MacFarlane initially conceived "Family Guy" in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During college, he created his thesis film entitled "The Life of Larry", which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996 MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" entitled "Larry and Steve", which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons". Executives at Fox saw the "Larry" shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, entitled "Family Guy", based on the characters.
Development
Family Guy
Family Guy | Development
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The executive producers for the third production season were Dan Palladino and series creator Seth MacFarlane. The aired season also contained nine episodes which were holdovers from season two, which were produced by MacFarlane and David Zuckerman. Although "Family Guy" was initially canceled in 2000 due to low ratings, following a last-minute reprieve, the series returned for a third season in 2001. The series was canceled again in 2002; however, high ratings on Adult Swim and high DVD sales renewed Fox's interest in the series. The series returned for a total of 30 new episodes in 2005.
Family Guy (season 3) | Introduction
MacFarlane redesigned the films' protagonist, Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renamed them Peter and Brian, respectively. MacFarlane pitched a seven-minute pilot to Fox in 1998, and the show was greenlit and began production. "Family Guy"'s cancellation was announced shortly after the third season had aired in 2002, with one unaired episode eventually premiering on Adult Swim in 2003, finishing the series' original run. Favorable DVD sales and high ratings from syndicated reruns since then convinced Fox to revive the show in 2004; a fourth season would begin airing the following year on May 1, 2005.
Family Guy | Introduction
The last three episodes of season 4 were the basis for the movie known as "", and are edited for content; Fox does not include these episodes in the official episode count. "Family Guy" had been canceled in 2002 due to low ratings, but was revived by Fox after reruns on Adult Swim became the network's most-watched program, and more than three million DVDs of the show were sold. "North by North Quahog" was the first episode to air following the series' revival. The executive producers for the fourth production season are series creator Seth MacFarlane, along with David A.
Family Guy (season 4) | Introduction
The series was a co-production of 20th Century Fox Television and Chernin Entertainment. Hill co-created the series with Mogel and Paul. All three, along with Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope, served as executive producers. David A. Goodman, who was with the series "Family Guy" until its ninth season after its 2005 return to television, was the showrunner and a further executive producer. Fox placed an order for seven episodes in October 2010. On July 12, 2011, Fox ordered six additional scripts of the series. As of 2011, there had been no further report regarding completion of the scripts, or of any work to shoot the scripts to create further episodes.
Allen Gregory | Production
MacFarlane pitched a seven-minute pilot to Fox in 1998, and the show was greenlit and began production. Shortly after the third season of "Family Guy" had aired in 2002, Fox canceled the series with one episode left unaired. Adult Swim aired that episode in 2003, finishing the series' original run. However, favorable DVD sales and high ratings for syndicated reruns on Adult Swim convinced the network to renew the show in 2004 for a fourth season, which began airing on May 1, 2005.
Family Guy (franchise) | TV show
The show returned in March 2000 to finish airing the second season which contained 21 episodes; all the cast came back for the series return. During its second season, Fox publicly announced that the show had been cancelled. Despite the announced cancellation, in 2001 Fox decided to make the third season. During the third season, Fox announced that the show was canceled for good. Soon after "Family Guy" was cancelled, Henry and his brother created the popular web series "Kicked in the Nuts", a spoof of hidden camera shows. "Family Guy" was renewed again in 2005 for its fourth season due to strong DVD sales and its syndication on basic cable networks.
Mike Henry (voice actor) | "Family Guy"
Production season seven was executive produced by Chris Sheridan, David Goodman, Danny Smith, Mark Hentemann, Steve Callaghan and series creator Seth MacFarlane. The season's showrunners were Hentemann and Callaghan, both of whom replaced previous showrunners Goodman and Sheridan.
Family Guy (season 8) | Introduction
In 2002, "Family Guy" was canceled after three seasons due to low ratings. The show was first canceled after the 1999–2000 season, but following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. Fox tried to sell rights for reruns of the show, but it was hard to find networks that were interested; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights, " basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television Production. When the reruns were shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in 2003, "Family Guy" became Adult Swim's most-watched show with an average 1.9 million viewers an episode.
North by North Quahog | Production and development
Production for the ninth season began in 2009, during the airing of the eighth season. The season was executive produced by series regulars Chris Sheridan, David Goodman, Danny Smith, Mark Hentemann and Steve Callaghan, along with series creator Seth MacFarlane. The showrunners for the ninth season were Hentemann and Callaghan, who oversaw the series's transition into 720p high definition in the premiere of the ninth-season episode "And Then There Were Fewer". As production began, Callaghan, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Hentemann, Patrick Meighan, Brian Scully, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, John Viener and Wellesley Wild all stayed on from the previous season.
Family Guy (season 9) | Production
The season premiered September 28, 2008 with the episode "Love, Blactually" airing on Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States. During the sixth season of the show, episodes of "Family Guy" and "American Dad!" were delayed from regular broadcast due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Series creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane sided with the Writers Guild and participated in the strike until its conclusion. Official production of "Family Guy" was halted for most of December 2007 and intermittent periods afterwards. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval; although he refused to work on the show during the strike, his contract with Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it subsequently produced.
Family Guy (season 7) | Production
The entirety of season seven contained episodes from the sixth production season, which was executive produced by MacFarlane, Danny Smith, David Goodman and Chris Sheridan, with Goodman and Sheridan serving as showrunners.
Family Guy (season 7) | Introduction
The first team of writers assembled for the show consisted of Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Gary Janetti, Ricky Blitt, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, Matt Weitzman, and Mike Barker. The writing process of "Family Guy" generally starts with 14 writers that take turns writing the scripts; when a script is finished it is given to the rest of the writers to read. These scripts generally include cutaway gags. Various gags are pitched to MacFarlane and the rest of the staff, and those deemed funniest are included in the episode. MacFarlane has explained that normally it takes 10 months to produce an episode because the show uses hand-drawn animation.
