Meg Griffin
Fictional character from Family Guy
Megan "Meg" Griffin is a fictional character from the American animated television series "Family Guy". She first appeared in the show's pilot episode, "Death Has a Shadow", on January 31, 1999. The character was originally voiced by Lacey Chabert; however, she has been voiced by Mila Kunis since the show's second season. Writer Seth MacFarlane created and designed Meg after his 1995 student film, "The Life of Larry", was picked up by 20th Century Fox for a series order. Meg is the eldest child and only daughter of Peter and Lois Griffin and the sister of Chris and Stewie. A social outcast, Meg is typically depicted as being mistreated and neglected by her family, though this has been downplayed in later seasons. Despite this, she is shown to be extremely talented and resourceful, having a kinder personality compared to the rest of her family.
Personality.
Similar to Lois, Meg has gone through numerous personality changes since the debut of the show in 1999. In early seasons, she was portrayed as a self-conscious and insecure adolescent. She is treated unfairly and abused by various people and has numerous insecurities that prompt her to try to be part of the "in-crowd". However, this only results in her getting rebuffed by the many bullies of this circle, particularly Connie D'Amico, the head cheerleader of the local high school, James Woods Regional High School. In contrast to this, a nerdy Jewish student named Neil Goldman is attracted to her, to her dismay.
While Meg is usually a pushover, she can get angry when pushed too far, though such occasions are usually rare. This can be seen in the episode "Seahorse Seashell Party", where she strongly insults and defames Peter, Lois, and even Chris for their inconsiderate actions toward her. In the episode "Road to Rupert", Meg assaults a man for insulting her after a fender-bender, and in "The Chicken or the Meg", she decapitates Ernie the Giant Chicken's head after a heated argument. In later seasons, she is shown to be very snarky and deliberately unpredictable towards others, such as in "The Marrying Kind", where she tells off Lois after the latter seeks validation for her jokes. Later seasons exaggerate her uncouth behavior and completely disregard her punching-bag status.
Despite her persistent mistreatment, Meg has proven a variety of times throughout the series that she is more talented and has greater potential than most people bother to realize, such as bird calls, playing the saxophone, speaking and singing in foreign languages, and even sports such as bowling, field hockey, basketball, roller derby, and even Olympic sports. However, her parents are unaware of her talents, oftentimes being completely surprised at her apparent skills.
Many of the show's storylines about Meg involve her trying to improve her life, finding a boyfriend, and reaching breaking points with her family and others who victimize her. She often becomes obsessed with men who show any kindness or affection to her, including the Griffin's friend and neighbor Joe Swanson in the episode "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair", and Brian in "Barely Legal". In addition to this, she has been shown to have suicidal tendencies, which has been exacerbated by the abuse she suffers at the hands of her parents.
Voice actors.
On the season 1 DVD commentary for the "Drawn Together" episode "Hot Tub", Cree Summer claims she was offered the role to play Meg but was dismissed by the producers. Meg was voiced by an uncredited Lacey Chabert for the first season, and by Mila Kunis in subsequent seasons after Chabert became busy with school and her role on "Party of Five", although some of her work became second season episodes due to production order. Mila Kunis won the role after a series of auditions and callbacks where she was asked to speak more slowly and enunciate more; she was ultimately hired despite being unsure she understood what was expected of her. MacFarlane felt that Kunis invigorated the character, and that her work on "That '70s Show" showed she could command a scene. MacFarlane stated that Kunis "had a very natural quality to Meg" and she's "in a lot of ways [...] almost more right for the character". Kunis' voice is first heard as Meg in Episode 3 of season two "Da Boom", and the voices switch back and forth in the broadcast order until settling on Kunis. Tara Strong provides Meg's singing voice in "Don't Make Me Over". Archival recordings of Lacey Chabert's voice that she provided as Meg Griffin are used in the tenth season episode "Back to the Pilot" in which Brian and Stewie go back in time to the events of "Death Has a Shadow". However, Chabert does in fact return for the eleventh season episode "Yug Ylimaf" as Stewie references the fact that time has reversed so much that Meg's voice has reverted back from that of Kunis' to Chabert's.
Social life.
In the first three seasons of the show, Meg was portrayed with a more whiny and uptight personality who was often embarrassed by the family’s acts of bumbling and stupidity, though they cared for her and meant well. In the post-cancellation seasons, this began to change as the inadvertent embarrassment became deliberate bullying and disrespect. Additionally, the show started to flesh out the characters to the point where most of the population of Quahog who knows her, or even just meets her, picks on or disdains her for no reason other than her simply being "Meg".
Meg is depicted as being unpopular in high school due to both her plain appearance and personality. She desperately tries to be part of the cool crowd, but is usually coldly rebuffed. Because of her eagerness for acceptance, she has been recruited "unknowingly" into a suicidal religious cult, and later recruited again unwittingly into her school's Lesbian Alliance (in the episode "Brian Sings and Swings" ). However, Meg does have a moderate number of friends, the best of whom being a group of girls who are often seen with her during occasions such as her slumber parties and gossiping about boys. In later episodes, these girls, known by the names Beth, Patty, Collette, Esther, and Ruth, are characterized as being highly unpopular and dateless, much like Meg.
In some cases, Meg is depicted as being so unpopular at school that in one instance, a student fires a nail gun into his own abdomen twice (in shop class) in order to avoid a date with her, and in a later episode, another student shoots his own brother as an excuse not to go to a dance with her the following night. In "Don't Make Me Over", Lois is looking for new clothes for Meg, but with no luck; a saleswoman ends up pouring gasoline on herself, lighting a match, catching fire, and then jumping out of a window after looking at Meg in a pair of jeans. However, she is sought by nerd Neil Goldman. In "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter", Neil starts dating a girl named Cecilia, Meg becomes instantly jealous and pretends to date Jake Tucker to make him jealous. This leads to her signing a contract to become Neil's girlfriend and (not knowing at first) his slave, but she gets him to tear up the contract after Lois seduces him. Perverted neighbor Glenn Quagmire has shown a repeated interest in her, mostly due to his very low standards, asking if she has reached the age of consent. Quagmire comes close to succeeding in "Meg and Quagmire" when Lois tells Peter to back off after he was ruining Meg and Quagmire's 'dates'. Then, they rescue Meg after Glenn takes her to his cabin, Peter and Lois arriving in time before anything happens.. Joe and Cleveland are generally more accepting of her, with Cleveland allowing her to stay at his house when she's dealing with various family issues, such as in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", and "Petarded". In very rare instances, he shows disdain over her, such as in "Hell Comes to Quahog".". In "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair", Joe rushes her to the hospital after she's accidentally run over by his vehicle, afterwards telling her that he's lucky to have her as his neighbor.
