‘Family Guy’ launches new season Sunday
NEW YORK As everyone must know by now, Fox’s animated series “Family Guy” lives to lampoon human nature and human frailties, and does so without fear or favour.
There’s something bracing about “Family Guy” as it blows its whistle on a society that seems to grow ever coarser and more mean-spirited, while individuals squawk at any hint of disrespect directed toward them and wilt at every trigger word.
For anyone weary of today’s reflexive correctness, the show, with its deft blend of the ingenious and the rudeand-crude, provides a counteractive safe space where no low blow, regardless of how low, is inadmissible. And so it carries on, as porky patriarch Peter Griffin and his family and friends begin their 16th season on Sunday (9 p.m. Eastern) on Fox.
With that in mind, show runners Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin recently shared some details of what lies ahead — including the series’ 300th episode, which won’t be just a milestone, Appel promises, “but one of our best.”
The season premiere, said Sulkin, “will be our shameless grab to win a (best show) Emmy” — an itch so far unscratched by the Television Academy.
As Peter embarks on his own For Your Consideration campaign, he will make “Family Guy” more like proven Emmy-winning shows, including not just comedy but also dramas and reality. Guest voices include Sofia Vergara, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Louis C.K., Bill Maher, Christina Pickles and the late Adam West. What else? “We’ll have a special episode where (precocious toddler) Stewie is in therapy for the entire half-hour,” said Sulkin, “with the therapist played by Sir Ian McKellen.”
“Stewie actually learns something about himself,” said Appel — “as opposed to everyone else’s therapy.”
The series, which premiered in 1999, was created by Seth MacFarlane, who handed over the reins as showrunner in 2010 to pursue other projects, including the two “Ted” films and, currently, his new Fox sci-fi series “The Orville,” which he created, wrote and stars in.
But he continues to voice a number of favourite “Family Guy” characters, “and while he’s recording if there are things that he doesn’t like, or DOES like, he will let us know,” Sulkin said.
One of MacFarlane’s signature elements in the show is its cutaway gags and comic asides. Peppered through each episode’s 22 minutes, those cutaways are where some of its sharpest and most devilish comedy resides, and where the series takes its wildest flights of fancy.
Another MacFarlane masterstroke continues unabated: the considerable naughtiness of “Family Guy.” This means ongoing discussions with the network over content.
“Rich has a background in law,” said Sulkin, “so when we have issues that are brought up by Standards, he is particularly good at making arguments to get us around some of those issues.”