Family Guy creator deserves more credit
By Jennifer Palmberg
The Collegian
Seth MacFarlane is a creative
genius who took a big risk with his animated series and came out on top.
He is best known for creating Family Guy and American Dad, both popular
series on Fox Network’s Animation Domination Sunday. He is an innovative
cartoon creator who was thinking ahead of his generation when he created
Family Guy.
The series, which follows the life of Peter Griffin (the father) and his
family: wife Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and dog Brian,
originally aired on Jan. 31, 1999 after the Super Bowl with pilot episode
“Death has a Shadow.”
The series ran for three seasons, 50 episodes and then was cancelled by
Fox in 2002. Rumor had it Fox parents felt that Family Guy was too vulgar
for kids to be watching and sent numerous complaints to the station requesting
the show be canceled. But the show’s loyal followers worked to bring
it back and after “successful” DVD sales and wide support
from viewers who watched the reruns on Adult Swim, Family Guy made it
back to Fox Network on May 1, 2005 after three years of being canceled.
MacFarlane didn’t just come out of nowhere to create his popular
and controversial series. He had a long history of working in the cartoon
industry. He studied animation at the Rhode Island School of Design where
he created a short film titled “The Life of Larry,” which
was about a lower than normal IQ man named Larry and his highly intelligent
dog Steve.
After he graduated he worked for Hanna-Barbera Productions and later Cartoon
Network. Fox Executives contracted him after he showed “Larry and
Steve,” a sequel to “The Life of Larry,” on the Cartoon
Network’s “World Premier Toons” in 1996 and was paid
to create a series based off of the characters. The result was Family
Guy.
Family Guy has dealt with numerous political, moral and economic issues
in society mostly by poking fun at world and government figures such as
Hitler and past presidents and at the flaws in society such as loopholes
in our legal system, poverty, crime, personal relationship problems and
more. His abrupt, truthful and sometimes even offensive manner of facing
these issues in his series is what really makes him a pioneer.
Another interesting fact that most people don’t know is that MacFarlane
barely escaped death during the Sept. 11 attacks. He was scheduled to
return to L.A. on American Airlines Flight 11 after being a guest speaker
in Rhode Island. His travel agent gave him the wrong flight time and he
arrived shortly after the plane was closed for boarding. An hour after
his flight left him behind, it was hijacked and crashed into the North
Tower of the World Trade Center.
Cartoon and especially fellow Family Guy fans should not take for granted
the continuance of Family Guy and the creation of American Dad. In fact,
MacFarlane fans should put writing him a thank you letter on their “to
do” list. Those of you who have not yet seen either of the series
should check them out.
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