Family Guy

File:Family Guy.jpg

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Family Guy is an American animated television series about a dysfunctional family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. It was created by Seth MacFarlane for Fox Broadcasting Company in 1999. The show uses frequent "cutaway gags", jokes in the form of tangential vignettes that do not advance the story. The show is criticized for using story premises and humor similar to those used in episodes of The Simpsons, another animated series on the Fox network. Numerous writers associated with The Simpsons, such as Matt Groening, Al Jean, David X. Cohen, Matt Selman, Tim Long, and Joel H. Cohen have made fun of Family Guy during public appearances, in interviews and on DVD commentaries.

"You know, it's funny. Matt Groening and I actually have a great relationship. We've talked several times in the past few weeks and joked about this. One day out of nowhere this rumor pops up in papers and magazines. Actually, it was probably one comment that was taken out of context in Blender. Matt's just a cool guy, and fortunately neither of us was ruffled by any of that stuff. We just laughed it off."

―Seth MacFarlane

"The rivalry is very affectionate. Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, is a good guy and he does great work, and I certainly have no problem with the perceived competition. If anything, we have the same kind of competition that Pugsley Addams and Eddie Munster had in the old days. They duked it out a few times, and so did Seth and I, but that's probably before your time. I think Family Guy and American Dad have definitely staked out their own style and territory, and now the accusations are coming that The Simpsons is taking jokes from Family Guy. And I can tell you, that ain't the case."

―Matt Groening

According to the DVD commentary in the Family Guy episode "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)", FOX cut the scene which makes a extended reference to The Simpsons. FOX refused to air it on the basis that they wanted "the feud" between him and Matt Groening. Seth goes on to say that there is no feud, and claims it's only when Family Guy does a joke about The Simpsons, not when The Simpsons make a joke about Family Guy, it gets cut and that FOX are afraid of James L. Brooks. According to him, both Al Jean and James L. Brooks were upset over the scene, but Matt Groening apparently liked it, and FOX cut it from the final version, ruining the end of the first act of that episode. The full version of the scene was shown on Adult Swim and on DVD's.

There was once a "Super Simpsons/Family Guy Marathon Night" on the channel FOX.

The Simpsons met the Griffin family in a crossover episode of Family Guy, titled "The Simpsons Guy", in September 2014.

References to Family Guy in The Simpsons

Episodes

Picture Season Episode number Episode name Reference 11 241 "Missionary: Impossible" Betty White entreats viewers to help keep "this crude, low-brow programming" on the air, while the television next to her says "Family Guy". 14 292 "Treehouse of Horror XIII" Homer creates clones of himself that mostly look and act exactly like him (except for being dumber). When the clones create an army of themselves, variations begin to appear, and one of the "variant" clones is Peter Griffin. 17 360 "Treehouse of Horror XVI" Al Jean is credited as Al "Family Guy" Jean. 364 "The Italian Bob" Swipes are taken at both Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane's other creation, American Dad!. In trying to identify Sideshow Bob, the Italian police look through a book of criminals, in which there are pictures of Peter Griffin (accused of "Plagiarismo," implying that Family Guy is a ripoff of The Simpsons) and Stan Smith (accused of "Plagiarismo de plagiarismo," implying that American Dad! is a ripoff of Family Guy, which, in turn, is a ripoff of The Simpsons). 25 531 "Homerland" The characters of Family Guy, along with the other animated Fox shows American Dad, Bob's Burgers and The Cleveland Show, appear in the couch gag at the 25th Anniversary Special event in the Simpsons' living room. 30 647 "Krusty the Clown" Family Guy is one of the shows shown on the TV screens. 30 649 "'Tis the 30th Season" Disney is shown creating Family Guy World, a new park theme created around Family Guy. The show's theme is heard while its creation is shown. People dressed in costumes of Peter, Lois, Chris and Stewie were also at the location. Attractions include: Soarin' Over Quahog Dump on Meg Quagmires of the Caribbean Seth Sings Sinatra - Mandatory

Games

Picture Game Reference The Simpsons Game When you're Bart in Matt Groening's level, you hear him say "I wish I invented Family Guy" and Homer mistakes Matt Groening for Seth MacFarlane.

Books

Picture Book Reference Comic Book Guy's Book of Pop Culture In the section "Bart's Guide to Lisa's Crappy Girl Comics" one of the comics shown is called "Meg, the girl from 'Family Guy'." Meg appears on the cover, colored yellow. Chief Wiggum's Book of Crime and Punishment In "The Springfield Police Department's Evidence Locker!" section, one of the items seen is a TV playing cheap knock-off DVDs. The DVD playing is called "Future Guy" and shows Brian as Nibbler and Peter Griffin as Zoidberg.

