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Family Guy is an animated television series set in the fictional town of Quahog (pronounced "KOH-hog"), Rhode Island. The show was created by Seth MacFarlane, who voices many of the characters. The cast also includes actress Jennifer Tilly, That '70s Show star Mila Kunis, actor Seth Green, Mad TV star Alex Borstein, and comedic actor Patrick Warburton. Former Batman star Adam West and Haley Joel Osment, among others, also occasionally appear.
Characters
Main article: List of characters from Family Guy
The show centers around the adventures of Peter Griffin and his family. Peter is an incompetent production line worker at a toy factory (and, later, an incompetent fisherman) and a bumbling, drunken father, yet still a dedicated family man. His wife, Lois, is a stay-at-home mom and the daughter of wealthy socialites. Their children consist of the socially-awkward and status-conscious Meg, the mentally slow, yet artistically-gifted Chris, and the diabolically super-intelligent and potentially matricidal baby Stewie. The family also lives with an intelligent, alcoholic, talking dog named Brian, though it may be somewhat of a misnomer to call him a pet.
Other common characters include the neighbors of the Griffin family and various coworkers and town personalities. Unlike The Simpsons, Family Guy does not have an especially large cast of recurring minor characters, and most episodes center chiefly around the exploits of the Griffin family. MacFarlane states that this is because he had few episodes in which to use minor characters (the show was originally cancelled after just 3 seasons). Plans for the episodes to come promise more liberal usage of minor characters.
Cutaways
Family Guy is known for the constant use of cutaways. Every episode features repeated switches between the main action and other scenes, with obvious pop culture tie-ins. They are usually initiated by a character referring to a past event with, "remember that time…" followed by the cut-away, at the end of which the main action becomes the focus again. Though these cut-away scenes usually last for only one or two seconds, long enough for a quick gag, they occassionally play on this audience expectation; in the episode "Da Boom!", Peter recalls a fight with a giant chicken in a scene that lasts several minutes.
Episodes
See: List of Family Guy episodes
History
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While studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, Seth MacFarlane created a short film entitled The Life of Larry about a middle-aged slob named Larry and his talking dog, Steve. After being hired at Hanna-Barbera Productions, MacFarlane was given a chance to direct a sequel to the short entitled Larry and Steve which was broadcast as an episode of the What-A-Cartoon! Show. Executives at the Fox Television Network saw both shorts, and MacFarlane was given the opportunity to develop a show based on Larry and Steve, who eventually evolved into Peter and Brian Griffin.
The first episode was aired in the U.S. on the Fox Network on January 31, 1999, appearing after the Super Bowl. The first season contained seven episodes and introduced the viewer to the show's main characters. The second season began on September 23, 1999 and contained 22 episodes, one of which, "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", was not shown on the Fox Television Network in the U.S. due to fears that its content was too controversial. It was finally shown on Friday, December 10, 2004, on Fox (It was, however, shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in November 2003). The third season contained 21 episodes and began its run on July 11, 2001. Fox angered some fans by often changing the scheduling for the show at short notice during the second and third seasons. Indeed after only two episodes of the second season Family Guy was taken off of the network's schedule and was shown irregularly thereafter.
There was a great deal of debate and rumor during both the second and third seasons about whether Family Guy would be cancelled or renewed. The show was cancelled at the end of the second season. In an attempt to convince Fox to renew the show, dismayed fans created websites, signed petitions, and wrote letters; some even sent diapers and baby food to the network for Stewie. A shift in power at Fox resulted in thirteen new episodes being ordered that formed the basis of the third season. The writers were aware of the uncertainty of the show's future and would make reference to this in several episodes; in Road to Rhode Island, Brian and Stewie perform a duet featuring the lines "Until we're syndicated Fox will never let us die... please!" During the third season, Fox announced that the show was cancelled for good.
Due to exceptional ratings for the repeats on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block (where the show has been given a regular time slot) and over 1.5 million DVD sales (reportedly surpassing every other TV-based DVD released in 2003, including Sex and the City and Friends compilations), it has been confirmed that it will return to Fox and Cartoon Network on May 1, 2005. MacFarlane had never given up on the characters and had been working on putting together a straight-to-DVD film as a result of the great sales, but now all attention has been shifted towards producing new episodes.
