Blog:Family Guy

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 rumour 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 an extended reference to The Simpsons. FOX refused to air it on the basis that they wanted "the feud" between him and Matt Groening, the scene can only be seen on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Seth goes on to say that there is no feud, and claims its 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 angry about 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, TBS, and on DVDs.

The Simpsons are set to meet the Griffin family in the crossover episode "The Simpsons Guy" in 2014.

References in The Simpsons

 * At the end of "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."
 * In "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.
 * in Treehouse of Horror XVI, Al Jean was credited as Al "Family Guy" Jean
 * In "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, Plagiarism implying that Family Guy is a ripoff of The Simpsons) and Stan Smith (accused of Plagiarismo de plagiarismo, Plagiarism of Plagiarism implying that American Dad! is a ripoff of Family Guy, which, in turn, is a ripoff of The Simpsons).
 * In 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 as TV's most beloved animated visionary.
 * In the credits of Homerland, families from other fox shows can be seen, including Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show.