stable enough to function in society, Lois had Patrick released and live with her family. During his stay in the Griffins' house, a mental relapse Peter inadvertently causes made him become a serial killer known as the "Quahog Fat Guy Strangler." He nearly strangles Peter to death until Lois and Brian intervene. He leaves at least one dead body upstairs in the Griffin's house (in what appears to be in Meg's room). He also has left another fat guy for dead in the same room, who eats the aforementioned body. He has an invisible/imaginary wife named Marion, but she is believed to be real because she caused a cucumber to turn into a pickle after it was placed where her vagina would be for three weeks (the cucumber was placed there by Stewie and Brian to determine whether she was real or not). He was returned to the mental hospital (a mutual agreement between him and Lois), where he currently resides and is periodically visited by the Griffins.

His name may be derived from Patrick Bateman, the title character of the novel and film American Psycho.

Patrick was introduced in the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler" and is voiced by Robert Downey Jr.

Marguerite Pewterschmidt

Marguerite Pewterschmidt was the great-aunt to Lois Griffin and aunt to Carter. She owned the palatial Cherrywood Manor in Newport (now known to be "America's first presidential whorehouse"). Lois inherits this house after Marguerite dies whilst paying a visit to the Griffin household. She shared Carter's dislike of Peter. Appears in Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater.

She also mistakenly (as she is dead, this should not be so) appears in cameos throughout the series, the most recent being You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Receives in freeze-frame, as a picket sign protester. Other examples include PTV, while Peter and Lois are watching Meg's play.

Voiced by Alex Borstein.

Seabreeze and Puppies

Seabreeze is Carter's racing greyhound. In the episode Screwed the Pooch, Brian is accused of impregnating her and agrees to be neutered in exchange for custody, until it turns out that the puppies were in fact fathered by Ted Turner.

References