The Griffin household includes two teenagers, a cynical dog who is smarter than everyone else, and a mutant baby who makes numerous attempts to eradicate his parents and siblings. Heading up this eclectic household is Peter Griffin. Peter does his best to do what's right for the family, but along the way, he makes mistakes that are the stuff of legends.

CRITIQUE

The first thirteen episodes of Family Guy’s new season make their way to DVD fairly quickly, and there is no doubt that it’s only because the studio wants to make as much money off of the show as possible. The good thing about the DVD is the wealth of bonus material, but the downside is fewer episodes compared to the previous two releases (and you’re paying more money per episode with Volume 3). In terms of the quality of the episodes themselves, they’re all pretty funny, except the first few are not up to par with episodes from previous seasons. However, the stories continue to be mostly outrageous, silly, dramatic, funny, and totally random, but most important of all they’re entertaining.

The comedy keeps on coming and the jokes are very funny, but by watching many episodes in a row you’ll see there is a lot of self-referencing going on, spoofing classic shows and pop culture like it's always done, going for the jugular in terms of uncomfortable silences or making scenes last longer for impact. The Griffin family reaches new heights and lows in these episodes; Peter steals from Mel Gibson, goes blind after eating too many nickels, is declared mentally-challenged, makes friends with James Woods, and infuriates a native tribe.

The other family members also get their moments to shine and embarrass themselves, such as Brian starring on "The Bachelorette" show and Stewie smitten with his new babysitter, among many other things. Meanwhile, Meg becomes a punching bag for jokes early into the season. The supporting characters like Quagmire and Cleveland advance in terms of their friendship after a certain “quagmire”, but Joe Swanson is somehow left behind in the stories. Overall, however, the stories lend themselves to many funny scenes and hilarious character moments.

Disc 1:

- North by North Quahog*

- Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High

- Blind Ambition*

- Don't Make Me Over

Disc 2:

- The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire*

- Petarded*

- Brian the Bachelor*

- 8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter*

Disc 3:

- Breaking Out Is Hard To Do*

- Model Misbehavior

- Peter's Got Woods*

- Perfect Castaway*

- Jungle Love*

Episodes with an asterisk feature optional audio commentary.

THE VIDEO

Fox presents Family Guy in 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The show’s bigger budget definitely shows off as this is the best looking picture quality for the show yet. The backgrounds and colors look better and clearer, as does the main animation. It’s an all around very good video presentation. Optional English, Spanish and French subtitles are available. The episodes are also closed captioned.

THE AUDIO

Fox presents Family Guy in English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. The dialogue comes across very well through the front speakers. The score and songs are also presented well and there is no noise. As for the surrounds, I didn’t pay much attention to them, but there might be some sound coming from the rear speakers. This is a very fine audio presentation overall.

THE EXTRAS

Out of the thirteen episodes, ten feature audio commentary with Seth MacFarlane, producers, writers and voice cast. Some are better than others, but overall they’re fun to listen to. The commentators point out how stories and jokes came up, reveal some trivia, engage in some off-topic discussions, laugh around, talk in character, and overall have a good time. The best commentary would have to be for Peter God Woods as they got James Woods into the recording studio, in fact, he says a lot and jokes around with the other commentators, but the track is as informative as it is funny.

World Domination: The Family Guy Phenomenon (24:11) finds the creator, producers, and voice cast in interviews talking about the return of the show, getting the writers and actors back for the new season, keeping with the format, coming up with new stories, trying to get away with raunchy jokes and visuals (taking it to the limit), discussing the show’s status with fans, commenting on the show’s tendency to be quite hilarious, and so much more. There are also lots of show clips, which gets a little annoying. There’s also some behind-the-scenes footage of a table read and a glimpse inside the show’s studio. This is a very nice companion piece to the new show as these interviews give viewers a perspective of what’s going on behind the scenes, but then again you don’t get any in-depth information of how these people actually do their work. The next DVD needs a real making-of, which would be “freakin’ sweet.”

Deleted Scene Animatics (2:22) finds Brian singing an inspirational song to students.

“Score!” - Music of Family Guy (7:57) goes behind the scenes and pays tribute to the show’s music featuring interviews with composers Walter Murphy and Ron Jones, as well as MacFarlane and others.

Multi-Angle Table Reads shows footage of the table read and the actual scenes. They break down into three clips: North by North Quahog (4:32), Blind Ambition #1 (4:15), and Blind Ambition #2 (5:57). I would’ve preferred more table read footage and less of the finished scenes, and there was too much overlapping of the audio.

Storyboard/Animatic Comparisons are available for Don’t Make Me Over (7:01), The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire (5:31), and Brian the Bachelor (7:53). Nice to have, but in the end you’ll be watching scenes you’ve already seen. It’s nothing special, but people interested in animation should find this extra worth it.

Rounding out the extras is an American Dad Preview (0:54).

FINAL THOUGHT

The majority of episodes are all pretty funny, and this release has the most bonus material, but unfortunately less of Family Guy. Also, the set easily could've been two discs instead of three, which could've lowered the price a bit, but then again it wouldn't look right on the shelf next to the other Family Guy 3-disc DVDs. Considering it all, the set is worthy of a recommendation.