Since it first hit the air in 1999, Family Guy has delivered hundreds of episodes packed with
insane antics and crazy cutaways. So much has happened since its debut, we thought it
would be a good time to look back and recap some classic moments from Family Guy's first season.
At some point in the show, Meg went from the slightly odd and neglected child of the family
to default punching bag. It's a shame, because she's a fun character and is now expertly brought
to life by the talented Mila Kunis, but that wasn't always the case. Most people know that Meg
was originally voiced by Lacey Chabert, famous for her work on Mean Girls and Party of Five,
but a mistake in her contract and the desire to focus on school — as well as Party of Five — found
her leaving shortly after the first season. This is hard for some to have spotted, as Chabert isn't
even credited on most episodes she's in, but the actress is said to have left on good terms.
Even more women have been tied to the character. Some were brought in on special episodes to
provide Meg's singing voice, like Tara Strong for example, as well as a couple that never
made it to air. Show creator Seth McFarlane's sister — Rachel McFarlane, who would go on to
a starring role in American Dad! – portrayed Meg in the original pilot episode. But what may
surprise some is that voice acting legend Cree Summer was originally given the job,
to the point of even recording lines for episodes, before being replaced. Meg got swapped around a
lot in the early days, but she is still given a few shining moments in that first season.
The show that would eventually become Family Guy almost began in several different forms — one
of which would have been a segment on MADtv and another version was aimed at a younger
audience. What ended up becoming the first episode of the series we all know today
needed to introduce the audience to the entire Griffin family and get the
audience on board with a clueless father, a talking dog, and a vengeful, verbose baby.
The episode "Death Has a Shadow" focuses a bit more on Peter and doesn't try to be subtle.
Early in the episode, his defense to keep Lois from uncovering his lies is to call her fat,
he loses his job due to drinking 37 beers, and Brian hits him on the head
with a newspaper like he's the bad dog. All of this is in the first half of the episode.
From there, Peter becomes welfare rich, flies a blimp over the Super Bowl,
and lands in jail. It's a lot, quite the journey for a main character in a first
outing. The episode's central conflict is finally resolved thanks to Stewie's mind
control device — but only after the Kool-Aid Man bursts through a wall.
"Oh, yeah!" (Looks around. Slowly backs away.)
The second episode, "I Never Met the Dead Man," holds a memorable moment for many diehard fans,
one that lands somewhere between ingenuity and insanity. For those who have forgotten
that far back, it's Peter's fault that the town has no cable television, and Meg is taking the
blame for the incident. To cope with not being able to occupy his time in front of the tube,
Peter gets creative and crafts his own set out of household scraps.
What most might not remember about this particular episode is that it features the series' first big
celebrity cameo — not just for an opening gag or flashback — and the initial clue fans were given
about MacFarlane's love of Star Trek. Peter begins palling around with none other than
William Shatner, the O.G. Captain Kirk himself. Unfortunately, this is only a visual cameo because
Shatner didn't voice the character. Still, it's great to see the two interact, but thanks to
Stewie's weather machine, Meg's distracted driving takes out the show's first real guest star.
"My God. I hit William Shatner."
"Light growing dimmer. Can't breathe. Beam me up, God." (Shirt pops open)
Throughout the series, everyone seems to abuse Meg. It's a staple of Family Guy.
So it isn't too surprising when the young Griffin daughter gets excited to make a new friend,
Jennifer, even if she is a little odd and too bubbly. This new friend compliments Meg,
unlike the cheerleaders, and even invites her to meet other people their age. It seems like
a wonderful situation all around, even if the boys in the group are all castrated.
Meg's either so happy to have people to finally hang out with or just really slow,
but either way she misses all of the clues that this new group she's found is a cult.
The blue jumpsuit crew is setting up to all drink some punch and die together,
but thankfully, Peter shows up and unwittingly saves his daughter.
The kicker at the end is Peter's last line to Meg,
after the rest of the kids all dispose of themselves off screen...
"Sorry, Meg. I guess that's another bunch of people who'd rather fake their
own death than go to a party with you." Stewie Griffin is a complex individual,
especially after several years of development, but he was a little easier to follow when the
character was simply a baby evil genius in the first season. Sure, his oddly shaped
head and mysterious British accent might make him seem eccentric and out of place,
but it's the wild inventions and diabolical plots that make him such a joy in those early episodes.
Fans will hear the full name of this character a handful of times throughout the series,
but most have forgotten it, or at least that we learned it so early on.
In "Chitty Chitty Death Bang," Stewie's plans to fly to Nicaragua and raise an army,
as well as have an in-flight happy meal, are thwarted when the airport staff believes him
to be a lost little boy. At that point, it's a one way trip to a security office where the
infant believes he's about to be interrogated, and that the officer works for his enemy.
After an airport security guard attempts to understand him and offers some sound
advice about growing up, Stewie reveals his middle name by stating defiantly…
"Stewart Gilligan Griffin runs from nothing!"
The evil genius comes out a little more after that,
when he thanks the guard by freezing him in carbonite.
