"Family Guy" (1999) TV series 1999-????

Creator:

Seth MacFarlane

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | unknown

Release Date:

31 January 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Tagline:

Don't Die Laughing. We Could Get Sued (Season 4).

Plot:

In a wacky Rhode Island town, a dysfunctional family strive to cope with everyday life as they are thrown from one crazy scenario to another.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Baby | Rhode Island | Dysfunctional Family | Homicidal Baby

Awards:

Won 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 7 wins & 31 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Dec. 27	7:30 PM	CW	A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Bucks	#2.11
Sun. Dec. 27	9:00 PM	Fox	Spies Reminiscent of Us	#8.3

Cast

Seth MacFarlane	...	Peter Griffin / ... (136 episodes, 1999-2009)
Alex Borstein	...	Lois Griffin / ... (136 episodes, 1999-2009)
Seth Green	...	Chris Griffin / ... (136 episodes, 1999-2009)
Mila Kunis	...	Meg Griffin / ... (123 episodes, 1999-2009)
Mike Henry	...	Cleveland Brown / ... (119 episodes, 1999-2009)
Danny Smith	...	Various / ... (96 episodes, 1999-2009)
Patrick Warburton	...	Joe Swanson / ... (86 episodes, 1999-2009)
John Viener	...	Various / ... (71 episodes, 2005-2009)
Lori Alan	...	Diane Simmons / ... (56 episodes, 1999-2009)

Also Known As:

Padre de familia (USA: Spanish title)

Runtime:

22 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (DVD rating) | Vietnam:(Banned) | South Africa:(Banned) | Iran:(Banned) | Egypt:(Banned) | Canada:G (Quebec) (DVD rating) | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Singapore:PG (Season 1 & 2) | Philippines:PG-13 | Japan:Unrated | Poland:(Banned) | Australia:MA (some episodes) | USA:TV-14 | USA:TV-PG (some episodes) | Poland:15 | Hungary:16 (original rating) | China:13 | Czech Republic:15 | Singapore:M18 (season 6) | Singapore:NC-16 (some episodes) | New Zealand:R13 (season 8) | Australia:M | Australia:PG (some episodes) | Brazil:12 | Ireland:15 | New Zealand:M (season 1-7) | UK:12 (some episodes) | UK:15 (some episodes) | Malaysia:(Banned) | India:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The original idea for titles of episodes were supposed to be based on 1940s Mystery Radio shows. This is why the first few episodes have some sort of reference to death in them. Eventually the writers of the show had to start describing the episodes to one another (rather than simply using the titles), so that idea was dropped.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Peter lives in a Cape Cod house. They have one full floor and an upstairs which has slanted walls. When there are screen shots of Peter's room, Chris's room, Stewie or Meg's room, they have straight walls.

Quotes:

Police Officer: Hey. That's Against the law. You're coming with me.
Peter Griffin: [singing to the tune of U Can't Touch this] Ah ah ah. Can't Touch Me/ Can't Touch me/ Ja ja ja ja just like the bad guy/ from Lethal Weapon 2/ I've got diplomatic Immunity/ so Hammer, you can't sue/ I can write graffiti even jay-walk in the streets/ I can Riot, loot, not give a hoot, and touch your sister's teat/ Can't touch me/ Can't touch me/
Adam West: What in God's name is he doing?
Peter Griffin: Can't Touch me.
Cleveland: I believe that's the worm.
Peter Griffin: [still singing] Can't touch me/ STOP, Peter time/ I'm a big shot, there's no doubt/ light a fire then pee it out/ Don't like it, kiss my rump/ Just for a minute, let's all do the bump/ Can't touch me/ Yeah, do the Peter Griffin Bump/ Can't touch me/ I'm Presidential Peter/ Interns think I'm hot/ Don't care if you're handicapped, I'll still park in your spot/ I've been around the world/ from Hartford to Back Bay/ It's Peter, Go Peter, I'm so Peter, Yo Peter, Let's see Regis rap this way/ Can't touch me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Drillbit Taylor (2008)

Soundtrack:

Lucky There's A Family Guy

Losing its edge

While I know that I run the risk of being chased out of town for saying this, I feel that since the beginning of Season 5, the show has lost its edge.

90% of the jokes in "Family Guy" fall into one of 3 categories: 1) Jokes making fun of pop culture (especially old TV shows and celebrities) 2) Gags that run so long that they become absurd 3) Flashbacks, most of the time introduced with "This is more ___ than that time I ___"

I'm sure that a lot of people find this stuff funny, but after 4 seasons with this kind of humour, it just becomes so expected that it ends up being routine. This doesn't do it for me.

I still like this show and I think it has a lot of potential, but it needs some new ideas!