Product Description

The misadventures of the Griffin family, their brilliant talking dog, and their maniacal infant son intent on ruling the world.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 15-APR-2003
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266 in DVD
• Brand: Dell
• Model: 3007wfp
• Released on: 2003-04-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: .75 pounds
• Running time: 624 minutes

Amazon.com
To the ranks of shows too brilliant and outrageous for prime time (The Ben Stiller Show, Andy Richter Controls the Universe), add Seth McFarlane's Family Guy. This animated series, which debuted after the 1999 Super Bowl, simply sparked too much controversy and offended too many sensibilities to survive (Entertainment Weekly dubbed it "the Awful Show They Just Keep Putting on the Air"). That the Fox network also played hackysack with its schedule, ensuring viewers would not be able to find it, sealed its fate (it was cancelled in 2002). This boxed set containing all 28 episodes from the first two seasons is payback for the show's devoted cult following, who may be moved to echo the words of infant Stewie Griffin, the megalomaniacal 1-year-old bent on matricide and world domination: "Victory is mine!"

The dysfunctional Griffins of Quahog, Rhode Island, invite comparisons to The Simpsons. The testicular-chinned father, Peter Griffin, is a clueless oaf in the Homer mold. "Peter, what did you promise me last night?" asks his long-suffering wife Lois in one episode. "That I wouldn't drink at the stag party," he replies. "And what did you do?" she asks. "Drank at the stag part--oh ho ho, I almost walked into that one," he cackles. Other family members include teenage daughter Meg, a desperate high school social pariah; 13-year-old son Chris, a chip off his father's blockhead; and Brian, the family's sarcastic talking dog. But this series' true inspiration is football-pated Stewie (voiced by McFarlane, who earned an Emmy), who was born to be a Bond villain once he escaped his mother's "ovarian bastille." Family Guy recklessly ventured where The Simpsons feared to tread. In one episode, Meg's one and only friend turns out to be the member of a suicidal cult. In another, Death (voiced by Norm McDonald) becomes an unwanted houseguest. Each episode plays fast and furious with surreal flashes (in one episode, Peter turns his house into a puppet) and pop-culture references and TV, movie, and commercial parodies that invite repeated viewings. Freed from its own family-hour bastille and the whims of dim network executives, Family Guy can be appreciated at last on its own profane, sacrilegious, and irreverent terms. Welcome to the DVD family, Griffins. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

No More Family Guy on DVD!
Fox is wasting money and time releasing Family Guy on DVD! The show should have ended during the writers strike. I hope many people realzie that Family Guy is really disgusting and violent. violent in animation is the last thing this world needs, because things are bad enough as it is. Please do not release anymore Family Guy DVDs!

Perhaps Fox was correct to cancel this show in the first place.
Mindless silliness that has no redeeming value but being mindless, silly, entertainment. No wait, one would have to have a mind, and the knowledge and/or the experience of pop culture, and pop world history to get most of the jokes in the show. The title alludes that it is a show for the family but it is certainly not. And guys, your chick, your wife or any female around when you turn this thing on will not like it. They will find something better to do while you watch it alone or with your guy friends. Now is that what you want? Oh. You say you're a collector and know the value of such things in the future market? Perhaps Fox saw the writing on the wall when the Family Guy writers took the path they took. It's Peter, Peter, Peter. The Simpsons is a slightly better show because it sometimes has stories focused on Marge, Lisa, Maggie and not only Homer or Bart. Maybe the Family Guy guys should consider writing more for Meg and Lois--the poor things always lose. (I don't think The Simpsons draw a big female audience either--gals don't care for animated shows as much as guys do.)

The rolling commentary given by whoever worked on the show was disappointing because they go silent when some of the show's grossly odd scenes show up, begging to be explained. It made me cry "What were they thinking of here?"

A final thing: we've all gotten used to the way this show puts its humor across: the out of control cut-to vignette that has nothing to do with the main story line and usually summoned when one of the characters says "just like the time when Peter, celebrity's name, historical figure, or pop culture name did 'something.' You'd think it would get tired after the run of this show but we've have gotten used to it to our detriment. On a recent viewing of the current broadcast run Stewie summons up a vignette and pauses. After a good 10 seconds he looks up at the ceiling, rolls his eyes and says, "Oh, I thought we had something to come in here."

Tag this DVD a guilty pleasure that you can watch now on reruns in major markets instead of purchasing.

great gift
i bought this for a Xmas present for a friend, the best choice, he love it