What can one say about “”The Family Guy,”” one of the strangest and most random cartoons ever to see its way onto primetime? Most people seem to find it either utterly perplexing or absolute genius. Unfortunately, far too many were not amused by the antics of this Quahog, Rhode Island, family of six, with three children including baby Stewie, a 1-year-old megalomaniac bent on world domination; both parents; and the heavy-drinking, dry-witted dog Brian. For those who are not fans of the show out of a lack of exposure, I would simply suggest that if you don’t like Cartoon Network’s programming on Adult Swim, “”The Simpsons,”” or “”Futurama,”” then you are probably going to end up scratching your head a lot. And I don’t just mean the regular ol’ lift your hand up and scratch with one finger kind, I mean the “”take off your hat and lay your arm on top of your head ’cause it’s going to be there for a while”” kind of thing.
The DVD set includes seasons one and two — 28 episodes in all — with seven episodes on each disk. This means, oddly enough, that the brief seven episodes of season one are on the first disc, and the other three discs are for season two. Every episode is complete and uncut, as intended for airing, so a few gags that were cut out for broadcast are given their full impact.
Not everything is well in the twisted world of this East Coast town. The animation has some odd moments, especially on lesser-quality DVD players. Some blurring in the animation is noticeable during close-ups with mouths and arms creating a wavy line pattern. Seriously, this is all that is bad about the DVD set, and this is a rather small detail in the overall quality of production.
Each disc has two episodes with audio commentary, containing writer/creator/main-voice actor Seth MacFarlane along with other actors, writers and hangers on. While these commentaries often produce the occasional bizarre factoid about the production of the series (like the fact that for the first four episodes, the writing team went out of their way to include death in each title; that is until they could no longer keep plot and titles straight), the banter meanders into the mundane or the private jokes between show participants. A frequent complaint with any audio commentary on DVD is that it seems hardly worth sitting through. Though, it is amusing to hear the voice actors take the opportunity to let out the swear words that got bleeped out for broadcast. Also included is a featurette that has some of how the show is digitally animated and very brief interviews with some of the voice actors. It is honestly eerie to watch MacFarlane go back and fourth from Peter and Brian, it just doesn’t look like those voices should come out of his mouth. And Seth Green of “”Buffy the Vampire Slayer””? That little whelp is the voice of Chris, the linebacker to be? No way.
While the featurette is amusing for an immediate laugh and awe campaign, the bonuses on the set are rather minimal, though it hardly seems to matter. “”The Family Guy”” speaks for itself; it’s witty, freakishly off-beat and leaves little to be pushed outside the barrier of decency. Fittingly enough, Cartoon Network is adding the show to Adult Swim starting April 20. “”What the deuce?””
The Family Guy, Seasons 1 & 2
****
Starring Seth MacFarlane and Seth Green
In stores now
unrated
