Twisted, Animated and Funny Family Drama

“Sorry Meg. Daddy loves ya, but Daddy also loves Star Trek, and in all fairness, Star Trek was here first.” – Peter Griffin

The hilarious dialog above is from the famous (and infamous too) animated TV series “Family Guy”. The stories revolve around the Griffin family comprising Peter, Lois and their three kids – Meg, Chris and Stewie. They also have a talking dog named Brian, which keeps tailing Stewie.

In simple words, Griffins are a bunch of clueless, awkward, ignorant, intelligent, destructive and of course very funny characters who have won viewers’ hearts for years with their catchy gags or punch lines. They all live in the fictional city Quahog in Rhode Island.

Let’s know a little more about the characters:
Peter: An overweight, blue-collar worker, who is good-natured yet dumb. Stewie calls him “The Fat Man”.
Lois: Peter’s soul mate, a home-maker, piano teacher and mother of three kids. Lois hails from the wealthy Pewterschmidt family.

Meg: Only daughter in the family and the eldest (18 years) of the kids. She is a kind of social outcast.
Chris: A 15-year old kid and chubby just like his father. His confidence goes haywire in front of the opposite sex.
Stewie: This one-year old kid is perhaps the sharpest of the lot, who scares the hell out of his mother. Stewie has a teddy bear named “Rupert”.

Brian: We have already mentioned about the talking dog Brian. He is Stewie’s best friend and often the partner in crime.

Facts About Family Guy:

1. Initially Seth MacFarlane got the idea of “Family Guy” in 1995 when he was studying animation in Rhode Island.

2. This sitcom was aired for the first time on January 31, 1999. The premier of the Season 13 took place on Sept. 28, 2014 and finale on May 17, 2015.

3. Family Guy uses the movie-making technique called “cutaways”. In this technique, emphasis is usually placed on gags by making reference to the current events or modern cultural icons.

4. The voice over of the “Family Guy” characters was done by renowned Hollywood actors. For example, Seth McFarlane voiced for Peter Griffin, Stewie, Brian and Glenn Quagmire (Neighbor); Alex Borstein for Lois; Mila Kunis for Meg and Seth Green for Chris.

5. The characters of Peter and Brian were ideated based on MacFarlane’s 1997 short animation series “Larry & Steve”.

6. Family Guy was the first animated program (after “The Flintstones”) to receive nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys. It was nominated for 13 times and won the award five times.

7. The theme song in the Family Guy song is actually a tribute to another American TV series in the 1970s, “All in The Family’s”.

8. Earlier William H. Macy (Remember “Fargo”, “Wild Hogs”?) gave audition for the role of Brian (the dog).

9. Peter Griffin changed Meg’s full name from Megan to “Megatron” in one of the episodes.

10. Stewie doesn’t have an official birthday. He loves watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and even planned to kidnap the cast to spend a day with them.

11. Stewie also has a truly “Killer Instinct”. In various episodes he wanted to kill “The Man in White”, Jeremy, Matthew McConaughey, Old Lady, Colin Farrell, Ms Hobson and many others.

12. Chris’ voice inspired by the character Buffalo Bill in the movie “The Silence of the Lambs”.

13. Viewers would have missed Seth MacFarlane’s voice forever as he had a ticket for an American Airlines Flight 11 on 9/11, but missed it.

14. Despite the popularity, Family Guy has been nominated for the “Worst TV Show of the Week” 44 times by the Parents Television Council.

15. Initially the Fox channel cancelled airing Family Guy, but brought it back later through Cartoon Network.

16. The Season 1 of this series still holds the record of maximum viewership, which was 22.01 million.