Family Guy season 1

Family Guy
Season 1
DVD cover
Starring
No. of episodes7
Release
Original networkFox
Original releaseJanuary 31 (1999-01-31) –
May 16, 1999 (1999-05-16)
Season chronology
Next →
Season 2
List of episodes

The first season of Family Guy aired on Fox from January 31 to May 16, 1999, and consisted of only seven episodes, making it the shortest season to date. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, son Stewie and their anthropomorphic dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog, a fictional city in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The show features the voices of series creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, and Lacey Chabert in the roles of the Griffin family. The executive producers for the first season were David Zuckerman and MacFarlane. It is also the only full season to feature Chabert, before she was replaced by Mila Kunis for the rest of the series' run, starting with the season two episode "Da Boom".

The series premiere, "Death Has a Shadow", was broadcast directly after Super Bowl XXXIII and was watched by 22.01 million viewers.[1] The rest of the first season would then air between 11 April and 16 May 1999, with all of its episodes airing on Sundays;[2][3] following the first season, the show left Sunday nights, and would not return to airing on Sundays until 2005. The series received praise from most critics,[4] particularly "I Never Met the Dead Man" and "Brian: Portrait of a Dog",[4][5] however some critics disliked the themes of the episodes. The Volume One DVD box set, including all seven episodes and the second season, was released in Region 1 on April 15, 2003, Region 2 on November 12, 2001, and Region 4 on October 20, 2003. The series has since been released in syndication.[6]

MacFarlane conceived the idea for Family Guy in 1995, while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).[7] There, he created his thesis film The Life of Larry,[7] which his professor at RISD later submitted to Hanna-Barbera; this led to MacFarlane being hired by the company.[8] Executives at Fox saw the Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters entitled Family Guy. While working on the series, Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian; the rest of the series characters were added later.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference eprating was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "April 1999 Calendar – Printable Old Calendars". Old Calendars. Archived from the original on January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  3. ^ "May 1999 Calendar – Printable Old Calendars". Old Calendars. Archived from the original on January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Haque, Ashan (July 1, 2008). "Family Guy Flashback: "Brian: Portrait of a Dog" Review". IGN. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dead Man was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Levin, Gary (March 24, 2004). "'Family Guy' un-canceled, thanks to DVD sales success". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 10, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Lenburg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference harvard was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference AWN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).