When this show debuted after the Super Bowl on January 31, 1999, I had a new favorite show. The brand of humor was unique, and the characters cracked me up. Peter Griffin and his family live in Quahog, Rhode Island where he works as product safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Company. Lois, his wife, gave up the privileged life to marry the man she fell in love with and now she's a housewife who cooks, cleans, run errands, teaches piano and avoids the attempts on her life from her son, Stewie. Speaking of Stewie, he's a one-yeah-old baby that wants one thing; total world domination. Well, world domination and the death of Lois. Chris is the big, dumb, lovable son who idolizes his dad. Meg is an average 16 year-old that struggles to gain acceptance at school and is embarrassed by her father. He may be the family dog, but Brian is the most eloquent member of the household. He's a gentleman, a scholar, and Peter's best friend. Brian is the voice of reason in the house and keeps the others out of trouble.
After 3 seasons, and 50 episodes, Family Guy was cancelled because of poor ratings. It's a fate suffered by thousands of other shows, except Family Guy is an exception. After strong ratings on Cartoon Network, and stellar DVD sales, it was announced that the show would return to Fox in the spring of 2005. The news was incredible; a show had never been cancelled by a network and then returned to the same network before. The series returned to the best ratings it had ever enjoyed. Yes, Family Guy was back, and better than ever!
This 3 disc set contains the first 13 episodes of Season 4:
Disc 1 (1:26:54)
North by North Quahog (21:58)
Fast Time at Buddy Cianci Jr, High (21:11)
Blind Ambition (21:53)
Don't Make Me Over (21:52)
Disc 2 (1:28:06)
The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire (21:53)
Petarded (22:28)
Brian the Bachelor (21:53)
8 Simple Rules for Buying my Teenage Daughter (21:52)
Disc 3 (1:47:59)
Breaking Out is Hard to Do (21:43)
Model Misbehavior (21:43)
Peter's Got Woods (21:21)
Perfect Castaway (21:23)
Jungle Love (21:49)
Video
The video quality of the show hasn't changed much between the various volumes. You'll still notice some jaggy animations when a frame is paused, but this is how the show aired, and isn't a problem with the DVD. The animation in these episodes is a lot better, especially when they use 3D animation for the backgrounds. I was disappointed that Fox chose not to set a chapter after the opening on each episode; it was hit or miss. Each disc contains a "play all" option.
Audio
Freakin' sweet! That's how I'd describe the audio for Volume 3. The previous sets were Dolby Surround, and while that's a fine format, Volume 3 features a full 5.1 mix. The difference between the two is so obvious; I knew they changed something when I heard the opening of the first episode. The rear speakers are used a lot, especially for the music; it sounds superb in 5.1. Non-English fans will be upset by Fox dropping the Spanish and French tracks, though subtitles are available (as well as English).
Commentary Tracks
I found these commentary tracks to be better than the ones on previous sets; they actually had something to say this time. The best has to be the track with James Woods, "Peter's Got Woods."
"North by North Quahog" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan Seth Green and Peter Shin.
"Blind Ambition" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Steve Callaghan and Chuck Klein.
"The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, James Purdum and Mike Henry.
"Petarded" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild.
"Brian the Bachelor" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Seth Green and Mark Hentemann.
"8 Simple Rules for Buying my Teenage Daughter" - Seth MacFarlane, Mila Kunis, Greg Colton, Patrick Meighan, David Goodman and Chris Sheridan.
"Breaking Out is Hard to Do" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Tom Devanney, Kurt Dumas and Wellesley Wild.
"Peter's Got Woods" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, James Woods, Danny Smith and Chuck Klein.
"Perfect Castaway" - Seth MacFarlane, Danny Smith, Mike Henry, Mark Hentemann, James Purdum and Mila Kunis.
"Jungle Love" - Seth MacFarlane, David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Seth Green, Alex Sulkin, Wellesley Wild and Mark Hentemann.
World Domination: The Family Guy Phenomenon (24:11)
Seth MacFarlane and other cast and crew members talk about the return of the show to television. This is a great featurette!
Deleted Scene Animatics (2:22)
Brian sings a song and there are a couple of shots of animatics.
Score! The Music of Family Guy (7:57) Family Guy has a full orchestra producing music for the series; this featurette is all about the music.
Multi-Angle Table Read (14:43)
Watch table reads for "North by North Quahog" (4:32) and two for "Blind Ambition" (4:14 and 5:57). This isn't a "multi-angle" piece where you can switch the angles yourself; you'll watch footage from the table read and see the finished scene.
Storyboard/Animatic Comparisons (20:25)
Watch the animatic and finished scene for 3 episodes; "Don't Make Me Over" (7:01), "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire" (5:31) and "Brian the Bachelor" (7:53).
American Dad Preview (0:54)
A short preview for American Dad, with a note that it's coming soon to DVD.
Summary
I think everyone knows I'm a fan of this show, hell, getting Family Guy on DVD was one of the reasons I started the site. The news that the show would return was music to my ears; my favorite show was coming back! I'll admit to being a little worried that the show would be different; maybe some of the cast wouldn't return and the voices would be different. That didn't happen, and the show picked up right where it left off. If anything I think it's improved, certainly in the animation.
The animation isn't the only thing to improve; Fox has done a great job in delivering a better Family Guy DVD set. The audio has been dramatically improved, going from a Dolby Surround to a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, but they've also improved the extras. There are 10 episodes with commentary tracks, a really nice featurette on the return of the show, and other interesting material. Fox's love for the series is more apparent with the release of this set.
My only complaint, and one already voiced by a number of readers, is the price of the set. Volume 1 contained 28 episodes for $49.98 ($1.79/episode), while Volume 2 contained 23 episodes for $49.98 ($2.17/episode). Now Volume 3 contains 13 episodes for $39.98, which puts the price per episode at $3.08. Yes, this set is better than the previous ones, but the average consumer knows they're paying more money for fewer episodes; it looks like the studio is making a cash grab. I think Fox should have waited until the season was over before releasing the set. On the other hand, it was the potential of DVD sales that brought the show back, so it makes sense they would try to make as much money off it as possible. Hey, it's a lot cheaper than the equivalent of 3 episodes on Stewie Griffin for $29.98.