Controversies
One of the main points that makes Family Guy more of an adult-oriented program is the number of controversial references included in the stories. The episode "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein" was not aired initially on the Fox network due to its controversial plot, centering around converting Chris to Judaism in the hopes of improving his intelligence. (Fox did air the episode several years later on December 10, 2004.) It was later released on DVD and was aired on Cartoon Network in syndication.
Another key controversy occured in the episode: "Road To Rhode Island" which had a scene cut from all DVD and syndication versions of the show after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the episode as it was originally broadcast, Stewie smuggles weapons through airport customs by distracting the guards at the security checkpoint with a song and dance routine. After he gets away with it, he quips, "I hope Osama bin Laden doesn't know show tunes". This was followed by a clip showing Osama bin Laden fooling the guards in a similar manner while singing "God I Hope I Get It" from A Chorus Line. This scene was restored in the "The Freakin' Sweet Collection" DVD released December 14, 2004.
Other issues include:
- Recreational drug use and addiction, in particular cocaine and cannabis
- Alcoholism and gambling addiction
- Sexism and the treatment of homosexuals and people with disabilities
- Racism such as the episode in which Peter discovers his multiple-great grandfather was a slave employed by Lois' family
- Bestiality as Brian the family dog lusts after his human master, Lois
- Religion: Judaism, Catholicism, and Christianity in general are sometimes the targets of gags
- Nihilism
- Sex: For example, Stewie once catches his parents in a naked embrace and later enters Peter's body, destroying all his sperm so he'll remain the baby of the family. A fan-favorite is Peter's best friend, Glen Quagmire, whose numerous sexual escapades spawn some of the most memorable jokes, such as buying a plug-in playmate with his tax return, coming to the door naked to receive a package from a female UPS driver, shaving his pubic hair in the shape of a "Q", and his famous obscene hip-thrust.
- Strippers and prostitution: After losing his job in one episode, Lois finds Peter on a street corner wearing a mini-skirt, a tube-top, lipstick, and fish-net stockings. After she yells at him to get in the car, he offers her a Cleveland Steamer. At the end of another episode, Peter makes an impassioned speech about an earlier commotion in a strip club: "…but I'll tell you what's not cool – killing strippers. Strippers are people too; naked people who may be willing to pleasure you for a price you negotiate later behind the curtain of a VIP room. Besides, there's no reason to kill them, 'cause most of them are already dead inside… Good night, folks!"
In some episodes there are moral lessons learned and social issues tackled in more positive ways. Though the introduction of the physically disabled character Joe Swanson, for example, was initially met (by the other characters) with derision and insults he is accepted as a friend throughout the rest of the series.
DVDs
Region 1
- Family Guy Volume 1, Seasons 1 & 2 is a four-disc DVD box set containing all the episodes from Seasons 1 and 2. Select episodes (6 total) have audio commentary tracks.
- Family Guy Volume 2, Season 3 is a three-disc box set that includes all episodes from the final season of Family Guy, including the previously un-aired episode, "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein". The set contains six audio commentary tracks.
- Family Guy – The Freakin' Sweet Collection, released in December 2004, is a five-episode sampler including the episodes "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", "Road to Rhode Island" (including the restored scene involving bin Laden), "To Love and Die in Dixie", "I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar", and "Lethal Weapons". The set includes new commentaries and previews for Family Guy Season 4 and American Dad, another cartoon created by MacFarlane for Fox.
Region 2
- Family Guy Season One contains all fourteen episodes from Season 1, including the seven episodes that were produced in the first season but aired in the second.
- Family Guy Season Two contains all fifteen episodes produced for season 2 (which aired along with some season one episodes, see above), including the unaired "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein".
- Family Guy Season Three contains all episodes of season 3 in a boxset.
- Family Guy Family Sized DVD Collection is a box set containing the above three sets (the Season 3 collection is repackaged in one plastic case) plus a bonus 2-disc set, Family Guy Uncovered, containing special features, including deleted scenes, featurettes, and 14 previously-released episodes with added audio commentaries.
