The ninth season of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ...

'' first aired on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

network in eighteen episodes from September 26, 2010, to May 22, 2011, before being released as two DVD box sets and in syndication. ''Family Guy'' follows the dysfunctional

Griffin family The Griffin family is a fictional family which appears in the List of animated television series, animated television series ''Family Guy''. The Griffins are a dysfunctional family consisting of the married couple Peter Griffin, Peter and Lois G ...

—father

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, mother Lois, daughter

Meg Meg is a feminine given name, often a short form of Megatron, Megan, Megumi (Japanese), etc. It may refer to: People *Meg (singer), a Japanese singer *Meg Cabot (born 1967), American author of romantic and paranormal fiction *Meg Burton Cahill ( ...

, son

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

, baby Stewie and dog

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word m ...

, all of whom reside in their hometown of

Quahog The hard clam ('' Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Princ ...

. Season nine was the debut of the series' eighth production season, which was executive produced by Chris Sheridan, David Goodman, Danny Smith,

Mark Hentemann Mark Henry Hentemann is an American screenwriter, creator and producer for television and film. He is a writer, executive producer and former showrunner of the animated series ''Family Guy'', where he started as a writer in its first season. In ...

Steve Callaghan Steve Callaghan is an American screenwriter, producer and voice actor, best known for his work on ''Family Guy''. He is a graduate of the Department of Public Policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Callaghan started his career in 1999 as a ...

and series creator

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and '' The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creato ...

. The season's

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

s were Hentemann and Callaghan. The season received a mixed reception from critics, who called it "a mixture of laugh out loud gags, groan inducing puns, and astonishing 'I can’t believe they got away with that' statements." Season nine contains some of the series' most acclaimed episodes, including "And Then There Were Fewer", "

Road to the North Pole "Road to the North Pole" is the seventh episode of the ninth season of the animated comedy series ''Family Guy''. Directed by Greg Colton and co-written by Chris Sheridan and Danny Smith, the episode originally aired on Fox in the United States ...

" and " New Kidney in Town", as well as some of the most controversial episodes, including " And I'm Joyce Kinney", " Friends of Peter G.", and " The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair". This season marks the first time ''Family Guy'' aired in

720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcas ...

high-definition and

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

with a remastered title sequence. It was nominated for a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series, Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series and Animation. The Volume Nine DVD box set was released in Region 1 on December 13, 2011, and was released in Region 2 on May 9, 2011 (titled Season 10) and Region 4 on June 15, 2011. Three of the eighteen episodes are included in the volume. The remaining fourteen episodes were included in the Volume Ten DVD box set, released in Region 2 on November 3, 2011, titled Season 11,Family Guy – Season 11 Limited Edition with T-Shirt and Script DVD: Amazon.co.uk: Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis: Film & TV
. Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-11-13. Region 4 on February 29, 2012, and finally on Region 1 on September 24, 2012. One other episode, " It's a Trap!", was released independently on DVD. In the UK, the debut episodes were shown on Sunday nights from May to July 2011 on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

. These repeated the Saturday after, although re-runs of the series continue to be shown on the channel nightly.

Production

Production for the ninth season began in 2009, during the airing of the eighth season. The season was executive produced by series regulars Chris Sheridan, David Goodman, Danny Smith,

and

, along with series creator

. The

showrunners A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

for the ninth season were Hentemann and Callaghan, who oversaw the series's transition into

high definition in the premiere of the ninth-season episode "And Then There Were Fewer". As production began, Callaghan, Andrew Goldberg,

, Patrick Meighan, Brian Scully, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith,

Alec Sulkin Alexander Matthew Sulkin (born February 14, 1973) is an American screenwriter, producer, and voice actor known for his work on ''Family Guy'' and ''The Cleveland Show''. Career Sulkin began as a writer for ''The Late Late Show with Craig Kilbor ...

