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Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of Peter, Lois, Meg, Chris, Stewie, and their pet dog Brian. The show uses frequent cutaway gags, often in the form of tangential vignettes which parody American culture.

Family Guy was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two predecessor animated films, The life of Larry and Larry & Steve. MacFarlane changed the design of the protagonist Larry and renamed him Peter; he also changed the design of Larry's dog Steve, and developed him into Brian. Shortly after the third season of Family Guy aired in 2003, the series was canceled. However, because of favorable DVD sales and high ratings on syndicated reruns, the network renewed the show in 2004. The setting for the stories is a partially fictional town in Rhode Island, based on MacFarlane's upbringing and education.

Family Guy has been nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, of which it won three. The show has also been nominated for eleven Annie Awards, and won three times. It has garnered three Golden Reel Award nominations, winning once. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961. Family Guy has also been challenged with negative criticism, including three notable lawsuits and low reviews for its similarities to the animated series The Simpsons.

History on TV

Creation

Main article: Larry shorts

Seth MacFarlane created a short film in 1995 entitled The Life of Larry while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design.[1] The short featured a middle-aged slob named Larry Cummings, his cynical talking dog, Steve, supportive wife Lois, and pudgy teenage son Milt.[2] The film begins with a live-action segment where MacFarlane, as himself, briefly describes the show and its characters.[2] After being hired at Hanna-Barbera, MacFarlane was given a chance in 1996 to direct a sequel entitled Larry and Steve,[1] a seven-minute short[3]broadcast as part of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons.[1] The film stars MacFarlane, who reprises his role as Larry Cummings and his talking dog Steve, among various background characters, and Lori Alan, who provided additional character voices.[3]

MacFarlane conceived the idea for the Family Guy in 1999, developing it out of his two short films. MacFarlane caught the attention of Fox, and was given $50,000 to make a pilot. McFarlane completed the 11 minute pilot after six months of hand animation. Upon review, Fox gave the green light to Family Guy as a series.[4] Although Family Guy's cancellation was initially announced after the second season, Fox decided to make a third season,[5][6] after which it was truly canceled at the end of 2003. However, reruns on Adult Swim drove up interest in the show, and its DVD releases did quite well, selling over 2.2 million copies in one year, which renewed network interest.[7] Family Guy returned to production in 2004, making four more seasons (for a total of seven) and a straight-to-DVD special, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. The show celebrated its official 100th episode during its sixth season in November 2007, resulting in the show's syndication.[8] The show is contracted to continue producing episodes until 2012.[9]

Reception and achievements

Critical reception

See also: Criticism of Family Guy
Cover of a magazine. The caption along the bottom in bold blue reads "We Salute Family Guy, TV's Most Original TV Series" in all caps. Centered is the Griffin family slightly altered to resemble characters of the Simpsons family from the animated series The Simpsons. Along the top is Mad Magazines’ logo: the word "MAD" in red caps.
Cover of issue 458 of Mad Magazine, showing the Family Guy characters crossed over with characters from The Simpsons.

Family Guy has received many positive reviews from critics. Catherine Seipp of the National Review Online called it a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon.[10] Caryn James of the The New York Times, called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" and "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies."[11] The Sydney Morning Herald named Family Guy the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 2009, calling it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece".[12] Frazier Moore from the Seattle Times called it an "endless craving for humor about bodily emissions". He also called it "breathtakingly smart" and said a "blend of the ingenious with the raw helps account for its much broader appeal". He finished up by calling it "rude, crude and deliciously wrong".[13] The series has also attracted many celebrities, including Emily Blunt, who has stated that Family Guy is her favorite series and has expressed strong interest in becoming a guest star on the show.[14]

However, Family Guy has also received its share of negative treatment. For example, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly has frequently panned the show, grading it with a "D",[15] and naming it the worst show of the 1999-2000 television season.[16] The series has frequently been criticized for using story premises and humor similar to those used in episodes of The Simpsons. The Simpsons depicted Peter Griffin as a "clone" of Homer Simpson in a Halloween special,[17] and as a fugitive accused of "Plagiarismo" in the episode "The Italian Bob". Family Guy is also mocked in a two-part episode ("Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II") of South Park,[18] 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. MacFarlane responded to the criticism, saying it was 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.[19]

