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Join the dysfunctional Griffin family (Peter, Lois, Meg, Chris
and Stewie) and their Martini-swilling dog Brian as they fight
against the norm. Everyday problems in the Griffin household
include Peter and Brian's drinking binges, Lois and Meg's
struggle against the disgraceful men in their lives and one
year old Stewie's repeated attempts to kill his mother and
take over the world. And then there's
Brian's peeing problem, Peter's addiction to liposuction and
Meg's run in with the law when she is blamed for slanderously
"outing" teen heartthrob Luke Perry...
Like
the Simpsons, the Griffins are a family obsessed with TV,
and accordingly their series is packed with media satires
(including references to American commercials that most British
viewers will not be familiar with). A particular speciality
of Family Guy is its penchant for taking cosy family
shows, such as The Brady Bunch, Happy Days and The
Cosby Show, and presenting the characters therein with
the kind of hard-hitting real-life issues that they never
had to confront within the parameters of their own series.
Sci-fi
fans will particularly appreciate the prolific allusions to
Batman, Scooby Doo, The Twilight Zone, The Incredible Hulk
and The Six Million Dollar Man (with Lee Majors himself
providing a vocal cameo), as well as movies including the
Star Wars trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark and
Robocop. Among the best spoofs are the second episode's
hilarious exaggeration of William Shatner's gesticulations
as Captain James T Kirk, and the "blaxploitation" version
of Back to the Future.
As
with Fox's more famous animated show, Family Guy contains
some particularly un-PC jokes, with Peter mouthing off on
the topics of gender, race and disability. Usually (though,
it has to be said, not always) the show's moral outlook manages
to distance itself from Peter's boorish attitudes. This series
is less overtly moralistic than The Simpsons, and is
also more adult in content - its level of coarse language
helped to earn it the 15 certificate.
To
all the family guy fans out there who might feel a bit cheated.
Stop. Go and buy this. I can understand that you have paid
for all the separate season's box sets, but this is worth
it. Aside
from containing all 50 episodes from the show you also have
two whole discs as extras.
These
include commentary on 14 episodes and 28 deleted scenes, as
well as Promo's and featurettes.
Enough
about what's so good about the disc, what about the actual
programme itself? It's a heady mix, From the "smartness" of
The Simpsons to the subtlety of Futurama and the
humour of Blackadder thrown in you end up with... a
bit of a mess.
As
funny and as highly addictive as it could be, it isn't as
highly addictive as it should be. But don't get me wrong there
are some genuinely funny moments within this neat series and
it is a great shame that Fox cancelled it before its prime.
Although, there is talk that the show will live again in the
near future.
Simon
Lee
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