When Family Guy started it’s run a few years back I thought I was too good for this show. Kinda like Buffy, I’ve become obsessed after the fact. I’m TiVo-ing all the eps and now I LOVE THIS SHOW! It has such great humor that every single episode elicits at least a good guffaw.
Please tell me more about the Griffin family. I’m a little confused about Stewie. He’s clearly a baby, and must’ve been born amazingly advanced. How old is he supposed to be? Yesterday’s rerun was the one with the birth of Bertram, Stewie’s half-brother due to Peter’s spillage at the sperm bank. Since it didn’t appear as a flash-back, Bertram grew to toddlerhood very quickly so as to battle Stewie for control of the playground. I don’t understand. Wouldn’t Stewie be closer to four if Bertram grew to a toddler during the episode?
How did Peter adopt Brian? I find it quite amusing that the family has not only a devilish English-accented baby as well as a talking dog with a voice that lends itself well to song.
Share with me your knowledge of the backstory of the Griffin family, please!
No idea but my God it is funny. Last episode I saw I came home late and the episode was already running. Peter is somehow playing football for the New England Patriots and Brian is trying to sneak out of the house without being seen by Stewie. However he is spotted and Stewie begins to harangue him about his debts and then IIRC beats him with a golf club. Then the baby pulls a gun and proceeds to kneecap the dog. Genius, pure unadulterated genius - how the hell do you think up scene where the talking baby kneecaps the talking dog???
Since cartoon characters generally don’t age, Stewie is permanently 1 years old or so. Regarding Bertram, well, you’re gonna have to just let that kind of stuff slide. His aging might be easier to explain that Stewie getting a hold of a fleet of stealth fighters, though…
They touch on it very briefly in one episode. Peter was stopped at a light and a homeless, unshaven Brian came over to clean his windshield. Peter waved him off but then looked at Brian and invited him home for dinner. The rest is history.
I love Family Guy. The absurdism and non-sequiturs are well timed, and the 80s pop culture references are freakin’ hillarious. I have seasons 1-4, though I haven’t watched them all yet. I need to convert them all to watch on my PDA for slow times at work (when I’m not surfing the Dope).
Stewie is one year old. (There was a birthday party episode in which Peter hijacks a circus to cover up for losing the reservation at the Chuck E. Cheeze place.)
Other than that, the characters are ageless, much like the Simpson family.
It was very cool how they did the early scripts so that you weren’t sure if the adults could understand Stewie. Now everyone can definitely understand Stewie.
Basically, Brian is a dog. That can talk. It’s been recognized that dogs can’t normally talk but no special mention has been made of the fact that Brian is an exception to this.
1 - Peter and Brian were once having a conversation at the bar when Peter, out of the blue, suddenly says, “My God! You can talk!”
2 - Brian once returned to the puppy farm where he was born to search for his mother. The farmer says that there’s been thousands of puppies over the years and he doesn’t remember Brian. Brian says, “I’m the one that talked” and the farmer answers “Oh, you were that one.”
3 - There was a scene with the Griffin’s previous dog, Todd, in which Todd was also talking to Peter.
Brian: Hola, me llamo es Brian … Nosotros queremos ir con ustedes… uhhhh … Latino Man: Hey, that was pretty good, except when you said “me llamo es Brian,” you don’t need the “es,” just “Me llamo Brian.” Brian: Oh, oh you speak English! Man: No, just that first speech and this one explaining it. Brian: You … you’re kidding me, right? Man: Que?
I like the one that’s some kind of flashback to not long after Stewie was born, where he has a huge, bizarrely shaped, ET-esque head. He either jumps on Lois and Peter’s bed, or Peter tosses him in the air, and he hits the ceiling–and lands with a football-shaped head.
During the past TV season, pretty much every newly-aired episode of Family Guy has elicited its own Cafe Society thread. Watch for them when the new fall season starts, or search for the old ones.
Family Guy’s brilliant moments doesn’t even have to focus on the Guy’s Family. One of my faves is when Death (The Grim Reaper) is having a flashback on his “tough teenage years”:
(Parked car rocking back and forth) Death: Sandy… Oh yeah, Sandy… Oh… Sandy?
(Car stops its rocking, along with the one-sided dirty talk) Death: Not again! Oh man, I’m gonna be a virgin forever!! Death: …or am I?
(Parked car resumes rocking in silence)