, John Viener and Wellesley Wild all stayed on from the previous season. Matt Harrigan,

Dave Willis Dave Willis (born May 1, 1970) is an American voice actor, writer, animator, producer and musician. He is best known as the co-creator of the Adult Swim animated series ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'' and ''Squidbillies'', the former of which he v ...

, Anthony Blasucci and Mike Desilets received their first writing credit for the series. Series executive producer David A. Goodman returned as a writer for the series, with Goodman leaving immediately afterward to work on the Fox animated series ''

Allen Gregory ''Allen Gregory'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jonah Hill, Jarrad Paul, and Andrew Mogul for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows pretentious seven-year-old Allen Gregory De Longpre, who is raised by his two rich ...

''.

Kirker Butler Kirker Butler is an American writer, who has written and produced shows such as ''Family Guy'', '' The Cleveland Show'', ''The Neighbors (2012 TV series)'', '' Galavant'', and ''Life in Pieces''. Career Butler joined ''Family Guy'' in 2004, and ...

, who wrote five episodes for the show, left the series before the beginning of the ninth season, in order to write for the Fox animated series ''

The Cleveland Show ''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry (voice actor), Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Family Guy'', the series centers on Cle ...

'', a spin-off of ''Family Guy''. Writer John Viener left the series at the end of the season to also write for ''The Cleveland Show''. Recurring directors Dominic Bianchi, Greg Colton, John Holmquist, Brian Iles, Jerry Langford, Pete Michels, James Purdum, Cyndi Tang and

Julius Wu Julius Wu is an American animation director. He has directed several episodes of the animated series ''Family Guy''. Wu has also served as a director, assistant director and storyboard artist on ''King of the Hill'' and ''The Oblongs'', before ...

all stayed with the show from the previous season.

Peter Shin Peter Shin is an American animator, director, and producer who served as supervising director of '' Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story'', the director of ''Big Bug Man'', the director of ''Family Guy'' episodes " Death Has a Shadow" (the series premi ...

briefly returned to the series as a director to direct the sequel to the episode "

Something, Something, Something, Dark Side "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" is a direct-to-video special of the animated series ''Family Guy'' which later served as the 20th episode of the show's eighth season and is the second part of the series' ''Star Wars'' parody trilogy ...

", entitled " It's a Trap!". Shin also served as supervising director for the season, along with James Purdum. The main cast consisted of Seth MacFarlane (Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Quagmire and Tom Tucker, among others),

Alex Borstein Alexandrea Borstein (born February 15, 1971) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. Borstein voices Lois Griffin on the animated comedy television series '' Family Guy'' (1999–present), and won a Primetime Emmy Award for the rol ...

(Lois Griffin, Loretta Brown, Tricia Takanawa and Barbara Pewterschmidt, among others),

Mila Kunis Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi and raised in Los Angeles, she began playing Jackie Burkhart on the Fox television series '' That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) at the age of 14. Sinc ...

(Meg Griffin),

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor, producer, and writer. Green's film debut came with a role in the comedy-drama film '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supportin ...

(Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman, among others) and Mike Henry (

Cleveland Brown Cleveland Orenthal Brown Sr. is a fictional character from the animated television series ''Family Guy'', and its spin-off series '' The Cleveland Show''. He is a neighbor and friend of the Griffin family and is best known for his mild-mannered ...

and

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, ...

, among others).

Episodes

Home media

The remaining episodes of the eighth season and the first three episodes of the ninth season were released on DVD by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

in the United States and Canada on December 13, 2011. The DVD release features bonus material including four featurettes, "Who Done It? The Making of 'And Then There Were Fewer'", "Brian & Stewie: The Lost Phone Call", "The History of the World According to ''Family Guy''" and the ''Family Guy'' panel at the 2010

San Diego Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...

, along with audio commentaries, animatics and deleted scenes.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Family Guy (Season 9) Family Guy (season 9) episodes Family Guy seasons 2010 American television seasons 2011 American television seasons