Brian Griffin

Brian Griffin is a fictional character and is one of the protagonists of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the pet of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998. Brian was created and designed by MacFarlane himself. MacFarlane was asked to pitch a pilot to the Fox Broadcasting Company based on Larry and Steve, a short made by MacFarlane which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. After the pilot was given the green light, The Griffin family appeared on the episode "Death Has a Shadow".

Brian is a member of the Griffin family. He primarily works in the series as a writer in various styles including essays, books, novels, scripts and news paper articles. Brian is also the father of a human boy named Dylan.

His appearance was a redesign of the protagonist Steve from MacFarlane's previous animated short films, The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve. The Brian Griffin character has received generally positive reviews from critics. He has appeared in several pieces of Family Guy merchandise, including toys, t-shirts and a video game, and has made crossover appearances in other shows, including South Park and the Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show.

Contents

Role in Family Guy

Brian is a white furred dog who acts more human than canine throughout the series, performing acts such as standing on his hind legs and walking on them like a human, using his front legs and paws as human arms and hands complete with opposable thumb, and speaking. He is the pet dog and friend of the Griffin family. He is the son of Cocoa and Biscuit who are normal dogs, though Brian's human attributes have been present since he was a puppy. Brian is unemployed but he is often seen writing various types of artistic literature. In the episode "Play it Again, Brian" Brian won an award for an essay he wrote.[1] In the episode "420", (season 7, 2009) Brian finally publishes his novel "Faster Than the Speed of Love", the novel is shipped, but it is critically panned and does not sell a single copy.[2] Then he receives an invitation to an award ceremony celebrating his novel, by the Rhode Island Society for Special Literary Excellence. Brian, convinced that he is a great writer, attempts to gain the family's interest in this piece of news but fails to do so. Once he arrives at the "award ceremony" however, he discovers that he has misunderstood the meaning of the word "special," in the episode "Dog Gone", (season 8, 2009). Later in the episode "Brian Griffin's House of Payne", were he wrote a television script entitled "What I Learned on Jefferson Street", the script was shown to a TV network who picked it up after reading it.[3][4]

Family Guy uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not age much, so the show is always assumed to be set in the current year. However, several of the characters, such as Meg Griffin, have aged two to three years since the show's pilot episode, while others, such as Stewie and Brian, have remained the same age.[5] In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, although this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes.

Character

Creation

Series creator Seth MacFarlane created and voices Brian.

When he was still in college, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane created a cartoon short entitled Life of Larry.[6] The short centered around a middle-aged man named Larry and his anthropomorphic dog Steve.[7] In 1999, when MacFarlane was working for Hanna-Barbera Studios, writing for shows such as Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, and Cow and Chicken,[8] he made a sequel to Life of Larry, which Cartoon Network broadcast in 1995.[9] The short caught the eye of 20th Century Fox representatives, who asked him to create a TV series revolving around the characters.[7] MacFarlane received a US$50,000 budget to develop a pilot for the show, which was, as MacFarlane stated in a 2006 interview, "[...] about one twentieth of what most pilots cost".[8] MacFarlane claims to have drawn inspiration from several sitcoms, namely The Simpsons and All in the Family.[10] Several premises were also carried over from several 1980s Saturday morning cartoons he watched as a child, namely The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, and Rubik, the Amazing Cube.[11]

In three months, MacFarlane created the Griffin family and developed a pilot for the show he called Family Guy.[12] Brian's character was largely based on Steve, and Larry would be the main inspiration for the Brian character.[13]

Voice

Actor William H. Macy auditioned for the role of Brian Griffin.

The voice of Brian is provided by the shows creator MacFarlane who provides the voice for Peter, Stewie, and Quagmire. MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time only characters, most prominently those of news anchor Tom Tucker, Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt, and Dr. Hartman.[14] MacFarlane has been part of the main voice cast from the beginning of the series including the pilot, as well he has been voicing Brian from the start.[15] MacFarlane chose to voice Peter and the rest of characters voices himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it.[11]

"Part of it was the fact that there was no money, initially. Part of it is that it's just the way I like to work. I like the freedom of being able to just get in there and do it myself. To look at a storyboard and be involved with what the visual acting looks like, as well as the voice acting, is nice. It frees me up to do jokes that are maybe unconventional that need to be done an exact, specific way, that can only be done by involvement with both parts of the process."

