Things You Didn't Know About Family Guy

#1 Fifteen Seasons And Counting

When the show first aired it wasn't as polished as it is now. It was thrown together quickly and changes were made last minute. The very first episode, the pilot, "Death Has A Shadow," brought in 22.01 million views on the first broadcast. Of course, it followed the Superbowl and was the highest ratings for the show before its first cancellation. It's now in it's 15th season and it's been through a lot.

#2 Origin Of Peter

Peter is immature, ignorant, out of step with political correctness, and somewhat irritating. So in other words, not the guy you'd want as a friend or neighbor. That said, Peter has become one of TV's most beloved characters.

#3 Based On A Real Man MacFarlane Knew

The inspiration for Peter came from a security guard named Paul Timmins, who Seth MacFarlane would chat with between classes at the Rhode Island School Of Design. Timmins is reportedly proud of his role in helping create on of televisions icons and thinks the character is hilarious.

#4 Catch-Phrase

There really are no catchphrases on Family Guy, unless you count "Giggity" which is uttered by Quagmire in every episode. The show does have many recurring jokes that seem to appear when least expected. But, if you pay close attention, you will notice that at least one character in every episode says the phrase "What the hell?" It's a funny little running statement that appears in every episode.

#5 The Show's Origins

Family Guy has its origin in one of MacFarlane's earliest creations while at The School Of Design. It started as a class thesis called "The Life Of Larry" until MacFarlane got hired on by Hanna-Barbera, where they turned that thesis into a weekly cartoon series for kids called "Larry And Steve". Steve was his talking dog.

#6 FOX Hires MacFarlane

The people at FOX saw the show and decided to hire on MacFarlane and his cartoon. Already airing The Simpsons, they wanted to add to the animation lineup. They turned it around and gave it a different 'feel' which is basically the show we see today.

Each episode takes over 9 months to fully write, animate, and produce, but they are working on an entire season at the same time. Whenever something topical appears it is done quickly and added through a different process to the latest episode, and costs the company and network hundreds of thousands of dollars for a simple cut-away or scene.

#7 Surviving Cancellations

Family Guy has the distinct honor of surviving two cancellations and coming back each time stronger than ever. Poor scheduling left viewers in a lurch and didn't follow it around the schedule and it got the ax by FOX, twice in its first three seasons. To get some money back from the series, FOX sold the show for syndication and it was picked up The Cartoon Network for its Adult Swim nightly programming of mature animation. Between a major petition from fans to bring the show back, and a big profit from selling the DVDs, and the new popularity on Adult Swim, FOX brought the show back to life, again.

#8 You Either Love It Or Hate It

You are probably going to find just as many people who love Family Guy as those who totally hate the show. With jokes and scenes that cross the line in every way imaginable, it's a show that can easily offend and amuse people at the same time.

#9 The Worst Show On TV

It's the first animated show to be nominated for a primetime Emmy award, something The Simpsons would later accomplish as well. However, advocacy groups like The Parents Television Council, who have named the show the "worst show ever aired" a few times already, want the show taken off the air for good.

#10 It Almost Ended For Good In 2001

On top of 2 cancellations, the show almost met its demise for a third time in 2001. When 9/11 happened, MacFarlane was booked on American 11, the plane that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. He missed his flight because he was hung over from drinking the night before. Since most of the characters are his own and voiced by himself, the show would not have been able to stay in production without him. MacFarlane was so upset and depressed after the incident that he almost gave up comedy and his series for good.

#11 MacFarlane Has His Favorites

As a show built on throwaway moments, there's going to be so many utterly hilarious scenes in Family Guy that picking out the very best is a hard task. But for every bad joke, there are two good ones. For writer and creator Seth MacFarlane, he said he has so many favorite scenes that he can't remember half of them. But one episode stands out as his all time favorite.

#12 "Da Boom"

The episode in question is called Da Boom where, amongst their scarred hell, Lois reminisces about how much food they have wasted, cutting away to Peter trying to feed beans to Tom Selleck on TV as Magnum P.I. The story is MacFarmane's favorite because he says it epitomizes everything that Peter is. It combines the idiotic with a pop=culture reference.

#13 The Least Funny Moment

For a show that has had some pretty hilarious moments and even some that are pretty risque, Family Guy nearly got canceled again after FOX pulled a crossover stunt with The Simpsons in an episode called "Brians Song". There was a spoof of The Simpsons that the network gave the greenlight for, but later faced uproar by the FCC and viewers. An ad for The Simpsons flashed across the bottom of the screen and viewers then see Quagmire run out and attempt to sexually assault Marge Simpson. The scene was cut from American broadcasts but can still be seen on Adult Swim or on the DVD of the episode.

#14 Homage To All In The Family

MacFarlane recently revealed that the opening of the show is based on one of his favorite television shows, All In The Family. Peter and Lois at the piano, is a callback to Archie and Edith doing their opening number. However, from there it goes crazy with a whole Broadway number. Creators and writers loved the raw appeal of All In The Family so much that they borrow from it often. Entire episode concepts have been liberally lifted.

#15 MacFarlane Outed Stewie

Stewie's defining trait has been his emergent homosexuality though he once was a destructive brainiac set upon destroying the world. His story has become less about destroying mankind and more about sexual ambiguity. From one-shot jokes in cutaways to essentially winking at the audience, it's become a strong recurring joke. The veil of ambiguity was, however, destroyed when Seth MacFarlane outed the one-year-old in Playboy magazine.

#16 The Star Wars Connection

If you watch Family Guy then you know there are a ton of references to Star Wars. It's MacFarlane's favorite movie and he tries to use material from the films as often as possible. Of course, he first began using the characters and story's without permission from Lucasfilms and got away with it. FOX became worried about a lawsuit over the use of so much Star Wars material, so MacFarlane went to visit George Lucas himself. It turns out the Lucas loved the use and the humor and allowed the show writer & creator to do a full episode based on the film. He then created "Laugh It Up Fuzzball" which is a remake of the Star Wars trilogy using all of the Family Guy characters and a few others from animated shows.