Family Guy Volume Eleven is packed with all 23 episodes of the show’s hilarious 2011-12 season. This tenth season of Family Guy features some really memorable episodes. My favorite has to be “Back To The Pilot”, which has a Back To The Future Part II-like feel to it as Stewie and Brian travel back to the Family Guy pilot and try to avoid interacting with their previous selves in order to prevent changing the future. This episode was so well done, combining the older animation style and voices of the characters with the newer iterations. The season also contains another Viewer Mail anthology episode, in which Brian and Stewie address letters sent in by viewers. The shorts include a look at the fictitious British series on which Family Guy was based, a story about how everything Peter touches turns into Robin Williams, and a whole story from Stewie’s point of view.

Some of the other episodes include the Griffins win the lottery, a storm hits Quahog, Ryan Reynolds is obsessed with Peter, the Swanson’s son returns home, Glenn’s sister arrives in town, the Griffins go Amish, Peter and the guys go on a Deep South road trip, Lois’ father may be forced into retirement, Quagmire becomes interested in Meg on her 18th birthday (giggity), and Brian starts dating a blind girl who hates dogs. Also this season, Lois seeks medical help for Stewie’s friend despite his religious beliefs, Peter decides to become a famous actor, a talking Dolphin comes to live with Peter, Mort wants to burn down his pharmacy for the insurance money, Peter and Chris go to fat camp, and Peter and the guys discover their memories have been erased. The season also includes episodes that find Peter starting his own kids’ TV show, Stewie meeting his future wife, Meg being taken while abroad, Peter joining the Tea Party, and Joe and Bonnie contemplating divorce.

Joining the talented voice cast this season are guest stars like Ryan Reynolds, James Woods, Mark Harmon, Ellen Page, Ricky Gervais, H. Jon Benjamin, Kaitlin Olson, Scott Grimes, Cate Blanchett, Chris O’Dowd and Ioan Gruffudd.

What I love about this show is its high replay value. Even watching the episodes for the second, third or tenth time, I still find myself laughing and finding new things I never noticed before. The show is irreverent and witty, and I love all of the pop culture references that get thrown into each episode.

While this season originally aired in HD on Fox, it has only been released on SD DVD. However, the picture quality is excellent, and looks practically as crisp and clear as it originally did on TV. The audio is also great, often making use of the stereo and surround channels. All of the episodes on the DVD are presented with uncensored audio—which is great for adult viewers, but parents who are thinking about purchasing this for younger viewers should take note that this is the only audio option. As for extras, there are 14 minutes of deleted scenes, original animatics with commentary, 6 of the episodes contain audio commentary by producers, directors and writers, and there’s 20 minutes of other featurettes.

I highly recommend picking up this collection of hilarious episodes!

What’s Included on the DVD:

Episodes: (592 min)

• 23 Uncensored Episodes from the 2011–12 broadcast season
  Disc 1: “Lottery Fever”, “Seahorse Seashell Party”, “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q”, “Stewie Goes for a Drive”, “Back to the Pilot”, “Thanksgiving”, “Amish Guy”
  Disc 2: “Cool Hand Peter”, “Grumpy Old Man”, “Quagmire and Meg”, “The Blind Side”, “Livin’ On A Prayer”, “Tom Tucker: The Man and His Dream”, “Be Careful What You Fish For”, “Burning Down the Bayit”
  Disc 3: “Killer Queen”, “Forget-Me-Not”, “You Can’t Do That On Television, Peter”, “Mr. and Mrs. Stewie”, “Leggo My Meg-O”, “Tea Peter”, “Family Guy Viewer Mail #2”, “Internal Affairs”
• Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Surround DD 2.0, French Surround DD 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
• Closed Captions

Extras:

