Family Guy is one of the best shows on television. I am a huge fan and am so glad to see how far it has come. I smile every Sunday night because I know Family Guy will be on. I remember when it was cancelled, I remember doing online petitions, I remember sending emails, and I remember sending letters. Yes, Family Guy was that important to me. It was that rare breed of comedy that worked, that was hilarious, it was intelligent, and completely crude. The pop references are absolutely hilarious, and I'm sure everyone loves it when they get a pop reference and their friends don't. So if nothing else, Family Guy makes you feel smart. * * *

This 3 disc set is the second half of season 4 and is labeled as volume 4. In this set we truly have some of the funniest episodes to come from the series. "Brian Goes Back To College" is one the best episodes on this set and has some of the series' most quotable lines. Stewie and Brian make a large presence in these episodes and the writing is incredibly sharp. We have an amazing musical number where Peter and the New England Patriots perform "Shipoopi" from The Music Man. It truly is pure genius comedy. Fans of the show will snap this one up in no time and will get the most out of the episodes with constant references to the past seasons. Another bonus of this DVD is that there are so many restored scenes that are put back into the episodes that were originally cut due to time constraints. ---

Image & Sound:

The difference between before the show got cancelled and after it came back on air is quite notable. The crew utilizes CGI in a few episodes and the image and animation gets better with every episode. The transfer is in 1.33:1 fullscreen and is absolutely as good as it gets when it comes to animation. Colors are sharp with no bleeding, the images are sharp. In terms of sound we get a really great 5.1 Dolby Digital mix. There are a lot of musical numbers in this volume and they seriously benefit from the surround mix. There is an optional censored audio track for those who are offended by the un-bleeped language. ---

The highlight of the special features for me were definitely the commentaries. Honestly, I am not a commentary type of guy, I think they are uninvolving. However, I love television series commentaries, and no one gives better commentaries than the cast and crew of Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane gives so much info behind the jokes and the process of making the episodes. The writers and producers such as David Goodman and Mike Henry add lots of stuff too. The great thing about the commentaries are that they are hilarious. Seth and gang cuss, laugh, sometimes go into character, make fun of each other, yet still provide informative comments. Some episodes also have multi angled sequences to show the animation process in greater depth. On disc three is where you'll find the featurettes. There are over 40 deleted scenes, mostly cutaway and filler stuff, but there were some hilarious scenes. They are also completely finished and animated (lacking music and finished sound effects though), not just pre-visualizations like in previous sets. The "Director's Life" featurette is a look at how animation directors do their job and how their jobs differ from live action directors. Seth MacFarlane has nothing but respect for his directors, and this featurette is dedictated to the hard work they do on the show. The next little segment is animator Peter Shin doing a demonstration of how to draw Stewie. The final featurette is a behind the scenes look at the Family Guy offices. Adam West is toured through the offices by Mike Henry and we get to meet some of the great people behind the scenes, it's fun and entertaining. Overall, this set offers a great amount of new content that is on par with the past sets. ---

Final Words: