The creator of the show, Seth MacFarlane, has been as influential on my adolescent and young adult life as my boyfriends, parties, and the Violent Femmes. I owe to him much of my wittiness (yes, I’d like to think I have a little). Not only did his creation, Family Guy, teach me important life facts, such as how taking Tylenol can cancel out birth control, but also small things like maybe Death is really just a bitter sarcastic faceless man (not so scary, huh). In my mind, Macfarlane can do no wrong (minus the first season of American Dad… really?!).
MacFarlane was born on October 26, 1973. He studied animation at the Rhode Island School of Design[1]. The setting of Family Guy is in Quahog,
MacFarlane is not only the creator of Family Guy, but he also created American Dad and the Cleveland Show. MacFarlane is the animator of the show, and he is also works as a composer, producer, actor, singer, writer, comedian, voice actor, and director on his series.
Some of the elements that characterize MacFarlane’s work are his use of nonhuman characters, pop culture references, flashbacks, cut-aways, montage sequences, and how he ties all of his shows together.
MacFarlane identifies himself as a science fiction fan which would explain his use of nonhumans as characters. On all of MacFarlane‘s series, there is a nonhuman main character. In Family Guy, Brian is the
All of MacFarlane’s cartoon shows are also known to reference popular fiction in movies, television, and humor. The episode “Spies Reminiscent of Us”, the third episode of the new season, is spoofing the movie Spies Like Us. This episode starred
American Dad’s whole theme references pop culture. It is spoofing President George W. Bush’s policies. In Hogwarts American Campus (American Dad!), the show makes a pop reference to the Harry Potter series.
Family Guy’s opening song is done in an Archie Bunker, All in the Family, way, and the Cleveland Show’s opening song is done in the same manner as The Jeffersons. This is very interesting because The
Another one of MacFarlane’s signatures is his cut-away ability. An example of this would be in Back to the Woods (Family Guy) when James Woods steals Peter’s identity. Lois sneaks away to talk to Peter and talks about how James Woods can’t cut-away to random acts in history like Peter can. This is a great scene because it shows just how important this signature is to the Family Guy show.
Cutaways and flashbacks are very important to MacFarlane’s signature. All Peter (Family Guy) has to say is, “it was like this one time when I …” and you will have a cut to the time he is talking about. In the Cleveland Show, Cleveland also cuts back to past events when describing history. In The One About Friends (Cleveland Show) episode, Cleveland cuts to his past and his ability to make friends.
MacFarlane’s shows also use montage sequences. In The One About Friends (Cleveland Show), Cleveland finds the kids playing with his shoes and goes into a montage of him at the mall singing and dancing and buying new shoes. In Spies Reminiscent of Us (Family Guy), there is a Peter montage about using
MacFarlane is noted for tying his shows together. An obvious example of this is on the last episode of the seventh season of Family Guy.
The Cleveland Show and Family Guys aren’t the only shows that have intertwined. In Lois Kills Stewie (Family Guy), Stan and Avery (from American Dad!) meet Stewie. In Family Guy’s, Meet the Quagmires, Roger (alien from American Dad!) makes a cameo.
Having seen possibly every older Family Guy episode ever made, I feel as if I know what is going to happen by heart. Only seeing a few American Dad episodes and the first premier episodes of the Cleveland Show leads me to believe that MacFarlane has a formula, and he obviously sticks with it. All three of MacFarlane’s shows on the air right now are very similar. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!
