Family Guy
Vol. 2 (Season 3) Boxed Set
(2000)
review by Head Cheeze

When Family Guy first popped up on television here in the U.S., it's first episodes were just so lowbrow I instantly lumped it in with the other Simpsons wanna-be's that had been clogging up the airways every season since that show's inception. However, after a few episodes, Family Guy started to do something I'd not thought possible:

It became funnier than The Simpsons.

Yes, you read that right. Family Guy became funnier than The Simpsons, who, to be honest, have been pretty spotty the last few years. Creator Seth McFarlane began taking the show in such a brutally politically incorrect direction that it was astounding it wasn't banned from the airways (although one episode, included in this set, was!). Handicapped people, sexual preferences, race, you name it, nothing was sacred, and it just got crazier as the series hurtled toward it's inevitable cancellation. Now, with a second life on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the series has found the popularity that alluded it on the FOX network (and talk of new episodes has arisen!!)

For those of you who haven't seen the show, Family Guy centers around the misadventures of the Griffin family, led by pudgy patriarch, Peter (McFarlane), his sensible and sexy wife, Lois (Borstein), drama queen daughter, Meg (Kunis), and borderline retarded son, Chris (Green). Rounding out the clan are psychotic baby Stewie and martini loving, chain smoking dog Brian (both also voiced by McFarlane). The show's best bits, in my opinion, revolve around Stewie, who speaks in a perfectly proper British accent, spewing forth venemous insults and profanity laced diatribes, all while plotting the destruction of the world around him. His chief nemesis, Lois, dismisses all of Stewies rantings as baby-talk (which is pretty much what everyone else hears, save Brian and other babies.) Everyone get's classic lines, but Stewie's are the one's that make me laugh to the point of tears (an example; during a snowball fight, Brian hit's Stewie square in the ass, to which the delighted baby replies "Oh, good shot, man. You certainly made my brown eye blue"). It's probably not as funny to read my description, but picture a crudely drawn evil infant with the voice of Dr. Smith from Lost in Space, and you'll get my drift.

The boxed set features 22 episodes, and every single one of them is a keeper. Seriously, this is just one non-stop jokefest that you'll have to take in small doses just to keep from bruising your ribs with laughter. I can't even pick a favourite because each one has at least one water cooler moment (in Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington, Peter and family attend a company cookout in which one of the activities is "Catch the Greased Up Naked Deaf Guy", as he runs away yelling "Youn cann cantch meeeenh" in that very distinctive deaf guy voice. It's one of several reasons I am going to hell.). Other highlights include The Thin White Line, in which Brian becomes addicted to cocaine after a stint as a drug sniffing dog for the police, and Emission Impossible in which Stewie shrinks himself down and pilots a small ship into Peter's testes to destroy his sperm before he and Lois can concieve another child.

The series is truly something that has to be seen to be believed. There's stuff on here that I just can't imagine any network in their right mind (although we ARE talking about FOX, sooo...) would greenlight, but even they have their limits, and one episode deemed to controversial for television is included here. Said episode, When You Wish Upon a Weinstein, focuses on Peter's discovery that "all Jewish people are successful", and he sets about trying to convince his doltish son Chris that he should "become a Jew". It's absolutely the most tasteless and envelope pushing half hour of television I've ever seen, and it's as fucking hilarious as it is offensive.

The Family Guy Boxed Set has great special features, including some hilariously vulgar commentaries from McFarlane, Green, and other cast and crew members on six of the episodes ("Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington," "Death Lives," "Mr. Saturday Night," "Ready, Willing and Disabled," "Brian Wallows," "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein"), as well as animatics, series overview, and more.

If you're a fan of comedy, animated or otherwise, and think you've seen it pushed to the limits, think again. Family Guy not only breaks the boundaries of good taste, it obliterates them, re-constructs them for shits and giggles, and then blows 'em apart all over again for good measure. It's quite simply the funniest thing going at the time, and comes with my absolute HIGHEST recommendation!