In several episodes she is shown dating, including stories with characters Mayor Adam West and nudist Jeff Campbell. She also loses her virginity unknowingly on live television to "Saturday Night Live" host Jimmy Fallon after having a drastic makeover; but, before all that happens, she goes out with a rebel at her school named Craig Hoffman. In "Jerome is the New Black", Jerome, an old flame of Lois's and Peter's new friend, admits to having sex with Meg, to which Peter replies indifferently. Carl is shown to have a dislike for her in "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", which she reciprocates due to being fired from his convenience store. She is shown to be good friends with Bruce, who she hangs out with at the Bowling Alley.
In the episode "Brian Sings and Swings", a lesbian student named Sarah invites Meg to join in her Lesbian Alliance Club, with Meg not knowing at first what kind of club it was. Desperate to fit in, she pretends to be a lesbian and also pretends to be attracted to Sarah and even goes so far as to kiss her to prove it. At the end of the episode, Meg goes over to Sarah's house to admit she lied about being a lesbian (Sarah thought that Meg came over to have sex and even undresses when Meg is telling her that she lied), much to Glenn's (who was hiding in Sarah's closet) disappointment. She also used to have a crush on anchorman Tom Tucker, but it ended after she discovered his vanity and selfishness. In other episodes, she is portrayed as chronically incapable of finding a boyfriend. For her Junior Prom she accepts a pity date from Brian, the family dog and only after threatening suicide.
Earlier in season 2, she dated Joe Swanson's son Kevin Swanson, but in "Stew-Roids" it is mentioned that Kevin died in Iraq. In the episode, "Prick Up Your Ears", she dates a boy named Doug, but he breaks up with her when he sees her naked right before almost having sex. In the episode "Peter's Daughter", Meg falls in love with a medical student named Michael Milano after coming out of a short coma (caused by Peter when he asked her to "rescue" beer and make him a sandwich out of an already flooded kitchen) and they start to date. After he breaks up with Meg (because of Peter being overprotective of her after promising that if she came out of the coma, he would "treat her like a princess"), she announces that she is pregnant by Michael and the two get engaged. After finding out that she is not actually pregnant, Meg tells Michael the truth hoping that he will stay, however, Michael quickly leaves Meg at the altar. In the episode "Dial Meg for Murder", she is dating a convict, while in the episode "Go, Stewie, Go!" she dates an attractive young man named Anthony, who is absolutely normal (much to the surprise of many of the other characters). It is presumed that she broke up with him after he and Lois had an affair.
Overall, Meg has shown romantic interest in and dated several men throughout the series. However, there have been several instances in which she has shown hints of being bisexual or a lesbian: examples of this include "Brian Sings and Swings", "Stew-Roids", and "Dial Meg for Murder".
Family life.
Out of all the members of the family, her father Peter abuses her the most, making her the butt of his jokes and picking on her numerous times. Occasionally, when Meg asks a question to Peter or just speaks when he is in the room, Peter responds by saying "Shut up, Meg". Despite this, he is shown to care deeply about her in various episodes, such as in "Meg and Quagmire" when he goes out of his way to prevent friend and neighbor Glenn Quagmire from having sex with her, and in "This Little Piggy" where he tries to get Meg out of a foot fetishism business. In later seasons, Peter's kindness towards her is more open, sometimes showing remorsefulness in certain situations.
She is jokingly implied to have been unwanted by Lois and Peter numerous times in the show. For instance, In the episode "Stewie Kills Lois", Peter tells guests on a cruise ship about how he and Lois had gone to get an abortion but decided against it when they arrived at the clinic and found out the abortionist had one hand. He then says "two and a half months later, our daughter Meg was born" – Much to Lois's embarrassment, causing her to get mad with Peter. In numerous episodes, she is jokingly implied to have been dropped off at a Fire Station when she was an Infant, such as in "Ratings Guy" and "Baking Sad".
Brian's attention initially softens the lack of respect from Peter and the rest of family; he admits that he cares for Meg when she goes out with Mayor Adam West. While initially seeming to have more common decency for Meg than most people, this appears to almost completely disappear after the tenth season, as Brian's increasingly shallow and self-centered character begins to take more pleasure and joy in being rotten to Meg and often refuses to give her the time of day, such as desperately trying to avoid having to comfort her, finding humor in her being puked on, and even willing to deliberately urinate on her bed. Stewie on the other hand occasionally shows disdain towards her due to his personality, but softens up towards her in numerous episodes. In "Stand By Meg", she saves him from choking to death on a grape, earning his respect towards her. He is also shown to prefer sitting on Meg's lap numerous times throughout the show, as opposed to Lois. In some episodes, Brian and Stewie attempt to help Meg numerous times throughout the show, such as in "Leggo My Meg-O", where they rescue her from Human Traffickers, and "Baking Sad", where they help her start up a cookie business.
Her most significant relationship is with her brother Chris, where he sometimes shares the brunt of the family's abuse just like her. In numerous episodes they're seen teaming up, such as in "The Heartbreak Dog", where they both steal from a retirement home to get back at the residents mistreating her, and "Young Parent Trap", where they disguise themselves as a young couple to spy on Peter and Lois on vacation. Despite this, he is sometimes shown to abuse her, such as in "Better Off Meg" where he capitalizes on her falsified death to gain popularity within school (and kidnaps her when she comes back).
Meg's most complicated relationship among the family members after Peter would be with her mother Lois. Although not as abusive as Peter, Lois seldom (if ever) reprimands her husband for their treatment of their daughter and tends to be rather thoughtless of Meg herself, often putting her down for her lack of social achievement or social popularity. Throughout the series, Lois can best be described as a general foil to her daughter, being more rebellious, outgoing, and loose-spirited compared to her daughter's own uptight demeanor, easily-embarrassed personality, and lack of confidence. Before the more recent seasons of the series, Lois has also often shown sympathy for Meg and tried to boost her confidence in terms of teenage social matters. Despite this, such occasions resulted in her former getting carried away and stealing the show from Meg, such as in "a Fish out of Water". The most significant example of her cruelty towards her would be in "Stew-Roids", where she encourages Meg to commit suicide by giving her a Sylvia Plath novel and a bottle of Ambien, proclaiming "Whatever happens, happens". Despite this, she is shown to deeply care for her in numerous episodes by having a normal mother-daughter relationship and going out of her way to defend her. For example, In "Barely Legal" she is angered when Brian confesses to making out with Meg at her Junior Prom, and in "Snapple Decision", she defends her from kidnappers who attempt to abduct them during a vacation gone wrong.
