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Family Guy is an American adult animated television series about a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. It was created by Seth MacFarlane for Fox Broadcasting Company in 1999. The show uses frequent "cutaway gags" — jokes in the form of tangential vignettes that do not advance the story.

Family Guy was canceled once in 2000, and again in 2002, but strong DVD sales and the large viewership of reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim convinced FOX to resume the show in 2005. It is the first canceled show to be resurrected based on DVD sales.

History

Family Guy's first and second seasons were made starting in 1999 after the Larry shorts (its predecessor) caught the attention of the Fox Broadcasting Company during the 1999 Super Bowl commercial. 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 which it was canceled again. Reruns on Adult Swim drove interest in the show up, and the DVD releases did quite well, selling over 2.2 million copies in one year which renewed 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. The sixth season began airing in Autumn 2007, with a seventh season scheduled to air in the Autumn of 2008, though it is uncertain due to the recent Writer's Guild strike. In addition, Family Guy went into syndication in Autumn, 2007.

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 thick Rhode Island / Eastern Massachusetts accent. His wife Lois, who has a similar accent, is a stay-at-home mom and piano teacher, and is a member of the Pewterschmidt family of wealthy Protestant socialites. Peter and Lois have three children: teenage daughter Meg Griffin who is frequently the butt of jokes for her homeliness and lack of popularity; unintelligent teenage son Chris Griffin; and diabolically evil infant son Stewie Griffin, who speaks fluently with an upper class English accent and stereotypical arch-villain phrases.

Brian, the family dog, is highly anthropomorphized, walks on two legs, drinks Martinis, and engages in human conversation, though he is still considered a pet in many respects.

There are many recurring characters on the show who appear alongside the Griffin family on a regular basis. These include the family's colorful neighbors: paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson and his perpetually pregnant wife Bonnie; sex-crazed airline-pilot bachelor Glenn Quagmire; mild-mannered deli owner Cleveland Brown and his wife (ex-wife as of the fourth-season episode "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire") Loretta Brown and their hyperactive son, Cleveland Jr. TV news anchors Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons also make regular appearances (along with Asian Reporter Trisha Takanawa and Ollie Williams the angry weather forecaster), as well as mentally disturbed celebrity mayor Adam West (actually voiced by Adam West).

Family Guy has not used an especially large cast of recurring minor characters (though this has changed to an extent in Season 4, with many one-shot characters from prior episodes reappearing in new episodes), and most of the episode plotlines center on the exploits of the Griffin family.

Recurring characters and scenes

Family Guy has had some characters and some scenes appear in more than one episode , here is a list . It's always good to see a comeback .

• There are scenes in which Stewie asks Brian about the novel he's writing , in one of the scenes Stewie got punched .
• The orgasmic cow has appeared in at least two episodes . The cow had an orgasm when it got milked and got branded . One episode was when the family moved to Texas , after branding the cow Peter mentioned his being retarded to the Texans and almost got executed .
• There have been at least 2 episodes in which Peter fought the guy in the chicken suit . One time was the Y2K episode , another was the episode that Quagmire spies on Lois in the bowling alley's bathroom .
• Another recurring scene and character is the evil monkey in Chris's closet .
• Meg is always treated meanly by the popular kids , mistreated by the family .
• In adittion, Lindsay Lohan has been mentioned three times on the show . The episodes where Peter has a segment on the news , the episode where Peter discovers he's an illegal immigrant and the episode where he finds a new religion .

Words and phrases

The show has coined several words and phrases for humorous effect. In some cases, existing terms (e.g. chumbawumba and shipoopi) have been mistakenly credited to the show . Some words have only been used in one episode (such as "hic-a-doo-lah" in "Fore Father" and "festisio" in "The Thin White Line"), while a few have been used in several episodes.

Quagmire's exclamation has been used in many episodes. A single "giggity" followed by "awwwright..." was the number 3 ring tone for the week ending February 7, 2007.

Cast

The main cast and their main parts are as follows: Seth MacFarlane, who voices Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, and Tom Tucker; Alex Borstein as Lois Griffin, Loretta Brown (until the character was retired in season four), and Trisha Takanawa; Seth Green as Chris Griffin; and Mila Kunis as Meg Griffin. The main cast do voices for several recurring characters other than those listed, as well as impersonate celebrities and pop-culture icons.

Recurring cast members include: Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson; Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown; Adam West as the mayor Adam West; Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson; John G. Brennan as Mort Goldman; Nicole Sullivan as Muriel Goldman; Carlos Alazraqui as Jonathan Weed (until the character was killed off in season three); Adam Carolla as Death (excluding his first appearance, during which the character was voiced by Norm MacDonald); and Lori Alan as Diane Simmons.

Lacey Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes); however, because of a contractual agreement, she was never credited. She was eventually credited at the end of The Family Guy 100th Episode Special, which featured clips of her work.

