I was introduced to Family Guy through my son who came home from school and said his friends were watching this show that was really funny. It is an animated TV show. I watched it one time, and told him he could not watch it again On my own I started to watch Family Guy. I was slightly intrigued. It is that same feeling you get when someone is slightly repulsive, and you kind of envy their ability to say and do things you feel, yet would never say or do. Finally it became a family affair. I want to specify my son was 12 years old, and now is quite a bit older.
The Griffin family lives in fictious Quahog, Rhode Island. Peter Griffin (voice by creator Seth McFarlane) is an Irish Catholic, blue collar guy, with an I.Q. of 72, that's right a whopping 72!!! Peter brags about being slightly retarded. Overweight, slightly retarded, and head of his family, Peter is married to Lois(Alex Borstein). Lois is the daughter of wealthy parents, the Pewterschmidts, she and Peter have 3 children, Meg (Mila Kunis), Chris (Seth Green) and Stewie (Also Seth McFarlane), my favorite. They also have a dog that goes between being an intellectual, alcoholic human and a real dog. His name is Brian (Seth McFarlane).
Family Guy is really, one of those shows that is so bad it is good. Meg, the teenage daughter is almost invisible to her family. She is disliked and disrespected at worst. She is awkward, chubby, and fits in really well with the lesbian crowd at her school. One boyfriend she had was so normal they had a doctor in to examine him to see what was wrong with him. Why else would he date Meg. Imagine it, the neighbors and the whole town was watching at the Griffin's house for his diagnosis. When he was declared normal, Lois made out with him on the sofa, and Peter suddenly found his daughter attractive. Ok, so it bordered on the creepy.
Chris the teen boy is also awkward, fat like his father, and yet tolerated, even popular at times. My favorite child is the 1 year old Stewie. Stewie goes between being a baby, and a man in persona. He is also sometimes gay like and sometimes straight. His voice sounds a little Rex Harrison. I think I read that it was intentional to sound like that. He sounds sophisticated, educated (amazing for a 1 year old) and has a time machine he designed in his bedroom. He has a football shaped head, and has a love/hate relationship with Lois. In fact in one episode he tried to kill her. Sometimes it appears his family understands him and sometimes they do not. His best friend is Brian the talking man/dog. Brian is an alcoholic who fancies himself intellectual, and wants to be a writer. He dates women, Jillian Russell, voiced by the famous Drew Barrymore. He also slept with Lauren Conrad. Yet Brian is a dog for most purposes, and when it rains he asks permission to potty on a newspaper in the house. He has always had a secret crush on Lois Griffin.
Family Guy has great side kicks, one being the ever horny next door neighbor pilot Glenn Quagmire(Seth McFarlane). McFarlane also does voices for Tom Tucker, news anchor, and Carter Pewterschmidt, lois' father. Seth Green also does pharmacist Neil Goldmans voice, and Alex Borstein also does the voice for reporter Tricia Takanawa, and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt.
Family Guy was followed by another Seth McFarlane hit, American Dad. It is about Stan Smith (voice by Seth McFarlane), a republican CIA agent, and his scatterbrained wife Francine Smith (Wendy Schaal). Stan found an alien at the CIA that was taken in Roswell. Roger (also Seth McFarlane) is the alien and lives in the Smith's attic. He loves to dress up as characters, and operates a cheers type bar in his attic. They have 2 children. Their daughter Hayley( Rachel McFarlane), is a liberal hippy, now married to stoner Jeff Fischer (Jeff Fischer). Their teenage son is Steve (Scott Grimes) he is the antithesis to Stan's macho, sports loving real man persona. Steve wears glasses, hates sports and is socially nerdy. They have a talking goldfish named Claus (Dee Bradley Baker). He was an German athlete, whose brain was implanted into the goldfish. The family lives in the fictious town of Langley Falls, Virginia. They have gay neighbors, and Patrick Stewart does the voice for Stans' boss, Deputy Director Avery Bullock.
Both of these shows are satirical, politically humorous and at times like slapstick comedy. They are like anti-family values!! America's quintessential dysfunctional families. As I said they are both hits and though Family Guy was cancelled at one time, it came back, and now has been on for 10 years. You can find a lot of both shows on Netflix, and Hulu, they are worth the view. Seth McFarlane, really hit home runs with these programs. I love both of them, they are my guilty pleasures.
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