While she is well aware of how poorly she is treated by others, Meg is usually much too fragile and passive to push back or retaliate against her family and school tormentors. The family's treatment of Meg, however, finally reaches her limit in "Dial Meg for Murder" when Meg emerges from a short stint in a Young Offenders Institution as a hardened criminal, abusing her family and beating up anyone who makes fun of her. It is only after a conversation with Brian that she changes her ways. However, it comes to a head once again in "Seahorse Seashell Party", when Meg finally grows tired of her mistreatment and lashes out against Lois and Peter, informing them of their own flaws. Meg tells Lois that she is far from the perfect parent, harshly berates her for constantly and ruthlessly pointing out Meg's shortcomings. This breaks Lois' heart and she finally admits that she's been a terrible mother to Meg. She then turns on Peter, calling him a "waste of a man". After a short fight between the rest of the family, Brian talks to meg and says that he likes how she stood up for herself, but she sadly tells him that even though she meant every word, seeing Peter turn on everyone like wolves has made her think that it is ultimately her non-ideal role to serve as the Griffins' "lightning rod that absorbs all the dysfunction". He commends her on her maturity, and even goes on to say that Meg is the strongest person in the family. She soon apologizes to the others and says that she is actually the one at fault, with the family reconciling and hugging afterwards.
The abuse that Meg receives begins to fade away as a running gag by the start of Season 14, notably in "Peter's Sister", where she notices that Peter's pro wrestler sister Karen treats Peter exactly the way Peter treats her. They bond over this with a plan to embarrass Karen at a wrestling show—which goes awry when Meg hits her with a metal folding chair instead of a breakaway one and injures Karen to the point where she ends up in a coma. In more recent seasons (From 20 onwards), she is rarely abused, if at all, with her family embracing her instead of ridiculing her.
Reception.
Fan Reception of Meg Griffin's character has been mostly positive, with her being ranked number 11 on "IGN's Top 25 Family Guy Characters". However, critical reception on her character has been mixed, with most criticism headed towards how the writers handled her character. In a review for "Seahorse Seashell Party", Kevin McFarland of "The A.V. Club" wrote "I feel bad about Meg becoming the scapegoat. Not because she’s a good character, but because instead of tweaking and working to make her appreciated or comically valuable, "Family Guy" spent years going down the path of least resistance and simply joined the fan chorus of hatred. One episode of pointed, forced justification for that shift doesn’t change a thing."
In an interview, Mila Kunis stated: "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 16-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in perpetual mode of humiliation, and it's fun."
In November 2016, when asked by Splitsider if the writers will further develop the characters of Chris and Meg in future episodes, showrunner Alec Sulkin confirmed that the series crew members are working on doing so and added that there are plans for an episode where Meg comes out as a lesbian, taking inspiration from previous instances in which she exhibited signs of lesbian characteristics, like when she joins a lesbian alliance group at school in "Brian Sings and Swings" and is identified as a "transgender man" named "Ron" in "", the latter which takes place in the future. However, Sulkin also noted that the plotline has not yet been finalized and thus isn't officially set to be used in an episode.
References.
Informational notes
Citations
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List of Family Guy cast members
Cast list for an animated series
"Family Guy" is an American animated sitcom that features five main voice actors, and numerous regular cast and recurring guest stars. The principal voice cast consists of show creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis (who replaced Lacey Chabert after the first season (her last episode is "Holy Crap," now marketed as the second episode of season two)), Seth Green, and Mike Henry; Patrick Warburton and Arif Zahir were later added to the main cast (the former being promoted from recurring cast); Recurring voice actors include Adam West, Sam Elliott, John G. Brennan, Nicole Sullivan and Jennifer Tilly, and repeat guest stars include Phyllis Diller, Charles Durning, Rush Limbaugh, James Woods and Phil LaMarr.
Many cast members provide voices for multiple characters. The voice actors, in portraying the various character personalities on the show, draw inspiration from celebrities and pop culture. "Family Guy" characters have been played by more than one actor, after members of the show left the series or had conflicting obligations.
Kunis was nominated for an Annie Award for voicing Meg Griffin in the season 5 episode "Barely Legal" and MacFarlane has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production, though no other cast member has won an award for their work on the series.
Current cast.
From seasons 1 to 4, "Family Guy" had four main cast members. Since season 5, there have been five main cast members. The casting of Meg Griffin changed after season 1.
Seth MacFarlane.
Seth MacFarlane voices four of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire. MacFarlane chose to voice these characters himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he had already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it. MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film "My Fair Lady". The voice for Glenn Quagmire is based on 1940s and 1950s radio commercials. MacFarlane uses his own voice while portraying Brian.
MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time only characters, including news anchor Tom Tucker, Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt and Dr. Hartman. He is the only cast member to be in every episode.
Alex Borstein.
Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on "MADtv". She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, Borstein performed in a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins. The voice was originally slower (and deeper for the original season), but when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less fucking annoying ... and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours."
Seth Green.
Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green stated that he did an impression of the "Buffalo Bill" character from the thriller film "The Silence of the Lambs" during his audition. His main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he were speaking through a public address system at a McDonald's.
Mila Kunis.
Mila Kunis voices Meg Griffin. Kunis won the role after the auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on "That '70s Show". MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat". She further explained, "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in a perpetual mode of humiliation. And it's fun."
Mike Henry.
Mike Henry is the voice of Cleveland Brown, John Herbert “The Pervert”, Bruce, Consuela, and various other characters. A "Family Guy" writer and producer, he began acting on the show as part of the recurring cast repertory (see below) but was promoted to main cast member in 2005. Since the cancellation of "The Cleveland Show", he also voices Cleveland's step-son Rallo Tubbs on "Family Guy". On June 26, 2020, after twenty years of voicing the character, Mike Henry announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from voicing Cleveland, stating "persons of color should play characters of color." On September 25, 2020, it was announced that Arif Zahir would take over as the voice of Cleveland.
Recurring cast.
In addition to both its main cast and guest stars, "Family Guy" utilizes a deep bench of regularly appearing supporting voice actors. Some appear in nearly every episode each season, while others appear less frequently. Some of these actors specifically play recurring characters, while others mainly play background citizens of Quahog or characters in cutaway gags.
The current supporting cast repertory includes the following actors:
In addition to the above, the following actors were formerly regularly recurring voice actors in the series:
Recurring guest voices.