Family Guy | Writing
MacFarlane conceived the idea for "Family Guy" in 1998, developing it out of his two short films. MacFarlane caught the attention of Fox, and was given $50,000 to make a pilot. MacFarlane completed the 11-minute pilot after six months of hand animation. Upon review, Fox gave the green light to "Family Guy" as a series. Although "Family Guy"s cancellation was initially announced after the second season, Fox decided to make a third season, after which it was cancelled in 2002. 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.
Griffin family | Creation
Production for the eighth season began in 2008, during the airing of the seventh season. The season was executive produced by series regulars Chris Sheridan, David Goodman, Danny Smith, Mark Hentemann and Steve Callaghan, along with series creator Seth MacFarlane. The showrunners for the eighth season were Hentemann and Callaghan, who replaced Goodman and Sheridan, following the conclusion of the seventh production season. As production began, Callaghan, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Hentemann, Patrick Meighan, Brian Scully, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, John Viener and Wellesley Wild all stayed on from the previous season. Spencer Porter received his first writing credit for the series.
Family Guy (season 8) | Production
"Family Guy" was originally pitched to Fox in the same year as "King of the Hill", but the show was not bought until years later, when "King of the Hill" became successful. Fox ordered 13 episodes of "Family Guy" to air in midseason after MacFarlane impressed executives with a seven-minute demo.
Family Guy | Development
The season aired on Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States. David Zuckerman and MacFarlane were the executive producers for the season; the latter also acted as show runner. The producer for the season was Sherry Gunther, with Mike Barker and Matthew Weitzman serving as co-producers. Other producers included Craig Hoffman, Danny Smith, Gary Janetti, and John Riggi. The writing staff included MacFarlane, Chris Sheridan, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, Ricky Blitt, Andrew Gormley, supervising producers Danny Smith and Gary Janetti, co-producers Matt Weitzman and Mike Barker, and voice actor Mike Henry. There were six directors for the seven episodes, with Michael DiMartino directing two.
Family Guy (season 1) | Crew
MacFarlane co-created—alongside Mike Henry and Richard Appel—the "Family Guy" spin-off "The Cleveland Show", which premiered September 27, 2009. They began discussing the project in 2007. Appel and Henry served as the show's executive producers and showrunners, handling the day-to-day operations, with limited involvement from MacFarlane. Henry and Appel conceived the show as "more of a family show, a sweeter show" than "Family Guy". The first season consisted of 22 episodes, and the show was picked up by Fox for a second season, which consisted of 13 episodes. The announcement was made on May 3, 2009, before the first season began.
Family Guy (franchise) | Spin-off
The second season of the animated comedy series "Family Guy" aired on Fox from September 23, 1999 to August 1, 2000, and consisted of 21 episodes. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and their anthropomorphic dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog. The show features the voices of series creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Lacey Chabert and later Mila Kunis in the roles of the Griffin family. The executive producers for the second production season were David Zuckerman and MacFarlane; the aired season also contained eight episodes which were holdovers from season one.
Family Guy (season 2) | Introduction
Matt Harrigan, Dave Willis, Anthony Blasucci and Mike Desilets received their first writing credit for the series. Series executive producer David A. Goodman returned as a writer for the series, with Goodman leaving immediately afterward to work on the Fox animated series "Allen Gregory". Kirker Butler, who wrote five episodes for the show, left the series before the beginning of the ninth season, in order to write for the Fox animated series "The Cleveland Show", a spin-off of "Family Guy". Writer John Viener left the series at the end of the season to also write for "The Cleveland Show". Recurring directors Dominic Bianchi, Greg Colton, John Holmquist, Brian Iles, Jerry Langford, Pete Michels, James Purdum, Cyndi Tang and Julius Wu all stayed with the show from the previous season.
Family Guy (season 9) | Production
Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company that debuted on January 31, 1999. The series is produced by Fuzzy Door Productions and 20th Television and syndicated by 20th Television. The series centers on the Griffins, a family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children, Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog, Brian. The show is set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island, and exhibits much of its surreal and dark humor in the form of metafictional cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture. The family was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two animated films, "The Life of Larry" and "Larry & Steve".
Family Guy | Introduction
In November 2007, "Variety" reported that creator Seth MacFarlane had joined the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike and refused to complete more "Family Guy" episodes. A spokesperson for Fox said: "Our hope is that he returns to work and completes his non-writing obligations on those episodes". "IGN" reported that Fox would air three episodes of "Family Guy" without MacFarlane doing the final work. MacFarlane noted that Fox could legally do that, but thought it was a "colossal dick move", and said that "They've never done anything like this before [...] It's really going to be unfortunate and damaging to our relationship if they do it." Fox aired two new episodes during November 2007.
Family Guy (season 6) | Production
The show was first canceled after the 1999–2000 season, but following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. In 2002, "Family Guy" was canceled after three seasons due to low ratings. Fox tried to sell rights for reruns of the show, but it was hard to find networks that were interested; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights, " basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television Production. When the reruns were shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in 2003, "Family Guy" became the channel's most-watched show with an average 1.9 million viewers per episode.
Family Guy (season 4) | Production
Production for the fifth season began in 2005, during the airing of the fourth season. The season was executive produced by series regulars David A. Goodman, Seth MacFarlane, Chris Sheridan, and Danny Smith. In addition, Goodman served as showrunner throughout the season. As production began, Tom Devanney, Kirker Butler, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild, Patrick Meighan, Danny Smith and future showrunners Mark Hentemann and Steve Callaghan, all stayed on from the previous season. No new writers were hired after the conclusion of the fourth season. Alex Borstein, who serves as the voice of Lois, wrote her last episode, "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", and regular writers Ken Goin and Gary Janetti, who returned during season eight, left the series before the beginning of the fifth season.
Family Guy (season 5) | Production
Created by comedian Eddie Murphy, the series "The PJs" debuted in January 1999. The show was a minor success similar to "The Critic", but the show’s high budget caused it to be moved to The WB in 2001, where it lasted one season. Seth MacFarlane's animated series "Family Guy" premiered after Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999. The show was canceled in 2000, but fan petitions convinced Fox to renew it for a third season. After its third season ended in 2002, the network canceled the series again and reruns soon began airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Ratings for the series increased soon after, and DVD sales increased.
