Seth MacFarlane based the voice of Peter Griffin on a security guard he knew while going to college at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
Seth MacFarlane has admitted that the family's constant abuse of Meg is a result of "a bunch of male writers not knowing how to write for a teenage girl."
The show's Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2009 marked the first time since The Flintstones (1960) that an animated series earned such a nomination.
In some episodes, the family pokes fun at Robot Chicken (2005) and Chris gets mad. This is because Seth Green (Chris Griffin) is a producer, lead voice actor, and co-creator of the series.
When Drew Barrymore was preparing the documentary Choose or Lose Presents: The Best Place to Start (2004), she contacted Seth MacFarlane to appear on it, and asked him to do a guest voice on the show. MacFarlane enjoyed her work so much as Mrs. Lockhart in season four that he offered Barrymore the regular role of Jillian.