Family Guy

Family Guy, American animated situation comedy created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Premiering on January 31, 1999, it rapidly gained a reputation for its provocative humor and irreverent treatment of American culture and family life. Alongside The Simpsons and South Park, it is among the longest-running prime-time animated series in U.S. television history.

Setting and characters

Set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, Family Guy revolves around the Griffin family. Peter Griffin (voiced by MacFarlane) is the bumbling patriarch whose reckless antics frequently lead to disastrous yet comical outcomes. Initially employed at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory, he later takes a job at the Pawtucket Brewery. His wife, Lois (Alex Borstein), serves as the more levelheaded member of the household. While primarily a homemaker, she has also held various jobs throughout the series, including stints as a journalist and a fashion model.

Their children are Meg (voiced by Lacey Chabert in the first season and later by Mila Kunis), a socially awkward high schooler; Chris (Seth Green), their good-natured but often clueless son; and Stewie (MacFarlane), an infant prodigy with a British accent whose early character arc revolved around plots of world domination and schemes against his mother. While Stewie is highly articulate, the extent to which other characters can understand him varies from episode to episode, with the family dog, Brian, serving as his primary conversational partner.

Brian (MacFarlane) is an anthropomorphic dog who serves as both Stewie’s closest companion and the Griffin’s most self-aware family member. A struggling writer and intellectual with a penchant for alcohol, Brian dates human women and even fathers a human son. Unlike Stewie, whose speech is inconsistently acknowledged, Brian’s ability to speak is universally understood and treated as unremarkable within the show’s universe.

Peter’s closest friends include Glenn Quagmire (MacFarlane), an excessively flirtatious airline pilot; Cleveland Brown (voiced by Mike Henry in seasons 1–18 and later by Arif Zahir), a soft-spoken individual who is the show’s most prominent African American character; and Joe Swanson (Patrick Warburton), a paraplegic police officer with an assertive personality. These three frequently gather with Peter at their favorite bar, The Drunken Clam.

The series features a wide range of supporting characters, including Quahog’s eccentric mayor, Adam West (voiced by the actor of the same name until his death in 2017). His character was later succeeded by his cousin, Wild West (voiced by Sam Elliott).

MacFarlane has cited a security guard he knew at the Rhode Island School of Design as the inspiration for Peter Griffin’s character. Borstein has stated that she based Lois’s voice on a cousin from Great Neck, New York.

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Creation and production history

Seth MacFarlane developed Family Guy from an earlier animated short he created about a man and his talking dog. At the time, he was working as a writer and animator for Hanna-Barbera Studios (later Cartoon Network Studios). Drawing on this short, MacFarlane pitched the concept to 20th Century Fox Television (now 20th Century Studios) with a seven-minute, hand-animated presentation that he created at home. Studio executives Gary Newman and Dana Walden were impressed and subsequently commissioned 13 episodes.

The series premiered on January 31, 1999, airing immediately after Super Bowl XXXIII as a special preview. The remainder of the first season began broadcasting in April of that year. Despite drawing considerable attention, Family Guy struggled with fluctuating ratings. It was canceled after its second season because of declining viewership, only to return briefly before being canceled again at the end of its third season in 2002.

During this hiatus, Fox licensed the first 50 episodes to Cartoon Network for its late-night Adult Swim programming block. Unexpectedly high ratings on Adult Swim and strong DVD sales persuaded Fox to revive Family Guy in 2005. Since its return, the series has remained a staple of Fox’s animated lineup.

Recurring humor and cutaway gags

A signature comedic device of Family Guy is the show’s use of “cutaway gags”—brief, tangentially related segments that interrupt the main story for comedic effect, often referencing popular culture or portraying absurd scenarios.

Other recurring comedic elements include the following:

• The evil monkey in Chris’s closet: The monkey was originally portrayed as a menacing figure, but it was later revealed that he was acting out because of personal struggles.
• Peter’s battles with the giant chicken: One of the show’s most memorable running gags, Peter’s long-standing feud with a giant chicken—originally sparked by a dispute over an expired coupon—evolves into increasingly elaborate, destructive, and prolonged fight sequences.
• Cleveland Brown’s home mishaps: Cleveland frequently experiences catastrophic incidents, most notably when his house or bathtub is unexpectedly destroyed while he is inside. His startled reaction—typically yelling as he falls from his home—has become a widely recognized comedic trope.

Another hallmark of the series is its elaborate musical numbers, which often feature intricate choreography and address controversial issues such as AIDS, teenage pregnancy, and the legalization of marijuana.

Crossovers and special episodes

On September 28, 2014, Family Guy aired a crossover episode with The Simpsons. In this episode, the Griffins find themselves stranded in Springfield (the setting of The Simpsons), where they befriend the Simpsons until a dispute arises over the similarities between Quahog’s Pawtucket Patriot Ale and Springfield’s Duff Beer. The conflict culminates in an extended fight sequence between Peter and Homer.

The series has also produced three iconic Star Wars parody specials—Blue Harvest (2007), Something, Something, Something, Dark Side (2009), and It’s a Trap! (2010)—all of which have been released on DVD.

Controversies and lawsuits

Throughout its run, Family Guy has faced multiple legal challenges. In 2007 comedian and actress Carol Burnett filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the show, objecting to the unauthorized depiction of her well-known “charwoman” character in an episode. The courts ruled in favor of Family Guy, citing the use of parody as being protected under fair use laws.

That same year the show faced another legal dispute when the owners of the rights to “When You Wish upon a Star” sued over the parody song “I Need a Jew,” featured in the episode “When You Wish upon a Weinstein.” Again, the courts sided with the show, reaffirming that the song was a legally protected parody.

In popular culture

More than a dozen volumes of Family Guy have been released on DVD, along with numerous other collections and special editions. A Family Guy pinball game and numerous Family Guy video games have been released. They include Family Guy Video Game! (High Voltage Software, 2006), Family Guy: Uncensored (Glu Mobile, 2009), Family Guy: Time Warped (Glu Mobile, 2010), Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (Heavy Iron Studios, 2012), Family Guy Online (Roadhouse Interactive and Acronym Games, 2012), Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff (TinyCo, 2014), and Family Guy: Another Freakin’ Mobile Game (Jam City, 2017).

Family Guy characters have also appeared on a variety of merchandise, including plush toys, attire, action figures, ceramic pins, and key chains.