Family Guy

American adult animated sitcom
(Redirected from Joe Swanson)

Family Guy is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show mainly focuses on the Griffin family, a badly functioning family. The parents are Peter and Lois, and their children are Meg, Chris, and Stewie. The family also has a talking pet dog, Brian. The show is set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island. A lot of its humor uses cutaway gags to make fun of American culture.

Family Guy
Family Guy logo
GenreAnimated sitcom[1]
Created bySeth MacFarlane
Developed by
Voices of
Theme music composerWalter Murphy
Composers
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons23
No. of episodes426 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
Running time
  • 20–27 minutes
  • 33-88 minutes (select episodes)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkFox[N 1]
ReleaseJanuary 31, 1999 (1999-01-31) –
present
Related
The Cleveland Show
American Dad!

The family was created by MacFarlane after making two animated movies, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. MacFarlane changed the movie's main character, Larry, and his dog, Steve, and renamed them Peter and Brian. MacFarlane showed a seven-minute pilot episode to Fox in December 1998, and the show then began on Fox. Family Guy's cancellation was announced shortly after the third season had aired in 2002, and one unaired episode was shown on Adult Swim in 2003. Good DVD sales and high ratings from reruns meant Fox to restarted the show in 2004. A fourth season began the following year, on May 1, 2005.

Family Guy has been given critical acclaim. In 2009, it was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961. In 2013, TV Guide said Family Guy was the ninth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time.[2]

On May 11, 2020, Fox let the series have a nineteenth season.[3][4] On September 23, 2020, Fox said that the show would continue for a twenty-first season.[5] The twenty-first season started on September 25, 2022.[6] Currently, 426 episodes of Family Guy have been broadcast.

On January 26, 2023, Fox said that the series would have a season 22 and 23, taking the show through the 2024-25 television season.[7] The 22nd season premiered on 1 October 2023.

Main characters

change
  • Peter Griffin is the show's main character. He is fat and not very smart. He used to work at a toy factory. He now works at a beer company called "Pawtucket Brewery", though he sometimes works at other jobs for short time periods.
  • Lois Griffin is Peter's wife. She comes from a family that has a lot of money. She complains a lot about what the Griffins do in the house, though she also tends to keep the family connected.
  • Brian Griffin is one of Peter's best friends. He is a talking dog who lives with the Griffins, and is smarter than any of them besides Stewie. He is also with Stewie alot. Brian was killed in an episode in the twelfth season, but he was brought back to life two episodes later.
  • Stewie Griffin is Peter's and Lois' one-year old son. He can talk, and is the smartest person in the family. Most people in his family can not understand him, except for Brian and Chris. Stewie hates his mother Lois, and wants to take over the world.
  • Chris Griffin is one of Peter's and Lois' sons. He is also fat and not very smart. For a long time, there was an evil monkey living in his closet who liked to threaten him.
  • Meg Griffin is Peter's and Lois' daughter. She is the oldest child but is often made fun of, mostly by Peter. She is not very popular and everyone finds her very unattractive.
  • Glenn Quagmire is one of Peter's best friends. He is a bachelor and a pilot. He mostly thinks about women and sex.
  • Cleveland Brown is another one of Peter's best friends. He runs a deli and he was married to Loretta. He used to speak fast as an auctioneer but got hit in the head, so he speaks slower now. He left Family Guy for his spin-off television series, The Cleveland Show, but came back in the episode "He's Bla-ack!".
  • Joe Swanson is another one of Peter's best friends. He is a police officer with a wheelchair because he cannot move his legs and feet. He has a wife named Bonnie who was pregnant until she had a baby in the episode "Ocean's Three-and-a-Half".

