Have you Ever Wondered Where they Get Their Ideas From?

The show Family Guy has been on the air for about seven seasons now, and is one of the most successful shows on the Fox network. But if you are a huge fan of the show, like me, then I am sure that you have wondered from time to time where they have gotten their ideas from. The show can sporadically shift from one topic to another, and is nearly always augmented by flashbacks of a certain type. It seems, at least to me, that the show really breaks each episode into three different parts. They create a main plot that is about seven minutes long. Then they create two overlapping plots that are about five minutes each, and finally, they compliment all three plots with flashbacks that are enormously funny.

But where do they really get their ideas from. The hit show on Comedy Central, South Park, nearly always pulls their ideas out of the popular culture basket, so to speak, using news references and celebrities meltdowns as the main basis for their newer episodes. The only Family Guy episode that I can think of that uses such a basis for its creation was one of the more recent episodes from season seven, where Peter and his friends decide that they are going to reenact portions from the MTV show, Jackass.

I would not be surprised in the least bit if they have some sort of super computer over at Fox. One that molds different people, places and things together into one to create a flashback—something that almost always comes out weird and strange, and yes, funny. They even make fun of themselves from time to time about how many flashbacks that they do. During one episode, Stewie talks about flashing back, but no clip appears. Then he looks at the camera and says, “What…no clip? I thought we had a clip for that, but it appears that we don’t.”

So in order to compliment the nature of this article, I leave you with a clip from a famous Family Guy flashback. Where Peter talks about remembering that time he had to perform the ‘Milkshake’ song for prison inmates. The camera fades away to Peter in a prison yard using the fat on his tummy and pectorals to mimic breasts as he sings the song quickly, obviously scared for his life and crying at the end. You have got to love Peter Griffin.

Family Guy - Milk Shakes - The funniest bloopers are right here