Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their pet dog Brian. The show uses frequent cutaway gags, often in the form of tangential vignettes which parody American culture.

MacFarlane conceived Family Guy after developing two animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. MacFarlane redesigned Larry, the films' protagonist, and renamed him Peter, also redesigning Larry's dog Steve, who developed into Brian. Shortly after the third season of Family Guy aired in 2003, Fox cancelled the series. However, favorable DVD sales and high ratings on syndicated reruns convinced the network to renew the show in 2004. The series takes place in a fictional town in Rhode Island based on MacFarlane's upbringing and education.

Family Guy has been nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, of which it won three. The show has also been nominated for eleven Annie Awards, winning three times. It has garnered three Golden Reel Award nominations, winning once. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961. Family Guy has also received negative criticism, including three lawsuits, and low reviews for its similarities to the animated series The Simpsons.

Many tie-in media have been released, including Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005; Family Guy: Live in Vegas, a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005, featuring music from the show as well as original music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy; a video game and pinball machine, released in 2006 and 2007, respectively; and, since 2005, six books published by HarperCollins based on the Family Guy universe. In 2008, MacFarlane confirmed that the cast was interested in producing a feature film and that he was working on a story for film adaptation. A spin-off series, The Cleveland Show, premiered on September 27, 2009 as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox. The eighth season of Family Guy premiered on September 27, 2009.

History

Seth MacFarlane created a short film in 1995 entitled The Life of Larry, while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design. The short featured a middle-aged slob named Larry Cummings, his cynical talking dog, Steve, supportive wife Lois, and pudgy teenage son Milt. The film begins with a live-action segment where MacFarlane, as himself, briefly describes the show and its characters. After being hired at Hanna-Barbera, MacFarlane was given a chance in 1996 to direct a sequel entitled Larry and Steve, a seven-minute short broadcast as part of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. The film stars MacFarlane, who reprises his role as Larry Cummings and his talking dog Steve, among various background characters, and Lori Alan, who provided additional character voices.

MacFarlane conceived the idea for the Family Guy in 1999, developing it out of his two short films. MacFarlane's shorts caught the attention of Fox, who gave him $50,000 to make a pilot. McFarlane completed the 11 minute pilot after six months of hand animation. Pleased with the pilot, Fox gave the green light to the Family Guy series. Although Fox initially announced Family Guy s cancellation following the second season, Fox decided to make a third season, after which they canceled the series near the end of 2003. 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. Family Guy returned to production in 2004, marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales. Fox president Gail Berman said that it was one of her most difficult decisions to cancel the show, and was therefore happy it would return. The network also began production of a film based on the series. 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 until 2012.

Production

Staff

Family Guy has had many executive producers in its history, including creator Seth MacFarlane, Daniel Palladino, Lolee Aries, and David Zuckerman. David A. Goodman joined the show as a co-executive producer in season three, and eventually became an executive producer. Alex Borstein, the voice of Lois, has also worked as both an executive and supervising producer, for the fourth and fifth seasons.

The Family Guy writing staff collaborate on which ideas and characters to use for each episode. If a majority of the writers agree on an episode idea, it is then approved by MacFarlane , who must receive an endorsement from Fox before beginning production. For the first months of production, the writers shared one office lent to them by the King of the Hill production crew. In interviews and on the DVD commentary of season one, MacFarlane explained 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 pertaining to death and murder like "Death Has a Shadow" and "Mind Over Murder". McFarlane later explained that the team dropped the naming convention after individual episodes became hard to identify and the novelty wore off. Since the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, the writers have been required to tone down the show's crude humor for television broadcasts. In 2009, Fox refused to air an episode dealing with abortion.

During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, official production of the show halted for most of December 2007 and various periods afterwards. Fox continued producing episodes without creator Seth MacFarlane's final approval, which he termed "a colossal dick move" in an interview with Variety. Though MacFarlane refused to work on the show, his contract under Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it would subsequently produce. Production officially resumed after the end of the strike, with regularly-airing episodes recommencing on February 17, 2008.

Voice cast

Seth MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Stewie Griffin. MacFarlane chose to voice these characters himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it. MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady. MacFarlane uses his regular speaking voice when playing Brian.

MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time only characters, most prominently those of the Griffins' neighbor Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker and Lois's father Carter Pewterschmidt.

Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, Borstein performed in a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins. The voice was originally slower, but when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less annoying...and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours".

Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green stated that he did an impression of the "Buffalo Bill" character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition. His main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he were speaking through a public address system at a McDonald's.

Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both played the voices of Meg Griffin. Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes). However, because of a contractual agreement, she was never credited. Chabert left the series because of time conflicts with her role on Party of Five and schoolwork. Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show. MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat." She further explained, "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in perpetual mode of humiliation. And it's fun."

Mike Henry voices both Cleveland Brown and Herbert, as well as some minor recurring characters like Bruce the performance artist and The Greased up Deaf Guy. Henry met MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design and kept in touch with him after they graduated. A few years later, MacFarlane contacted him about being part of the show; he agreed and came on as both a writer and voice actor. During the show's first four seasons, he was credited as a guest star, but beginning with season five's "Prick Up Your Ears" he has been credited as a main cast member.

Other recurring cast members include: Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson; Adam West playing himself as mayor Adam West; Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson; John G. Brennan as Mort Goldman; Carlos Alazraqui as Jonathan Weed; Adam Carolla and Norm Macdonald as Death; Lori Alan as Diane Simmons; and Tara Strong as many additional voices, most notably Meg's singing voice.

Main cast members
Seth MacFarlane	Alex Borstein	Seth Green	Mila Kunis	Mike Henry
Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Tom Tucker, Carter Pewterschmidt, others	Lois Griffin, Loretta Brown, Barbara Pewterschmidt, Tricia Takanawa, others	Chris Griffin, Neil Goldman, others	Meg Griffin	Cleveland Brown, Herbert, others

Setting

MacFarlane resided in Providence during his time as a student at Rhode Island School of Design, and the show, as a consequence, contains distinct Rhode Island landmarks similar to real-world locations. MacFarlane often borrows the names of Rhode Island locations and icons such as Pawtucket and Buddy Cianci for use in the show. MacFarlane, in an interview with local WNAC Fox 64 News, stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island.

Several times every episode, the actual Providence skyline can be seen in the distance. The three buildings that are depicted are, from left to right and furthest to closest, One Financial Center, 50 Kennedy Plaza, and the Bank of America Tower. This ordering of buildings and the angle at which they are viewed indicates that Quahog is primarily west of downtown Providence if it is to have a real-world counterpart. However, in a few episodes Quahog is shown to have a coastline, which only Cranston and Providence possess. This is supported by the fact that the real-world "31 Spooner Street" is located in Providence, immediately west of Roger Williams Park.

Production issues

Cancellation and renewal

After only two episodes of the second season, Fox removed Family Guy from the network's permanent schedule, and began airing episodes irregularly. The show returned in March 2000 to finish airing the remaining 21 episodes of season two. The third season comprised another 21 episodes and began airing from July  11, 2001 to February  14, 2002. During its second and third-season runs, Fox frequently moved the show around different days and time slots with little or no notice and, consequently, the show's ratings suffered. When Family Guy aired in the United Kingdom, the subsequent DVD release there on (November 12, 2001) lumped the first seven episodes of the second season with the first season, leaving both seasons with 14 episodes each. Thus, later UK DVD releases did not share consistent labeling with the original American seasons (e.g. the Family Guy: Season 6 DVD features Season 5 episodes).

Fox publicly announced that the show had been canceled in 2002, at the end of the second season. In spite of the announced cancellation, in 2003 Fox decided to produce a third season. Family Guy was assigned to a tough time slot, Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET. This slot brought it into competition with Survivor and Friends. The situation was later referenced in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. During the third season, Fox announced that the show had been officially cancelled. The series was renewed in 2005 for its fourth season due to strong DVD sales and syndication on basic-cable networks.

"North by North Quahog" was the first episode to be broadcast after the show's cancellation. It was written by 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 "... have the desire to make it any slicker" than it already was. Walter Murphy, who had composed music for the show before its cancellation, returned to compose the music for "North by North Quahog". Murphy and the orchestra recorded an arrangement of Bernard Herrmann's score from North by Northwest, a film referenced multiple times in the episode.

