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 parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their pet dog Brian. The show uses frequent cutaway gags, often in the form of tangential vignettes which parody American culture.
MacFarlane conceived Family Guy after developing two animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve . MacFarlane redesigned Larry, the films' protagonist, and renamed him Peter, also redesigning Larry's dog Steve, who developed into Brian. Shortly after the third season of Family Guy aired in 2003, Fox cancelled the series. However, favorable DVD sales and high ratings on syndicated reruns convinced the network to renew the show in 2004. The series takes place in a 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, winning 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 received negative criticism, including three lawsuits, and low reviews for its similarities to the animated series The Simpsons .
Many tie-in media have been released, including Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story , a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005; Family Guy: Live in Vegas , a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005, featuring music from the show as well as original music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy; a video game and pinball machine, released in 2006 and 2007, respectively; and, since 2005, six books published by HarperCollins based on the Family Guy universe. In 2008, MacFarlane confirmed that the cast was interested in producing a feature film and that he was working on a story for film adaptation. A spin-off series, The Cleveland Show , premiered on September 27, 2009 as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox. The eighth season of Family Guy premiered on September 27, 2009.
History
Seth MacFarlane created a short film in 1995 entitled The Life of Larry , while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design. The short featured a middle-aged slob named Larry Cummings, his cynical talking dog, Steve, supportive wife Lois, and pudgy teenage son Milt. The film begins with a live-action segment where MacFarlane, as himself, briefly describes the show and its characters. After being hired at Hanna-Barbera, MacFarlane was given a chance in 1996 to direct a sequel entitled Larry and Steve , a seven-minute short broadcast as part of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons . 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.
MacFarlane conceived the idea for the Family Guy in 1999, developing it out of his two short films. MacFarlane's shorts caught the attention of Fox, who gave him $50,000 to make a pilot. McFarlane completed the 11 minute pilot after six months of hand animation. Pleased with the pilot, Fox gave the green light to the Family Guy series. Although Fox initially announced Family Guy ' s cancellation following the second season, Fox decided to make a third season, after which they canceled the series near 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. Family Guy returned to production in 2004, marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales. Fox president Gail Berman said that it was one of her most difficult decisions to cancel the show, and was therefore happy it would return. The network also began production of a film based on the series. The show celebrated its official 100th episode during its sixth season in November 2007, resulting in the show's syndication. The show is contracted to continue producing episodes until 2012.
Production
Staff
Further information: List of writers of Family GuyFamily Guy has had many executive producers in its history, including creator Seth MacFarlane, Daniel Palladino, Lolee Aries, and David Zuckerman. David A. Goodman joined the show as a co-executive producer in season three, and eventually became an executive producer. Alex Borstein, the voice of Lois, has also worked as both an executive and supervising producer, for the fourth and fifth seasons.
The Family Guy writing staff collaborate on which ideas and characters to use for each episode. If a majority of the writers agree on an episode idea, it is then approved by MacFarlane , who must receive an endorsement from Fox before beginning production. For the first months of production, the writers shared one office lent to them by the King of the Hill production crew. In interviews and on the DVD commentary of season one, MacFarlane explained that he is a fan of 1930s and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology "Suspense", which led him to give early episodes ominous titles pertaining to death and murder like "Death Has a Shadow" and "Mind Over Murder". McFarlane later explained that the team dropped the naming convention after individual episodes became hard to identify and the novelty wore off. Since the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, the writers have been required to tone down the show's crude humor for television broadcasts. In 2009, Fox refused to air an episode dealing with abortion.
During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, official production of the show halted for most of December 2007 and various periods afterwards. Fox continued producing episodes without creator Seth MacFarlane's final approval, which he termed "a colossal dick move" in an interview with Variety . Though MacFarlane refused to work on the show, his contract under Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it would subsequently produce. Production officially resumed after the end of the strike, with regularly-airing episodes recommencing on February 17, 2008.
Voice cast
Further information: List of Family Guy voice actors and List of Family Guy guest starsSeth MacFarlane voices four of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Stewie Griffin. MacFarlane chose to voice these characters himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it. MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady . MacFarlane uses his regular speaking voice when playing Brian.
MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time only characters, most prominently those of the Griffins' neighbor Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker and Lois's father Carter Pewterschmidt.
Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv . She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, Borstein performed in a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins. The voice was originally slower, but when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less annoying...and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours".
Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green stated that he did an impression of the "Buffalo Bill" character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition. His main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he were speaking through a public address system at a McDonald's.
Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both played the voices of Meg Griffin. Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes). However, because of a contractual agreement, she was never credited. Chabert left the series because of time conflicts with her role on Party of Five and schoolwork. Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show . MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat." She further explained, "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in perpetual mode of humiliation. And it's fun."
Mike Henry voices both Cleveland Brown and Herbert, as well as some minor recurring characters like Bruce the performance artist and The Greased up Deaf Guy. Henry met MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design and kept in touch wit
Family Guy Quotes -
Adam West - crazy; Brian - The one that talks. Chris Griffin - Well Endowed; Cleveland - boring; Cleveland Jr. - Honey comb big, yeah yeah yeah. Death - keep it cool death
List of characters in Family Guy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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