T.V. Sitcom: Family Guy
By: David Cheza
Family guy is an American family sitcom created in 1999 in which Fox airs regularly. The dysfunctional family is constantly put through ridiculous situations that are often problems found in our society today. The characters are all quite unique in there own way and have a tendency to poke fun at these societal situations in an exceedingly funny manner. It has been compared to South Park because of the liberal messages its tries to get across through each episode. The sitcom is often referred to as sick, twisted, politically incorrect, and freakin sweet.
Because of this sick, twisted, and politically incorrect view of the show, it was canceled by Fox overlords in 2001. They didn’t think dealing with the complaints of socially challenged views, cursing coming from an infant, and many liberal messages were worth the risk. However, this cancelation was short lived due to the high DVD sales and complaints of the show leaving the air. Every society has their views on what is socially accepted, and it goes to show that even though this show has been canceled numerous times, the public likes the fast paced jokes the sitcom covers in society. Family Guy has allowed us to take a look at ourselves as a society and realize that we make a big deal out nothing in most cases.
The Griffins’ as they are referred to, live in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. Creator “Seth MacFarlane, in an interview with local WNAC TV Fox 64 News, has stated that the town is modeled after a city in Rhode Island .”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy) The skyline of Providence can often be viewed in the sitcom. There are three buildings depicted, One Finacial Center, 50 Kennedy Plaza, and the Bank of America Tower. The Coastline is viewed as if Quahog is west of downtown Providence, and as if it were a real world town, but is rarely shown in many episodes.
The skyline of Providence as viewed from the northwest looking southeast.
Its animated counterpart.
The Cast of the family include: Seth McFarlane as Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Brian, Alex Borstein as Lois Griffin, Seth Green as Chris Griffin, and Mila Kunis as Meg Griffin. Each of these cast members have been the voice of their character for over a hundred episodes since 1999 to 2008 off and on. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182576/fullcredits#cast)
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Seth MacFarlane | … | Peter Griffin / … (116 episodes, 1999-2008) |
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Alex Borstein | … | Lois Griffin / … (116 episodes, 1999-2008) |
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Seth Green | … | Chris Griffin / … (115 episodes, 1999-2008) |
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Mila Kunis | … | Meg Griffin / … (103 episodes, 1999-2008) |
The T.V. show mainly follows the adventures of Peter Griffin, a fat, Irish rich accented, well intentioned blue collar worker. Peters wife Lois is a stay at home mother who has a rich New York accent due to her upbringing of the wealthy Pewterschmidt Family. Together they have three Children which all are very quirky: Meg, who is the butt of most of her family’s jokes because of her low popularity status and unattractiveness; Chris, an obese teenage boy who shares his fathers intelligence, and therefore lack of; and Stewie, a evil, yet genius infant with homicidal tendencies toward his family. Living with them is the family dog Brian. Brian is more logical than anyone else in the family and is constantly communicating with them in regards to there wrong doings. However, Brain himself walks on two legs, enjoys martinis, cigarettes, and promiscuous activity.