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 do not have to aim very high. You can draw Family Guy when you're ten years old. You do not have to get any better than that to become a professional cartoonist. The standards are extremely low".[20] In addition, the show's penchant for irreverent humor led to a controversy over a sequence in which Peter Griffin dances, in musical revue fashion, around the bed of a man with end-stage AIDS, delivering the patient's diagnosis in song.[21][22]

Awards

Family Guy and its cast have been nominated for eleven Emmy Awards, with three wins. MacFarlane won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance award for his performance as Stewie, Murphy and MacFarlane won the Outstanding Music and Lyrics award for the song "You Got a Lot to See" from the episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows", and Steven Fonti won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his story-board work in the episode "No Chris Left Behind".[23]

The show has also been nominated for eleven Annies, and won three times, twice in 2006 and once in 2008. The show has also been nominated for a Golden Reel Award four times, winning once.[23] In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. This was a significant accomplishment considering that the last animated program to be nominated was The Flintstones in 1961 and that The Simpsons has never been nominated in this category.[24]

In the 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Brian Griffin was selected as the dog for "The Perfect TV Family."[25] Wizard Magazine rated Stewie the 95th greatest villain of all time.[26] British newspaper The Times rated Family Guy as the forty-fifth best American show in 2009.[27] Family Guy was named the seventh of the top one-hundred animated series by IGN.[28]

Media

Video game

Family Guy Video Game! is a 2006 action game released by 2K Games and developed by High Voltage Software. It appears on the Xbox and PlayStation 2 consoles, and the handheld PlayStation Portable. The game's story reflects the episodic structure of the series with adventure game play.[29] The game received very mixed reviews, averaging 50% for PS2,[30] 51% for PSP,[31] and 53% for Xbox[32] on review aggregator Metacritic, receiving praise for its humor[33] but being criticized for its short playtime[34] and "uninteresting gameplay".[35]

Spin-off

In 2009, a spin-off series titled The Cleveland Show premiered on Fox. The Hollywood Reporter initially announced that there were plans to produce a spin-off of Family Guy to be focused on Cleveland. The project was created by MacFarlane, Henry and American Dad! show runner Rich Appel.[36] Cleveland references this at the end of the episode "Baby Not On Board".[37] The series had its premiere on September 27, 2009.[38][39] Due to the cancellation of Mike Judge's King of the Hill,[40] the American adaptation of Sit Down, Shut Up being moved to Saturday nights,[41] and the renewal of American Dad!, The Simpsons is now the only cartoon on Fox's "Animation Domination" line-up that was not created by Seth MacFarlane. The show, which was picked up to air a first season consisting of 22 episodes,[42] was picked up by Fox for a second season, consisting of 13 episodes, bringing the total number to 35 episodes. The announcement was made on May 3, 2009 before the first season even premiered.[43] Due to strong ratings FOX picked up the back 9 episodes of season 2 which would make a 22 episode season and bring the total episode count of the show to 44.[44]

Film

On July 22, 2007, in an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter", MacFarlane announced that he may start working on a feature film, although "nothing's official."[45] In September 2007, Ricky Blitt gave TV.com an interview confirming that he had already started working on the script.[46] Then in TV Week on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released Family Guy feature film sometime "within the next year".[47] He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie." He later went to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to The Sound of Music, saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel."[48]

Live performances

Seth McFarlane and some of the other writers and voice actors on the show have begun to perform in "Family Guy LIVE!", which have been enormously successful theater shows. The show usually begins with a read-through of a script from a classic episode from the series, with all of the original voice-actors performing their character's lines, and then moves onto a performance of some songs from the show's history. Towards the end, there is a Q & A session and a clip is shown from one of the new, unaired episodes. There have been performances in New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Chicago[49]. Even though an aired episode is usually only 22 minutes long, the script-reading of an episode of the same length can last as long as an hour with all of the pauses for laughter to subside and constant asides to the audience.