Episodes

change
SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankViewers
(in millions)
First airedLast aired
17January 31, 1999May 16, 19993312.80[8]
221September 23, 1999August 1, 20001146.32[source?]
322July 11, 2001November 9, 2003[c]1254.50[9]
430May 1, 2005May 21, 2006687.90[10]
518September 10, 2006May 20, 2007717.20[11]
612September 23, 2007May 4, 2008847.94[12]
716September 28, 2008May 17, 2009697.56[13]
821September 27, 2009June 20, 2010[d]537.73[14]
918September 26, 2010May 22, 2011567.66[15]
1023September 25, 2011May 20, 2012637.30[16]
1122September 30, 2012May 19, 2013626.94[17]
1221September 29, 2013May 18, 2014786.11[18]
1318September 28, 2014May 17, 2015945.86[19]
1420September 27, 2015May 22, 20161114.28[20]
1520September 25, 2016May 21, 20171163.93[21]
1620October 1, 2017May 20, 20181363.52[22]
1720September 30, 2018May 12, 20191313.33[23]
1820September 29, 2019May 17, 2020107[24]2.65[24]
1920September 27, 2020May 16, 2021120[25]2.19[25]
2020September 26, 2021May 22, 2022111[26]1.90[26]
21TBASeptember 25, 2022TBATBATBA
  1. Known as 20th Century Fox Television until season 18.
  2. Known as Fox Television Animation until season 18. FTA later became 20th Television Animation during the 19th season. Took over animation from Film Roman after first two seasons.
  3. Season 3 officially ended on February 14, 2002. Episode 22 was first released on DVD before making its television debut on Adult Swim; the episode would later premiere on Fox on December 10, 2004.
  4. Season 8 officially ended on May 23, 2010. Episode 21 was first broadcast on BBC Three in the UK on June 20, 2010 before being released in the U.S. on DVD on September 28, 2010.
  1. Episode 50, "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", was first broadcast on Adult Swim and episode 147, "Partial Terms of Endearment", was first broadcast on BBC Three in the United Kingdom.

References

change
  1. Erickson, Hal. "Family Guy (1999)". AllMovie. Archived from the original on March 2, 2022. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  2. "TV Guide Magazine's 60 Greatest Cartoons of All Time". TV Guide. September 24, 2013. Archived from the original on July 10, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  3. "Family Guy Renewed Through 2020–21 Season". TVSeriesFinale.com. May 11, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  4. "FOX Announces Fall 2020 Schedule". The Futon Critic. May 11, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  5. Andreeva, Nellie (September 23, 2020). "'Family Guy' & 'Bob's Burgers' Get Two-Season Renewals By Fox". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  6. "Breaking News - FOX Announces Fall Premiere Dates for the 2022-2023 Season | TheFutonCritic.com". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  7. Petski, Denise; Andreeva, Nellie (January 26, 2023). "The Simpsons, Family Guy & Bob's Burgers Renewed For Two Additional Seasons Through 2024-25". Deadline Hollywood.
  8. "1998–1999 Television Season Top Rated Shows". Archived from the original on 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
  9. "How did your favorite show rate?". USA Today. 2002-05-28. Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  10. "Series". The Hollywood Reporter. 2006-05-26. Archived from the original on 2010-07-22. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  11. "2006–07 primetime wrap". The Hollywood Reporter. 2007-05-25. Retrieved 2009-07-03.[dead link]
  12. "Season Program Rankings from 09/24/07 through 05/25/08". ABC Medianet. 2008-05-28. Archived from the original on 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  13. "Season Program Rankings from 09/22/08 through 05/17/09". ABC Medianet. 2009-05-19. Archived from the original on 2009-06-23. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  14. Andreeva, Nellie (2010-05-27). "Full Series Rankings For The 2009–10 Broadcast Season". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2012-01-31. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  15. Andreeva, Nellie (2011-05-27). "Full 2010–2011 TV Season Series Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2012-10-27. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  16. Andreeva, Nellie (2011-05-27). "Full 2011–2012 TV Season Series Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  17. Andreeva, Nellie (2011-05-27). "Full 2012–2013 TV Season Series Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  18. Andreeva, Nellie (2011-05-27). "Full 2012–2013 TV Season Series Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2014-05-25. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
  19. "Full 2014–15 Series Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. May 22, 2015. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  20. "Full 2015–16 TV Season Series Rankings". Deadline Hollywood. May 26, 2015. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  21. "Final 2016–17 TV Rankings: 'Sunday Night Football' Winning Streak Continues". Deadline Hollywood. May 26, 2017. Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  22. "2017–18 TV Series Ratings Rankings: NFL Football, 'Big Bang' Top Charts". Deadline Hollywood. May 22, 2018. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  23. "2018–19 TV Season Ratings: CBS Wraps 11th Season At No. 1 In Total Viewers, NBC Tops Demo; 'Big Bang Theory' Most Watched Series". Deadline Hollywood. May 21, 2019. Archived from the original on May 21, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2019.
  24. 24.0 24.1 "TV Ratings: 7-Day Season Averages for Every 2019–20 Broadcast Series | Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. 4 June 2020. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  25. 25.0 25.1 "TV Ratings: 7-Day Season Averages for Every 2020–21 Broadcast Series | Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. 8 June 2021. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  26. 26.0 26.1 "TV Ratings: 7-Day Season Averages for Every 2021–22 Broadcast Series | Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. 8 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2021.