10 Changes Family Guy Hoped You Wouldn't Notice
4. Joe Swanson's Original Disability Origin Story Was A Lie
Up until Season Eleven, it was understood that police officer Joe Swanson was left paralysed from the waist down after clashing with The Grinch during the investigation of a robbery at an orphanage, falling from the roof after being tripped up by an incoming roller skate.
Yet, clearly sensing there was some potential in a vengeful Joe wanting to strike back against the person responsible for costing him the use of his legs, the show's creators completely retconned this whole origin story during Joe's Revenge. Here we learn that Joe was actually shot by Bobby Briggs during an undercover mission. Joe was too embarrassed to admit he let the crook get away, so had his pals and the audience believe this apparent lie as a way of glossing over the incident.
The speed in which the show cuts loose such a vital part of one of their most known characters' backstories highlighted just how little they wanted you to remember this early Grinch-heavy life-changing accident. But seeing as though the alternative event eventually led to Joe accidentally killing Briggs in his attempts to get revenge, there's no going back this time... we think.