The inaugural episode of Family Guy has been unexpectedly rediscovered after being considered lost for thirty years.
This 1998 episode, featuring America’s beloved animated family, was thought to be gone forever, with only a seven-minute segment available as bonus content on the Family Guy Volume 2 DVD in 2003, which is less than half of the complete 16-minute episode.
Fans of the show have long desired to see the original pitch, eager to compare the early animation and art style with later episodes, as they do with other popular shows like The Simpsons.
Now, fans have the opportunity to do just that, thanks to graphic designer and animator Robert Paulson, who surprisingly uploaded the entire pilot to his online portfolio.
Paulson, involved in creating the original episode, made it available on his website in 2022. However, it wasn’t until March of this year that it was publicly discovered by a user on Lost Media wiki’s Discord, who stumbled upon the footage.
Family Guy creator, Seth MacFarlane, put together the pilot following a $50,000 investment from Fox, leading to the show’s official debut in 1999.
The series kicked off with its first formal episode, ‘Death Has A Shadow,’ which retained most of the storyline from the original 1998 version, featuring Stewie Griffin’s construction of a mind-control device and Peter Griffin’s antics at a bachelor party.
Watch the complete pilot episode here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn4qno6wxoA
While the characters remain largely consistent from their inception, it’s notable that Seth MacFarlane voices Chris Griffin in this early episode, as Seth Green had yet to be cast in the role.
This revelation arrives as the Emmy Award-winning series continues into its 23rd season. Fox confirmed in 2023 that Family Guy would return for its 22nd and 23rd seasons.
Since its 1999 premiere, Family Guy has established itself as a cult favorite and one of the most acclaimed prime-time animated shows ever.
The show even spawned its own spin-off, The Cleveland Show, centered around the character Cleveland Brown, which aired from 2009 to 2013.
Last year, the 51-year-old creator and voice actor expressed to The LA Times that he sees no ‘good reason’ to conclude Family Guy at this time.
MacFarlane, who voices multiple characters including Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire, stated: “People still love it. It makes people happy and it funds some good causes. It’s a lot of extraneous cash that you can donate to Rainforest Trust and you can still go out to dinner that night.”
“There was a time when I thought, it’s time to wrap it up,” he added. “At this point, we’ve reached escape velocity. I don’t know that there’s any reason to stop at this point unless people get sick of it. Unless the numbers show that people just are, ‘Eh, we don’t care about Family Guy anymore.’ But that hasn’t happened yet.”