References to The Simpsons in Family Guy

Picture Season Episode number Episode name Reference 4 58 "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter" Stewie mocks his babysitter's boyfriend, saying, "Yes, we all love "Mr. Plow"! Oh, you've got the song memorized, do you? So does everyone else!". 64 "PTV" The opening is a parody of the Naked Gun movies, with Stewie on a tricycle, at the end Homer Simpson is being chased into his garage as in the opening sequence to The Simpsons, with Homer being flattened by the bike. Peter then opens the door to the garage and remarks, "Hey, Stewie!...Who the hell is that?" (originally, Peter was supposed to imitate Homer Simpson running à la the opening sequence to The Simpsons, but the crew thought it was funnier if they used Homer instead, as Seth MacFarlane is a Simpsons fan, despite the supposed rivalry between Seth MacFarlane and Matt Groening). 74 "Peterotica" The Tracey Ullman Show cut-away is a reference to The Simpsons, who had their own filler on that show before having their own TV series. Noteworthy is the family’s poorly drawn appearance and unrefined voices, which are similar to the way The Simpsons characters were portrayed on Ullman’s show. 5 82 "Mother Tucker" Brian Griffin says to Stewie "I'm more of a sellout than you were when you did those Butterfinger commercials". It then cut to a scene of Stewie and a Butterfinger saying the tagline "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger", and then he says "D'oh"! This is a reference to the Butterfinger commercials Bart was in. 6 100 "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)" A gag, which was cut from the Fox broadcast, shows a banner saying The Simpson's Sundays on Fox come up during a scene with Marge. Family Guy character Glenn Quagmire comes in and tries to have sex with Marge. Marge runs off, with Quagmire following. Then Marge and Quagmire come back, and talk about how good it was, and decide to go back to the Simpsons' house, with the main characters looking at them. While at the Simpsons' house, Homer walks in on Marge and Quagmire. Quagmire panics and shoots Homer. Marge is about to call the police when she gets shot as well. Then Bart, Lisa and Maggie all also get shot. 103 "Lois Kills Stewie" Stewie sings a song about all the people he wants to kill. He also mentions: "The guy who watched The Simpsons back in 1994, and won't admit the damn thing isn't funny any more." 7 119 "The Juice Is Loose" Mayor Adam West is seen talking to someone off the screen and leads the viewer to think he is talking to OJ Simpson, who is in the town, when he says: "We don't want you in our town Simpson. We don't love you like we did back in 1993... The screen cuts to Homer Simpson who says his trademark "D'oh". Then finishes with "And we don't want you here either OJ!" This references 1993 as The Simpsons' heyday and what is widely considered the peak of the show as well the year before the trial for the alleged crime happened. 120 "FOX-y Lady" When trying to sell his cartoon the Handi-Quacks to Fox, Peter says it will be like The Simpsons. 8 136 "Big Man on Hippocampus" When Peter learns that Meg is his daughter he utters "D'oh!". Lois responds to this by telling him that it isn't his catchphrase. 137 "Dial Meg for Murder" The font used for the executive producers credits is The Simpsons font. 10 173 "Cool Hand Peter" The jury in a trial to Peter, Quagmire, Joe and Cleveland consists by Krusty, Comic Book Guy, Willie, Edna, Ned, Otto, Moe, Mr. Burns, Lisa, Homer, Maggie, Marge and Bart. 187 "Family Guy Viewer Mail 2" Stewie jokingly says that Family Guy is based on The Simpsons as an answer to a mail from a viewer. 250px 11 190 "Ratings Guy" After Peter destroyed TV through misusing their status as a Nielsen family, he goes to the Television Producers Guild to seek help fixing TV. Homer Simpson arrives to also claim he broke television, prompting Peter to say " a-ha! Looks like this is one we beat you to!". 13 232 "The Simpsons Guy" A 1-hour The Simpsons/Family Guy crossover episode. 14 252 "Guy, Robot" When drunk, Peter says "We act like we didn't take a lot from The Simpsons, but we took a lot from The Simpsons". 15 273 "Inside Family Guy" In the opening photo montage, Brian is standing near a studio lot before a crowd. The screen pans to reveal it is actually The Simpsons' studio lot, similar to the actual one on the FOX Studios lot. Shown in the top left are Marge, Homer, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Shown in the bottom left are Sherri, Terri, Moe, Krusty, Mr. Burns, and Smithers 284 "Cop and a Half-wit" In the scene showing Peter and Joe disguising themselves to stop different crimes, the scene switches to the Simpson family on the couch, with them then looking at the screen, then the scene cuts away. 16 290 "Emmy-Winning Episode" Talking about Emmy Awards, Lois and Peter complain about The Simpsons crowning over them. Lois: "Peter, what's wrong?" Peter: "Family Guy has been around since 1999 and whenever it's time for the Emmys, they don't give us one. I'm sick of it!" Lois (referencing the cross-over episode "The Simpsons Guy"): "Well, I'm not making another episode with The Simpsons. What did that get us? I'll tell you what it got us. More ink for The Simpsons." Peter: "Yeah. "Simpsons plays down to competition." "Simpsons step into the sewer." "Shame on you, Simpsons." Those lucky bastards." At the end of the episode Peter is reading fan letters: ""Dear sir, your show helped me when I was going through chemotherapy." "My favorite episode was when Homer stays home from church..." Ah, damn it, he thinks we're The Simpsons.". 16 296 "Petey IV" Peter arrives in Russia where he asks Vladimir Putin what kind of TV channels they have? After disappointing Peter by mentioning all the channels they don't have Putin explains to him: "Everything you say, I something little bit worse." Peter then asks: "You got 'Simpsons'?", whereupon Putin says: "We have 'Family Guy'", causing Peter to sigh in despair.

External links

• Official website
• Family Guy at Wikipedia

Cultural references

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