Episodes

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For the first half of the first season, the writers tried to work the words "murder" or "death" into the title of every episode to make the titles resemble those of old-fashioned radio mystery shows. On the DVD commentary for "Death has a Shadow", creator Seth MacFarlane says that the writers stopped doing this when they realized they were beginning to get the titles confused. Beginning with "A Hero Sits Next Door", the episodes feature titles descriptive of their plots.

Most episodes debut on Fox, and are seen internationally. The show has gone into syndication.

Some episodes are not aired in full in their initial broadcast because of profanity or pop culture references. Scenes are either re-edited or removed entirely from the episode. Some cut material is restored for later broadcast on other venues, such as Adult Swim. DVD releases also contain the uncensored material.

Crossovers with American Dad!

The show has periodically featured the inclusion of certain elements from American Dad!, another animated comedy series created and produced by Seth MacFarlane. Appearances include:

• "Meet the Quagmires" – Roger, the alien who lives with the Smith family, makes a last-minute cameo, asking the Griffins, "Who ate all the Pecan Sandies?" His line is a reference to a line he said early in the American Dad! pilot episode, asking Francine if she bought Pecan Sandies while she was out shopping. He was voiced by Seth MacFarlane, who also voices him in American Dad!.
• "Blue Harvest" – Roger can be seen during the cantina scene.
• "Lois Kills Stewie" – CIA agent Stan Smith, the main character of American Dad!, as well as his boss Avery Bullock and the CIA Headquarters, are featured in this episode. Though the story is non-canon, these elements are used more prominently in this episode, thus making it more of an actual crossover. Stan and Bullock were voiced by their usual American Dad! voice actors, Seth MacFarlane and Patrick Stewart, respectively.

Feature length productions

Series creator Seth MacFarlane states an ambition to produce a Family Guy feature film. "We have been trying to figure out how to do that and the series at the same time without the series suffering." He proposes having former series writer Ricky Blitt write the script. MacFarlane has stated he hopes to do a series of Family Guy movies after the show ends (intending to air a total of 10 seasons), like Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story

Originally released as a direct-to-DVD movie, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story comprises three episode length segments with a wraparound story. Different edits, both adding and deleting material, were eventually televised as the three-part season four finale ("Stewie B. Goode", "Bango Was His Name Oh!" and "Stu and Stewie's Excellent Adventure")

Music and music video

The show often incorporates music numbers in Broadway style as part of its episode technique, either as tangential flashbacks or to advance the plotline. On April 26 2005 Family Guy: Live in Vegas was released and was a collaboration between composer Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane. It features a show tune theme. Only one song is related to the show, the theme song. Also included was the music video "Sexy Party".

Writers' strike

Despite MacFarlane joining the ongoing WGA writers' strike, Fox decided to continue editing together the unfinished episodes and aired them without his approval. MacFarlane has termed Fox's decision as "a colossal dick move", in an interview with Variety.

As of December 2007, production of new episodes of the show had been put on hold due to the writers strike. The episode "Peter's Daughter" (production #5ACX21) was the last episode partially produced by Fox (without MacFarlane's okay), and the newest episode to air. With the writer's strike continuing, and MacFarlane refusing to work on the show, it is currently unknown when new episodes will begin or finish production and air.

Podcast

In the United States, 28 episode podcasts were released on iTunes, and are also made available on the official site. These are audio-only promos where cast members talk about upcoming episodes and joke amongst themselves.

Title sequence

The normal title sequence in Family Guy parodies TV programs like All in the Family with its nostalgic longing for values of days past. The sequence has had only small changes since the first episode in 1999:

• Stewie, Meg, and Chris' pictures in the background originally contained outlines, but beginning with "A Picture Is Worth a 1,000 Bucks", the pictures have shown the actual characters.
• Because so many people thought Stewie sang "F-in' cry!" instead of "Laugh and cry" in the opening sequence (to the extent UK broadcaster Channel 4 would edit the line so Stewie would only be heard saying "Cry".), Seth MacFarlane resang that line to make "laugh and cry" more clear. The rerecording first appeared at the beginning of "Mr. Saturday Knight" and remained through the end of season three, but the original recording returned when the show resumed airing on FOX in 2005, and has remained since.
• Starting Season 4, all main characters' vocals during the part "He's a family guy!" have been muted.