Peter Griffin gets into a lot of fights, especially with Ernie the giant chicken. Over the
years, we've seen the Family Guy lose his temper for various reasons and throw down with little
thought given to his own well-being. The fourth episode of season one, "Mind Over Murder," shows
a great example of how his impulsive actions get him into a ton of trouble — but this particular
incident has possibly aged the worst out of any of the main story gags in the initial run. Peter is
upset that another parent is speaking ill of his son, Chris, calling him Moby Dick, among other
things. So Peter decides to let his frustration out the only way he knows how — with a punch.
It takes a minute for Peter to realize he's hit a woman, even though everyone is calling her one.
The gravity of the situation doesn't fully sink in until she gives birth on the sidelines. It's
a big plot point at the beginning of the episode and returns later for a quick bit,
but not until after Peter sends her a gift that makes things even worse.
Many shows resort to time travel, but that's usually when the stories are drying up and
the show has jumped the shark. Family Guy decided to deploy it in its fourth episode,
just in case the first three hadn't cemented that there were no rules. Typical to the show's humor,
time travel would be used later on to tell full stories and set up bigger events. But in its
first appearance, the science fiction element simply serves to undo all of Peter's mistakes.
It all began with a teething baby Stewie, who figured the best way to fight the pain would be
to speed up time. Things progress as expected on Family Guy, with Peter punching a pregnant woman,
being put on house arrest, and choosing to build a bar in his basement instead of spending time with
Lois. This sets up an issue with his wife, and other local housewives, who think she's taking
the attention of their men — this part is also Peter's fault — by singing to them at the bar. To
top it off, Quagmire gets bored and accidentally starts a fire on his way out of the establishment.
This all leads to Stewie's time machine saving the house from burning down by turning back
the clock and altering the past. Of course, this does nothing to help with Stewie's dental issues.
"Ah, my teeth!" "I'm free! Free! I claim this mouth in the name of incisor."
Out of all of Peter's friends, Joe Swanson is arguably the most interesting of the bunch. He's
a superb athlete, police officer, a father, and a husband to an almost constantly pregnant woman,
Bonnie. Joe does all of this as a man in a wheelchair, a fact that is hidden until
the big company softball game in his debut episode. Joe is regarded as a legit hero,
one who seems to get everything right and has plenty of stories to tell, but the main one
he shares in the fifth episode, "A Hero Sits Next Door," is the origin of how he lost his mobility.
It was a snowy Christmas Eve in the big city, and some presents had been stolen from a local
orphanage. Officer Swanson had climbed to a rooftop to find a figure with a large sack,
but this particular intruder looks familiar to everyone as The Grinch. The two fought atop the
snow covered roof, and just as Joe thought he'd retrieved the children's presents,
the fiendish Grinch threw a skate, tripping up Joe and sending him off the building. The fall
paralyzed him, but he found the strength to give a Christmas present to an orphan.
Still, Stewie isn't impressed with the story and just wants to take over Joe's wheelchair.
"Oh, enough. If you won't share your technological schemata with me peaceably,
I shall take the information from you by force."
"Well, looks like you have a fan."
Lois has an odd past, but most of those aspects aren't revealed until later on in the series
and only in little bits. Before things like her wealthy family or illicit affair with a member of
KISS were brought up, fans mostly saw her as the consummate housewife, the person who had to shop,
cook, clean, and take care of the kids. But, like the rest of her family,
she's not perfect and we get a hint of this in the first season.
In "The Son Also Draws," there's a convoluted plot centered on Chris being kicked out of the
Boy Scouts that sends the family on a road trip. That, of course, goes awry and they
end up at an Indian casino, giving Lois the chance to gamble and become addicted.
It all happens quite fast and sets up the conflict for the second half of the episode,
after Lois bets and loses the car, stranding the family at the casino. The rest of the episode
deals with Peter's scheme to get their property back. This sends the father and son duo on a
vision quest with no food, but Lois' addiction is overlooked for the rest of the episode,
minus a brief scene when they return. Also, for some reason,
Peter hallucinates and receives sage advice from an unexpected source.
"Ay! Yo, Griffin."
"The Fonz?"
"Ayyy!" In the final episode
of the first season, the Griffins have to deal with a heat wave and a broken air conditioner,
which means that Peter needs money fast. He reads about a local dog show,
and figures that winning it might be the answer to his problems. Brian's against the idea,
but does it for the family. He aces the obstacle course but stops during the final test:
begging for his treat. His refusal to perform this last trick, in an attempt to keep his dignity,
upsets Peter and is the catalyst for a huge argument between the two. These issues get
more complicated after Brian is picked up by the police for not having his license or a leash.
This is when the audience learns where actually Brian came from. Peter reminds him that he was a
stray, and the resulting flashback reveals more about their first meeting. Brian was homeless,
waiting at a stop light and cleaning windshields for spare change. Peter feels bad for the talking
animal and invites him home for dinner, which was the beginning of their long friendship.
After we learn about Brian's origin story, things get even worse for the family dog.
He eventually ends up homeless again and locked up in the pound. Of course, by the end of the
episode, he makes up with the Griffin family and he lets Peter know how he really feels about him.
(Brian licks Peter) "If you ever tell anyone about that, I will kill you."
Since this is Family Guy, where continuity isn't necessarily the ultimate goal,
we should point out that Brian's backstory has changed a couple times throughout the
series — which is fine with us, because we get more scenes of him as a puppy.
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