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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 and was first aired in the US on the Fox Network on January 31, 1999 appearing after the Super Bowl. The show centres around the Griffin family; parents Peter and Lois, children Meg, Chris and Stewie; and Brian, their pet dog. The show makes many references to the real world, especially the entertainment industry and, for example, William Shatner, Star Wars and President Clinton all appear irregularly. The show includes many references to local Rhode Island culture, people, and places. Three seasons of the show were produced, a total of fifty episodes, before it was discontinued by Fox, and 1.5 million DVD's were sold before Fox revived it yet again.

History

The first episode was aired on January 31, 1999. This 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 there-after.

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 to the dismay of fans. Websites were set up to attempt to convince Fox to renew the show and petitions were signed, letters were written and some fans even sent diapers and baby food to Fox. A shift in power at Fox resulted in thirteen new episodes being ordered which formed the basis of the third season. The creators were aware of the uncertainty of the show's future and 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 cancelled the show for good.

Or so it was thought. Due to exceptional ratings for the repeats on the Cartoon Network (where the show has been given a regular time slot) and great 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 should exist as an odd moment in television history. Rarely, if ever, has a show cancelled for so long been brought back into production.

Characters

List of characters from Family Guy

Episodes

Season 1

“Death Has a Shadow”
“I Never Met the Dead Man”

Stewie wars with the brocolli; Meg learns to drive from Peter; Quahog loses television transmissions; Brian sinks into alcoholism; Peter learns to live without TV

“Mind over Murder”
“Chitty Chitty Death Bang”
“A Hero Sits Next Door”
“The Son Also Draws”
“Brian: Portrait of a Dog”

Season 2

“Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater”
“Holy Crap”
“DaBoom”
“Brian in Love”
“Love Thy Trophy”
“Death is a Bitch”
“The King Is Dead”
“I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar”
“If I'm Dyin' I'm lyin'”
“Running Mates”
“A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Bucks”
“Fifteen Minutes Of Shame”
“Road To Rhode Island”
“Let's Go To the Hop”
“Dammit Janet”
“There's Something About Paulie”
“He's Too Sexy For His Fat”
“E. Peterbus Unum”
“The Story On Page 1”
“Wasted Talent”
“Fore Father”
“When You Wish Upon a Weinstein” (unaired)

Season 3

“The Thin White Line”
“Brian Does Hollywood”
“Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington”
“One If By Clam, Two If By Sea&rduo;
“And the Wiener is...”
“Death Lives”
“Lethal Weapons”
“The Kiss Seen Around the World”
“Mr. Saturday Knight”
“A Fish Out of Water”
“Emission Impossible”
“To Live and Die in Dixie”
“Screwed the Pooch”
“Peter Griffin: Husband, Father...Brother?”
“Ready, Willing, and Disabled”
“A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas”
“Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows”
“From Method to Madness”
“Stuck Together, Torn Apart”
“European Road Show”
“Family Guy Viewer Mail #1”

DVDs

Region 1

Family Guy Volume 1, Seasons 1 & 2 is available. It is a four-disc 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 the episodes from Season 1 and the first seven episodes from Season 2.
Family Guy Season Two – contains the final fifteen episodes from Season 2, including the unaired When You Wish Upon A Weinstein.
Family Guy Season Three – contains the remaining episodes in a boxset with 3 DVDs in 3 cases.
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.

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' 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' 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

Meg's high school on Family Guy is 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.

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's 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.

In "The Son Also Draws" Chris is a member of the Youth Scouts a reference to the Boy Scouts organization.

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 in only a few weeks had over 10,000 signatures, containing 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 episode which would be a coup for fans who have been petitioning the Fox Network to return the show back onto network television since it's 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.'"

@@ Line 147: / Line 147: @@
 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.  [http://dvd.ign.com/articles/495/495464p1.html?fromint=1 (IGN intervew)] [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/macfarlane/ (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 (TV Series)|Coupling]].'" [http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040326005446&newsLang=en (Press Release)]
+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 (TV Series)|Coupling]].'"
 == External Links ==