Unique title sequences

Entirely new, single episode title sequences include:

• The three "Road Trip" episodes ("Road to Rhode Island", "Road to Europe", "Road to Rupert") each has instead a sequence of still drawings representing that episode's road trip over an introductory musical fanfare taken from Road to Morocco.
• "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High" – title sequence replaced with a parody of the series Law & Order.
• "PTV" – title sequence replaced with Osama Bin Laden going through various bloopers while trying to record a terrorist video before being beaten up by Stewie, followed by a Naked Gun parody finishing with a parody of The Simpsons title ending. According to the Volume 4 DVD commentary, this intro was only available on the DVD release of this episode.
• "Stu and Stewie's Excellent Adventure" – title sequence replaced with a parody of the series 24 recapping events from the previous two episodes along with an unrelated clip from The Chevy Chase Show. This opening is only featured in the edited-for-television version of the episode.
• "Whistle While Your Wife Works" – same as the normal title sequence until the "musical stage" sequence, where Peter trips and falls down the stairs, rolling over Lois and Meg and crushing one of the dancers. Peter, oblivious to the suffocating dancer, complains he'll have a swollen foot. Stewie then pops up in front of the camera saying "You know we should--we should--we should probably go ahead and shut that off".
• "Blue Harvest" – title sequence replaced with a parody of the opening crawl of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, utilizing the same fonts and music as that of the original film.

Awards

Family Guy and its cast have been nominated for 8 Emmy awards, with three wins:

• 2000: Outstanding Voice-Over Performance – Seth MacFarlane for "Stewie Griffin"
• 2002: Outstanding Music and Lyrics – Walter Murphy (composer), Seth MacFarlane (lyricist)
• 2007: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation – Steve Fonti (storyboard artist)

The show has also been nominated for nine Annies, and won twice, both in 2006. The show has also been nominated for a Golden Reel Award three times, winning once.

Criticism

Family Guy has been panned by certain television critics, most notably from Entertainment Weekly, which was in turn attacked by MacFarlane during a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story.

The show is criticized for using story premises and humor similar to those used in episodes of The Simpsons, another animated series on the Fox network. The Simpsons depicts Peter Griffin as a "clone" of Homer Simpson in a Halloween special, and as a fugitive accused of "Plagiarismo" (faux-Italian for plagiarism) in the episode "The Italian Bob". Family Guy is also mocked in a two-part episode of South Park, in which characters call the show's jokes interchangeable and unrelated to storylines; the writers of Family Guy are portrayed as manatees who write by pushing rubber "idea balls" inscribed with random topics into a bin. Seth MacFarlane's response to criticism on the Volume 4 box set DVD commentary regarding the interchangeable and unrelated jokes is that the criticism is completely founded and true, even giving reference to many skits and jokes that were meant for previously scripted episodes and later cut and recycled in future episodes.

Other cartoonists who have publicly criticized Family Guy include John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy: "If you're a kid wanting to be a cartoonist today, and you're looking at Family Guy, you don't have to aim very high. You can draw Family Guy when you're ten years old. You don't have to get any better than that to become a professional cartoonist. The standards are extremely low."

The show's penchant for irreverent humor led to a controversy over a sequence in which Peter Griffin dances, in classic musical fashion, around the bed of a man with end-stage AIDS, delivering the patient's diagnosis in song.

Lawsuits

Carol Burnett

In March of 2007, famed comedian Carol Burnett filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that it was a copyright infringement for her Charwoman cleaning character to be portrayed on the show without her permission. Besides that, Burnett stated that Fox violated her publicity rights. She was asking for $6 million in damages. On June 4, 2007, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson tossed out the lawsuit, stating that the parody was protected under the First Amendment, using Hustler v. Falwell as a precedent.

"I Need a Jew"

On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing the show of copyright infringement upon the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" by a parody song entitled "I Need a Jew", from the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., the sole U.S. copyright owner of the song, alleges the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of their music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit are Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., the Cartoon Network, Seth McFarlane, and composer Walter Murphy; the suit seeks to stop the program's distribution, and unspecified damages.

Since "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody without commenting on that song, it may not be a First Amendment protected parody per the Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. ruling.

Art Metrano

In December of 2007, actor/comedian Art Metrano filed a lawsuit accusing the show of copyright infringement over a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act which involved absurd faux magical hand gestures (such as making a finger "jump" from one hand to the other) while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy". Metrano's suit claims this performance is protected under terms of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. Named in the suit are 20th Century Fox, show creator Seth MacFarlane, and collaborators Steve Callaghan and Alex Borstein. Metrano performed this well-known routine on programs such as The Tonight Show, where he made several appearances.

