Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of Peter, Lois, Meg, Chris, Stewie, and their pet dog Brian. The show uses frequent cutaway gags, often in the form of tangential vignettes which parody American culture.

Family Guy was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two predecessor animated films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. MacFarlane changed the design of the protagonist Larry and renamed him Peter; he also changed the design of Larry’s dog Steve, and developed him into Brian. Shortly after the third season of Family Guy aired in 2003, the series was canceled. However, because of favorable DVD sales and high ratings on syndicated reruns, the network renewed the show in 2004. The setting for the stories is a partially fictional town in Rhode Island, based on MacFarlane’s upbringing and education.

Family Guy has been nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, of which it won three. The show has also been nominated for elevenAnnie Awards, and won three times. It has garnered three Golden Reel Award nominations, winning once. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961. Family Guy has also been challenged with negative criticism, including three notable lawsuits and low reviews for its similarities to the animated seriesThe Simpsons.

The series has spurred release of tie-in media, such as Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005; Family Guy: Live in Vegas, a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005 featuring music from the show as well as original music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy; a video game and pinball machine, released in 2006 and 2007, respectively; and, since 2005, six books published byHarperCollins based on the Family Guy universe. In 2008, MacFarlane confirmed that the cast were interested in producing a feature film and that he was working on a story. In 2009, a spin-off series The Cleveland Show it premiered on September 27, 2009 as a part of the “Animation Domination” lineup on Fox. The eighth season of Family Guy premiered on September 27, 2009.