Top 10 Family Guy Facts
The creator of Family Guy narrowly missed being killed in the terrorist attacks. He was supposed to be on United Flight 11, which was one of the hijacked planes. MacFarlane says he was hungover that morning and thought his flight left later than it did. As a result, he accidentally missed his flight. It was one of the craziest coincidences in history that he missed a hijacked flight that would have killed him if he had made it.
You might be wondering how a separate network saved a Fox show. Family Guy was canceled in 2002 after only three seasons. It originally aired alongside The Simpsons in its opening season, giving it strong ratings. Then, it was moved to Thursday nights where the show competed with Friends and Survivor. It almost got canceled after two seasons, but they managed to give it a third season. After that, the show was canceled, and that was the end of the Griffin family until Cartoon Network acquired the rights to the show and aired seasons 1-3 on Adult Swim during the hiatus from 2002-2005. This allowed a fanbase for the show to rapidly grow, and DVD sales skyrocketed, which prompted Fox to pick the show up again. It has been going strong ever since.
When MacFarlane made the original pilot episode "Death Has a Shadow," there were some differences from the final version. Most notably, Meg's wardrobe was white and blue instead of pink, and Lois had blonde hair instead of the red hair and turquoise shirt we're used to seeing in the show today. This also explains why Chris is the only member of the Griffin family who has blonde hair in the actual show.
This is one that even Super Fans might not realize, but it's a subtle running gag. Once you notice it, it really makes you think. It's not anything as outrageous as a Peter Chicken Fight or Meg being the butt of every joke, but it's something funny and I like it.
This fact is my favorite. I am a big fan of the show, and I didn't know this!
This is somewhat similar to "Great Scott!" and "This is heavy" in Back to the Future.
It's no secret that MacFarlane plays Brian as well as characters like Peter, Stewie, and Quagmire, but his actual personality is most reflected by Brian, as well as his political beliefs and rationale. This is probably why he's usually seen as the "Voice of Reason." Brian's voice is also just Seth MacFarlane's normal talking voice.
It's hard to believe a character like Peter Griffin was actually based on a real person. MacFarlane based his voice on a security guard's voice at the college he attended. In interviews, MacFarlane said he loved the man's loud and hilarious Rhode Island accent, and it has stuck ever since.
Meg is one of the only characters whose voice actor has changed throughout the series. Meg's original voice actor was Lacey Chabert, who voiced Meg for a season. She's notable for playing Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls. Mila Kunis is the much more recognizable voice of Meg, having been the voice since season 2.
The intro theme for Family Guy, featuring Peter and Lois at the piano, is iconic in its own right. However, it actually pays homage to the 70's sitcom All in the Family. While Family Guy mirrors this other show in many ways, it is also very different.
South Park is a similar animated show that pokes fun at just about everything from its characters to history, pop culture, and current events. However, the creators of these two shows do not get along. The South Park creators have stated this in multiple interviews.
Family Guy has featured a Star Wars-themed episode from time to time, which obviously means they would have had to get approval from Lucasfilm first. George Lucas was a huge fan of the show and he was totally cool with the Family Guy cast's reenactment of Star Wars, which is a good thing because those episodes were some of the most interesting in the entire series.