Family Guy (season 1)

The first season of the animated comedy series Family Guy aired on FOX from January 31 to May 16, 1999, and consisted of seven episodes. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and their anthropomorphic dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog. The show features the voices of series creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, and Lacey Chabert in the roles of the Griffin family. The executive producers for the first season were David Zuckerman and MacFarlane.

The series premiere, “Death Has a Shadow”, was broadcast directly after Super Bowl XXXIII and was watched by 22.01 million viewers. The series received praise from most critics, particularly “I Never Met the Dead Man” and “Brian: Portrait of a Dog”, however some critics disliked the themes of the episodes. The Volume One DVD box set, including all seven episodes and the second season, was released in Region 1 on April 15, 2003, Region 2 on November 12, 2001, and Region 4 on October 20, 2003. The series has since been released in syndication.

MacFarlane conceived the idea for Family Guy in 1995, while studying animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). There, he created his thesis film The Life of Larry, which his professor at RISD later submitted to Hanna-Barbera; this led to MacFarlane being hired by the company. Executives at FOX saw the Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters entitled Family Guy. While working on the series, Larry and his dog Steve slowly evolved into Peter and Brian; the rest of the series characters were added later.