(Credit: Amazon.com)
Created by:
Seth MacFarlane
Starring:
Seth MacFarlane……….Peter Griffin/Brian Griffin/Stewie Griffin/Glen Quagmire/Tom Tucker/Additional Voices
Alex Borstein……….Lois Griffin/Loretta Brown/Tricia Takanawa/Additional Voices
Mila Kunis……….Meg Griffin
Seth Green……….Chris Griffin/Neil Goldman/Additional Voices
The Show
It’s not every day a television show is resurrected from the grave, in fact I’m pretty sure it’s the first time a studio brought back one of its own creations from cancelation. After having a renaissance of sorts over on Cartoon Networks Adult Swim comedy block beating out shows like The Tonight show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman in the ratings the show was quickly developing a large cult following. With having DVD sale that are through the roof, Fox noticed their mistake in canceling Family Guy (albeit three years late) and quickly got series creator Seth MacFarlane back on board to produce a guarantied 22 episodes. Series fans were delighted when they heard, actually delighted is an understatement as I’m pretty sure I saw people doing back flips over the news.
Well, of those 22 episodes it seems that 13 were intended as season 4. Which doesn’t seem correct but if Fox says so then it must be true… right? Well the actual number of episodes the season had vary considering where you read or hear about it, some say all of the new episodes should be considered a complete season. While others say the ones aired before the shows break during the summer were season 4 in its entirety and we’re now in season 5 of the series. The later group however have a flaw with their logic, you see the last three shows on this DVD set aired after the break, so going by that it should mean Family Guy is still in it’s fourth season airing now on Sundays.
Oh well, let’s not get caught up on details. With Family Guy Fox knows it’s a guarantied cash cow on DVD so it’s smart marketing to get new shows on store shelves ready for sale as soon as possible. It may alienate fans by having to pay twice as much but with the fan base this show has I doubt it’ll effect sales of the show. Heck, fans payed full price for Stewie Griffin the Untold Story which was essentially 3 episodes without the bleeps that the creators have already said will show up not only on network TV but in a later DVD box set as well.
So now going in to the production booth after three years of the show being gone, could the crew put out shows that are on par with the previous seasons or has time possibly taken away the shows golden years? In some ways its a bit of both, in some episodes the cast and crew are on top of their game producing shows that are even better than the first three seasons but then they tended to go a little too far on bits. And not the over the top “haha” use of the phrase, I mean simply using unfunny material and running it into the ground.
The show still focuses on the Griffin family from small town Quohog Rhode Island and they’re still as dysfunctional as the last time we saw them in 2002. While I’m sure a description is unnecessary for a show like Family Guy which has become such a high profile cartoon, it’s your standard setup. A bafoon of a father, a hot wife who for some reason married the rotund oaf, an also some what bafoon of a son, a shy awkward daughter, an infant wanting to take over the world and a dog who loves himself a dry martini. Well, I guess it’s an average set-up if you exclude the last two.
Peter still finds himself in hilarious situations like stealing Mel Gibson’s latest movie The Passion of the Christ 2: Crusify This! and hides it for the good of mankind. Then while everyone around him make achievements in their lives they’re proud of he sets out to break a world record, only he chooses one for most nickels consumed which leads to him going blind. He even gets to punch out Jimmy Fallon, something I’m sure most people reading this wish they had the chance to do. This season after the life of a fisherman apparently wasn’t right for him, Peter’s new occupation is at the Pawtucket Patriot Brewery and during all this he manages to befriends James Woods.
The rest of the family also have some wild adventures this season, Meg gets a makeover that causes her to be selected as the face of the family band. Along with that she finds herself in the custody of the Goldmans after Peter runs up a tab at the pharmacy that he can’t pay. Chris not only gets a zit that talks to him and makes him do bad things, he joins the peace corps and is sent to help a tribe in another country, all just to get out of the Freshman hunt. He then finds himself in love with his substitute English teacher Mrs. Lockhart. Louis becomes a model in one episode and she additionally catches herself living on the edge getting caught up in the thrill of shoplifting.
And lets not forget about Stewie and Brian, the later gets to be a participant on the Bachelorette, a show he has disdain for as he hates reality TV but quickly finds himself falling in love with the shows leading lady. In one episode Brian finds himself at the head of the household after Peter is presumed dead when a boating accident leaves him, Joe, Quagmire and Cleveland on a deserted island. Stewie goes grossly underused with these episodes with the only things of note he does are fawn over his new babysitter Ladawn and employ Brian in his pyramid scheme, as you can see, not a whole lot.
One problem I had with this season is the lack of originality, yes, there are some new episodes here that can be considered “classic” along with some of the first three seasons but some shows if you look closely follow the exact same set-ups from old shows. And they aren’t very subtle at it either, running jokes are one thing but you’d imagine that with three years to work on material there would be more freshness to the series. What IS new material gets run in to the ground being used to no end. Still there’s no doubt that Family Guy is some of the best programing on television right now.
Score: 7/10
The Video
(Presented in 1.33:1 Fullscreen)
The video is crisp and clear, colors are vivid and no digital errors to speak of. It’s presented in the shows original full screen format and there’s no real noticeable difference with this volume than the video transfers applied to volumes 1&2.
The Audio
(English 5.1 surround sound)
Surprisingly Fox has upgrade the shows audio from the standard 2.0 to a brand new 5.1 surround. Now it certainly beats out the 2.0 by a large margin but all that uses the rear channels are the shows wonderful scores and the occasional musical number. For the most part the show is the characters interacting with one another through the front speakers. Still the upgrade that was given is noticeable and for the better.
The Extras
10 Audio Commentaries – The commentaries are all basically the same, and compared to the old ones they’re a let down. They have the same group of guys sit in for the most part with occasional cast and guests dropping by. James Woods sits in on the commentary for his guest appearance and is one you’ll want to hear, but the rest are simply a bunch of friends goofing around. They do bring up a few facts that would be enlightening like the change in censorship ever since Janet Jackson’s incident at the Super Bowl half time almost five years ago.
World Domination: The Family Guy Phenomenon (24 mins) – Series creator Seth MacFarlane and crew talk about how they brought the show back on the air. For the almost half hour piece it’s mostly fluff talking about things we’ve known for a long time. The most entertaining parts are when the cast share their reactions to when they first heard about the shows return. The rest is simply Seth talking about how Adult Swim and DVD sales saved the show and helped it garner its own fan base. He tells us that Fox’s studio president Gary Newman was responsible for getting the ball rolling on bringing back the show.
Deleted Scene – There’s only one scene included in the box set and it involves Brian singing to his English class about middle class jobs they could have when they get older.
The Music of Family Guy (8 mins) – Walter Murphy and Ron Jones the shows composers are given a short featurette to talk about their work on the show. It’s surprising seeing how much works goes into the music cues for something considered an adult cartoon.
Table Read(15 mins) – While the concept of being able to sit in on a table reading of the show sounds like a barrel of laughter, what they put together here is anything but that. It’s basically Three video’s with side-by-side comparison between the table read and the final product, only for some reason both audio tracks over lap and get annoying quickly.
Storyboard/Animatic Comparisons (21 mins) – Generally what you get here is a side-by-side comparison of the shows first storyboard sketches and the final clip that aired on network TV. The three scenes combined run for a little over 20 minutes so for people who love this sort of stuff will be happy.
American Dad Preview (1min) – Well the title should give away everything this is about.
Score: 7/10