The recurring guest voices include Norm Macdonald and Adam Carolla as Death, Patrick Stewart as Susie Swanson, Scott Grimes as Kevin Swanson, Sanaa Lathan as Donna Tubbs Brown and Emily Osment as Ruth Cochamer. Previous recurring guests included Phyllis Diller in three episodes as Peter's Mother, Thelma, and Charles Durning as Peter's father, Francis. Both characters have since died, but Durning returned once to play Francis as a ghost. Early in the show's run, Fred Willard and Jane Lynch had a recurring role as a family of nudists and James Woods as himself. In 2020, it was announced that Sam Elliott would take over as Quahog's new mayor, Mayor West's estranged cousin Wyld West.
References.
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Mila Kunis filmography
Mila Kunis is an actress who began her career by appearing in several television series and commercials before playing Jackie Burkhart on the television series "That '70s Show". In December 1999, she began voicing Meg Griffin on the animated series "Family Guy". Subsequent film roles included Mona Sax in "Max Payne", Solara in "The Book of Eli", Jamie in "Friends with Benefits", Lori in the comedy "Ted", and Theodora in "Oz the Great and Powerful". Her performance as Lily in "Black Swan" gained her worldwide accolades, including receiving the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.
References.
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Family Guy
American animated sitcom
Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois, their children, Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and their anthropomorphic pet dog, Brian. Set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island, the show exhibits much of its humor in the form of metafictional cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture.
The family was conceived by MacFarlane after he developed two animated films, "The Life of Larry" and "Larry & Steve". MacFarlane redesigned the films' protagonist, Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renamed them Peter and Brian, respectively. MacFarlane pitched a fifteen-minute pilot to Fox in May 1998, and the show was greenlit and began production. "Family Guy"'s cancellation was announced shortly after the third season had aired in 2002, with one unaired episode eventually premiering on Adult Swim in 2003, finishing the series' original run. Favorable DVD sales and high ratings from syndicated reruns since then convinced Fox to revive the show in 2004; a fourth season began airing the following year, on May 1, 2005. On April 2, 2025, the show was renewed for four additional seasons on Fox.
Since its premiere, "Family Guy" has received generally positive reviews. In 2009, it was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series had been nominated for the award since "The Flintstones" in 1961. In 2013, "TV Guide" ranked "Family Guy" as the ninth-greatest TV cartoon. The series has also garnered considerable amounts of criticism and controversy, ranging from storylines and character stereotypes, to allegations of racism, homophobia, and misogyny.
Many tie-in media based on the show have been released, including ', a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005; ', a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005, featuring music from the show as well as music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy; a video game and pinball machine, released in 2006 and 2007, respectively; since 2005, six books published by Harper Adult; and "" (2010), a collection of three episodes parodying the original "Star Wars" trilogy. A spin-off series, "The Cleveland Show", featuring Cleveland Brown, aired from September 27, 2009, to May 19, 2013.
"Family Guy" moved to Wednesday nights beginning March 6, 2024, marking the show's first weeknight airings since 2002.
On December 27, 2024, it was announced that the series would be moving back to Sundays and would air at the 8:00 p.m. timeslot. This would mark the first time "Family Guy" airs at the 8:00 p.m. timeslot since the episode "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag" aired on November 8, 2009. Following the two Hulu specials in late 2024, the remainder of season 23 premiered on February 16, 2025.
Premise.
Characters.
The show centers around the adventures and activities of the dysfunctional Griffin family, consisting of father Peter Griffin, a bumbling and clumsy yet well-intentioned blue-collar worker; his wife Lois, a stay-at-home mother and piano teacher (in early episodes) who is a member of the affluent Pewterschmidt family; Meg, their often bullied teenage daughter who is constantly ridiculed or ignored by the family; Chris, their awkward teenage son, who is overweight, unintelligent, unathletic, and in many respects a younger version of his father; and Stewie, their diabolical, adult-mannered infant son of ambiguous sexual orientation who is an evil genius and uses stereotypical archvillain phrases. Living with the family is their witty, smoking, martini-swilling, sarcastic, English-speaking anthropomorphic pet dog Brian, although he is still considered a pet in many ways.
Recurring characters appear alongside the Griffin family. These include the family's neighbors: sex-crazed airline pilot bachelor Glenn Quagmire; deli owner/mail carrier Cleveland Brown and his wife Loretta (later Donna); paraplegic police officer Joe Swanson, his wife Bonnie, their son Kevin and their baby daughter Susie; neurotic Jewish pharmacist Mort Goldman, his wife Muriel, and their geeky and annoying son Neil, and elderly child molester Herbert. TV news anchors Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons, "Asian reporter" Tricia Takanawa, and "Blaccu-Weather" meteorologist Ollie Williams also make frequent appearances. Actor James Woods guest stars as himself in multiple episodes, as did Adam West, prior to his death.
Setting.
The primary setting of "Family Guy" is Quahog ( ), a fictional city in Rhode Island that was founded by Peter's ancestor, Griffin Peterson. MacFarlane resided in Providence during his time as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and the show contains distinct Rhode Island landmarks similar to real-world locations. MacFarlane often borrows the names of Rhode Island locations and icons such as Pawtucket and Buddy Cianci for use in the show. MacFarlane, in an interview with Providence's Fox affiliate WNAC-TV, stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island.
Production.
Development.
MacFarlane conceived "Family Guy" in 1995 while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. During college, he created his thesis film titled "The Life of Larry", which was submitted by his professor at RISD to Hanna-Barbera. MacFarlane was hired by the company. In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to "The Life of Larry" titled "Larry and Steve", which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve; the short was broadcast in 1997 as one of Cartoon Network's "World Premiere Toons".
Executives at Fox saw the "Larry" shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series, titled "Family Guy", based on the characters. Fox proposed that MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short and gave him a budget of $50,000. MacFarlane pitched the completed demo short to Fox on May 15, 1998, which featured the first appearance of the Griffin family. The first seven minutes of the pitch pilot, which had a storyline parallel to the pilot that aired on television in January 1999, would be included in "Family Guy" DVD sets. The full fifteen-minute pitch demo remained lost until it was uploaded to the internet by Robert Paulson on his personal website in 2022. Despite this, the pitch demo was not discovered by the public until March 2025.
Several aspects of "Family Guy" were inspired by the "Larry" shorts. While MacFarlane worked on the series, the characters of Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian Griffin. MacFarlane stated that the difference between "The Life of Larry" and "Family Guy" was that ""Life of Larry" was shown primarily in my dorm room and "Family Guy" was shown after the Super Bowl."
"Family Guy" was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show "Mad TV", but the plan changed, because "MADtv"'s budget was not large enough to support animation production. MacFarlane noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Fox, as he thought that it was the place to create a prime-time animation show. "Family Guy" was originally pitched to Fox in the same year as "King of the Hill", but the show was not bought until years later, when "King of the Hill" became successful.
