Family Guy
Family Guy Wiki, your fan-created Family Guy resource.
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[edit] History
Family Guy was created in 1999 after the Larry shorts (its predecessor) caught the attention of the Fox Broadcasting Company during the 1999 Super Bowl commercial. Its cancellation was announced, but then a shift in power at Fox and outcry from the fans led to a reversal of that decision and the making of a third season, after which it was canceled again. Reruns on Adult Swim drove interest in the show up, and the 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, making three more seasons (for a total of six) and a straight-to-DVD movie, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. The show celebrated its official 100th episode during its sixth season in autumn of 2007, resulting in the show's syndication.
[edit] Characters
The show usually revolves around the adventures of Peter Griffin, a bumbling but well-intentioned blue-collar worker. Peter is an Irish American Catholic with a prominent Rhode Island / Eastern Massachusetts accent. His wife Lois is generally 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: teenage daughter Meg, who is frequently the butt of Peter's jokes due to her homeliness and lack of popularity; teenage son Chris, who is overweight, unintelligent and, in many respects, a younger version of his father; and son Stewie, a diabolical infant of ambiguous sexual orientation who has adult mannerisms and speaks fluently with what some consider an upper-class affected English accent and stereotypical archvillain phrases. Living with the family is Brian, the family dog, who is highly anthropomorphized, walks on two legs, drinks Martinis, smokes cigarettes and engages in human conversation, though he is still considered a pet in many respects. He is atheist, as explained in Love Blactually.
[edit] Cast
The main cast and their main parts are as follows:
- Seth MacFarlane: Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Glenn Quagmire and additional voices
- Alex Borstein: Lois Griffin and additional voices
- Seth Green: Chris Griffin and additional voices
- Mila Kunis: Meg Griffin
- Mike Henry: Cleveland Brown, Herbert and additional voices
The main cast do voices for several recurring characters other than those listed, as well as impersonate celebrities and pop-culture icons.
Recurring cast members include: Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson; Adam West as the mayor Adam West; Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson; John G. Brennan as Mort Goldman; Adam Carolla as Death (excluding Death's first appearance, during which the character was voiced by Norm Macdonald); Lori Alan as Diane Simmons.
Lacey Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes); however, because of a contractual agreement, she was never credited.
[edit] Episodes
For the first half of the first season, the writers tried to work the words "murder" or "death" into the title of every episode to make the titles resemble those of old-fashioned radio mystery shows. On the DVD commentary for the first episode "Death Has a Shadow", creator Seth MacFarlane says that the writers stopped doing this when they realized they were beginning to get the titles confused. Beginning with "A Hero Sits Next Door", the episodes feature titles descriptive of their plots.
[edit] Lawsuits
[edit] Carol Burnett
In March 2007, comedian Carol Burnett filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that it was a copyright 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 was asking for $6 million in damages. On June 4, 2007, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson rejected the lawsuit, stating that the parody was protected under the First Amendment, using Hustler v. Falwell as a precedent.
[edit] I Need a Jew
On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing the show of copyright infringement upon the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" by a parody song entitled "I Need a Jew" from the episode When You Wish Upon a Weinstein. Bourne Co., the sole U.S. 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, Seth MacFarlane, and composer Walter Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution, and unspecified damages.
Because "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody without commenting on that song, Bourne argued that it may not be a First Amendment–protected parody per the Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. ruling.
On March 16, 2009, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts ruled that Family Guy did not infringe copyright when they transformed the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" for comical use in an episode.
[edit] Art Metrano
In December 2007, actor/comedian Art Metrano filed a lawsuit accusing the show of copyright infringement over a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act which involved absurd faux magical hand gestures (such as making a finger "jump" from one hand to the other) while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy." Metrano's suit claims this performance is protected under terms of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. Named in the suit are 20th Century Fox, show creator Seth MacFarlane, and collaborators Steve Callaghan and Alex Borstein. Metrano performed this routine on programs such as The Tonight Show, where he made several appearances.
On July 17, 2009, Judge Philip S. Gutierrez of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.’s motion to dismiss the case.
[edit] References
Most of it is from the Wikipedia.