Some British critics complained about the omission of the audio commentaries from the Region 2 releases. The Family Size Collection goes some way to address those complaints, although inevitably some buyers complained about having to buy the same discs a second time in order to get the bonus material, which was not released separately.
Region 4
- Family Guy Season One contains all fourteen episodes produced for season 1, including those that aired during season 2.
- Family Guy Season Two contains all fifteen episodes produced for season 2, including the unaired "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein".
- Family Guy Season Three has not yet been released.
Like the Region 2 releases, no special features are contained on the discs, but it is expected that a box set of the first three seasons – like Region 2 – will eventually emerge, with extras.
Real world references
The show makes many references to the real world, especially the entertainment industry. For example, William Shatner, Star Wars, Bob Dole and former President Bill Clinton all appear irregularly.
There are a great number of references to Rhode Island that are missed by the vast majority of Family Guy viewers. Although much of Family Guy is fictional, there are a great number of real-life parodies, no doubt as a result of author Seth McFarlane's attendance at RISD, a Rhode Island art school as well as his New England background (McFarlane was born in Kent, Connecticut).
Places
Although Quahog is not a real Rhode Island town, the shot of the Griffins' house includes a view of the skyscrapers of downtown Providence. The two largest buildings are the Fleet Building and One Sovereign Plaza. The orientation of these buildings indicates that Quahog is intended to be located just north of downtown Providence. There are also references to the Pawtucket Red Sox, the AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, which is based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Their ballpark, McCoy Stadium, was depicted in episode 113 ("Holy Crap"). Happy Go Lucky Toys is a parody of Hasbro Toys, which is also based in Pawtucket.
Lois's wealthy parents live in Newport, a real town famous partly for the mansions on Bellevue Avenue. During the Gilded Age, the Newport mansions were summer homes of the extremely rich and famous, and many of them will allow you to take a tour for a small price. McFarlane's presentation of Lois's family as part of the Newport elite thus fits in quite well.
There is an episode where there is a nuclear holocaust, and the family attempts to find a Twinkie factory in Natick. At the end of the episode, Framingham is also mentioned as having a Carvel factory. Both Framingham and Natick are actual towns in the nearby State of Massachusetts, and both contain said factories, although the Twinkie factory was shut down and is being replaced by an extension of the neighboring Natick Mall.
There is an episode where Chris and Quagmire visit a strip club called The Fuzzy Clam. Although there is no place by this name, it appears to be a veiled reference to The Fuzzy Grape, which is a real strip club in Webster, Massachusetts, near the Rhode Island border. There have also been several references to South Attleboro, Massachusetts, which is a real town bordering Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
In the episode "The Son Also Draws", while driving to New York City, the Griffins stop at Geronimo's Palace, a reference to the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Native American casinos located in Connecticut.
There is an episode in which Peter points to a bumper sticker that reads "I lost my dignity at Wes' Rib House". While the bumper sticker is not real, Wes' Rib house is a restaurant in the Olneyville area of Providence that serves primarily barbecued foods.
People
Chris's school on Family Guy is sometimes called Buddy Cianci Jr. High School. Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, Jr. is the famous long-time mayor of Providence who was sentenced to prison for racketeering conspiracy. Although already once convicted for felony, Buddy Cianci was repeatedly reelected in Rhode Island, and claims credit for the "renaissance" of Providence that caused the city to go from a rough industrial city to one with higher rents and an "artsy" brand.
Meg's school on Family Guy is James Woods Regional High School (though in the episode "Running Mates", it was briefly renamed Peter Griffin High School). The high school is named for actor James Woods who grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Things
There is at least on one occasion an animation of a pest control agency with a giant blue bug on top. This is a real place, and it is visible on the west side of Interstate 95 in Providence just north of the Thurbers Avenue curve. The "big blue bug" as it is called is a very popular Rhode Island icon.
There is an episode where a beer branded Pawtucket Patriot is featured. Although Pawtucket is a real town in Rhode Island, there was no local brew by this name, however as of January 2005 (first bottled batch) there is a local microbrew using this name. This is a reference to Samuel Adams beer, a beer bottled in nearby Massachusetts. This is supported by the fact that Samuel Adams was a famous patriot and by the fact that the label on Pawtucket Patriot is nearly identical to the real-life Samuel Adams label.
