It's easy to say that anything is just like something that happened on "Family Guy". Not because the show is so clever or well written, rather because it's a cartoon. It's fiction. The writers and animators can just make up anything. But it seems more commonplace to hear someone relating their actual life or reality to a cartoon.
I understand that this happened with "The Simpsons" and "South Park" too and now it's just time for the next animated successor to be the resource of material in conversation.
Even though in my opinion, the show has gotten lazy over the years, I'm not against the show. I am against people having a shortage of references. A cartoon shouldn't be the go-to topic of conversation or source of reference when in discussion. There is more out there than a 6-minute long battle between Peter and a human-sized chicken.
2010 response: Constrained annoyance after the fifth mention of the show from a single person in a single day.
2011 response: I won't care anymore. Tell me everything about Peter and the crazy things Stewie does.
