Griffin family
The Griffin family is a fictional family and main characters in the animated television series Family Guy, and who also appear in The Cleveland Show. The Griffins are a dysfunctional family consisting of the married couple Peter and Lois, their three children Meg, Chris, and Stewie, and their anthropomorphic dog Brian. They live at 31 Spooner Street in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. Their family car resembles a red seventh-generation Ford Country Sedan. They were created by Seth MacFarlane, in model of his two animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. The family and the show itself debuted on January 31, 1999, after Super Bowl XXXIII, in the episode "Death Has a Shadow".
This article is about a fictional family. For other people called Griffin, see Griffin (surname). For the pub in Adelaide, see The Griffins Hotel.The Griffins
Alongside the six main family members, there are a number of other major and minor characters in their family. The most common recurring characters are Lois's parents Carter and Barbara Pewterschmidt, and Peter's now-deceased parents Francis and Thelma Griffin, except for his biological father named Mickey McFinnigan. Other recurring family members include Lois's two siblings, Carol and Patrick, as well as Brian's cousin Jasper. He also has two late children namely Peter Griffin Jr., who died due to Peter shaking him too much and Dave Griffin, the twin of Stewie whom Stewie killed in Lois' womb. There are also other kids that he has due to his sperm donations like Bertram.
Creation[edit]
MacFarlane conceived the idea for Family Guy in 1998, developing it out of his two short films. MacFarlane caught the attention of Fox, and was given $50,000 to make a pilot episode. MacFarlane completed the 11-minute pilot after six months of hand animation. Upon review, Fox gave the green light to Family Guy as a series.[1] Although Family Guy's cancellation was initially announced after the second season, Fox decided to make a third season,[2][3] after which it was cancelled in 2002. However, reruns on Adult Swim drove up interest in the show, and its DVD releases did quite well, selling over 2.2 million copies in one year, which renewed network interest.[4]
Family Guy returned to production in 2004, making four more seasons (for a total of seven) and a straight-to-DVD special, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. The show celebrated its official 100th episode during its sixth season in November 2007, resulting in the show's syndication.[5] The show is contracted to continue producing episodes.[6]
Casting[edit]
Seth MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters, Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin and Stewie Griffin.[7] He has stated that he already knew what kind of voice he was looking for the main characters so it was easier to do it himself.[8] Peter's voice is inspired by the voice of a security guard MacFarlane overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design.[9] Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison,[10] particularly based on Harrison's performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady.[11] Brian's voice is MacFarlane's regular speaking voice.[8] In addition MacFarlane provides the voice of various recurring and one-time characters, most prominently those of the Griffin's neighbor Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker and Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt.[12][13] Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, television correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt.[14] Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on Mad TV. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any artwork and said it was "really sight unseen".[15] At the time, she was doing a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother, whose voice she had based on one of her cousins.[14][15] The voice was originally slower, when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less ... annoying ... and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours".[14]
Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Jewish pharmacist Mort Goldman's nerdy son Neil Goldman.[13][16] Green admittedly did an impression of the Buffalo Bill character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition.[17] His main inspiration for Chris' voice was how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he worked at a drive-thru in a McDonald's (speaking through a PA system).[18] Mila Kunis and Lacey Chabert have both played the voices of Meg Griffin.[13] Lacey Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes). However, because of a contractual agreement, she was never credited.[19] Chabert left the series due to time constraints with her acting role in Party of Five, as well as schoolwork,[20] while Kunis won the role after auditions, a slight rewrite of the character and because of her performance on That '70s Show.[21] MacFarlane called Kunis back after her initial audition asking her to speak slower; she was called back again later, this time instructed to enunciate more. Kunis said that she had it under control, and MacFarlane hired her.[21] In an interview with a Sun Media correspondent in 2007, Kunis was asked about her character and said: "She's the scapegoat". "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 perpetual mode of humiliation. And it's fun."[22]