Revival efforts
The news of Fox's cancellation in the third season was met with dismay by fans, and renewed efforts were made to convince Fox to resurrect the show. An online petition was launched, which garnered over 10,000 signatures within only a few weeks. The petition contained the following message, addressed to Gail Berman and Sandy Grushow, the President of Entertainment and Chairman of Fox at the time:
To: FOX Broadcasting
Dear Ms. Gail Berman and Mr. Sandy Grushow,
We are avid watchers of FOX programming, especially the show "Family Guy". We have recently heard that FOX Broadcasting has cancelled this show. We are informing you of a boycott of FOX Broadcasting, FX, FOX Sports Channel, and all products shown on FOX Broadcasting, FX, and FOX Sports Channel. We are all willing to comply with the boycott and do whatever it takes to get our favorite FOX show ("Family Guy") back on the air.
We will not only be boycotting your stations, we will be boycotting every product shown on those stations. These products include, but are not limited to: Nyquil, Schick, Valvoline, Gold Bond, Subway Sandwiches, Buick Motor Vehicles, Alka-Seltzer, Monistat 7, Diflucan, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Heartguard, Frontline, any product on TimeLife.com, Ranger Bass Boats, The Xtractor, any product made by MGM, 1-800-COLLECT, Hunt's Manwich, any product made by Reeses', any product made by Walt Disney, and Gevalia coffee and coffee makers.
As you can see, we are taking this cancellation very seriously. We will contact our local newspapers, and television stations; and with that we will gain more people in our "quest" to get "Family Guy" back on television.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned [1] (http://www.petitiononline.com/savefg2/petition.html)
The petition gained over 100,000 signatures but this, along with mass e-mailing and letter writing to Fox executives and organized street protests failed to save Family Guy. Later efforts to get other networks, particularly UPN, to buy Family Guy also failed.
Fox cited poor viewing figures as part of their reason for not renewing the show but critics claimed this was due to the erratic scheduling the show had received and the fact that it was shown at the same time as Friends and Survivor, two very popular shows at the time. Also, reported costs of around $1.1 million per episode may have played a part in the decision.
At the current time, however, Cartoon Network is playing reruns of the show. According to a Cartoon Network press release, "FAMILY GUY ranks #1 in its time period on cable among Adults and Men 18-34 and Adults and Men 18-24, and also beats both The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in head-to-head competition among Men 18-34 and Men 18-24". The network aired the previously unseen "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" on November 9, 2003, although it was slightly censored. The uncensored version can be found on the Volume 2 Family Guy DVD box set.
On November 19, 2003, the E! Entertainment Television channel and its website (see below) reported that Fox was negotiating with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane to revive the show with 35 new episodes. On February 27, 2004, in an interview with IGN, Seth MacFarlane confirmed that Family Guy would resume production. MacFarlane provided even more information in a BBC interview. (IGN interview) (http://dvd.ign.com/articles/495/495464p1.html?fromint=1) (BBC interview) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2004/02/17/13587.shtml)
On March 26, 2004, it was officially announced that 20th Century Fox Television has committed to producing at least 22 more episodes of Family Guy to be broadcast on Adult Swim in early 2005. The Fox Network has retained a window to run these episodes, presently scheduled to air on May 1, 2005. Seth MacFarlane was quoted as saying, "I'm just incredibly excited that we're back in business on Family Guy. Now all those crazy kids who've been hounding me to bring the show back can stop bothering me and move onto more serious matters – like saving Coupling."
On September 18, 2004, the Family Guy Reference Files [2] (http://www.familyguyfiles.com) reported that Fox has announced the titles of the 4th Season episodes and entered the episodes into their episode database.
There have also been rumors of a Family Guy movie slated for release in 2006 or 2007. The rumours include a plot centering around Stewie finding his birth parents or furthering the series' (often blatant) hints that he is homosexual. With the series' confirmed renewal, the movie has reportedly been converted into a three-part episode to be aired normally on Fox.
On January 17, 2005, it was announced that the season premiere of Family Guy season 4 will take place on Sunday, May 1, 2005, 19:00 on Fox.
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