Animation on Fox | 2000s
The season aired in the UK from May 4, 2008 - June 15, 2008 on BBC Three. The executive producers for the sixth production season are Seth MacFarlane, David A. Goodman, Chris Sheridan and Danny Smith. Despite this being the show's sixth television season, only four episodes from the sixth production season were aired as part of it, with the remainder being held off for seasons seven and eight as a result of the WGA strike. Goodman and Sheridan continued to serve as showrunners.
Family Guy (season 6) | Introduction
MacFarlane co-created—alongside Mike Henry and Richard Appel—the "Family Guy" spin-off "The Cleveland Show", which premiered September 27, 2009. They began discussing the project in 2007.
Family Guy | Spin-off
"Family Guy" is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children, Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog, Brian. The show is set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island, and exhibits much of its humor in the form of metafictional cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture. The family was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two animated films, "The Life of Larry" and "Larry & Steve". MacFarlane redesigned the films' protagonist, Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renamed them Peter and Brian, respectively.
Family Guy (franchise) | TV show
"Family Guy" returned to production in 2004, making four more seasons (for a total of seven) and a straight-to-DVD special, "." 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.
Griffin family | Creation
Credited with 19 episodes, Steve Callaghan is the most prolific writer on the "Family Guy" staff. Many of the writers that have left the show have gone on to create or produce other successful series. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan co-wrote 13 episodes for the NBC sitcom "Scrubs" during their eight-year run on the show, while also serving as co-producers and working their way up to executive producers. Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman left the show and went on to create the long-running and still ongoing adult animated series "American Dad!" MacFarlane is also a co-creator of "American Dad!" On November 4, 2013, it was announced that Barker had departed "American Dad!" during its run as well, after 10 seasons of serving as producer and co-showrunner over the series.
Family Guy | Writing
Iles sketched out several clothing ideas for Peter to wear. He got ideas by flipping through catalogs. The name of all the horses at the race track are named after canceled Fox shows from May 2005 until this episode aired. It is a tribute to a similar mentioning of canceled shows when "Family Guy" came back on the air in May 2005 in the episode "North by North Quahog". When the episode got close to airing, MacFarlane kept thinking they should remove the cutaway gag with Matt Damon, due to MacFarlane liking Damon's criticism of Sarah Palin. "Family Gay", along with the first eight episodes of the seventh season were released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2009, one month after it had completed broadcast on television.
Family Gay | Production
"Family Guy" is an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the dysfunctional Griffin family, which consists of father Peter (MacFarlane), mother Lois (Alex Borstein), daughter Meg (Lacey Chabert in episodes 1–9, then Mila Kunis in "Da Boom" onwards), son Chris (Seth Green), baby Stewie (MacFarlane), and Brian (MacFarlane), the family dog. The show is set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, and lampoons American culture, often in the form of cutaway gags, science fiction and tangential vignettes. The concept of "Family Guy" was conceived by MacFarlane in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design.
List of Family Guy episodes | Introduction
Former recurring director Mike Kim left the series.
Family Guy (season 8) | Production
"Family Guy" was first canceled in 2000 following the series' second season, but following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. In 2002, the series was canceled again after three seasons due to low ratings. Fox attempted to sell the rights for reruns of the show, but it was difficult to find networks that were interested; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights, " basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television Production. When the reruns were shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in 2003, "Family Guy" became Adult Swim's most-watched show with an average 1.9 million viewers an episode.
Family Guy (season 3) | Production
MacFarlane has served as an executive producer during the show's entire history. The first executive producers were David Zuckerman, Lolee Aries, David Pritchard, and Mike Wolf. "Family Guy" has had many executive producers in its history, including Daniel Palladino, Kara Vallow, and Danny Smith. David A. Goodman joined the show as a co-executive producer in season three, and eventually became an executive producer. Alex Borstein, who voices Lois, worked as an executive and supervising producer for the fourth and fifth seasons.
Family Guy | Executive producers
"Family Guy" is an American animated comedy series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Characters are listed only once, normally under the first applicable subsection in the list; very minor characters are listed with a more regular character with whom they are associated.
List of Family Guy characters | Introduction
"Family Guy" had been canceled in 2002 due to low ratings, but was revived by Fox after reruns on Adult Swim became the cable network's most watched program, and more than three million DVDs of the show were sold. Written by series creator Seth MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin, much of the plot and many of the technical aspects of the episode, as well as the title, are direct parodies of the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock movie "North by Northwest"; in addition, the episode makes use of Bernard Herrmann's theme music from that film. The episode contains many cultural references; in the opening sequence Peter lists 29 shows that were canceled by Fox after "Family Guy" was canceled and says that if all of those shows were to be canceled, they might have a chance at returning.
North by North Quahog | Introduction
However, by re-using an episode idea from 2002, it seemed to viewers like the creative minds behind the show were lacking creativity. While some of the concepts were funny (the Griffins as British, life from Stewie's perspective), many jokes fell flat."
Family Guy (season 10) | Reception
He created two shorts entitled "The Life of Larry" and "Larry & Steve", both of which played a key role in Fox executives' decision to pick up the series in 1998. After two seasons, Fox decided to cancel the show. Despite the cancellation, a third season was produced, after which the series was officially cancelled at the end of the 2001–2002 season. Reruns on Cartoon Network's block Adult Swim drove up interest, and a letter-writing campaign, along with impressive DVD sales, encouraged Fox to bring the show back for the 2005–2006 year. "Family Guy" and its cast have been nominated for twenty-seven Primetime Emmy Awards, winning eight.
List of Family Guy episodes | Introduction
In 2002, "Family Guy" was canceled after three seasons due to low ratings. The show was first canceled after the 1999–2000 season, but following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. During the third season, Fox announced that the show was canceled for good. Fox tried to sell rights for reruns of the show, but it was hard to find networks that were interested; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights, " basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television Production. When the reruns were shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in 2003, "Family Guy" became Adult Swim's most-watched show with an average 1.9 million viewers an episode.
