One serving of The Simpsons, a dash of South Park, you get The Family Guy

Peter Griffin/Brian Griffin/Stewie Griffin voices (Seth MacFarlane)
Lois Griffin voice (Alex Borstein)
Megan Griffin voice (Mila Kunis)
Chris Griffin voice (Seth Green)

I have rented The Family Guy, disc 1 of 4 on DVD and watched 5 of the 7 episodes thus far, I have to tell you, this is like Simpsons on Acid, it is such a funny and witty show with great characters and I can’t imagine why it was on for only 3 years. It has all the cleverness of the Simpsons and the envelope pushing of South Park with its crudeness.

The show was created by Seth MacFarlane who provides several voices in the show. The family consists of a man, Peter Griffin, his wife, Lois, their 3 kids, Megan, Chris, and little baby Stewie (aptly named) and their dog Brian. Peter, voiced by Seth MacFarlane, is a stout, crazed father and husband who is reminiscent of Homer Simpson. He screws up and makes spur of the moment decisions that come back to haunt him. Lois, voiced by Alex Borstein of Mad TV fame, is an understanding wife and she absorbs all the wrongdoings and fiascos her husband gets into, much like Marge Simpson. Chris, voiced by Seth Green, is a clueless teenage kid who just goes about his day with no direction whatsoever. Megan, voiced by Mila Kunis, is the teenage girl who is coming into her own, starting to like boys and thinking about her image, trying to cope with her dysfunctional family with grace. Stewie, voiced by MacFarlane, the baby in the family bearing a football shaped head steals the show in my honest opinion. He is a talking baby who sounds like a British Mr Burns of the Simpsons, he hates everything and plots to rule the world with his evil schemes, he is just adorable and hilarious at the same time. Brian, voiced by MacFarlane yet again, the talking family dog is another character that is an anchor to the show, he drinks martinis and just stands on the side, watches the screw ups and takes it in stride in his cynical, smartass way, he provides a means of balance to Peter when he messes up.

The show uses a very effective formula for its style. Funny dialogue accompanied by skits from real TV shows from the past, transmitted through the Griffin’s TV, and many scenes of reminiscing that provide for many funny situations. The timing of the jokes is impeccable, they are short and to the point and bear no expense at hurting everyone’s feelings. As noted, it has the crude humor of South Park, many sexual innuendoes and stereotypical remarks that might be offensive but I was not even when the jokes were supposed to offend me and my heritage. A few memorable scenes I will note will elaborate this paragraph further. Pete sitting at a bar telling his friends a joke about a rabbi and a Chinaman in a bar, he looks around and sees Rabbis to his left and Chinese people on the right, he proceeds, “They see a naked Priest, “ he looks straight ahead and sees a topless priest who says, “Heard this one before”. Another montage where the members of the family makes insulting remarks about Indians and Swedes and then do an individual dark backlit speech about how the remarks are not true and how great those people are, followed by the famous NBC marquee “The more you know”, Peter insults the Canadians, gets the dark background and says nothing more except...”What? they are lazy...”.

The show boasts many hilarious one liners and short dialogues, among my favorites (thanks to IMDB.com)

Lois Griffin: Peter, what did you promise me?
Peter Griffin: That I wouldn't drink at the party.
Lois Griffin: And what did you do?
Peter Griffin: Drank at the pa-- ...Whoa! I almost walked into that one.

Stewie Griffin: Damn you vile woman, you've impeded my work since the day I escaped your vile womb!

Peter Griffin: Holy crip, he's a crapple!

Brian Griffin: Whose leg do I have to hump to get a decent martini around here?

amongst many others.

The animation for the show complements the show quite well, nothing too extraordinary here, just standard Simpsons style animation that is better than South Park but not as good as King of the Hill, it doesn’t really have to be, as mentioned, it goes well with the show.

The only bad thing I can think of is the fact it was cancelled way too prematurely, I don’t know the details of why but I am sure it would have gained popularity and might have even been as legendary as the Simpsons which has been around for around 14 years. Aside from the offensive innuendoes on the show which when followed closely aren’t all that offensive, this show is a hilarious good time.