About
Family Guy is an American animated TV sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane and premiered on Fox in 1999. The series revolves around Peter Griffin and his family, Lois, his wife, Meg, Chris, and Stewie, their children, and their talking dog, Brian. They are set in the fictional city of Quahog in Rhode Island. Much of the humor in the show is in the form of cutaway gags that often sarcastically criticize American culture.
History
The family was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve, redesigning the film’s protagonist Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renaming them Peter and Brian. In May 1998, a seven-minute pilot of the series was pitched to Fox and given the green light for production. On January 31st, 1999, the series premiered on Fox with the pilot episode “Death Has a Shadow,” right after the broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII, which drew 22 million viewers and immediately caused controversy over its adult-themed content.
Reception
The show was met with mixed reception and ratings, in part due to being placed in a series of tough time slots and inconsistent airing schedules, and after its three seasons run, Fox announced the cancellation of the series in 2002. However, favorable DVD sales and high ratings for syndicated reruns on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim convinced the network to renew the show in 2004 for a fourth season, which began airing on May 1st, 2005. Since then, Family Guy has been nominated for 12 Primetime Emmy Awards and 11 Annie Awards, and has won three of each. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Death of Brian Griffin
In November 2013, Brian Griffin, the talking family dog, was “killed off” from the series after suffering a bad injury in a car accident in the episode "Life of Brian,” aired on Sunday, November 24th, 2013. Given the overwhelming popularity of the character, many fans of the show responded to Brian’s death with calls to bring the character back alive, including a Change.org petition titled “Seth MacFarlane, and Fox Broadcasting Company: Bring Brian Griffin back to Family Guy” and a Facebook petition named “Petition To Get Brian Griffin Back,” which have garnered more than 62,500 likes an 2,300 likes, respectively. Meanwhile on Twitter, a similar protest took place under the hashtag #BringBackBrian.
Related Memes
Family Guy Effect
The Family Guy Effect is a postulated phenomenon asserting that when Internet memes are showcased on the animated television show Family Guy, the meme will see a brief burst in popularity, followed by an immediate sharp decline. Prior to being associated with Internet meme overexposure, the Family Guy effect was used to describe how a joke becomes less funny when repeated over time.
Damn Nature, You Scary!
“Damn Nature, You Scary!” is an online expression typically associated with videos depicting the destructive side of the mother nature, including amateur-shot footage of natural disasters and documentary films about wildlife animals.
You Know What Really Grinds My Gears
“You Know What Really Grinds My Gears” is a memorable quote from the 2005 animated comedy film Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. On the web, the expression is used to preface an airing of grievances in an advice animal image macro series featuring Family Guy protagonist Peter Griffin.
I Need An Adult!
“I need an adult” is a catchphrase used to express one’s feeling of discomfort or disapproval towards something that’s been said or posted by another user.
Giggity
“Giggity” (also known as “Giggity Giggity Goo”) is a sexually-oriented catchphrase popularized by the character Glenn Quagmire.
Pepperidge Farm Remembers
Pepperidge Farm Remembers is an image macro series based on a tagline used in an advertisement for the commercial bakery Pepperidge Farm. The series features a still-shot from a parody of the commercial as seen in the animated television series Family Guy and captions reminiscing about outdated relics and practices from the past decades.
Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man
Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man a commercial from the 2005 Family Guy film Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story featuring Al Harrington, the President and CEO of Al Harrington’s Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man emporium and warehouse, who offers the viewers a discount for the inflatable tube after being accidentally overstocked as a result of a shipping error.