Family Guy (season 2) | Production
Premises were drawn from several 1980s Saturday morning cartoons he watched as a child, such as "The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" and "Rubik, the Amazing Cube". The Griffin family first appeared on the demo that MacFarlane pitched to Fox on May 15, 1998. "Family Guy" was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show "MADtv", but the plan changed because "MADtv"s budget was not large enough to support animation production. MacFarlane noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Fox, as he thought that it was the place to create a prime-time animation show.
Family Guy | Development
"Family Guy" sixteenth season premiered on Fox in the United States on October 1, 2017, and ended on May 20, 2018. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family, consisting of father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie, and the family dog Brian, who reside in their hometown of Quahog. The executive producers for the sixteenth production season are Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, Alec Sulkin, Steve Callaghan, Danny Smith, and Kara Vallow. Sulkin returns after a two-season absence as the new showrunner for the series, replacing previous showrunner Callaghan. Appel continues to serve as showrunner alongside Sulkin. The season features guest appearances from Bill Maher, Sir Ian McKellen, Kristen Bell, Louis C.K., and "Modern Family" cast members Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen and Sofía Vergara.
Family Guy (season 16) | Introduction
After meeting series creator Seth MacFarlane, Sheridan was hired as one of the series' first writers. The first episode he wrote was "I Never Met the Dead Man", the second episode of the first season, which premiered on April 11, 1999. Sheridan also wrote the second season premiere "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater." He later went on to write the episodes "I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar", "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", "He's Too Sexy for His Fat", and "Lethal Weapons". Due to low ratings, "Family Guy" was cancelled at the end of its second season. While the show was on hiatus, Sheridan became a writer for the sitcom "Titus" and also wrote several episodes for the sitcom "Yes, Dear".
Chris Sheridan (writer) | Career and later life
Seth MacFarlane conceived the idea for "Family Guy" in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). There he created his thesis film "The Life of Larry", which his professor at RISD later submitted to Hanna-Barbera; this led to MacFarlane being hired by the company. In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" entitled "Larry and Steve", which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons". Executives at Fox saw the "Larry" shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters entitled "Family Guy".
Family Guy (season 1) | Conception
"Family Guy" fifth season first aired on the Fox network in eighteen episodes from September 10, 2006 to May 20, 2007 before being released as two DVD box sets and in syndication. It premiered with the episode "Stewie Loves Lois" and finished with "Meet the Quagmires". The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and Brian, the family pet, who reside in their hometown of Quahog. The executive producers for the fifth season were David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith and series creator Seth MacFarlane. Sheridan and Goodman served as showrunners for the fifth season.
Family Guy (season 5) | Introduction
Executives at Fox saw the "Larry" shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters entitled "Family Guy". While working on the series, Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian; the rest of the series characters were added later.
Family Guy (season 1) | Introduction
The first season of the animated comedy series "Family Guy" aired on Fox from January 31 to May 16, 1999, and consisted of seven episodes. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, son Stewie and their anthropomorphic dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog. The show features the voices of series creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, and Lacey Chabert in the roles of the Griffin family. The executive producers for the first season were David Zuckerman and MacFarlane. The series premiere, "Death Has a Shadow", was broadcast directly after Super Bowl XXXIII and was watched by 22.01 million viewers.
Family Guy (season 1) | Introduction
The "Road to" episodes are a parody of the seven "Road to..." comedy films released between 1940 and 1962, which starred actors Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. "Family Guy" creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane came up with the idea to create the episodes, being a fan of the original film series. The first "Road to" episode, titled "Road to Rhode Island", aired in 2000 as a part of the second season of "Family Guy", and featured Brian and Stewie attempting to find Brian's mother. The episode was the first "Family Guy" contribution by director Dan Povenmire, and it was written by Gary Janetti, who had previously written for the show during its first and second seasons.
Road to ... (Family Guy) | Production and development
Goodman and Chris Sheridan. Starting with this season, MacFarlane would hand over showrunner duties to two writers, with Goodman and Sheridan being the inaugural co-showrunners.
Family Guy (season 4) | Introduction
Fox green-lit the show and announced that it would air after Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005. While "American Dad!" was being pitched to Fox, the network canceled "Family Guy" in 2003, and Fox planned on marketing "American Dad!" as a replacement for "Family Guy". However, in 2005, "Family Guy" was revived due to high re-run ratings and DVD sales. As a result, MacFarlane chose to focus on "Family Guy" and handed creative control of "American Dad!" to Barker and Weitzman.
Pilot (American Dad!) | Background and production
The show returned on November 8, 2001, once again in a tough time slot: Thursday nights at 8:00 pm. This slot brought it into competition with "Survivor" and "Friends" (a situation that was later referenced in ""). During its second and third seasons, Fox frequently moved the show around to different days and time slots with little or no notice and, consequently, the show's ratings suffered. Upon Fox's annual unveiling of its 2002 fall line-up on May 15, 2002, "Family Guy" was absent. Fox announced that the show had been officially canceled shortly thereafter.
Family Guy | Early history and cancellation
Family Guy is an American animated comedy franchise created by Seth MacFarlane and originally developed for the Fox Broadcasting Company.
Family Guy (franchise) | Introduction
"Family Guy" fifteenth season premiered on Fox in the United States on September 25, 2016, and ended on May 21, 2017. The season contained 20 episodes. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family, consisting of father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and the family dog Brian, who reside in their hometown of Quahog. The executive producers for the fifteenth production season are Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, Steve Callaghan, Danny Smith and Kara Vallow. The showrunners are Appel and Callaghan. Guest stars for the season include Kyle Chandler, Stephen Curry, Flea, Rob Gronkowski, Sean Penn, Frank Sinatra Jr., David Tennant, and Jacob Tremblay.
