Family Guy

Family Guy is an American animated comedy created by Seth MacFarlane for FOX in 1999. more...

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The show was cancelled once in 2000 and again in 2002, but strong DVD sales and reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim led FOX to resume production of the show in 2005 (see "Return to television" below). To date it is one of only a handful of shows in television history to be cancelled and later revived by the power of their fan bases, and one of the few shows to be brought back to air by the same network that cancelled it. (See also Cagney and Lacey and Doctor Who). The title character is Peter Griffin, an inept blue collar head of a lower-middle class family frequently beset by the consequences of his foolish antics. Family Guy's brand of humor is notable for the usually brief, frequently nonsensical cutaways (usually featuring oddball pop culture references) and flashbacks to various points in history, geography, and reality involving the characters and their outlandish actions (see "Structure and comedic approach" below).

Seth MacFarlane voices many of the characters (Peter, Brian, Stewie, Glenn Quagmire, Tom Tucker and others), and works as a gag writer on various episodes. Other voice actors include Mila Kunis (Meg), Seth Green (Chris), Alex Borstein (Lois, Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown), Mike Henry (Cleveland, Cleveland Jr, Performance Artist, Herbert and Greased-up Deaf Guy), and Patrick Warburton (Joe Swanson). Lacey Chabert provided the voice of Meg for the first production season (14 episodes); however, because of a contractual agreement (it is not clear whether it was at Chabert's, Fox's or the producers' request), she was never credited, and Fox has never officially admitted that she was ever the voice of Meg.

History

Family Guy's first and second seasons were made starting in 1999 after Larry shorts (its predecessor) caught the attention of the Fox Broadcasting Company. Its cancellation was announced, but then a shift in power at Fox and outcry from the fans led to a reversal of that decision and the making of a third season. After that, it was really cancelled. Reruns on Teletoon (and later Adult Swim) drove interest in the show up, and the DVD releases did quite well, selling over 2.2 million in a year and renewing network interest. Family Guy returned to production in 2004, making two more seasons (for a total of five) and a straight to DVD movie, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. A sixth season is in contract negotiations.

Characters

The show revolves around the adventures of Peter Griffin, a bumbling but well-intentioned blue-collar worker. Peter is an Irish-American Catholic with a classic Rhode Island / Eastern Massachusetts accent (similar to a Boston accent). During the course of the series, he discovers he's part African-American and has been known to have Spanish, Scottish, Irish and German ancestors. He is known for his trademark laugh. His wife, Lois who has a similar accent with a mixed voice that sounds like a New England version of Edith Bunker, is a stay-at-home mom/piano teacher, and is a member of the Pewterschmidts, (a wealthy socialite family). Peter and Lois have three children: teenage daughter Meg Griffin, who is frequently the butt of jokes for her supposed ugliness; goofy, low-intelligence teenage son Chris Griffin, in many respects a younger version of his father; and diabolically evil infant son Stewie Griffin bent on world domination and the death of his mother. Stewie speaks fluently and eloquently, (with stereotypical British phrases) and even though the family can hear his ambitions of world domination and of Lois's demise, all but Brian (the intellectual talking pet dog) dismiss it as baby gibberish. Brian is the only family member who really understands Stewie, and does not treat him like an infant. Stewie also refers to his mother and father as "Lois" and "the fat man" respectively. Brian is anthropomorphized in that he walks on two legs, drinks Martinis, is romantically attracted to Lois, owns his own car (a Toyota Prius, circa 2004), engages in human conversation, though he is still considered a pet in many respects. Occasionally, Brian will act in a stereotypically canine manner, usually for comedic effect (such as his inability to stand up in the back of a car, chasing tennis balls and his fear of vacuum cleaners). On his pride, he does not, however, engage in overly submissive "domesticated" behavior.

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