References

1. Dehnart, Andy (2007-11-05). "'Family Guy' is no cheap 'Simpsons' knockoff". msnbc Entertainment. MSNBC Interactive. Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2007-12-14. ..."Family Guy" really stands apart because of its flashbacks, cutaways and throwaway references.... Its signature devices tend to lack anything more than a tangential connection to the central narrative...
2. "USAToday". USAToday.com. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
3. McKinley, Jesse. "Canceled and Resurrected, on the Air and Onstage", The New York Times, May 2, 2005. Accessed December 3, 2007. "First off, there was the countdown to the season premiere of "Family Guy," the animated Fox sitcom, which had been canceled in 2002, only to be revived after the show's DVD sales and its syndicated ratings caught the network's attention."
4. Alex Woodson. "Net Effect: Voice Tones are a Family Affair." The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
5. Daniel Robert Epstein. "Interview with Seth MacFarlane, creator of The Family Guy". UGO.com. Retrieved 2007-05-23.
6. "'Family Guy' to be made into a movie?". Digital Spy. 23 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. Alder (October 1, 2007). "MacFarlane Casts Live-Action 'Family Guy' Film". MTV Movies Blog. Retrieved 2007-10-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Text "first+Shawn" ignored (help)
8. "Dialogue: Seth MacFarlane". The Hollywood Reporter. 29 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Adalian, Josef (2007-11-13). "Fox to air new 'Guy' Sunday; MacFarlane hopes network changes plans". Variety. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
10. Goldman, Eric (2007-11-14). "Will a New Family Guy Air Sunday?". IGN. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
11. "FOXCAST". FOX.com. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
12. ^ "Awards for "Family Guy"". The Internet Movie Database. Internet Movie Database Inc. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
13. "2004-2005 Emmy Nominations".
14. Tucker, Ken (2005). "The 5 Worst". EW.com (Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc.). Retrieved 2006-07-14. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |2= (help); Text "0_0_,00.html" ignored (help); Text "13842" ignored (help)
15. "Family Guy's Stewie Has an Untold Story". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 2006-10-25. You know, it's funny. Matt Groening and I actually have a great relationship. We've talked several times in the past few weeks and joked about this. One day out of nowhere this rumor pops up in papers and magazines. Actually, it was probably one comment that was taken out of context in Blender. Matt's just a cool guy, and fortunately neither of us was ruffled by any of that stuff. We just laughed it off.
16. "Treehouse of Horror XIII". The Simpsons. Season 14. Episode 292. 2002-11-03. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help) Story: "Send in the Clones"
17. Created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. "Cartoon Wars Part I". South Park. Comedy Central. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help) Continued in Cartoon Wars Part II
18. John Kricfalusi (31 August 2004). "The John Kricfalusi Interview, Part 2". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2006-07-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
19. Adams, Bob (2005-08-22). ""Family Guy" has fun with AIDS". Advocate.com. PlanetOut Inc. Retrieved 2006-12-12. ... showcases a comic musical number called "You Have AIDS." Overburdened AIDS service organizations are not amused. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
20. Kris (2007-06-06). "Carol Burnett Loses Family Guy Lawsuit". BuddyTV. Retrieved 2007-12-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
21. "Carol Burnett v. "Family Guy"". The Smoking Gun. Courtroom Television Network. 2007-03-16. Retrieved 2007-12-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
22. The Associated Press (2007-03-16). "Carol Burnett Sues Over Use of Charwoman". washingtonpost.com. The Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-12-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
23. "It's 'Wish Upon a Star' vs. 'Family Guy'". CNN.com. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
24. Neumeister, Larry (2007-10-04). "Classic song's owner sues over spoof". Yahoo! News. The Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
25. Bourne Co., vs. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Broadcasting Company, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainement, Inc., Fuzzy Door Productions, Inc., The Cartoon Network, Inc., Seth MacFarlane, Walter Murphy (United States District Court, Southern District of New York 2007-10-03), Text. "Defendants' infringing activities have cause and will continue to cause Bourne great and irreparable harm. By associating Bourne's song with such offensive lyrics and other content in the episode, Defendants are harming the value of the song."
26. Hilden, Julie (2007-10-31). ""The Family Guy" Once Again Tests Parody's Limits: The Copyright Suit Challenging the Show's Use of "When You Wish Upon a Star"". FindLaw's Writ. FindLaw. Retrieved 2007-12-09. ...the case for "fair use" protection on a parody theory in this "Family Guy" case is somewhat weak.... If the use of "When You Wish Upon a Star" was a commentary on the original, it was a commentary only in the very loosest possibly sense.
27. Surette, Tim (2007-12-07). "Family Guy sued...again". TV.com. TV.com. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
28. Arthur Metrano, vs. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Seth MacFarlane, Steve Callaghan and Alex Borstein (United States District Court, Central District of California 2007-12-05), Text.

External links

Family Guy on Muppet Wiki

• Family Guy official website
• Family Guy at IMDb
• A Family Guy Wiki at Wikia.com

• Animated sitcoms
• Animated television series
• Family Guy
• Fox network shows
• 1999 television program debuts
• 1990s American television series
• 1990s American animated television series
• 2000s American television series
• 2000s American animated television series
• Television series by Fox Television Studios
• Television shows set in Rhode Island
• Satirical television programmes
• Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters