Lost Pilot of ‘Family Guy’ Surfaces on YouTube

Family Guy superfans have seen at least some of the show’s 1998 pilot — seven minutes of Seth MacFarlane’s pitch have been included on DVDs in years past. But internet sleuths on the lookout for lost media recently uncovered the full 16 minutes, posting it to YouTube for the world to see. 

Thank Redditor GhostTheDeadGirl for the find, buried on the web page of animator Robert Paulsen. “I actively searched for and found his portfolio page and the pilot was there,” she posted on Reddit. “I uploaded it to YouTube originally, as well as the internet archive.” 

Can we get a round of high-fives?

Watch the pilot and you’ll see that several of the show’s trademarks were baked into the original recipe:

• The cutaway gags were there from the first moment, with the Brady Bunch dad punishing son Greg in a poisonous snake pit before we’re even introduced to Peter and the rest of the Griffins.
• Stewie is already a baby genius, inventing a mind-control device and plotting to kill his mother.
• Brian is still a talking dog, albeit one without much to do.
• Peter is getting his drink on from the get-go, attending a “stag party” (a term that hasn’t been used since the 1950s) and getting wasted.

Like watching the Tracey Ullman episodes of The Simpsons, this version of Family Guy isn’t close to its final form. The animation is jagged and janky, and not all of the voice characterizations have come into focus. Chris and Meg in particular have a different vibe (“I kinda like the frat boy vibe they were doing with Chris,” wrote one Redditor), while Lois’ sleepy cadence makes her sound like she’s just swallowed a dozen sleeping pills.

As for a plot? Peter’s a toy inspector at Go-Lucky Toys, sleeping on the job because he’s hungover or maybe just because he’s Peter Griffin. That provides the main storyline, with Peter losing the gig after dozens of dangerous playthings make their way into the community. How will Peter support his family? Not surprisingly, he bungles every new job opportunity and even a chance to win a talent show. He only finds work again when Stewie changes an employer’s mind with his mind-control ray. Classic.

Fans on r/FamilyGuy were buzzing over the long-lost find. “This is big!” wrote one zealot.

So big that others rushed to watch the whole thing before the Media Powers That Be remove the pilot from YouTube and other sites. “we should all download it post it everywhere relevant. internet archive, several downloading websites, your mom’s texts, your friends texts, emails, p2p sites, wherever,” urged one Family Guy fan. “at least until seth or disney or SOMEONE gets sick enough of the unpaid attention, and puts it on hulu.”