References

  1. ^ a b c Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's who in animated cartoons: an international guide to film & television's award-winning and legendary animators (Illustrated ed.). New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-55783-671-7.
  2. ^ a b Seth McFarlane. The Life of Larry (1995) (Animated short). Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  3. ^ a b Seth MacFarlane, Lori Alan. Larry & Steve (1997) (Animated short). Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  4. ^ "Inside Media at MTR (2006): Family Guy 2". Yahoo! Video. Retrieved August 24, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ "Plenty of Changes at Fox, UPN, Fox Tinkers With its Prime-Time Lineup on 6 Nights, UPN on 3". newsbank. Retrieved October 3, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ "ARTS & TV in Brief; `Family Guy,' `SportsNight' may move to new networks". pqasb. Retrieved October 3, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ McKinley, Jesse (May 2, 2005). "Canceled and Resurrected, on the Air and Onstage". The New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  8. ^ ""Family Guy" Celebrates 100 Freakin' Sweet Episodes With Special Retropective Sunday, November 4, On Fox". Fox. The Futon Critic. October 8, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  9. ^ Goldman, Eric (May 5, 2008). "Big New Deal for Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane". IGN. Retrieved May 11, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Return of the Family Guy". NRO. Retrieved October 3, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ "The New Season/Television: Critic's Choice; A Little Dysfunctional Family Fun". NYT. Retrieved October 3, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ "Show of the Week: Family Guy". SMI. Retrieved October 3, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  13. ^ "Return of the Family Guy". NRO. Retrieved October 3, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. ^ "Emily Blunt wants to star in Family Guy".
  15. ^ Tucker, Ken (September 4, 1999). "Family Guy". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
  16. ^ Tucker, Ken (December 21, 2001). "Television". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
  17. ^ "Send in the Clones". The Simpsons. Season 14. Episode 292. November 3, 2002. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ Created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. "Cartoon Wars Part I & II". South Park. Comedy Central. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Family Guy, Volume 4, Commentary. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  20. ^ Kricfalusi, John (August 31, 2004). "The John Kricfalusi Interview, Part 2". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved July 14, 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Adams, Bob (August 22, 2005). ""Family Guy" has fun with AIDS". Advocate.com. PlanetOut Inc. Retrieved December 12, 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  22. ^ Bozell, Brent (April 10, 2009). "Fox's "Comedic Genius"". Townhall.com. Retrieved August 24, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  23. ^ a b "Awards for "Family Guy"". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 13, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  24. ^ Collins, Scott (July 17, 2009). "Family Guy breaks the funny bone barrier with Emmy nod". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 24, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  25. ^ "TV: Breaking Down the List". Entertainment Weekly (#999/1000): 56. June 27 & July 4, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help)
  26. ^ "The 100 Greatest Villains of All Time". Wizard (177): 86. July 2006. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  27. ^ "The 50 best US television shows". The Times. April 15, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  28. ^ "7, Family Guy". IGN. October 14, 2009. Retrieved January 24, 2009.
  29. ^ "Family Guy Video Game!". MobyGames. Retrieved August 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  30. ^ "Family Guy (ps2) reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 29, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  31. ^ "Family Guy (psp) reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 29, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  32. ^ "Family Guy (xbx) reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  33. ^ Kennedy, Sam (October 23, 2006). "Family Guy Review". 1UP.com. Retrieved August 29, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  34. ^ Dutka, Ben (December 21, 2006). "Family Guy Review". PSX Extreme. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  35. ^ Navarro, Alex (October 24, 2006). "Family Guy Review for Xbox". GameSpot. Retrieved August 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  36. ^ "The Hollywood Reporter". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved February 29, 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  37. ^ "Baby Not On Board". Family Guy. Season 7. Episode 4. November 2, 2008. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ "FOX Announces Fall Premiere Dates For The 2009-2010 Season". The Futon Critic. June 15, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  39. ^ "Fox Primetime - The Cleveland Show - Fact Sheet". Fox Flash. Retrieved August 29, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  40. ^ "Fox Not Renewing King of the Hill". comingsoon.net. October 31, 2008. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  41. ^ "Exclusive: Fox to "Sit Down" in Late Night this Fall".
  42. ^ "EW: Fox orders full season of 'Family Guy' spin-off".
  43. ^ "The Cleveland Show renewed before it begins".
  44. ^ "Fox orders second full season of The Cleveland Show".
  45. ^ Szalai, Georg (July 23, 2007). ""Family Guy" movie possible, MacFarlane says". Reuters. Retrieved August 31, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  46. ^ "Family Guy feature film is in the works!". TV.com. September 26, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  47. ^ "TCA Video: Family Guy Spoilers; Movie Plans". TV Week. Retrieved August 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  48. ^ Dean, Josh. "Seth MacFarlane's $2 Billion Family Guy Empire". FastCompany.com. Retrieved October 21, 2008. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  49. ^ 'Family Guy' hits the road - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety
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