Seth MacFarlane, on voicing the characters, Interview with The Onion.[16]

The voice of Brian is different to Peter and Stewie's voice as they were inspired from a security guard and Rex Harrison respectively, because Brian's voice is MacFarlane's normal speaking voice. MacFarlane noted in an interview that a reason that he voices Peter and the rest of the characters he voices is because they had a small budget. But that he prefers to have the freedom of to do it himself.[16]

There have been occasions were MacFarlane does not voice Brian, such as in the episode "Road to the Multiverse", (season 8, 2009), were Brian in not voiced by MacFarlane in a scene, instead he was voiced by Japanese actor Kotaro Watanabe, who was required for a scene where everything in the world was Japanese.[17] MacFarlane noted that actor William H. Macy auditioned for the role of Brian.[16]

Personality

Brian frequently gets drunk with Peter and his neighbors Cleveland, Joe and Quagmire at "The Drunken Clam," Quahog's local tavern.[18] Brian dates a lot of women throughout the seasons of the show. He normally looks for women that are similar to him or share the same interests. In the episode "Brian the Bachelor", (season 4, 2005) Brian participates in ABC's The Bachelorette and falls in love with the bachelorette, Brooke, because they shared the same interests.[19] Though he dated Jillian Fisher, who introduced in the episode "Whistle While Your Wife Works", (season 5, 2006), who became a recurring character in future episodes of the series.[20] Jillian's final character personality was designed to be a stereotypical blond, "a bulimic cheerleader," and "not the brightest bauble on the tree."[21] Brian has a cultured background; he loves opera and jazz, and is vocally talented. In the episode "Brian Sings and Swings" Brian meets Frank Sinatra Jr., they both sing together in the episode and also in the episode "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing".[22]

Brian's relationship with the Griffin family is different with each member. Peter and Brian are friends. In the episode "The Man With Two Brians", (season 8, 2008) Peter states that Brian is the one that helps him get out of the trouble of his shenanigans.[23] Though sometimes Peter and Brain can struggle with their friendship, such as in "Peter's Got Woods", (season 4, 2005) were Peter replaces Brian with James Woods.[24] Brian has a crush on Peter's wife Lois, which is used as a recurring joke in the series. In "Brian in Love", (season 2, 2000) it is revealed that Brian is in love with Lois and they both talk about it. Then in "Play It Again, Brian", (season 6, 2008) Brian tries to kiss her.[25] [26] Brian's relationship with Meg and Chris is very simple but they do have their good moments and adventures such as when Brian accompanied Meg to her prom in the episode "Barely Legal .[27] Brian and Stewie's relationship is complicated as they fight many times but also go on various adventures. In the "Road to..." series, which is a parody of the Road to film series, Brian and Stewie have gone on various adventures to several different locations, including Europe, World War II era England, Poland, and Nazi Germany, and a number of different realities across the Multiverse.[28][29]

Reception

"Man's best friend is a poor understatement when it comes to dealing with Peter's constant mission to paint the world with all sorts of stupid. You'd think witnessing so much anti-thought would cut the poor guy a break, but no. And that's part of the character's charm: Always being on hand for the solid quip or sarcastic commentary. Having lived with the Griffins for many years, and being accepted (and audibly heard more than Stewie for some reason) as a peer, Brian has become a character as important to fans as the show's titular star".

