Family Guy is an American animated comedy created by Seth MacFarlane for FOX in 1999. The show was cancelled once in 2000 and again in 2002, but strong DVD sales and re-runs on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim led FOX to resume production of the show in 2005 (see “Return to television” below). To date it is one of only a handful of shows in television history to be cancelled and later revived by the power of their fan bases, and one of the few shows to be brought back to air by the same network that cancelled it (see also Cagney and Lacey and Doctor Who). According to FOX, the fifth season will be airing this autumn, beginning on September 10, and the sixth the following year.
The title character is Peter Griffin, an inept blue-collar head of a lower-middle class family frequently beset by the consequences of his foolish antics. Family Guy’s brand of humor is notable for the usually brief, frequently nonsensical cutaways (usually featuring oddball pop culture references) and flashbacks to various points in history, geography, and reality involving the characters and their ludicrous actions (see “Structure and comedic approach” below).
MacFarlane, the show’s creator, does not serve as a full time writer on the show; he has only written for two full episodes: the pilot, “Death Has a Shadow”, and the first returning episode of season four, “North By North Quahog.” However, he does voice many of the characters (Peter, Brian, Stewie, Glenn Quagmire, Tom Tucker, and some others). Other voice actors include That ’70s Show’s star Mila Kunis (Meg), actor Seth Green (Chris), former MADtv star Alex Borstein (Lois, Trisha Takinawa, Loretta Brown, and cameo of Bunny Swan), Writer/Producer Mike Henry (Cleveland, Cleveland Jr., Performance Artist, and Greased-up Deaf Guy), and comedic character actor Patrick Warburton (Joe Swanson) and starring as the mayor of quahog as himself adam west. Actress Lacey Chabert was originally cast as the voice of Meg; however, she was never credited for this part because she left the show in the first season.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy)
