4. Family Guy
Of course, Family Guy had to be here: it has the more Saga references than any other TV show. The most blatant of these are their three parodies of the original trilogy released a few years back. Beginning with Blue Harvest, an almost feature length episode, which is a direct parody of A New Hope, it features several Family Guy characters playing specific roles from the film, which they would reprise for the two sequels Something, Something, Something Dark Side and It's A Trap. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has said the following about his use of Lucas lore:
"Lucasfilm has been... unbelievably supportive of... the show. And again, a lot of companies are very uptight, and they , you know, have the enlightened viewpoint: 'Hey, the more our stuff is out there....'"
The references aren't limited to the Blue Harvest remakes, however. In Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, Peter has a segment on the local newscast with his segment, "What Grinds My Gears". In one of his segments, he says "Know what really grinds my gears? When I can't find the droids I'm looking for," as the show cuts to two stormtroopers sitting in armchairs who say, "Yeah, what's up with that?". In When You Wish Upon a Weinstein, Lois has reservations about Meg getting laser eye surgery, and it cuts away to a shot of Luke Skywalker getting ready to perform surgery on a woman with a light-saber. Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke (voiced by Mark Hamill) to use the Force, which results in the light-saber stabbing through the woman's head. In the episode Road to Europe, Brian slices open the camel's belly to save Stewie from the cold, much like Han Solo did with his Tauntaun to warm Luke in the beginning of Empire, even adding Solo's line "...and I thought they smelled bad on the outside." Each is recreated with an affectionate slant, rather than one of open parody, and it is obvious how invested Seth MacFarlane is in the property.