Ahsan Haque, IGN[30]

IGN has given Brian a positive review. IGN called Brian the best talking man-dog.[30] They also praised Brian with his adventures with Stewie calling them, "center of many of the show's best bits".[30] IGN later made a list titled "Family Guy: Stewie and Brian's Greatest Adventures", were they stated that "Brian and Stewie paired together has always been a winning formula for Family Guy". They also praised the selection of Brian to play Chewbacca as they stated in the Blue Harvest review. In their list of "What Else Should Family Guy Make Fun Of?", IGN commented that Brian would be perfect to play Q, if Family Guy ever decides to make a 007 parody.[31] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club praised the Brian character, and stated that "Brian has always been the show's best character and its most developed one".[32]

Commendations

In IGN's "Family Guy: Top 10 Fights" Brian's fight with Stewie in the episode "Patriot Games, (season 4, 2006).[33] In IGN's top 10 musical moments in Family Guy Brian ranked number 6 spot, number 5 spot and number with the songs, "The Freakin' FCC" from "PTV", (Season 4, 2005), "Never Gonna Give You Up" from "Meet the Quagmires" (Season 5, 2007) and "This House Is Freakin' Sweet" from Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater, (season 2, 1999) respectively.[34] Brian was ranked number 2 in IGN's Top 25 Family Guy Characters.[30]

Cultural influence

Appearances in other media

Brian has had several television appearances outside Family Guy. In the Family Guy parodies of the Star Wars original trilogy titled Blue Harvest, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side and It's A Trap which are parody's of IV: A New Hope, V: The Empire Strikes Back and VI: Return of the Jedi respectively.[35][36] Brian appears as Chewbacca in these films.[37] Brian has also appeared in South Park's "Cartoon Wars Part I" with Peter and him represented in south park animation. Brian, and most of the central characters on Family Guy, also appeared in the pilot episode of the show's spin-off The Cleveland Show.[38]

Merchandise

Brian is also featured on the Family Guy: Live in Vegas CD,[39] and plays a significant part in Family Guy Video Game!, the first Family Guy video game, which was released by 2K Games in 2006.[40] MacFarlane recorded exclusive material of Brian's voice and other Family Guy characters for a 2007 pinball machine of the show by Stern Pinball.[41] In 2004, the first series of Family Guy toy figurines was released by Mezco Toyz, each member of the Griffin family had their own toy, with the exception of Stewie, of whom two different figures were made.[42] Over the course of two years, four more series of toy figures have been released.[43]

