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20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / 2005-2006 / 315 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 14, 2006

The show never cared much for its characters. Peter, wife Lois, their three kids, and their dog don’t learn much or show much genuine emotion. But this show is not about character. It’s about subversion and seeing what they can get away with before Fox pulls the plug in fear of some right wing Christian group freaking out. The show’s strongest attribute is that it takes no prisoners. There is nobody or nothing the show won’t destroy. In this new, 3-disc set (which represents the second half of season 4), they begin with a lengthy riff on Osama Bin Laden, who cracks himself up while recording a terror video. And, whether it’s a barbershop quartet singing about a vasectomy or a serial killer preying on fat people, the show is relentless. And the dialogue is just brilliant. Here are some Season 4 examples:

From the episode Petergeist:
Tom Tucker: A bit of breaking news. A local family is forced out of their home by ghosts. Who are they gonna call?
Diane Simmons (sighs): Ghostbusters, Tom.
Tom Tucker: No, Diane. Their insurance company. That's just stupid what you said.

From the episode Deep Throats:
Brian: I just spent all morning watching a VH1 special on Gwen Stefani. I don't know what a Hollaback girl is. All I know is that I want her dead.

From the episode You May Now Kiss the, Uh, Guy Who Receives:
Chris: What do you do at a Young Republicans meeting?
Alyssa: We help those who already have the means to help themselves. Also, we perpetuate the idea that Jesus chose America to destroy non-believers and brown people.
Chris: I don't know why, but I feel safer already.

From the episode I Take Three Quagmire
Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak: Alright Peter, you’ve made it to the bonus round. Congratulations!
Peter: Thanks Regis.
Pat Sajak: Okay, the category is actor and show, so we need five consonants and a vowel.
Peter: Uhh, ok… Uhhmmm… Z, four, Q (pause), another Q, uhhh… a third Q and the Batman symbol.

Each episode is laugh-out-loud funny. Sure, sometimes it gets tiresome to constantly have a character say, “that reminds me of the time . . . ” which motivates yet another flight of animated fancy, but damn if they’re not funny. And that’s all that matters.
 
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The show’s aspect ratio of 1.33:1 is presented in full screen video. The first couple of seasons featured good video, but not great video. Over the years, however, the video quality has improved until now it’s just great. The season four picture is extremely smooth and bright. Colors are fully saturated, very accurate, and run the gamut from black to white to everything in between. People and objects are filled in so solidly that no color escapes the confines of its outline; there’s no smearing or bleeding. And speaking of outlines, the picture is so sharp, you can see where outlines get thin, as if individual lines weren’t drawn with consistency. There are no compression errors or edge halos. A satisfying transfer.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is also pretty satisfying, if lacking in ambition. Dialogue is understandable, mostly coming from the center speaker. It shows good detail, but a bit of thinness. Some of the deeper voices, like Brian the dog, have some fullness and bass. There are some effects and bits of dialogue that come in from the sides; they’re integrated nicely into the mix. The track opens up beautifully during the show’s many musical number and the song in the opening credits. It’s a pretty simple mix, but it gets the job done.

There are English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The extras are Simpsons-esque in quantity and scope. However, there are some supplements here that delve into the art of directing animation that I wish The Simpsons would include. In other words, some of these extras tell you more about how to direct and create animation than all the Simpsons DVD sets combined.

Every episode features a Seth MacFarlane audio commentary. He’s occasionally joined by others.  Cast members Seth Green and Mila Kunis come and go. The only guest star to be heard is Frank Sinatra Jr. Wallace Shawn would have been a blast but, according to the gang, he lives in New York, so he was not available. The commentaries run the gamut in terms of content: episode inspiration; animation challenges; inside jokes; and, who would win in a fight, Stewie or Bertram. Once you’ve familiarized yourself with an episode, it’s worth listening to every one of these commentaries.

Brian Sings and Swings, You May Now Kiss the Um, Guy Who Receives, Petergeist, Brian Goes Back to College, and The Fat Guy Strangler features an Uncensored Audio Track.  This alternate track features all the same jokes, but the dialogue is sprinkled with four-letter words. It’s not that much, but it’s enough to justify rewatching the episode.

Patriot Games, Sibling Rivalry, PTV, and Brian Goes Back to College feature Multi-Angle Studies. Fans of The Simpsons sets will recognize these. It’s a completed scene compared to its animatic, which can be viewed three ways: side-by-side; animatic in a box; or, completed animation in a box.

Disc 3 has all the other extras. First is A Director’s Life: Debunking The Myth. Those with an interest in animation beyond what an animatic looks like will want to check out this 14-minute supplement. Creator Seth MacFarlane starts things off. He says the timing of jokes, the blocking of action and consistency of style and character is what he looks for in hiring a director. Pete Michaels, James Purdum, Peter Shin, and others weigh in on the difference between live action and animation directing and the idea that the live actor can bring something to a live performance, whereas in animation the entire performance is created by the director. Interesting stuff. 

Peter Shin Draws Stewie is about 5 minutes of Supervising Director Peter Shin, well, drawing Stewie. I can’t say this was all that interesting, but Shin does a good job vamping while taking Sharpie to paper. Since the piece consists of one take, with the camera trained on the paper he’s drawing on, you can fast forward through and get the gist.

Behind the Scenes: A Glimpse into the Family Guy Office is a seven-minute piece where occasional voiceover actor Adam West is greeted by writer Mike Henry (also the voice of Cleveland) and taken around the Family Guy offices. They walk past the reception area, into the main pit (complete with ping pong table) and into the voiceover booth. Then they go into one of the writer’s rooms (the “comedy colon,” Henry calls it), where a bunch of writers are working on a joke. I love this stuff and, not to harp on it, but I wish The Simpsons sets had this kind of material. Video quality is okay; offices with windows are blown out.

Lastly is the collection of Deleted Scenes. Helpfully, the scenes are arranged and numbered by episode (for instance, Brian Goes to College contains seven deleted scenes, Sibling Rivalry has three deleted scenes and so on). All these scenes contain the energy of a normal Family Guy exchange, but none rise to the appropriate level of funny. As expected, subject matter run the gamut, from ET demanding a Diet Sprite with no ice to how Black preachers love words that end in “ity.” Times range from seven seconds to forty seconds. Video quality is equal to a normal episode.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There is DVD-ROM content viewable in 95% of the world’s computers (PC’s). The other 5% (Mac) get nothing.  And with my Mac, I can’t tell you what you’ll find.

Final Thoughts

Damn, is this show funny. Now that The Simpsons is running on fumes, Family Guy easily takes the prize as the funniest show on television (faint but sincere praise from someone who rarely watches network television). The show’s relentless brand of harsh, hilarious humor deserves to live on in DVD form, which is how the series earned its second chance. The DVD features smooth and colorful transfers and some good extras. Splitting the season into two DVD releases is always anger inducing, but I’ll take it however I can get it. Recommended.

Written by Mark Keizer  

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