Lawsuits

In March 2007, comedian Carol Burnett filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that it was a trademark infringement for her Charwoman cleaning character to be portrayed on the show without her permission. Besides that, Burnett stated that Fox violated her publicity rights. She asked for $6 million in damages. On June 4, 2007, United States District Judge Dean Pregerson rejected the lawsuit, stating that the parody was protected under the First Amendment, citing Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as a precedent.

On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing the show of infringing its copyright on the song "When You Wish Upon a Star", through a parody song entitled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., the sole United States copyright owner of the song, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of their music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit were Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., Cartoon Network, MacFarlane, and Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and unspecified damages. Because "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star", without commenting on that song, Bourne argued that it was not a First Amendment–protected parody per the ruling in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.. On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that Family Guy did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode.

In December 2007, Family Guy was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filing a lawsuit regarding a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act involving absurd, faux magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy". Metrano's suit claims this performance is protected under terms of the United States' Copyright Act of 1976. 20th Century Fox, MacFarlane, Callaghan and Borstein were all named in the suit, which is still ongoing.

Characters

The show revolves around the adventures of the family of Peter Griffin, a bumbling, but well-intentioned, blue-collar worker. Peter is an Irish American Catholic with a prominent Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts accent. His wife Lois is a stay-at-home mother and piano teacher, and has a distinct New England accent from being a member of the Pewterschmidt family of wealthy socialites. Peter and Lois have three children: Meg, their teenage daughter, who is frequently the butt of Peter's jokes due to her homeliness and lack of popularity; Chris, their teenage son, who is overweight, unintelligent and, in many respects, a younger version of his father; and Stewie, their diabolical infant son of ambiguous sexual orientation who has adult mannerisms and speaks fluently with an upper-class affected English accent and stereotypical archvillain phrases. Living with the family is Brian, the family dog, who is highly anthropomorphized, drinks martinis, smokes cigarettes, drives a car, and engages in human conversation, though he is still considered a pet in many respects.

Many recurring characters appear alongside the Griffin family. These include the family's neighbors: sex-crazed airline-pilot bachelor Glenn Quagmire; mild-mannered deli owner Cleveland Brown and his wife (ex-wife as of the fourth-season episode "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire") Loretta Brown with their hyperactive son, Cleveland Jr.; paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson, his wife Bonnie and their baby daughter Susie. (It should be noted that Bonnie is pregnant with Susie from the show's beginning until the 7th episode of the 7th season); paranoid Jewish pharmacist Mort Goldman, his wife Muriel and their geeky and annoying son Neil; and elderly homosexual ephebophile Herbert. TV news anchors Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons, reporter Tricia Takanawa and Blaccu-Weather meteorologist Ollie Williams also make frequent appearances. Quahog mayor, Mayor Adam West (voiced by and named after the real Adam West) also appears regularly.

Hallmarks

Cutaway

In the majority of episodes, the plot is interrupted by at least one cutaway segment. The segment usually has little to do with the actual story of the episode and contains a pop culture reference. Many of the cutaways feature guest stars, at times using live-action footage, including Conway Twitty in three separate episodes, Will Ferrell in the episode "Jungle Love", and occasionally a mixture of live-action and animation, as in a tap dance duet between Stewie and Gene Kelly in "Road to Rupert". Such cutaways have been criticized heavily by both critics and other cartoonists, who claim the show relies too much on "cutaway gags as opposed to plot-driven humour".

Music

Family Guy uses music in many of its episodes, mostly in the form of musical numbers. These musical numbers are used as both part of the plot, like in the episodes "Brian Sings and Swings" and "From Method to Madness", as well as for comedic effect or satire, such as in "FCC Song" from "PTV" and "Vasectomy" from "Sibling Rivalry". During the opening sequence of the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, Stewie and Brian performed a duet titled "You can Find It On TV", which poked fun at television shows in 2007. Two Family Guy songs have been nominated for (but did not win) an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics: "My Drunken Irish Dad" from "Peter's Two Dads", nominated in 2007, and "You've Got a Lot to See" from "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" in 2002. Many of the musical numbers are included in Family Guy: Live in Vegas along with several original songs.