As of 2009, six books have been released about the Family Guy universe, all published by HarperCollins since 2005.[44] This include Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One (ISBN 978-0-7528-7593-4), which covers the entire events of the episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One",[45] and Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded (ISBN 978-1-4051-6316-3), a collection of seventeen essays exploring the connections between the series and historical philosophers.[46] which include Brian as a character.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Trechak, Brad (March 3, 2008). "Family Guy: Play it Again, Brian - VIDEO". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/03/03/family-guy-play-it-again-brian/. Retrieved 2010-02-26. 
  2. ↑ "420". Film.com. http://www.film.com/tv/family-guy/season-8-2008/episode-12-420/27594853. Retrieved 2010-8-1. 
  3. ↑ "Danielle Panabaker on Family Guy". D-Panabaker.org. http://d-panabaker.org/2010/03/29/danielle-panabaker-on-family-guy/. Retrieved 2010-04-04. 
  4. ↑ "Behind the scenes of 'Family Guy' Character 'voice' star to speak". The Advocate. November 19, 2006. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AD&p_theme=ad&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11597438A790F3B8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. 
  5. ↑ Callaghan, Steve (2005). "A Hero Sits Next Door". Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide, Seasons 1–3. New York City, New York: HarperCollins. p. 32. ISBN 006083305X. 
  6. ↑ ""Family Guy Seth MacFarlane to speak at Class Day". Harvard Gazette. November 5, 2006. http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/05.11/03-classday.html. Retrieved October 18, 2009. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bartlett, James (March 12, 2007). "Seth MacFarlane – he’s the “Family Guy”". The Great Reporter (Presswire Limited). http://greatreporter.com/mambo/content/view/1383/11/. Retrieved October 18, 2009. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 MacFarlane, Seth (2006). "Inside Media at MTR (2006): Family Guy 2". Yahoo! Video (The Paley Center for Media). http://au.video.yahoo.com/watch/1929627/2891929. Retrieved October 18, 2009. 
  9. ↑ Graham, Jefferson (January 29, 1999). "Cartoonist MacFarlane funny guy of Fox's 'Family' Subversive voice of series is his". USA Today: p. 7E. 
  10. ↑ "Interview with Seth MacFarlane". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/429/429628p10.html. Retrieved December 9, 2009. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cruz, Gilbert (2008-09-26). "Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane". Time. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1844711,00.html. Retrieved 2009-08-28. 
  12. ↑ Dean, Josh (October 13, 2008). "Seth MacFarlane’s $2 Billion Family Guy Empire". Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/130/family-values.html?page=0%2C3. Retrieved October 18, 2009. 
  13. ↑ Strike, Joe (February 13, 2007). "Cartoon Network Pilots Screened by ASIFA East at NYC's School of Visual Arts". Animation World Network. http://www.awn.com/news/events/cartoon-network-pilots-screened-asifa-east-nycs-school-visual-arts. Retrieved October 18, 2009. 
  14. ↑ Graham, Jefferson (January 29, 1999). "Cartoonist MacFarlane funny guy of Fox's 'Family' Subversive voice of series is his". USA Today: p. E7. 
  15. ↑ "Family Guy Cast and Details". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/family-guy/cast/100148. Retrieved August 24, 2009. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Rabin, Nathan (2006-01-26). "Seth MacFarlane". The A.V. Club. Onion, Inc.. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/23365. Retrieved 2007-09-26. 
  17. ↑ "Family Guy – Road to the Multiverse – Cast and Crew". Yahoo!. http://tv.yahoo.com/episode/217820/castcrew. Retrieved 2010-04-04. 
  18. ↑ McNarma, Chris (2007-09-14). "'Family Guy Live' a fresh channel for laughs". Chicago Tribune: p. 1. 
  19. ↑ Goodman, David. (2006). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Brian the Bachelor". [DVD]. 20th Century Fox. 
  20. ↑ Iverson, Dan (2006-11-13). "Family Guy: "Whistle While Your Wife Works" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/745/745534p1.html. Retrieved 2009-10-27. 
  21. ↑ Barrymore, Drew. (2006). Family Guy season five DVD commentary for the episode "Whistle While Your Wife Works". [DVD]. 20th Century Fox. 
  22. ↑ Smith, Shannon. (2005). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Brian Sings and Swings". [DVD]. 20th Century Fox. 
  23. ↑ "The Main with Two Brians from Family Guy". Film.com. http://www.film.com/tv/family-guy/season-8-2008/episode-5-the-man-with-two-brians/23991392. Retrieved 2010-02-27. 
  24. ↑ "FOX Fall Schedule". FOX. http://www.fox.com/schedule/showinfo/familyguy/fg_414.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-09. 
  25. ↑ Koski, Genevieve (March 2, 2008). "The Debarted" / "The Accdental Terrorist" / "Play It Again, Brian". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-debarted-the-accdental-terrorist-play-it-again,12845/l. Retrieved 2010-02-26. 
