by Andrew Reynolds

Created on: March 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

If there was ever a textbook example of a show that lived or died by its infamy then its Family Guy. Since its inaugural broadcast in 1999 the litany of the FOX Networks opinion polled decisions and dices from TV's chop-happy axeblade have made its history read like a goldfishes memoirs. For every minor success, such as its rise from Larry Shorts, Budweiser bumf at Superbowl 99, to its eventual resurrection as a DVD retirement fund for old jokes, its history has weighed down the enjoyment of the show.

The show itself owes much to Seth MacFarlane's history as a gag writer, where left field ramblings become the plot rather than an add-lib, to the point where, in telling an uninitiated person the plot, it often feels like inhabiting the body of a sleep depraved, lucasade addled writer, whose mind has become so untethered that he just wants to go home.

The plot focuses on Peter Griffin, an Irish catholic, Rhode Islander who also has ancestors in Scotland and Germany (getting a little sleepy...) whose married to Lois, a housewife and teacher who is actually a wealthy heir to the Pewterschmidt fortune of her birth (eyelids are starting to clamp now...) who in turn has three children one of whom is a diabolical fiend bent on world domination, oh and an anthropomorphizing dog called Brian (where did that come from...well, it'll do.Good Night!) Of course its innovative but in the same way that in a child eating paste is also innovative.

After the initial, half hearted concept of an abnormal TV family there was only the gags to keep you interested and for awhile these hushed 'did you just hear what they said' mumbles of after the fact viewers gave the show its counter cultural edge. Its phoenix like rise from the ashes to minor notoriety on Teletoon and Adult Flash, only added to the brooding of fans, to the point where, after a managerial merry go round, the new bosses at FOX brought it back.

And its easy to see why it became so popular, with its references to obscure movies (such Tron) that just nipped in ahead of the massive 80's revival in pop culture that consumers are now remembering/reliving and its lowest common denominator gags, which had that uncomfortable aimless roast feel to them, again playing on MacFarlane's history as a gag hack and the shows 'too hot for TV' baggage.

When it finally came back from TV never-land after it was axed for the second time after series 3, that baggage wanted to talk. Former recipients of the 'too hot...' handle, The Simpson's by

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