Its lucky there is Family Guy (Family Guy)

Member Name: JakeLedge

Product:	Family Guy
Date:	22/01/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious

Disadvantages: None

It wasn't until the early 2000's that I discovered the wonders of Family Guy. Since then, I've become an avid fan, followed it on BBC three, bought the DVD's and even purchased a few slogan t-shirts.

Family Guy is an animated American sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane in 1999. MacFarlane is tremendously talented as he writes the show and does many of the voice overs for the characters. Each episode is approximately 22 minutes long and every one is full laughs.
Each episode contains a ridiculous but yet hilarious storyline that you could only get away with in a cartoon. Some storylines have been ludicrous, such as Peter declaring his son terminally ill in order to get his favourite TV show back on air and even Peter trying to convert Chris into a Jew so he will become automatically good with money.
This format works well for Family Guy's animation rivals such as The Simpsons and South Park and it's no different for Family Guy.

The show uses a cutaway technique that resembles Scrubs (American hospital comedy featuring Zach Braff). This is when a random thought more often then not said by Peter Griffin (the main character) is shown in a bizarre and peculiar fashion. It is usually triggered by the words ''This reminds me of the time.....''
I think this method works well, however many people I know find it hard to watch as they feel the humour is forced and that the writers are trying too hard to be funny. In my opinion it works and I will often find myself chuckling at the most random acts.

The Griffin family lives in Rhode Island, Quahog. They live on Spooner Street surrounded by lots of strange and unusual characters.
First off, there is Peter Griffin, the main character and has featured in all 108 episodes to date. His character is extreme, volatile, stupid and severely offensive but yet I love him. His hobbies are watching TV and drinking beer with his socially inept friends. Seth MacFarlane provides Peters voice.

Lois is the most sensible one and is married to Peter. She too, has been in every episode to date. She teaches piano in many of the episodes but also has the role of housewife. Her protestant roots are used as an ongoing gag between her and her catholic husband, Peter.

Brian is the family's pet dog. Now the beauty of cartoons is that there are no limitations, meaning you can do anything and I mean anything. Brian is a talking Labrador dog and Peters best friend. He is the most academic of the dysfunctional Griffin family and can also drive. Interestingly enough, he stands on two legs and using his remaining paws as us humans would do.

Chris is the son. I believe he is the most underrated character on the show as he reminds of many people I knew when I was his age. He is about 15, is actually retarded and has a very irritating and whiny voice. Funnily enough, his main hobby is masturbation.

Meg is the Griffins daughter. She is an outcast at school and can only get geeky friends. All she wants to do is fit in and is psyched when anybody of remote popularity talks to her. Peter has constant hatred for Meg which makes for comical viewing.

Stewie is 1 year old, but don't be fooled by his tender age. He has his eyes set on world domination and killing Lois. He chats using large complicated words and pronounces all the words perfectly which in itself is funny due to his young age but the various kinds of stuff he gets up to is droll.

There are also lots of smaller characters in Family Guy like Peter's friends Joe Swash, a adrenaline junkie, steroid-pumping iron disabled person, Quagmire a sex-crazed nymphomaniac that has his heart set on Peter's wife and Cleveland, a slow talking African American that is the more careful and conservative one of the group. His African roots are used at many points in a hilarious way.

Family Guy is in my opinion the best and most consistent animation going. The techniques that they use in order to make enough jokes in a particular episode are genius. They use the cutaway gag that I mentioned earlier but also as Peter spends most of his time in front of the TV, the writers use this to skit various popular TV shows over in the states.

Family Guy despite being axed twice has continued to produce hilarious episodes for 10 years spanning a total of 7 seasons. The formula used obviously works well and if you are looking for a rude, crude, vulgar, unpredictable, hilarious, impoliticly correct, offensive and vile programme then Family Guy is the one for you.

Summary: A brilliant cult comedy