The second 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 Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

'' 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 21 episodes from September 23, 1999, to August 1, 2000. The series 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, mother

Lois Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...

, 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, baby Stewie and their

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

dog Brian, all of whom reside in their hometown of Quahog. The show features the voices of 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-creator ...

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 ...

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 supporting ...

, Lacey Chabert and later Mila Kunis in the roles of the Griffin family. The

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

s for the second production season were David Zuckerman and MacFarlane; the aired season also contained eight episodes which were holdovers from season one. By the end of the second season, due to low ratings, Fox resorted to canceling ''Family Guy''. However, following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. The series was canceled again in 2002; however, high ratings on

and high DVD sales renewed Fox's interest in the series. The series returned for a total of 30 new episodes in 2005. The season received a positive reception from critics, who called the series "extremely witty and darkly hilarious," and was "unfortunately" canceled. The Volume One DVD box set was released in Region 1 on April 15, 2003, and Region 2 on November 12, 2001. All twenty-one of the season's episodes are included in the volume. The first season's seven episodes were also included in the volume.

Production

In 2002, ''Family Guy'' was canceled after three seasons due to low ratings. The show was first canceled after the 1999–2000 season, but following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. During the third season, Fox announced that the show was canceled for good. Fox tried to sell rights for reruns of the show, but it was hard to find networks that were interested;

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

eventually bought the rights, " basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television Production. When the reruns were shown on Cartoon Network's

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

in 2003, ''Family Guy'' became Adult Swim's most-watched show with an average 1.9 million viewers an episode. Following ''Family Guy''s high ratings on Adult Swim, the first and second seasons was released on DVD in April 2003. Sales of the DVD set reached 2.2 million copies, becoming the best-selling television DVD of 2003 and the second highest-selling television DVD ever, behind the first season of Comedy Central's '' Chappelle's Show''. The third season DVD release also sold more than a million copies. The show's popularity in both DVD sales and reruns rekindled Fox's interest in it. They ordered 35 new episodes in 2004, marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales. Fox president Gail Berman said that it was one of her most difficult decisions to cancel the show, and was therefore happy it would return. The network also began production of a film based on the series.

Episodes

Reception

The second season of ''Family Guy'' received positive reviews from critics. Aaron Beierle of DVD Talk said "Often brilliant, extremely witty and darkly hilarious, ''Family Guy'' was unfortunately canceled after Fox bumped it around six or seven different time slots. Fans of the show should definitely pick up this terrific sets , while those who haven't seen it should consider giving it a look." Fewer critics responded negatively to the season, including

Ken Tucker Kenneth Tucker is an American arts, music and television critic, magazine editor, and non-fiction book writer. Early life and education Tucker was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. He earned a ...

of '' Entertainment Weekly'', who graded the series a " D", and named it the worst show of the 1999–2000 television season."Here is a worthy successor to '' Arli$'' as The Awful Show They Just Keep Putting on the Air, a phenomenon as inexplicable as where Larry King gets all his suspenders. As long as they keep bringing back ''Family Guy'', a hunk of ugly animation, I'll keep using it to line the bottom of this barrel." Mark Graham noted "MacFarlane's incredibly rocky relationship with both the magazine and its lead television critic, Ken Tucker" in a blog on the ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'' magazine website. Tucker has also criticized the show for perceived

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

Racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, and

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

jokes; shoddy animation; stolen ideas: the cartoon as vile swill." L. Brent Bozell III expressed in a column of his written in 1999 that he felt that the episode " Holy Crap" promoted

anti-Catholicism Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

. The Parents Television Council, a watchdog and frequent

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

of ''Family Guy'' had initially speculated that ''Family Guy'' would be "pushing the envelope" before the series' 1999 premiere. In May 2000, in its weekly "E-Alert" email newsletter, the PTC launched a letter-writing campaign to the Fox network to persuade the network to cancel ''Family Guy'' following a return from a long hiatus in the show's second season, due to what the PTC claimed were "strong advertiser resistance and low ratings". In addition, ''Family Guy'' made the PTC's 2000 "worst prime-time shows for family viewing".

Home Media release

The first and second seasons were released under the title '' Family Guy Volume One''; this standard four-disc DVD box set debuted in Region 1 on April 15, 2003. Distributed by 20th Century Fox Television, it included several DVD extras such as episode commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, and online promo spots. The same episodes, without the special features, were released in Region 2 on November 12, 2001, and in Region 4 on October 20, 2003.

References

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External links