Exploration Of A Piece Of Entertainment Media: Family Guy

2 Pages 619 Words

In entertainment today, pushing the boundaries is what generates ratings, as we see the rise of risqué reality shows and sitcoms that continue to push the envelope, giving viewers what they want to see; that is exactly what the hilarious animated series Family Guy did. The show, now no longer being aired by Fox after its third season because of fierce criticism of its content, has become more popular now than it was while being aired by Fox between 2000 and 2002. Recently the third season of the show has been released on DVD and is currently number ten on the Amazon.com DVD best sellers list, and rerun episodes are currently being aired by Cartoon Network (Amazon).
The comedy Family Guy followed the life of the Griffin family in the small Rhode Island town of Quahog. Consequently, the main characters are the members of the family—Peter and Lois, the parents, followed by the children: teenagers Chris and, Meg, baby Stewie, and the talking family dog, Brian. The show is more of a situational comedy with each episode is set up hilarious situations that the Griffin family confronts.
Family Guy was not the average animated series, the humor was geared more for older teens and adults; with so many social and pop culture references from the 80’s and 90’s, younger viewers cannot really pick up on the humor the creators intended. Also, the show openly touched on many social taboos such as stereotypes, race, sex and religion, for these reasons the show became very controversial. The show became so controversial that many companies including KFC, Sprint, and Gap removed their commercials from the Family Guy time slot. Also groups formed to boycott Fox in order to force Family Guy off of the air. The last episode of Family Guy’s third season, “When You Wish upon a Weinstein,” an episode that jeered Jewish stereotypes, was not aired because of its controversial content, which then led Fox to cancel the show (Ross).
Family Guy fans ...