Peter The Great Or Lois Lame? (Family Guy)

Member Name: stoffy

Product:	Family Guy
Date:	22/09/03 (478 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fantastically witty, some inspired characters in Brian and Stuey

Disadvantages: not suitable for everyone

With its American nuclear family containing an overweight slob, domestic matriarch, misunderstood daughter, troublesome son and young baby, ‘Family Guy’ was always going to have an uphill struggle not to be compared with ‘The Simpsons’. However, this animated comedy series has much more to offer than being merely a second-rate Springfield, and whilst it may not have scored dozens of household character names like its contemporary, it has some extremely sharp and funny writing.

Peter Griffin (lazy, rude, TV-loving father) and his wife Lois (piano teacher, unfulfilled dreams) live in Quahog, Rhode Island with their three children Chris (a mini-Peter, slightly retarded), Meg (angsty teenage outcast) and Stuey. Stuey is undoubtedly the star of the show, a young baby with an English thespian voice and lewd Shakesperian insults to match. Always trying to thwart his ‘wretched and evil’ mother’s plans for him via some home-made science-fiction device, his entire family remain oblivious to his scheming and somewhat advanced characteristics much to his fury. The family is complete with Brian, their speaking intellectual dog, whose alcohol problem and unhealthy attraction to Lois are strokes of imaginative genius.

The actual programmes are extremely fast moving and rely quite heavily on abstract asides and flashbacks in storylines. Famous people and topical stories are often weaved into these, with the depiction of Liza Minnelli’s reliance on blue M&Ms before going stage particularly sticking in mind.

The hilarity of ‘Family Guy’ undoubtedly rests in its ability to surprise. Whilst the main themes of the story are sometimes familiar and almost always end happily (father loses job and gets it back again or homebound mother finds hidden talents), the sub-plots are never predictable and Stuey’s habitual masterplans and classic put-downs to his mother are consistently funny. The h
umour is very near the knuckle in places, hence its 12 certificate when released on DVD, notwithstanding the fact that it is often shown in the mornings on Channel 4. However, whilst the innuendo is undeniably cheeky, it never goes too far in context and much of it will slip under the radars of the pure and innocent.

One feature is that the supporting characters do not feature all that much, and certainly never take the lead role in an episode. However, the heroic wheelchair-bound policeman of whom Peter is initially jealous is perhaps the most memorable of the non-Griffins in the show.

All three series which were made are currently available on DVD from all good retailers. However, unfortunately ‘Family Guy’ is no more, as it was decommissioned thanks to poor ratings in the USA. This is a real shame, as it can be dipped in and out of much more easily than ‘Futurama’, and has more entertaining characters than ‘King Of The Hill’ and ‘Daria’.

Whilst its lack of longevity means that it won’t be seen as a true classic in years to come, ‘Family Guy’ is an excellent alternative for any animated comedy junkie that has got fed-up of the endlessly repeated 300 and something episodes of the yellow-folk...

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