Family Guy: How Does Mayor West Measure Up To The Former Mayor West?

It’s hard to believe that April 26th, 2023, will be the three year anniversary of when we last heard Mayor Adam West in an episode of Family Guy after the legendary actor passed away. The episode entitled “Coma Guy” would be the last-time we heard the legendary mayor, but FOX’s long-running prime-time animated comedy still pays ode to the politician by since replacing the name of Quahog’s James Woods High with that of Adam West High which still operates today.

Mayor Adam West first appeared in the show’s third season and quickly became a fan favorite due to his eccentric and comedic portrayal. He was voiced by the same Adam West who played Batman in the 1960’s TV series. Says Seth MacFarlane on choosing to cast Mr. West,

The character we’ve created is kind of this alternate-universe Adam West where he’s mayor of this town, and we deliberately have not made any references to Batman, because we like keeping that separate. It’s the obvious place to go. We tried it; we thought it would be funny to do something different with the mayor of this town. People like Clint Eastwood and Martin Sheen who have taken whacks at this sort of thing — there’s a precedent for it, actors getting into politics. He’s the mayor, but he’s this guy who clearly does not have it all together.

Adam West notes in an interview with IGN that he jumped at the chance to work with Seth again after attempting to do a pilot together for a different TV series.

Mayor West’s character is also characterized by his love of Batman and his desire to bring the same sense of justice and heroism to Quahog. He often references the Batman series and even dresses up in a Batman costume on several occasions. He also has a bat-signal in his office, which he uses to call for help when the city is in trouble.

Two years after the passing of Adam West, Family Guy opted to cast Sam Elliott in the role of Mayor Wild Wild West and first appeared in the show’s twenty-first season as the new mayor of Quahog. Elliott’s distinctive voice and strong, charismatic presence bring a new level of depth and complexity to the character. His unique and offbeat humor is a refreshing change of pace for the show and has been praised by fans and critics alike.

From where I sit, it’s so far so good for the new Mayor West. No, he doesn’t have the same length of resume as Adam West just yet in terms of gags and jokes, but give him a few more months, I think Wild Wild West will have made his own mark on the pantheon of Family Guy’s great characters that have come along over the years. In fact, I welcome new characters to the fray to help spice things up a bit, and I think Elliott is doing just that. I get that sometimes die-hard fans don’t like change, but I welcome it because it forces the producers to come up with more innovative plots and different interactions with different characters.

Synopsis:

Entering its 21st season, FAMILY GUY continues to entertain its die-hard fan base with razor-sharp humor, spot-on parodies, spectacular animation and orchestra-backed original music. Since its debut in 1999, the series has reached cult status among fans, and its breakout star, a talking baby, has become one of the greatest TV characters of all time. FAMILY GUY has racked up numerous awards, including an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, only the second animated series in television history to be honored with such a distinction. Most recently, series creator and lead voice actor Seth MacFarlane (voices of “Peter Griffin,” “Stewie Griffin,” “Brian Griffin” and “Glenn Quagmire”) was nominated for the 2021 Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance and won the 2019 Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. Cast member Alex Borstein (voice of “Lois Griffin”) won the 2018 Emmy Award in the category. MacFarlane also was nominated that year. He won the 2017 and 2016 Emmy Award in the category, and was nominated from 2013 to 2015.

Featuring the series’ milestone 400th episode, Season 21 will continue to provide a humorous take on current events, with big name guest voices, including Mario Lopez, Gerald McRaney, Jay Pharoah, Martha Plimpton and Casey Wilson, as well as Sam Elliott as the mayor of Quahog.

FAMILY GUY is a 20th Television Animation production. Seth MacFarlane is creator and executive producer. Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin serve as executive producers and showrunners, while Steve Callaghan, Tom Devanney, Danny Smith, Kara Vallow, Mark Hentemann and Patrick Meighan are executive producers.