Online Encyclopedia
Family Guy
Family Guy is an animated television series set in the fictional town of Quahog (pronounced “CO-hog”), Rhode Island. The show was created by Seth MacFarlane.
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Characters
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 bumbling father, yet still a dedicated family man. His wife, Lois is a stay-at-home mom and daughter of wealthy socialites. Their children consist of two teens, 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 talking dog named Brian, though it may be somewhat of a misnomer to call him a pet.
Other common characters include the neighbours of the Griffin family, and various co-workers and town personalities. Unlike The Simpsons, Family Guy does not have a very large cast of recurring minor characters, and most episodes center chiefly around the exploits of the Griffin family.
See: List of characters from Family Guy
Flashbacks
One main gimmick of Family Guy is the constant use of flashbacks. Every episode features repeated switches between the main action and other scenes. These usually follow a character saying something along the lines of "don't you remember..." and are usually very quick. These "flashbacks" are frequently parodies of movies or TV shows, and provide some of Family Guy's most memorable and funny moments.
Episodes
See: List of Family Guy episodes
History
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 never shown on the Fox Television Network in the U.S. due to fears that its content was too controversial. 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 canceled or renewed. The show was canceled 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. 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 the Cartoon Network (where the show has been given a regular time slot) and over 1.5 million DVD sales, it has been confirmed that it will return to the Fox and Cartoon Network in 2005. Seth MacFarlane, the show's creator, 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 getting the show back on the air.
This is great news for the many fans Family Guy has accumulated since it first started, but also gives hope to fans of brilliant but short-lived shows. Rarely, if ever, has a show canceled for so long been brought back into production.
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 never aired on the Fox network due to its controversial plot, centering around converting Chris to Judaism in the hopes of improving his intelligence. It was later released on DVD and was aired on Cartoon Network in syndication.
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 disabilites
- Racism which usually comes about with the character Cleveland who is a black African American
- 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
In some episodes there are moral lessons learned and social issues tackled in more positive ways. These may often be clouded in the humour but sometimes still get a meaningful message across to the audience. 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 thoughout the rest of the series. The main premise behind Family Guy, however, continues to be offensive and derogatory, which is why it has received such criticism and such acclaim.
DVDs
Region 1
- Family Guy Volume 1, Seasons 1 & 2 is available. It 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 available. It 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.
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 had 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.
Show references
The show makes many references to the real world, especially the entertainment industry, and, for example, William Shatner, Star Wars and former President Bill Clinton all appear irregularly.
Rhode Island references
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.
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.
Lois's wealthy parents live in Newport, which is indeed a real town. Newport is famous partly for Bellevue Avenue, which boasts an array of mansions owned by the rich and famous. In years past, 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. Natick is actually a town that is not in Rhode Island, but rather in nearby Massachusetts.
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, MA, near the Rhode Island border.
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 neighboring Connecticut.
People
Chris's school on Family Guy is sometimes called the 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 “Rennaisance” 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 was born 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 is no local brew by 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 label on the real-life Samuel Adams beer.
Fictitious words
Fictitious words have been employed humourously in the show. For example, in the episode "Peter Griffin: Husband, Father... Brother?" (November 11th, 2001), "deoxymonohydroxinate" was used:
Dennis Miller: I don't want to go on a rant here, but America's foreign policy makes about as much sense as Beowulf having sex with Robert Fulton at the first battle of Antietam. I mean when a neo-conservative defenestrates it's like Raskolnikov filibuster deoxymonohydroxinate.
Peter Griffin: What the hell does rant mean?
In the episode "The Thin White Line", Brian's rehab counselor calls Peter a "degenerate." Peter replies "Oh yeah? Well you are a fastizio! See, I can make up words too."
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
The petition gained over 100,000 signatures but this, along with mass e-mailing and letter writing to Fox executives and organised 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 reported (See External Links) that the Fox Network was negotiating with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane to revive the show with 35 new episodes, which would be a coup for fans who have been petitioning the Fox Network to return the show to network television since its cancellation in 2001.
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 intervew) (BBC interview)
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 at a later date (Update: FOX has decided it will air the new Family Guy episodes in the summer of 2005). Seth McFarlane 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 [1] reported that Fox has announced the titles of the 4th Season episodes and entered the episodes into their episode database.
There has also been rumours of a Family Guy movie slated for release in 2006/2007. The rumours include a plot centering around Stewie finding his birth parents, or Stewie finding out that he is a homosexual. These are all just rumours and could be a total fabrication.
External links
- Official FOX Family Guy Website
- Planet Family Guy
- Family Guy Reference Archives
- Damn You All Dot Net
- Family Guy Multimedia Archive
- Online petition to save Family Guy
- E! Entertainment Television Reports Family Guy Reunion in the works.
- Family Guy at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- IMDB: "Family Guy"