After the pilot episode of "Family Guy" aired, the series was given the greenlight. MacFarlane drew inspiration from several sitcoms such as "The Simpsons" and "All in the Family". Premises were drawn from several 1980s Saturday-morning cartoons he watched as a child, such as "The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" and "Rubik, the Amazing Cube".
Renewals.
On January 26, 2023, Fox announced that the series had been renewed for seasons 22 and 23, taking the show through the 2024–25 television season. Season 22 premiered on October 1, 2023.
On April 2, 2025, it was announced that "Family Guy" would be renewed for four more seasons in what is considered a "mega deal" with parent company Disney. This renewal will take the show through the 2028–2029 television season, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the shows launch which occurred in January 1999. Additionally, each season will consist of 15 episodes.
Executive producers.
MacFarlane has served as an executive producer throughout the show's entire history. The first executive producers were David Zuckerman, Lolee Aries, David Pritchard, and Mike Wolf. "Family Guy" has had many executive producers in its history, including Daniel Palladino, Kara Vallow, and Danny Smith. David A. Goodman joined the show as a co-executive producer in season three and eventually became an executive producer.
Writing.
 The first team of writers assembled for the show consisted of Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Gary Janetti, Ricky Blitt, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, Matt Weitzman, and Mike Barker. The writing process of "Family Guy" typically starts with 14 writers that take turns writing the scripts; when a script is finished it is given to the rest of the writers to read.
These scripts generally include cutaway gags. Various gags are pitched to MacFarlane and the rest of the staff, and those deemed the funniest are included in the episode. MacFarlane has explained that it normally takes 10 months to produce an episode because the show uses hand-drawn animation. The show rarely comments on current events for this reason. The show's initial writers had never written for an animated show, and most came from live-action sitcoms.
MacFarlane explained that he is a fan of 1930s and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology "Suspense", which led him to give early episodes ominous titles like "Death Has a Shadow" and "Mind Over Murder." MacFarlane said that the team dropped the naming convention after individual episodes became hard to identify, and the novelty wore off. For the first few months of production, the writers shared one office, lent to them by the "King of the Hill" production crew.
Credited with 19 episodes, Steve Callaghan is the most prolific writer on the "Family Guy" staff. Many of the writers that have left the show have gone on to create or produce other successful series. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan co-wrote 13 episodes for the NBC sitcom "Scrubs" during their eight-year run on the show, while also serving as co-producers and working their way up to executive producers. Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman left the show and went on to create the long-running and still ongoing adult animated series "American Dad!". (MacFarlane is also a co-creator of "American Dad!") On November 4, 2013, it was announced that Barker had departed "American Dad!" during its run as well, after 10 seasons of serving as producer and co-showrunner over the series.
During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, official production of the show halted for most of December 2007 and for various periods afterward. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, which he termed "a colossal dick move" in an interview with "Variety". Though MacFarlane refused to work on the show, his contract under Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it would subsequently produce. Production officially resumed after the end of the strike, with regularly airing episodes recommencing on February 17, 2008. According to MacFarlane, in 2009, it cost about $2 million to make an episode of "Family Guy".
During his September 2017 AMA on Reddit, MacFarlane revealed that he had not written for the show since 2010, choosing instead to focus on production and voice acting.
On May 12, 2023, it was announced that the showrunners of "Family Guy", including Seth MacFarlane, would temporarily leave the show as a result of the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike. They returned to the show on September 27, 2023, once the strike was declared to be over.
Voice cast.
Seth MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Stewie Griffin. Since MacFarlane had a strong vision for these characters, he chose to voice them himself, believing it would be easier than for someone else to attempt it. MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film "My Fair Lady". MacFarlane uses his regular speaking voice when playing Brian. MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time-only characters, most prominently those of the Griffins' neighbor Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker, and Lois' father, Carter Pewterschmidt.
Alex Borstein voices Peter's wife Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown, and Lois' mother, Babs Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on "MADtv". She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, Borstein was performing in a stage show in Los Angeles. She played a redheaded mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins.
Seth Green primarily voices Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green stated that he did an impression of the character Buffalo Bill from the thriller film "The Silence of the Lambs" during his audition.
Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both voiced Meg Griffin. Chabert left the series after the first season because of time conflicts with schoolwork (at the time) and her role on "Party of Five". When Kunis auditioned for the role, she was called back by MacFarlane, who instructed her to speak slower. He then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her. Archival recordings of Lacey Chabert's voice that she provided as Meg Griffin are used in the tenth season episode "Back to the Pilot" in which Brian and Stewie go back in time to the events of "Death Has a Shadow."
Mike Henry voices Herbert, Bruce the Performance Artist, Consuela, the Greased-up Deaf Guy, and until 2021, Cleveland Brown. Henry met MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of Design and kept in touch with him after they graduated. A few years later, MacFarlane contacted him about being part of the show; he agreed and came on as a writer and voice actor. During the show's first four seasons, he was credited as a guest star, but beginning with season five's "Prick Up Your Ears", he has been credited as a main cast member. On June 26, 2020, after twenty years of voicing the character, Mike Henry announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from voicing Cleveland, stating "persons of color should play characters of color." On September 25, 2020, it was announced that Arif Zahir would take over as the voice of Cleveland.
Other recurring cast members include Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson, Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson, John G. Brennan as Mort Goldman and Horace the bartender, Carlos Alazraqui as Jonathan Weed, Adam Carolla and Norm Macdonald as Death, Lori Alan as Diane Simmons, Phil LaMarr as Ollie Williams and Judge Dignified Q. Blackman, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Jerome. Fellow cartoonist Butch Hartman has made guest voice appearances in episodes as various characters. Also, writer Danny Smith voices various recurring characters, such as Ernie the Giant Chicken. Alexandra Breckenridge also appears as many various characters. Adam West appeared as the eponymous Mayor Adam West, until his death in 2017.
Episodes often feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, bands, musicians, and scientists. Many guest voices star as themselves. Leslie Uggams was the first to appear as herself, in the fourth episode of the first season, "Mind Over Murder". The episode "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" guest starred the entire cast of "", including Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Marina Sirtis, and even Denise Crosby (season 1 as Tasha Yar), playing themselves; this is the episode with the most guest stars of the seventh season.
Early history and cancellation.
