Family Guy

Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for FOX. Premiering on January 31, 1999, it is set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island and centers on the Griffin family. Generally, the show has received positive reviews, but it has gained plenty of criticism and controversy (especially in the later seasons).

In May 2023, it was revealed that the showrunners, including series creator Seth MacFarlane, will leave the show temporarily as part of the Writer's Guild of America Strike, although it is unknown if it has had an effect on the series.

Premise
The Griffins are a dysfunctional family who live in Quahog, Rhode Island. Peter is the chubby, bumbling and clumsy dad of the family and works as a blue-collar worker. Lois is a stay-at home mom who is one of the members of the Pewterschmidt family (in the earlier episodes, she was shown to be a piano teacher). Meg, their teenage daughter, is constantly bullied and also tormented by the Griffin family. Chris, the family's overweight teenage son, is awkward, moronic, and displays a lack of intelligence. Stewie, the family's infant son, is an evil genius who has adult manners and wants to kill his mother and destroy the world. Brian Griffin, who lives alongside them, is a witty and sarcastic English-speaking anthrophonic dog who smokes constantly.

Aside from the Griffins, recurring characters are present as well. Among them are the family's neighbors: Quagmire, who is a friend of Peter Griffin and works as an airline pilot; the Browns, who consist of Cleveland and Loretta (later Donna); Joe, a police officer who can only get around using a wheelchair because of his paraplegic condition; his wife Bonnie and their two kids: son Kevin and baby daughter Susie; and Herbert, an elderly man who has an affection for young boys, and especially loves Chris Griffin. Multiple episodes have James Woods guest star as himself; this also applied to Adam West before his death.

Facts

 * This show is the fourth longest running animated series in the U.S., trailing behind The Simpsons, South Park and Arthur.
 * The Griffins, the family this show focuses on, were conceived by MacFarlane after he created two animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. He redesigned the films' lead character Larry, and Steve (who, just like Brian, is a dog), and gave them different names (Peter for Larry, and Brian for Steve).
 * This show is notable for being uncanceled twice. The first time this happened was in 2000, where after initially being canceled after two seasons, the show got a last-minute reprieve and was renewed for a 13-episode third season. The second time was in 2004, when the show was revived due to impressive DVD sales and high ratings, and a fourth season started airing at the beginning of May 2005.
 * This show has a spin-off series named The Cleveland Show, starring recurring character Cleveland Brown. It ran for three seasons from 2009 to 2013.
 * This show is infamous for being one of the worst offenders of seasonal rot and flanderization. From its eighth season onwards, the writing took an extreme nosedive, going from clever and funny to absolutely abysmal and lackluster. Many of the show's characters got butchered beyond relief (to name a couple examples, Peter is now a horrible and neglectful psychopath who treats anyone he encounters like total garbage, Brian becomes a self-absorbed political soapbox and Meg, prior to season 16, becomes a huge punching bag who gets abused by the whole Griffin family). Additionally, the show began to add in overly long jokes, which serve no purpose other than filler (a big example of this is the episode "Send in Stewie, Please"; in this episode, there's a scene where Stewie goes on a six-minute explanation about his doctor's love life).