Family Guy (season 15) | Introduction
"Family Guy" was pitted against NBC's "Frasier", and the series' ratings declined sharply. Subsequently, Fox removed "Family Guy" from its schedule, and began airing episodes irregularly. The show returned on March 7, 2000, at 8:30 pm on Tuesdays, where it was constantly beaten in the ratings by ABC's then-new breakout hit "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", coming in at No. 114 in the Nielsen ratings with 6.32 million households tuning in. Fox announced that the show had been canceled in May 2000, at the end of the second season. However, following a last-minute reprieve, on July 24, 2000, Fox ordered 13 additional episodes of "Family Guy" to form a third season.
Family Guy | Early history and cancellation
MacFarlane developed a "Family Guy" spin-off called "The Cleveland Show", which focuses on the character of Cleveland Brown and his family. The idea for the show originated from a suggestion by "Family Guy" writer and voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry. Fox ordered 22 episodes and the series first aired on September 27, 2009. The show, which was picked up to air a first season consisting of 22 episodes, 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.
Seth MacFarlane | "The Cleveland Show"
The network also began production of a film based on the show. "North by North Quahog" was the first episode to be broadcast after the show's cancellation. It was written by Seth MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin. MacFarlane believed the show's three-year hiatus was beneficial because animated shows do not normally have hiatuses, and towards the end of their seasons "... you see a lot more sex jokes and (bodily function) jokes and signs of a fatigued staff that their brains are just fried". With "North by North Quahog", the writing staff tried to keep the show "... exactly as it was" before its cancellation, and did not "...
Family Guy (season 4) | Production
In 1999, "Family Guy", MacFarlane's first animated show, aired on Fox to ratings success. During this time, MacFarlane came up with the idea for "American Dad!" after the 2000 presidential election; stating "me and co-creator Matt Weitzman were so frustrated with the Bush administration that we would just spend days bitching and complaining, and we figured we should channel this into something creative and hopefully profitable." Later, series co-creator Mike Barker stated, "About a year and a half ago, Seth called and asked if Matt and I would be interested in working on a show about a right-wing CIA agent and his liberal daughter.
Pilot (American Dad!) | Background and production
The episode was produced for the seventh season, it aired on October 19, 2008. Meighan returned to write the episode. After reading the script aloud, Jewish executive producer David A. Goodman said, "I'm going to get kicked out of my temple."
Road to ... (Family Guy) | Production and development
Seth MacFarlane, the creator and executive producer of The Cleveland Show, as well as its sister shows Family Guy and American Dad!, served as the executive producer for the episode, along with series veterans Mike Henry and Richard Appel. This episode featured guest appearances from Will.i.am and T-Pain, as well as several recurring voice actors and actresses for the series. "Your Show of Shows" was originally intended to air as the twenty second episode of the second season of "The Cleveland Show", airing a week after the third part of a fictional crossover event between "American Dad!", "The Cleveland Show", and "Family Guy".
Your Show of Shows (The Cleveland Show) | Production
"Family Guy" seventeenth season premiered on Fox in the United States on September 30, 2018, and ended on May 12, 2019. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family, consisting of father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie, and the family dog Brian, who reside in their hometown of Quahog. The season's executive producers are Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, Richard Appel, Steve Callaghan, Danny Smith, Kara Vallow, Mark Hentemann, Tom Devanney, Patrick Meighan and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong. The season's showrunners are Sulkin and Appel. This season sees Brian trapped in a marriage with a dying woman (played by Casey Wilson) in a two-part arc ("Married...
Family Guy (season 17) | Introduction
Brian Scully wrote the following episodes for "Family Guy":
Brian Scully | "Family Guy" episodes
MacFarlane, Danny Smith, David Goodman and Chris Sheridan were the executive producers for the season. Richard Appel, Steve Callaghan, Mark Hentemann and Brian Scully were co-executive producers. Other producers included Mike Henry, Patrick Meighan, Tom Devanney, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild, John L. Jacobs, Kara Vallow, Kirker Butler, Shannon Smith, Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Kim Fertman and Brandi Young. The writing staff included John Viener, Andrew Goldberg, Matt Fleckenstein, Andrew Gormley, Alex Carter, executive producers Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, co-executive producers Richard Appel, Mark Hentemann, Brian Scully, supervising producers Mike Henry, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild and co-producers Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Patrick Meighan. Each wrote one episode, except for Meighan, Sulkin and Chevapravatdumrong (who wrote two each).
Family Guy (season 7) | Crew
"Family Guy" sixth season first aired on September 23, 2007 on Fox and ended on May 4, 2008. The season includes 12 episodes and was shortened due to creator Seth MacFarlane's participation in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which resulted in Fox airing episodes without MacFarlane doing the final work. The episode "Lois Kills Stewie" was the last episode completed before the strike. When the strike ended in February 2008, Fox had already aired three episodes without any input from MacFarlane. Episodes 2-8 of the sixth season are included on the Volume 6 DVD, which was released on October 21, 2008, and episodes 9-12 are included on the Volume 7 DVD, which was released on June 16, 2009.
Family Guy (season 6) | Introduction
"Family Guy" officially premiered after Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999, with "Death Has a Shadow". The show debuted to 22 million viewers, and immediately generated controversy regarding its adult content. The show returned on April 11, 1999, with "I Never Met the Dead Man". "Family Guy" garnered decent ratings in Fox's 8:30 pm slot on Sunday, scheduled between "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files". At the end of its first season the show ranked at No. 33 in the Nielsen ratings, with 12.8 million households tuning in. The show launched its second season in a new time slot, Thursday at 9 pm, on September 23, 1999.
Family Guy | Early history and cancellation
Composer Walter Murphy, who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for "And Then There Were Fewer". "And Then There Were Fewer" was the first episode of "Family Guy" to be broadcast in high-definition, with series showrunners Mark Hentemann and Steve Callaghan overseeing the transition. The episode was dedicated to series creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane's mother, Ann Perry MacFarlane, following her death from cancer on July 16, 2010. The original idea of the episode was sent to series showrunner and executive producer Hentemann in a text from Seth MacFarlane simply stating "murder mystery." "And Then There Were Fewer", along with the two other episodes from "Family Guy"s ninth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on December 13, 2011.