"Family Guy" officially premiered after Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999, with "Death Has a Shadow". The show debuted to 22 million viewers and immediately generated controversy regarding its adult content. The show returned on April 11, 1999, with "I Never Met the Dead Man". "Family Guy" garnered decent ratings in Fox's 8:30 pm slot on Sunday, scheduled between "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files". At the end of its first season, the show ranked No. 33 in the Nielsen ratings, with 12.8 million households tuning in. The show launched its second season in a new time slot, Thursday at 9 pm, on September 23, 1999. "Family Guy" was pitted against NBC's "Frasier", and the series' ratings declined sharply. Subsequently, Fox removed "Family Guy" from its schedule and began airing episodes irregularly. The show returned on March 7, 2000, at 8:30 pm on Tuesdays, where it was constantly beaten in the ratings by ABC's then-new breakout hit "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", coming in at No. 114 in the Nielsen ratings with 6.32 million households tuning in. Fox announced that the show had been canceled in May 2000, at the end of the second season. However, following a last-minute reprieve, on July 24, 2000, Fox ordered 13 additional episodes of "Family Guy" to form a third season.
The show returned on November 8, 2001, once again in a tough time slot: Thursday nights at 8:00 pm. This slot brought it into competition with "Survivor" and "Friends" (a situation that was later referenced in ""). During its second and third seasons, Fox frequently moved the show around to different days and time slots with little or no notice and, consequently, the show's ratings suffered. Upon Fox's annual unveiling of its 2002 fall line-up on May 15, 2002, "Family Guy" was absent. Fox announced that the show had been officially canceled shortly thereafter.
Cult success and revival.
Fox attempted to sell the rights for reruns of the show, but finding networks that were interested was difficult; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights "basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television. "Family Guy" premiered in reruns on Adult Swim on April 20, 2003, and immediately became the block's top-rated program, dominating late-night viewing in its time period versus cable and broadcast competition and boosting viewership by 239%. The complete first and second seasons were released on DVD the same week the show premiered on Adult Swim, and the show became a cult phenomenon, selling 400,000 copies within one month. Sales of the DVD set reached 2.2 million copies, becoming the best-selling television DVD of 2003 and the second-highest-selling television DVD ever, behind the first season of Comedy Central's "Chappelle's Show". The third-season DVD release also sold more than a million copies. The show's popularity in DVD sales and reruns rekindled Fox's interest, and, on May 20, 2004, Fox ordered 35 new episodes of "Family Guy", marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales.
"North by North Quahog", which premiered May 1, 2005, was the first episode to be broadcast after the show's hiatus. It was written by MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin. MacFarlane believed the show's three-year hiatus was beneficial, because animated shows do not normally have hiatuses, and towards the end of their seasons, "... you see a lot more sex jokes and "bodily function" jokes and signs of a fatigued staff that their brains are just fried". With "North by North Quahog", the writing staff tried to keep the show "[...] exactly as it was" before its cancellation, and "None of us had any desire to make it look any slicker". The episode was watched by 11.85 million viewers, the show's highest ratings since the airing of the first season episode "".
Lawsuits.
In March 2007, comedian Carol Burnett filed a $6 million lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, claiming that her charwoman cartoon character had been portrayed on the show without her permission. She stated it was a trademark infringement and that Fox violated her publicity rights. On June 4, 2007, United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson rejected the lawsuit, stating that the parody was protected under the First Amendment, citing "Hustler Magazine v. Falwell" as a precedent.
On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing the show of infringing its copyright on the song "When You Wish Upon a Star", through a parody song titled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., the sole United States copyright owner of the song, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of its music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit were 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., Cartoon Network, MacFarlane, and Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages. Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in "Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc." On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that "Family Guy" did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode.
In December 2007, "Family Guy" was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in "", in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act involving absurd "faux" magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy". 20th Century Fox, MacFarlane, Callaghan and Borstein were all named in the suit. In July 2009, a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved – "purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work" and "amount and substantiality of the taking" – counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth – "economic impact" – had to await more fact-finding. In denying the dismissal, the court held that the reference in the scene made light of Jesus and his followers – not Metrano or his act.
The case was settled out of court in 2010 with undisclosed terms.
Hallmarks.
"Road to" episodes.
The "Road to" episodes are a series of hallmark travel episodes. They are a parody of the seven "Road to ..." comedy films starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. These episodes have always involved Stewie and Brian in some foreign, supernatural or science-fiction location, unrelated to the show's normal location in Quahog. The first, titled "Road to Rhode Island", aired on May 30, 2000, during the second season. The episodes are known for featuring elaborate musical numbers, similar to the "Road" films. The episodes contain several trademarks, including a special version of the opening sequence, custom musical cues and musical numbers, and parodies of science fiction and fantasy films.
The original idea for the "Road to" episodes came from MacFarlane, as he is a fan of the films of Crosby, Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. The first episode was directed by Dan Povenmire, who would direct the rest of the "Road to" episodes until the episode "Road to Rupert", at which point he had left the show to create "Phineas and Ferb" with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. Series regular Greg Colton then took over Povenmire's role as director of the "Road to" episodes.
The "Road to" episodes are generally considered by critics and fans to be some of the greatest in the series, thanks to the developing relationship between Stewie and Brian and the strong plotlines of the episodes themselves.
Humor.
"Family Guy" uses the film-making technique of cutaways, which occur in the majority of "Family Guy" episodes. Emphasis is often placed on gags which make reference to social phenomena and/or modern cultural icons.
Early episodes based much of their comedy on Stewie's "super villain" antics, such as his constant plans for total world domination, his evil experiments, plans and inventions to get rid of things he dislikes, and his constant attempts at matricide. As the series progressed, the writers and MacFarlane agreed that his personality and the jokes were starting to feel dated, so they began writing him with a different personality. "Family Guy" often includes self-referential humor. The most common form is jokes about the Fox network, and occasions where the characters break the fourth wall by addressing the audience. For example, in "North by North Quahog", the first episode that aired after the show's revival, included Peter telling the family that they had been canceled because Fox had to make room in their schedule for shows like "Dark Angel", "Titus", "Undeclared", "Action", "That '80s Show", "Wonderfalls", "Fastlane", "Andy Richter Controls the Universe", "Skin", "Girls Club", "Cracking Up", "The Pitts", "Firefly", "Get Real", "FreakyLinks", "Wanda at Large", "Costello", "The Lone Gunmen", "A Minute with Stan Hooper", "Normal, Ohio", "Pasadena", "Harsh Realm", "Keen Eddie", "The $treet", "The American Embassy", "Cedric the Entertainer Presents", "The Tick", "Luis", and "Greg the Bunny". Lois asks whether there is any hope, to which Peter replies that if all these shows are canceled they might have a chance; the shows were indeed canceled during "Family Guy"'s hiatus.