Cultural influences

Television

Family Guy was the first show to return to television due to DVD sales. After returning from cancellation, it began to influence on other shows produced by MacFarlane like American Dad which MacFarlane commented was a mix of Family Guy with All in the Family. Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show has been influenced by the show. Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show exist in kind of the same fictional world. Family Guy has also influenced a live-action show The Winner which is also produced by MacFarlane. The Winner had the same kind of jokes that Family Guy has (bit offensive), but the difference is it was not taken very positively by critics.

Music and idioms

After the initial airing of the episode "Patriot Games", where newscaster Tom Tucker announces a report on a fictional curse word, clemen, many viewers looked up the word on the Internet to try to find a definition. MacFarlane stated in the episode's DVD commentary that if someone invents an obscene definition for the word, the show will have to stop using it (it has not been used since this episode). The many musical acts of Family Guy have influenced American Dad as it also has similar big-band, high-production, patter-rich tunes. The FCC song was voted second on The Paley Center for Media special "TV's Funniest Moments", behind The Chris Rock Show segment "Black Progress". The episode "PTV" featured a song called the FCC. The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards opened with Stewie and Brian singing about the upcoming TV season using the tune from "The FCC Song", originating from this episode. The altered version of the song contained references to shows such as Scrubs, Two and a Half Men and Cavemen. The episode "Patriot Games" features a two-and-a-half-minute rendition of the song "Shipoopi" from the 1957 musical The Music Man, conducted by Peter and performed by the New England Patriots football team and fans in the stadium. The original number in The Music Man was performed by around 40 or 50 singers and around 80 other musicians, as estimated by MacFarlane.

Reception and achievements

Success

Family Guy has received many positive reviews from critics. Catherine Seipp of the National Review Online called it a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon. Caryn James of the The New York Times, called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" and "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies." The Sydney Morning Herald named Family Guy the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 2009, calling it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece". Frazier Moore from the Seattle Times called it an "endless craving for humor about bodily emissions". He also called it "breathtakingly smart" and said a "blend of the ingenious with the raw helps account for its much broader appeal". He finished up by calling it "rude, crude and deliciously wrong". The series has also attracted many celebrities, including Emily Blunt, who has stated that Family Guy is her favorite series and has expressed strong interest in becoming a guest star on the show.

Criticism and controversy

Family Guy has also received its share of negative treatment. For example, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly has frequently panned the show, grading it with a "D", and naming it the worst show of the 1999-2000 television season. The series has frequently been criticized for using story premises and humor similar to those used in episodes of The Simpsons. The Simpsons depicted Peter Griffin as a "clone" of Homer Simpson in a Halloween special, and as a fugitive accused of "Plagiarismo" in the episode "The Italian Bob". Family Guy is also mocked in a two-part episode ("Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II") of South Park, in which characters call the show's jokes interchangeable and unrelated to storylines; the writers of Family Guy are portrayed as manatees who write by pushing rubber "idea balls" inscribed with random topics into a bin. MacFarlane responded to the criticism, saying it was completely founded and true, even giving reference to many skits and jokes that were meant for previously scripted episodes and later cut and recycled in future episodes.

The show has been publicly criticized by other cartoonists, which includes John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy said: "If you're a kid wanting to be a cartoonist today, and you're looking at Family Guy, you do not have to aim very high. You can draw Family Guy when you're ten years old. You do not have to get any better than that to become a professional cartoonist. The standards are extremely low". Also the creators of South Park Trey Parker and Matt Stone which revealed that they dislike having their show compared to Family Guy. Stone and Parker received support and gratitude from the staffs of The Simpsons and King of the Hill for "ripping on Family Guy" after the airing of the South park episodes Cartoon Wars. Cartman's intense dislike of the show is also referred to in the 2008 episode "Canada on Strike". In addition, the show's penchant for irreverent humor led to a controversy over a sequence in which Peter Griffin dances, in musical revue fashion, around the bed of a man with end-stage AIDS, delivering the patient's diagnosis in song.

