It hurts to laugh so much- Family Guy Vol. I

Family Guy was a great TV show. Now it has been brought to DVD. Yay!!! All of the hijinks you'd come to expect from the series have been translated into a delightful digital disc series featuring episodes from the first two seasons. Some jokes are a bit crude, but I laughed at them anyway. Family Guy is like the Simpsons except without too much of the mushy stuff the Simpsons get into and can't cynically pull off. This series has some jokes that aren't too good/ won't be understood by kids, but the shows have enough hilarity in them that it won't matter. Peter Griffin, the patriarch, is a big oaf who makes mistakes but still has the underlying intelligence to make them funny. Lois Griffin, the mother, is voiced wonderfully by Alex Borstein and has some great one liners. When asked about becoming a first lady, she replies "I'm kinda like Hillary Clinton, except you know, without the penis." Daughter Meg is the typical late 90's/ early 2000's teen girl, who plays the stereotypes nicely. Son Chris is a younger, dumbed-down version of his father who fits in great. Other son Stewie is the talking baby that made Family guy so popular to begin with. His diabolical world-domination plans add a lot of fun to the mix. Last but not least, Brian, the talking dog, adds some level to the bunch. His vulnerability to alcohol mixed with his sarcastic wit puts the family together to form the best bunch of complete characters I've ever seen. This family can really make you laugh.

The animation is clean and smooth. Family Guy looks great, and the "guests" really transfer to the Family Guy environment smoothly.

The sound is what you would expect from a TV show. The voices are done quite well, and sound great on DVD. The musical interludes are nice transitions that are scored to perfection.

Don't look for lots of commentary, though. This DVD set barely features any. You also have to traverse a set of menus to get to it. The extras are little, too. A few trailers and a blatantly made-for-tv documentary are decent, but could be more and better.