The show uses catchphrases, and most of the primary and secondary characters have them. Notable expressions include Quagmire's "Giggity giggity goo", Peter's "Freakin' sweet", Cleveland's "Oh, that's nasty", and Joe's "Bring it on!" The use of many of these catchphrases declined in later seasons. The episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" mocks catchphrase-based humor: when Peter, who has forgotten everything about his life, is introduced to Meg, he exclaims "D'oh!", to which Lois replies, "No, Peter, that's not your catchphrase."
Reception and legacy.
In 2016, a "New York Times" study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that, like other satirical comedies, "Family Guy" is most popular in cities. The show's popularity was more correlated with support for Hillary Clinton than any other show". As of 2008, the franchise has generated $ in total revenue, including $ from TV syndication, $ from DVD sales, and $ from merchandise sales.
Ratings.
"Family Guy" experienced a significant increase in viewership following its availability on various streaming platforms, with a particularly notable rise in popularity on Hulu. In 2018, it ranked among the most-watched TV series on the streaming service Sling TV. In 2020, Hulu announced that "Family Guy" was one of the top five most-watched non-sports and non-news related live shows on the streaming service. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that the series was watched for 910 million minutes from July 29 to August 4, 2024. The following week, it garnered 881 million minutes of viewing time from August 5 to August 11, 2024, making it the sixth most-streamed television show overall. From August 12 to August 18, 2024, "Family Guy" generated 834 million minutes of viewership, ranking it as the eighth most-streamed television show overall. From August 26 to September 1, 2024, it amassed more than 1 billion minutes of viewing time, securing its position as the third most-streamed series overall.
Critical reception.
"Family Guy" has received generally positive reviews, particularly for its pop culture references, blue humor, satire, and non-sequitur storytelling. Catherine Seipp of National Review Online described it as a "nasty but extremely funny" cartoon. Caryn James of "The New York Times" called it a show with an "outrageously satirical family" that "includes plenty of comic possibilities and parodies". "The Sydney Morning Herald" named "Family Guy" the "Show of the Week" on April 21, 2009, hailing it a "pop culture-heavy masterpiece". Frazier Moore from "The Seattle Times" called it an "endless craving for humor about bodily emissions". He thought it was "breathtakingly smart" and said a "blend of the ingenious with the raw helps account for its much broader appeal". He summarized it as "rude, crude and deliciously wrong". "The New Yorker"'s Nancy Franklin said that "Family Guy" is becoming one of the best animated shows; she commented on its ribaldry and popularity. The show has become a hit on Hulu; it is the second-highest viewed show after "Saturday Night Live". IGN called "Family Guy" a great show and commented that it has gotten better since its revival. They stated that they cannot imagine another half-hour sitcom that provides as many laughs as "Family Guy". "Empire" praised the show and its writers for creating really hilarious moments with unlikely material. They commented that one of the reasons they love the show is because nothing is sacred—it makes jokes and gags of almost everything. Robin Pierson of "The TV Critic" praised the series as "a different kind of animated comedy which clearly sets out to do jokes which other cartoons can't do." "Family Guy" has proven popular in the United Kingdom, regularly obtaining between 700,000 and 1 million viewers for re-runs on BBC Three.
The series has attracted many celebrities. Robert Downey Jr. telephoned the show production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in an episode's creation, as his son is a fan of the show; the producers subsequently created a character for Downey. Lauren Conrad met MacFarlane while recording a "" clip for the episode "Prick Up Your Ears" (season 5, 2006). She has watched "Family Guy" for years and considers Stewie her favorite character. Commenting on his appearance in the episode "Big Man on Hippocampus" (season 8, 2010), actor Dwayne Johnson stated that he was a "big fan" of "Family Guy". Johnson befriended MacFarlane after he had a minor role in Johnson's 2010 film "Tooth Fairy". R&B singer Rihanna has admitted to being a fan of "Family Guy", as has pop singer Britney Spears; she tries to imitate Stewie's English accent. Spears, who was mocked for her personal problems in the "South Park" episode "Britney's New Look" in 2008, offered to appear in a cameo to hit back at the similar animated show, but MacFarlane declined, stating that he did not want to start a feud with the series.
Awards.
"Family Guy" and its cast have been nominated for 27 Emmy Awards, with 8 wins. MacFarlane won the Outstanding Voice-Over Performance award for his performance as Stewie; Murphy and MacFarlane won the Outstanding Music and Lyrics award for the song "You Got a Lot to See" from the episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows"; Steven Fonti won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode "No Chris Left Behind"; and Greg Colton won the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for his storyboard work in the episode "Road to the Multiverse". The show was nominated for eleven Annie Awards, and won three times, twice in 2006 and once in 2008. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, becoming the first animated program to be nominated in this category since "The Flintstones" in 1961. "The Simpsons" was almost nominated in 1993, but voters were hesitant to pit cartoons against live action programs. The show was nominated for a Grammy in 2011. "Family Guy" has been nominated and has won various other awards, including the Teen Choice Awards and the People's Choice Awards. In the 1,000th issue of "Entertainment Weekly", Brian Griffin was selected as the dog for "The Perfect TV Family"." Wizard Magazine" rated Stewie the 95th-greatest villain of all time. British newspaper "The Times" rated "Family Guy" the 45th-best American show in 2009. IGN ranked "Family Guy" number seven in the "Top 100 Animated Series" and number six in the "Top 25 Primetime Animated Series of All Time". "Empire" named it the twelfth-greatest TV show of all time in 2008. In 2005, viewers of the UK television channel Channel 4 voted "Family Guy" number 5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Cartoons. Brian was awarded the 2009 Stoner of the Year award by "High Times" for the episode "420", marking the first time an animated character received the honor. In 2004 and 2007, TV Guide ranked "Family Guy" number 12 and number 15 in their list of top cult shows ever. "Family Guy" has garnered six Golden Reel Awards nominations, winning three times. In 2013, TV Guide ranked "Family Guy" the ninth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time.
Criticism and controversy.
One of the initial critics to give the show negative reviews was Ken Tucker from "Entertainment Weekly"; he called it ""The Simpsons" as conceived by a singularly sophomoric mind that lacks any reference point beyond other TV shows". The Parents Television Council (PTC), a conservative non-profit watchdog, has attacked the series since its premiere and has branded various episodes as "Worst TV Show of the Week". In May 2000, the PTC launched a letter-writing campaign to the Fox network in an effort to persuade the network to cancel the show. The PTC has placed the show on their annual lists of "Worst Prime-Time Shows for Family Viewing" in 2000, 2005, and 2006. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received multiple petitions requesting that the show be blocked from broadcasting on indecency grounds. Tucker and the PTC have both accused the show of portraying religion negatively, and of being racist. Because of the PTC, some advertisers have canceled their contracts after reviewing the content of the episodes, claiming it to be unsuitable. Critics have compared the show's humor and characters with those of "The Simpsons".
