DVD Review: “Family Guy” 20 Greatest Hits

He’s having a really tough time.

While Seth MacFarlane has admitted in many interviews that Family Guy would not have happened without The Simpsons, there are definitely attributes that Family Guy has that has helped successfully differentiate itself from being just a clone. Examples include the obvious, cutaways, violence, and most certainly Seth’s admiration for the likes of Sinatra, Dean Martin, and others that clearly have been injected into the DNA of Family Guy. Look no further than the opening of Family Guy, a showtunes worthy effort every week complete with a live band that helps compose the score of Family Guy each and every week…the little things that help the franchise last for this long.

Family Guy’s 20 Greatest Hits celebrates this investment in the musical production of the legendary FOX franchise by highlighting some of the biggest songs conceived for series over the last two decades. Hit tracks like “Shipoopie”, “AIDS”, Patriot Games, and 13 additional songs are included in the DVD release that comes with three discs and some fun extras like lyric videos, karaoke, and even a featurette that showcases the new Family Guy mural that was freshly painted at the 20th Century FOX lot a few years ago. All of the songs are uncensored, uncut, and ready for playback…on your DVD player?

Yea, that’s the drawback of this release. Personally, I would’ve liked to have seen Family Guy go down the Bob’s Burgers route with its musical endeavors, an iTunes/vinyl release would have been a bit more appropriate and would be infinitely more successful in its execution. I get it, Family Guy is a visual experience, but the music is so good that it can do just fine on its own. I mean, show creator Seth MacFarlane DOES have a music career to take advantage of.