Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the dysfunctional Griffin family, which consists of father Peter (MacFarlane), mother Lois (Alex Borstein), daughter Meg (Lacey Chabert in episodes 1–9, then Mila Kunis in "Da Boom" onwards), son Chris (Seth Green), baby Stewie (MacFarlane) and Brian (MacFarlane), the family dog. The show is set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, and lampoons American culture, often in the form of cutaway gags, and tangential vignettes.
The concept of Family Guy was conceived by MacFarlane in 1995 while studying adult sitcom animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. He created two shorts entitled The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve, both of which played a key role in Fox executives' decision to pick up the series in 1998. After two seasons, Fox decided to cancel the show. Despite the cancellation, a third season was produced, after which the series was officially canceled at the end of 2003. Reruns on Cartoon Network's block Adult Swim drove up interest, and a letter-writing campaign, along with impressive DVD sales, encouraged Fox to bring the show back permanently.