Various episodes of the show have generated controversy. In "420" (season seven, 2009), Brian decides to start a campaign to legalize cannabis in Quahog; the Venezuelan government reacted negatively to the episode and banned "Family Guy" from airing on their local networks, which generally syndicate American programming. Venezuelan justice minister Tareck El Aissami, citing the promotion of the use of cannabis, stated that any cable stations that did not stop airing the series would be fined; the government showed a clip which featured Brian and Stewie singing the praises of marijuana as a demonstration of how the United States supports cannabis use. In "Extra Large Medium" (season eight, 2010) a character named Ellen (who has Down syndrome) states that her mother is the former Governor of Alaska, which strongly implies that her mother is Sarah Palin, the only woman to have served in the office of governor in the state. Sarah Palin, the mother of a child with Down syndrome, criticized the episode in an appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor", calling those who made the show "cruel, cold-hearted people".
Broadcast and streaming.
In the United States, the show currently airs on Adult Swim, Comedy Central, FX, and FXX. The show was first syndicated to Adult Swim and TBS from 2003 to 2021, sharing the rights to the first fifteen seasons. It was syndicated to various local stations from 2007 to 2024. In April 2019, FX Networks began airing reruns of season 16 on FXX, with season 17 debuting that October, and shared off-network rights to both seasons with sister channel Freeform. After Adult Swim and TBS' rights expired on September 18, 2021, FXX and Freeform began airing the first fifteen seasons. The show also joined FX's lineup that same month.
The show's departure from Adult Swim on September 18, 2021, was commemorated with a remembrance bumper created by the network, which played after the final airing (the episode "Stewie is Enceinte"). The bumper showed animations of several Adult Swim characters bidding farewell to "Family Guy", including shots of Peter crying at the beginning and the Griffin family waving goodbye towards the end.
Comedy Central began airing the show on September 2, 2024, as part of a non-exclusive licensing deal between Paramount and Disney. Comedy Central debuted the show with an all-day marathon on Labor Day. A similar licensing deal was then struck with Warner Bros. Discovery Networks for the show to return to Adult Swim starting January 1, 2025, with the network planning a 3-day marathon to celebrate.
In the United States, the series is available for streaming exclusively on Hulu. Additionally, Hulu will launch two holiday specials of "Family Guy" in late 2024, marking the first time a new episode of the show airs on a streaming platform; Internationally, "Family Guy" is available to stream on Star on Disney+. The first such special premiered on October 14, 2024. The second special would then air on November 25, 2024. The United States is the only country where the show is not available on either Disney+ or Star+.
Initially, "Family Guy" was not available to stream on Disney+ in Latin America, as it had been available on the standalone service Star+, however, Star+ content merged with Disney+ content on June 26, 2024, and Star+ was discontinued altogether on July 24, 2024.
"Family Guy" premiered in Australia on April 9, 1999, on the Seven Network, in 2000 on Fox8, and on 7mate on September 27, 2010. Initially, only 2 seasons were available to stream on Disney+ Star due to pre-existing contracts. The other 17 seasons were added on December 1, 2021, after the contract expired.
In Canada, the series premiered January 31, 1999, on Global and September 1, 2003, on Teletoon at Night. Beginning in the 2015–2016 season, the show moved to Citytv; the show would once again return to the channel in 2023. Starting in November 2021, the series moved to Disney+. In addition to Teletoon at Night, the show has been syndicated to TVtropolis (now DTour). As of January 2025, Adult Swim Canada and FXX Canada syndicate the series. Since 2024, CHCH and Citytv share the broadcast rights to the series due to scheduling issues with new episodes streaming the next day on Disney+.
The show airs in India on Star World Premiere, in Ireland on 3e, and in New Zealand on TVNZ Duke; previously it screened on defunct channel Four.
In the United Kingdom, "Family Guy" premiered in September 1999, originally on Channel 4 and Sky One. In January 2005, Fox UK (then known as FX) began broadcasting the show. From October 2005, BBC Two started screening "Family Guy" before the show moved to BBC Three in September 2006. Beginning with season 14, the show moved to ITV2, premiering on February 29, 2016, while the BBC would continue to hold the rights for past seasons until 2017.
In South Korea, the show premiered January 11, 2008, on Tooniverse.
Franchise.
Books.
Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One was written by executive story editor Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and actress Alex Borstein. The book was first published on May 8, 2007. The book is a biographical monologue by Lois Griffin covering a portion of her life, spanning from her memories of growing up to her attempted run for mayor in the town of Quahog. Though the book primarily consists of a loose narrative monologue by Lois, it is also interspersed with sections from other characters such as Peter Griffin. The book covers events featured in the "Family Guy" episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", with which it shares a title. It was published in the United Kingdom in 2007 by Orion Books.
A comic book based on the "Family Guy" universe was produced. Published by Titan Comics, edited by Steve White, and illustrated by Anthony Williams and S. L. Gallant, the writing and the illustrations were supervised by the show's producers. The first comic book was released on July 27, 2011.
Live performances.
As promotion for the show and as Newman described "[to] expand interest in the show beyond its diehard fans", Fox organized four "Family Guy Live!" performances, which featured cast members reading old episodes aloud. The cast also performed musical numbers from the "" comedy album. The stage shows were an extension of a performance by the cast during the 2004 Montreal Comedy Festival. The "Family Guy Live!" performances, which took place in Los Angeles and New York, sold out and were attended by around 1,200 people each.
At the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007, MacFarlane performed (as the digitally inserted Stewie and Brian) the ceremony's opening number. He performed a song insulting modern television to the tune of the song "The Fellas at the Freakin' F.C.C." performed in the episode "PTV". The song insulted TV shows such as "Two and a Half Men", "Desperate Housewives", and "Scrubs", as well as the final scene of "The Sopranos".
In 2009, a special televised performance show aired, titled "Family Guy Presents Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show", in which voice actors Alex Borstein and MacFarlane performed songs from the show, as well as a parody of Lady Gaga's song "Poker Face" in the voice of Marlee Matlin, who appeared on stage as a guest during the performance. Some new animated gags also appeared in the show.
Film.
In a July 22, 2007, interview with "The Hollywood Reporter", MacFarlane announced that he may start working on a feature film, although "nothing's official." In "TV Week" on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released "Family Guy" feature film sometime "within the next year." He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie." He later went on to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to "The Sound of Music", saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel." On October 13, 2011, MacFarlane confirmed that a deal for a "Family Guy" film had