And Then There Were Fewer | Production and development
The episode opens with Peter telling the rest of the family that "Family Guy" has been canceled. He lists the following 29 shows (in chronological order), that he says Fox has to make room for: "Dark Angel" (lasted for 2 seasons and cult following), "Titus" (though "Titus" was facing cancellation the same year "Family Guy" was), "Undeclared", "Action", "That '80s Show", "Wonderfalls", "Fastlane", "Andy Richter Controls the Universe", "Skin", "Girls Club", "Cracking Up", "The Pitts" (the show that Seth MacFarlane worked on after Family Guy's cancellation), "Firefly", "Get Real", "FreakyLinks", "Wanda at Large", "Costello" (premiered before Family Guy hit the airwaves), "The Lone Gunmen", "A Minute with Stan Hooper", "Normal, Ohio", "Pasadena", "Harsh Realm", "Keen Eddie", "The $treet", "The American Embassy", "Cedric the Entertainer Presents", "The Tick", "Luis", and "Greg the Bunny".
North by North Quahog | Cultural references
Negotiations for the show's "MADtv" connection fell through early on as a result of budgetary concerns. At age 24, MacFarlane was television's youngest executive producer. "Family Guy" first aired January 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating "Family Guy" has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from "The Simpsons" and "All in the Family". In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices "Family Guy"s main male characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and additional characters.
Seth MacFarlane | "Family Guy"
The hour-long program featured interviews with guests and live interactivity with fans online, with recaps for the episodes that aired through April and May. The "Family Guy" episode aired on May 10, 2020 featuring Richard Appel, Seth Green, and Maggie Mull. On May 18, 2020, John Viener joined the show with other writers from the Fox Animation Domination lineup.
Family Guy (season 18) | Introduction
The episode was written by series consulting producer Gary Janetti as his second episode of the season, and directed by series regular Dominic Bianchi, also in his second episode of the season. In an interview with "Forbes", series producer Kara Vallow revealed that the plot was inspired by an episode of the CBS sitcom "All in the Family" entitled "Archie in the Cellar," in which Archie Bunker is locked in a cellar, breaking from the show's usual storyline. Vallow and "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane were fans of "All in the Family" during its original airing and came up with the original concept for the episode.
Brian &amp; Stewie | Production and development
Julius Wu and Brian Iles received their first directing credits this season. Mike Kim, James Purdum, Cyndi Tang, Greg Colton, Pete Michels, Zac Moncrief, John Holmquist and future Blue Harvest director Dominic Polcino all also stayed with the show from the previous season. This season, however, was director Dan Povenmire's last season before leaving the show to create his own series, entitled "Phineas and Ferb", which has since been nominated for three Emmy Awards.
Family Guy (season 5) | Production
Due to this, most sixth-season episodes had to be pushed back to this one; this left the sixth season with only twelve episodes, and the seventh season began with hold-overs from the previous one.
Family Guy (season 7) | Production
First announced by series creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane in an interview on August 13, 2009, the episode was written by series regular Patrick Meighan, and directed by series regular John Holmquist shortly after the conclusion of the production of the eighth season. In the interview, with "The Hollywood Reporter", MacFarlane conceded that "Family Guy" tends to be very liberal because "it's written by liberals". In choosing the conservatives who would be featured in the episode, MacFarlane stated, "we put it out there to a lot of Republicans — 'we're doing this show, who wants in?' — and we got some bites." Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising director, with Andrew Goldberg, Alex Carter, Elaine Ko and Spencer Porter serving as staff writers for the episode.
Excellence in Broadcasting | Production and development
"A Hero Sits Next Door" was written by Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, the first time writing for the series for both, and directed by Monte Young, also his first "Family Guy" episode. During the production of the episode, the writers shared one office lent to them by the "King of the Hill" production crew. MacFarlane compared the production of the first season to a college project; the only difference was that he was being funded this time. The guest cast for the episode featured actress Suzie Plakson, figure skater Michelle Kwan, as well as actors Wally Wingert and Carlos Alazraqui.
A Hero Sits Next Door | Production
The sets included brief audio commentaries by Seth MacFarlane and various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "Road to the Multiverse", and mini-feature entitled "Family Guy" Karaoke. In addition to the regular cast, series regular, writer and executive producer Danny Smith voiced the Evil Monkey. Recurring guest voice actors Chris Cox, actor Ralph Garman, writer Alec Sulkin and writer John Viener made minor appearances throughout the episode.
Hannah Banana | Production and development
The pilot episode of "American Dad!" originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 6, 2005, just after Super Bowl XXXIX. It follows Stan, who rigs a school election to make his son Steve popular; but he becomes drunk with power and ends up going crazy. The episode was written by series co-creators Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman. The episode features a guest appearance by Carmen Electra. Seth MacFarlane, who is best known for creating "Family Guy", stated that he and Weitzman came up with the series after the 2000 United States presidential election. Initially, the series was to replace "Family Guy" after its cancellation but it was revived after the pilot episode aired.
Pilot (American Dad!) | Introduction
The episode was written by Wellesley Wild, who has been with the show since its fourth season. It was directed by Brian Iles, who would direct the episode "Back to the Woods" later this season. Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdun acted as supervising directors for the episode. This is one of the episodes of "Family Guy" that was released after the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, joined the Writers Guild of America strike. MacFarlane participated in the writing process and did record the voices of the characters that he normally plays for the episode, but he did not approve or participate in any post-production done to the episode.
McStroke | Production
By the end of the second season, due to low ratings, Fox resorted to canceling "Family Guy". However, following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. The series was canceled again in 2002; however, high ratings on Adult Swim and high DVD sales renewed Fox's interest in the series. The series returned for a total of 30 new episodes in 2005. The season received a positive reception from critics, who called the series "extremely witty and darkly hilarious," and was "unfortunately" canceled. The Volume One DVD box set was released in Region 1 on April 15, 2003 and Region 2 on November 12, 2001.