  26. ↑ Haque, Ahsan. "Family Guy: "Brian in Love" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/896/896754p1.html. Retrieved 2009-12-02. 
  27. ↑ Moncrief, Zac. (2007). Family Guy season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Barely Legal". [DVD]. 20th Century Fox. 
  28. ↑ Phelps, Ben (2009-10-16). "Relying on stereotypes, ‘Family Guy’ sticks to its formula, ‘Cleveland’ shows a softer side". Tufts Daily. Tufts University. http://www.tuftsdaily.com/relying-on-stereotypes-family-guy-sticks-to-its-formula-cleveland-shows-a-softer-side-1.2001650#4. Retrieved 2010-08-06. "The show kicked off its eighth season with another entry in the now-classic “Road to …” series, which allows for many different sight gags and opportunities for a wide range of humor." 
  29. ↑ Love, Brett (2007-01-29). "Family Guy: Road to Rupert". TV Squad. America On Line. http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/01/29/family-guy-road-to-rupert/. Retrieved 2010-08-06. "The FG team went back to familiar territory this week, bringing us another "Road to..." episode." 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 Haque, Ahsan. "Top 25 Family Guy Characters". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/987/987014p8.html. Retrieved 2010-08-18. 
  31. ↑ Haque, Ahsan (February 11, 2010). "What Else Should Family Guy Make Fun Of?". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/106/1068679p1.html. Retrieved 2010-02-28. 
  32. ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd (November 30, 2009). ""Rednecks and Broomsticks"/"From Bed to Worse"/"Dog Gone"/"G-String Circus"". The A.V. Club. 
  33. ↑ Haque, Ahsan. "Family Guy: Top 10 Fights". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/100/1005692p1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-14. 
  34. ↑ Haque, Ahsan. "Family Guy: Top 10 Musical Moments". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/949/949158p10.html. Retrieved 2009-11-14. 
  35. ↑ "Family Guy Presents :Blue Harvest". Family guyblueharvest.com. http://www.familyguyblueharvestdvd.com. Retrieved November 28, 2009. 
  36. ↑ Firecloud, Johnny. "Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side". Crave Online. http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/tv/article/family-guy-something-something-something-dark-side-92835. Retrieved 2009-12-25. 
  37. ↑ Hughes, Jason (2010-05-24). "Sundays With Seth: Cleveland Strikes Back". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/05/24/sundays-with-seth-cleveland-strikes-back/. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
  38. ↑ Conroy, Tom (2009-10-08). "Cleveland Show, acquired lack of taste". Media Life Magazine. http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/TV_Reviews_21/Cleveland_Show_acquired_lack_of_taste.asp. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
  39. ↑ Owen, Rob (2005-05-01). "'Family Guy' goes beyond TV with CD, movie". Press-Enterprise. http://www.pe.com/entertainment/stories/PE_Fea_Ent_D_familyguy.stuff.581fa.html#. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
  40. ↑ "'Family Guy' makes for simple-but-funny gaming". The Gazette. 2006-11-24. 
  41. ↑ Finley, Adam (2007-02-03). "Family Guy pinball is freakin' sweet". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/02/03/family-guy-pinball-is-freakin-sweet/#. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
  42. ↑ Clodfelter, Tim (2004-11-11). "Here's the Offbeat Stuff that true geeks are made of". Winston-Salem Journal: p. 33. 
  43. ↑ Szadkowski, Joseph (2006-06-03). "Undead monster doomed to wander the high seas". The Washington Times. 
  44. ↑ "Search results: Family Guy". HarperCollins. http://www.harpercollins.com/search/index.aspx?kw=family+guy. Retrieved 2009-08-23. 
  45. ↑ "Family Guy: It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One". HarperCollins. http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061143328/Family_Guy_It_takes_a_Village_Idiot_and_I_Married_One/index.aspx. Retrieved 2008-12-26. 
  46. ↑ "Philosophy Professor Jeremy Wisnewski Publishes Book on Family Guy". Hartwick College. 2007-09-18. http://www.hartwick.edu/x21175.xml. Retrieved 2009-08-23. 
Family Guy
Characters
Peter · Lois · Meg · Chris · Stewie · Brian · Other characters
Production
Cast members · Guest stars · Non-English versions · Writers · Directors
Media releases
The Life of Larry shorts · Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story · Live in Vegas
Hallmarks
Road to... episodes
Seasons
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9
Star Wars specials
"Blue Harvest" · "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" · "It's a Trap!"
Merchandise
DVDs · Video game · Pinball · Books
See also
Criticism · Quotes · The Cleveland Show
Portal · Category
The Griffin family
Peter · Lois · Meg · Chris · Stewie · Brian
Other characters
Glenn Quagmire · Cleveland Brown · Joe Swanson · Adam West · Ernie the Giant Chicken · Herbert · Tom Tucker · Diane Simmons · Cleveland Jr.