Awards

Family Guy and its cast have been nominated for eleven Emmy Awards, with three wins. MacFarlane won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance award for his performance as Stewie, Murphy and MacFarlane won the Outstanding Music and Lyrics award for the song "You Got a Lot to See" from the episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows", and Steven Fonti won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his story-board work in the episode "No Chris Left Behind".

The show has also been nominated for eleven Annies, and won three times, twice in 2006 and once in 2008. The show has also been nominated for a Golden Reel Award four times, winning once. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. This was a significant accomplishment considering that the last animated program to be nominated was The Flintstones in 1961 and that The Simpsons has never been nominated in this category.

In the 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Brian Griffin was selected as the dog for "The Perfect TV Family." Wizard Magazine rated Stewie the 95th greatest villain of all time. British newspaper The Times rated Family Guy as the forty-fifth best American show in 2009. Family Guy was named the seventh of the top one-hundred animated series by IGN.

Other media

Family Guy Live!

As promotion for the show, and to, as Newman described, "expand interest in the show beyond its die hard fans", Fox organized four Family Guy Live! performances, which featured cast members reading old episodes aloud; In addition, the cast performed musical numbers from the Family Guy Live in Vegas comedy album. The stage shows were an extension of a performance by the cast during the 2004 Montreal Comedy Festival. The Family Guy Live! performances, which took place in Los Angeles and New York, sold out and were attended by around 1,200 people each.

Video game

Family Guy Video Game! is a 2006 action game released by 2K Games and developed by High Voltage Software. It appears on the Xbox and PlayStation 2 consoles, and the handheld PlayStation Portable. The game's story reflects the episodic structure of the series with adventure game elements. The game received very mixed reviews, averaging 50% favorable reviews for the PlayStation 2 version, 51% for the PlayStation Portable version, and 53% for the Xbox version, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game receiving praise for its humor, but was criticized for its short playtime and "uninteresting gameplay".

Spin-off

In 2009, a spin-off series titled The Cleveland Show premiered on Fox. The Hollywood Reporter initially announced that there were plans to produce a spin-off of Family Guy to be focused on Cleveland. MacFarlane, Henry and American Dad! show runner Rich Appel created the series. Cleveland references his spinoff at the end of the episode "Baby Not On Board". The series premiered on September 27, 2009. Due to the cancellation of Mike Judge's King of the Hill, the American adaptation of Sit Down, Shut Up being moved to Saturday nights, and the renewal of American Dad!, The Simpsons is now the only cartoon on Fox's "Animation Domination" line-up that was not created by Seth MacFarlane. 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. Due to strong ratings FOX picked up the back 9 episodes of season two, making a 22 episode season, and bringing the total episode count of the show to 44.

Film

On July 22, 2007, in an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter", MacFarlane announced that he may start working on a feature film, although "nothing's official." In September 2007, Ricky Blitt gave TV.com an interview confirming that he had already started working on the script. Then in TV Week on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released Family Guy feature film sometime "within the next year". He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie." He later went to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to The Sound of Music, saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel."

Merchandise

As of 2009, six books have been released about the Family Guy universe, all published by HarperCollins since 2005. The first book based on Family Guy, Family Guy: Stewie's Guide to World Domination (ISBN 9780060773212) by Steve Callahan, was released in April 26, 2005. Written in the style of a graphic novel, the plot follows Stewie's plans on ruling the world, despite his only being a child. Other books include Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One (ISBN 9780752875934), which covers the entire events of the episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", and Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded (ISBN 9781405163163), a collection of seventeen essays exploring the connections between the series and historical philosophers.

Family Guy has been commercially successful in the home market. The show was the first to be resurrected because of high DVD sales. The first volume, covering the show's first two seasons, sold a total 1.67 million units, topping TV DVD sales in 2003, while the second volume sold another million units. Both the volume six and seven DVDs debuted fifth in United States DVD sales; volume seven was the highest television DVD, selling 171 thousand units by June 21, 2009. Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest, the DVD featuring the Star Wars special "Blue Harvest", was released on January 15, 2008 and premiered at the top of United States DVD sales. The DVD was the first Family Guy DVD to include a digital copy for download on the iPod.

References

External links