• Audio Commentaries
  Various producers, writers and directors provide interesting commentaries on selected episodes from the show’s tenth season. Note that the availability of the audio commentaries is not readily evident—they are not listed under the Extras menus, instead, they must be accessed under Language Selection for the individual episodes.
  • “Cool Hand Peter” — Executive Producer Mark Hentemann, Writers Artie Johann & Shawn Ries, Director Brian Iles, and Production Manager Brent Crowe
  • “Quagmire and Meg” — Executive Producer Steve Callaghan, Writer Tom Devanney, Director Joseph Lee, and Co-Producer Kim Fertman
  • “Killer Queen” — Executive Producer Mark Hentemann, Writer Spencer Porter, Producer Shannon Smith, Supervising Animation Producer Peter Shin, and Retake Director Greg Lovell
  • “Forget-Me-Not” — Executive Producer Steve Callaghan, Director Brian Iles, Producer Shannon Smith, and Supervising Animation Producer Peter Shin
  • “Mr. & Mrs. Stewie” — Executive Producer Steve Callaghan, Director Joe Vaux, Sequence Director Joseph Lee, Storyboard Artist Annie Brown, and Production Manager Brent Crowe
  • “Family Guy Viewer Mail #2” — Executive Producer Mark Hentemann, Writer Tom Devanney, Director Greg Colton, Editor Mike Desilets, and Retakes Production Supervisor Anjel Shehigian

• Looking Back to the Pilot (11:17)
  The creators and cast discuss the challenges in combining the old and newer versions of the characters—both in look and in sound for the “Back to the Pilot” episode. They also talk about what it was like revisiting the pilot over a decade later. Includes interviews with Seth Macfarlane, Mark Hentemann, Steve Callaghan, Seth Green, Alex Borstein, Shannon Smith, Peter Shin, Dominic Bianchi and Kara Vallow.
• Full Episode Animatic from “Back to the Pilot” (22:43)
  The complete groundbreaking episode in its original animatic form.
• Scene Animatic from “Seashore Seashell Party” with Side-by-Side Commentary (6:11)
  Episode director Brian Iles and his assistant, surreal artist Joe Vaux, discuss a scene in which Brian samples some “special” mushrooms. The commentary is presented over a side-by-side comparison between the original animatic and the final product.
• Deleted Scenes (14:08)
  Play All on each disc, or select from
  • “Lottery Fever” (1 scene, 0:18)
  • “Seahorse Seashell Party” (4 scenes, 1:44)
  • “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q” (1 scene, 0:29)
  • “Stewie Goes For a Drive” (1 scene, 0:09)
  • “Back to the Pilot” (2 scenes, 0:31)
  • “Thanksgiving” (3 scenes, 0:49)
  • “Amish Guy” (1 scene, 0:22)
  • “Cool Hand Peter” (1 scene, 0:13)
  • “Grumpy Old Man” (5 scenes, 1:57)
  • “Quagmire and Meg” (1 scene, 0:10)
  • “Livin’ On a Prayer” (2 scenes, 2:06)
  • “Tom Tucker: The Man and His Dream” (1 scene, 0:15)
  • “Be Careful What You Fish For” (3 scenes, 1:16)
  • “Burning Down the Bayit” (1 scene, 0:32)
  • “Killer Queen” (2 scenes, 0:28)
  • “You Can’t Do That On Television, Peter” (1 scene, 0:09)
  • “Mr. & Mrs. Stewie” (2 scenes, 0:42)
  • “Tea Peter” (3 scenes, 1:34)
  • “Family Guy Viewer Mail #2” (1 scene, 0:25)

• Fishin’ Around With Ricky Gervais (6:42)
  Seth MacFarlane and Steve Callaghan discuss working with Ricky Gervais and writing the character of Billy Finn specifically for him. Ricky talks about some of his takes that were even too offensive for Family Guy. Also includes footage from Ricky’s recording session.
• Audio Outtakes With Ricky Gervais (6:20)
  Audio outtakes and audio from deleted scenes from “Be Careful What You Fish For” performed by Ricky Gervais and Seth MacFarlane. Includes scenes “Our last ‘Fish-mas’ Together”, “Would It Be Inconvenient For You?” and “Peter Fixes Billy’s Marriage”.
• Ron MacFarlane Reads Viewer Mail (7:14)
  Seth MacFarlane’s father Ron reads and responds to some viewer fan mail.
• Scene Animatic from “Family Guy Viewer Mail #2” with Side-by-Side Commentary (6:52)
  Director Greg Colton and storyboard artist Francis Dinglasan provide commentary over a side-by-side comparison between the animatic and the final aired sequence for the “Point of Stew” scene. They discuss the challenges of storyboarding the moving 3D backgrounds.

Final Thoughts:

Family Guy Volume Eleven comes packed with 23 hilarious episodes that can be enjoyed over and over again. The DVD looks and sounds great and contains a nice assortment of bonus features. The uncensored audio is great for adults, but parents should take note if they were thinking of purchasing this set for younger viewers. This DVD is an easy recommendation for fans and those curious about the series.