Family Guy (season 2) | Introduction
Peter Shin briefly returned to the series as a director to direct the sequel to the episode "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", entitled "It's a Trap!". Shin also served as supervising director for the season, along with James Purdum. The main cast consisted of Seth MacFarlane (Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Quagmire and Tom Tucker, among others), Alex Borstein (Lois Griffin, Loretta Brown, Tricia Takanawa and Barbara Pewterschmidt, among others), Mila Kunis (Meg Griffin), Seth Green (Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman, among others) and Mike Henry (Cleveland Brown and Herbert, among others).
Family Guy (season 9) | Production
The actor had previously left the role on "Family Guy", in order to star as the character in his own spinoff, entitled "The Cleveland Show". This episode is also the first crossover with "The Cleveland Show", which was created by "Family Guy" creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane, voice actor Mike Henry, and former animated comedy writer Richard Appel. "The Splendid Source", along with the eleven other episodes from "Family Guy"s eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on December 13, 2011. The sets include brief audio commentaries by various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes and animatics, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "And Then There Were Fewer", a mini-feature entitled "The Comical Adventures of "Family Guy" – Brian & Stewie: The Lost Phone Call", and footage of the "Family Guy" panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
The Splendid Source | Production and development
The network also began production of a film based on the series. Dan Povenmire, who became a director on "Family Guy" during the series' second season, took a more prominent role in directing by the third season, having directed five episodes. Creator Seth MacFarlane granted Povenmire substantial creative freedom. Povenmire recalled that MacFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised this management style for letting him "have [...] fun." Povenmire brought realism, and material from his own experiences, to the visual direction of "Family Guy".
Family Guy (season 3) | Production
This episode was written by Erik Durbin and directed by Josue Cervantes. Seth MacFarlane, the creator and executive producer of "American Dad!", as well as its sister shows "Family Guy" and "The Cleveland Show", served as the executive producer for the episode, along with series veterans Mike Barker, Rick Wiener, Matt Weitzman, and Kenny Schwartz. In addition to the regular cast, Anjelica Huston guest starred in this episode. Also appearing in this episode was Sally Struthers.
A Ward Show | Production
The show rarely comments on current events for this reason. The show's initial writers had never written for an animated show; and most came from live-action sitcoms. MacFarlane explains 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 like "Death Has a Shadow" and "Mind Over Murder". MacFarlane explained that the team dropped the naming convention after individual episodes became hard to identify, and the novelty wore off. For the first few months of production, the writers shared one office, lent to them by the "King of the Hill" production crew.
Family Guy | Writing
"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane created a cartoon short entitled "Life of Larry". The short centered around a middle-aged man named Larry and his anthropomorphic dog Steve. In 1997, when MacFarlane was working for Hanna-Barbera Studios, writing for shows such as "Johnny Bravo", "Dexter's Laboratory", and "Cow and Chicken", he made a sequel to "Life of Larry". The short caught the eye of 20th Century Fox representatives, who asked him to create a TV series revolving around the characters. MacFarlane received a US$50,000 budget to develop a pilot for the show, which was, as MacFarlane stated in a 2006 interview, " about one twentieth of what most pilots cost".
Brian Griffin | Creation
The second season of "Family Guy" received positive reviews from critics. Aaron Beierle of DVD Talk said "Often brilliant, extremely witty and darkly hilarious, "Family Guy" was unfortunately canceled after Fox bumped it around six or seven different time slots. Fans of the show should definitely pick up this terrific sets , while those who haven't seen it should consider giving it a look." Fewer critics responded negatively to the season, including Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly", who graded the series a "D", and named it the worst show of the 1999–2000 television season. Mark Graham noted "MacFarlane's incredibly rocky relationship with both the magazine and its lead television critic, Ken Tucker" in a blog on the "New York" magazine website.
Family Guy (season 2) | Reception
MacFarlane initially conceived "Family Guy" in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During college, he created his thesis film entitled "The Life of Larry", which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996 MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" entitled "Larry and Steve", which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons". Executives at Fox saw the "Larry" shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, entitled "Family Guy", based on the characters.
Family Guy | Development
Zuckerman began his career as a creative executive for Lorimar-Telepictures and NBC. He then began writing full-time when he was hired for a staff job on 1990 NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". As a writer and producer, he helped play a key role in the launch of the first seasons of the Fox animated series "King of the Hill", which he wrote for from 1997 until 1999, before leaving to develop the series "Family Guy". Zuckerman was partnered with Seth MacFarlane, the creator of "Family Guy", and served as the series's original showrunner, though has not a single writing credit.
David Zuckerman (TV producer) | Career
MacFarlane initially conceived "Family Guy" in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During college, he created his thesis film entitled "The Life of Larry", which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" entitled "Larry & Steve", which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons". Executives at Fox saw the "Larry" shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, entitled "Family Guy", based on the characters.
Peter Griffin | Creation
The production of the episodes started but was not completed before the strike. "Padre de Familia" was the first episode of these two episodes to air and "Peter's Daughter" was the second. The strike ended on February 12, 2008 and the series resumed airing regularly.
Family Guy (season 6) | Production
Former recurring writers Kirker Butler and Gary Janetti returned to the series, with Butler leaving immediately afterward to work on "The Cleveland Show". Matt Fleckenstein, who wrote two episodes for the show, left the series before the beginning of the eighth season. Joseph Lee received his first directing credit for the series. Dominic Bianchi, Greg Colton, John Holmquist, Brian Iles, Jerry Langford, Pete Michels, James Purdum, Cyndi Tang and Julius Wu all stayed with the show from the previous season. "Blue Harvest" director Dominic Polcino briefly returned to the series to direct the episode's sequel, entitled "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side".
Family Guy (season 8) | Production
Fox proposed that MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short, and gave him a budget of $50,000. Several aspects of "Family Guy" were inspired by the "Larry" shorts. While working on the series, Larry and Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian. After the pilot aired, the series was green-lit.
Family Guy (season 1) | Conception
"Family Guy" eleventh season began airing on Fox on September 30, 2012. The series follows the Griffin family, a dysfunctional family consisting of father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and the family dog Brian, who reside in their hometown of Quahog. The executive producers for the eleventh production season are Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Mark Hentemann, Steve Callaghan, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild. The showrunners are Appel and Callaghan, with Appel replacing previous showrunner Hentemann. In this season, the Griffins decide to climb Mount Everest ("Into Fat Air"); Lois has a mid-life crisis ("Lois Comes Out of Her Shell"); Meg falls for a boy who turns out to like her brother Chris ("Friends Without Benefits"); and Brian and Stewie leap into action after they discover the company owned by Lois's dad, Carter Pewterschmidt, has found the cure for cancer ("The Old Man and the Big 'C'").
Family Guy (season 11) | Introduction
"Family Guy" seventh season first aired on the Fox network in sixteen episodes from September 28, 2008 to May 17, 2009 before being released as two DVD box sets and syndicated. The animated television series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family (father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and their anthropomorphic dog Brian), who reside in the town of Quahog. The show features the voices of series creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, and Mila Kunis in the roles of the Griffin family. This was the last season to use traditional animation. Starting with the next season, the show switched to Toon Boom Harmony.
Family Guy (season 7) | Introduction
It was extended to a full second season. Appel signed a new three-year, seven-figure deal with Fox to continue serving as showrunner on "The Cleveland Show" in 2010. Fox chairman Gary Newman commented: "What is special about him is his incredible leadership ability." The show follows the "Family Guy" character Cleveland Brown, who is voiced by Henry, as he leaves the town of Quahog and moves with his son to start his own adventure. Fox canceled "The Cleveland Show" on May 13, 2013, roughly a week before the May 19 conclusion of its fourth season. On July 16, 2013, MacFarlane confirmed an upcoming twelfth season episode of "Family Guy" centering on Cleveland's return to Quahog.
Family Guy (franchise) | Spin-off
The episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" won an Emmy Award for Best Song. Creator MacFarlane, the recipient of the award, noted that the episode's director Dan Povenmire deserved to have received the award for the contribution the visuals made to the episode's win. Povenmire jokingly responded "That's a nice sentiment and all, but did he offer to give me his? No! And it's not like he doesn't already have two of his own just sitting in his house!" The third season has received positive reviews from critics. In his review for the "Family Guy" Volume 2 DVD, Aaron Beierle of DVD Talk stated "Often brilliant, extremely witty and darkly hilarious, "Family Guy" was unfortunately cancelled after Fox bumped it around six or seven different time slots.
Family Guy (season 3) | Reception
The series received praise from most critics, particularly "I Never Met the Dead Man" and "", however some critics disliked the themes of the episodes. The Volume One DVD box set, including all seven episodes and the second season, was released in Region 1 on April 15, 2003, Region 2 on November 12, 2001, and Region 4 on October 20, 2003. The series has since been released in syndication. MacFarlane conceived the idea for "Family Guy" in 1995, while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). There, he created his thesis film "The Life of Larry", which his professor at RISD later submitted to Hanna-Barbera; this led to MacFarlane being hired by the company.
Family Guy (season 1) | Introduction
"Family Guy" ninth season first aired on the Fox network in eighteen episodes from September 26, 2010 to May 22, 2011 before being released as two DVD box sets and in syndication. "Family Guy" follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog. Season nine was the debut of the series' eighth production season, which was executive produced by Chris Sheridan, David Goodman, Danny Smith, Mark Hentemann, Steve Callaghan and series creator Seth MacFarlane. The season's showrunners were Hentemann and Callaghan. The season received a mixed reception from critics, who called it "a mixture of laugh out loud gags, groan inducing puns, and astonishing 'I can’t believe they got away with that' statements." Season nine contains some of the series' most acclaimed episodes, including "And Then There Were Fewer", "Road to the North Pole" and "New Kidney in Town", as well as some of the most controversial episodes, including "And I'm Joyce Kinney", "Friends of Peter G.", and "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair".
Family Guy (season 9) | Introduction
The network also began production of a film based on the series.
Family Guy (season 2) | Production
Various scenes in "PTV" were taken out of the episode due to Fox's internal censors. As the writers worked on the episode the producers ended up, as the "Chicago Tribune" describes it, "horse trading" with Fox, removing a body-part reference in exchange for a dirty word. While the writing staff of the show was disappointed with the number of scenes that were removed from the episode, they were happy with the final result. The opening sequence, of which "Family Guy"s creator Seth MacFarlane was particularly proud, was added into the episode after the producers discovered the episode ran three minutes short.
PTV (Family Guy) | Production
David J. Zuckerman (born August 28, 1962) is an American writer and producer and is best known as the original showrunner and executive producer of the animated comedy series "Family Guy", as well as the creator of the American adaptation of the Australian television series of the same name, "Wilfred". A native of Danville, California, Zuckerman is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. Zuckerman first wrote for the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", and then went on to write and produce episodes for the Fox animated series "King of the Hill." In 1999, along with writer and producer Seth MacFarlane, he developed another Fox animated series, entitled "Family Guy".
David Zuckerman (TV producer) | Introduction
The sets included brief audio commentaries by Seth MacFarlane and various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "Road to the Multiverse", and mini-feature entitled "Family Guy" Karaoke. In addition to Visitor and the regular cast, actor Hart Bochner, James Burkholder, actress Aimee Garcia, Jack Samson, actress Stacey Scowley, Debra Skelton, Reginald VelJohnson, actor Tico Wells, actress Mae Whitman, and actor Bruce Willis guest-starred in the episode in both voice and live-action appearances. Recurring guest voice actors Alexandra Breckenridge, writer Steve Callaghan, voice actor Ralph Garman, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin, and writer John Viener also made minor appearances.
Brian's Got a Brand New Bag | Production and development
He stayed with the show until its cancellation in 1998. After the show was cancelled and Sheridan became unemployed, he began writing for the animated television series "Family Guy". Although initially skeptical, he accepted the job as he did not have other options. Sheridan was one of the first writers hired, and has continued to write for the show through its eleventh season. For his work on "Family Guy", he has been nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, a British Academy Television Award, and has won a DVD Exclusive Award. Sheridan has also written episodes of "Titus" and "Yes, Dear".
Chris Sheridan (writer) | Introduction