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Family Guy, Vol. 1

One of my college classes, Writing about Film and Television, requested, on Monday, that each student write a meditation on television and the experience which occurs while doing so. I never really watch much television anymore. I limit myself to watching the news at lunchtime and my weekly ritual of the next episode of "24". However, this previous weekend I had to venture from my dorm in Milwaukee back to home in good old Port Washington, Wisconsin, the home of "Step by Step". Unlike "Step by Step"’s portrayal of Port Washington, there isn’t much to do. I spent my Easter weekend by sitting through all twenty-eight episodes of Fox’s recently cancelled animated sitcom "Family Guy" and it was one of the best television experiences I’ve ever encountered.

"Family Guy" revolves around the Griffin family. Peter Griffin (creator Seth MacFarlane) is the overweight moron, and Homer variation, who serves as the head of the house. His wife, Lois (Alex Borstein), seems to be the back bone and mediator of the group. The rest of the family consists of the couple’s children and their intellectual dog. Chris (Seth Green), seems to be a fourteen year old version of Peter, overweight and stupid while insecure Meg (Mila Kunis) seems to be the product of her mother. However, their toddler, Stewie, and dog, Bryan (MacFarlane, who won an Emmy for his portrayal of Stewie, in both roles), seem to escape the stock characterization of Meg and Chris. Stewie and Bryan are, ironically enough, the most intellectual out of all the family members. While Stewie uses his intelligence manically to either take over the world or kill his mother, Bryan drowns his in books and martinis.

The plot of the show races through a variety of incidents. From the first episode, in which the family becomes the recipient of a erroneous welfare check, through the Griffin’s family experiences following Y2K, to Peter coaching a young golf prodigy with attention deficit disorder. However, plots aside, MacFarlane and his staff of writers seem to find other points within each episode to provide a hysterical joke. For example, during his house arrest, Peter gets television shows all confused and conjures up one entitled "Homicide: Life on Sesame Street" which depicts Burt and Ernie as gay lovers.

I laughed out loud during every episode. I only found one to be below par, "Holy Crap", the second episode of the second season. Granted, some episodes are better than others. Overall, however, "Family Guy" proves to be one of the funniest animated shows to ever hit airwaves. It does lose its satiric approach by taking a heavy handed approach to its crude humor like "South Park" does but nor does it retreat into the ranks of dryer satire like "The Daily Show".

"Family Guy" has been inappropriately branded a cross between "The Simpsons" and the animated dick and fart joke of "South Park". While it features aspects of both shows, its satire is much closer to that of "The Simpsons". However, unlike "The Simpsons", the first season of "Family Guy" proved to be one of the best first seasons ever produced. Some have complained that "Family Guy" never evolved into anything like "The Simpsons" did. This is because "The Simpsons" was not the working formula it is today when it began. "Family Guy" does not commit the same error that "The Simpsons" does. I would agree that the show never evolves into anything, but it was only on for three seasons and contained roughly fifty episodes. It was never given the incubation time to evolve.

The video quality on this set proves to be slightly disappointing. The animation seems to shift and has an overall rigid look. The audio proved adequate and I have no complaints towards it. This volume of the show does not feature much in the way of extra material. Each disc, featuring seven episodes a piece, holds commentary tracks for two different episodes. The only other extra is a three minute fluff featurette on the making of the show. However, the show makes this set worth purchasing alone. I look forward to the third season, which hits the DVD format in fall, to cap off one of funniest television shows I’ve ever seen.

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