Death Has a Shadow

"Death Has a Shadow" is the series premiere and the first episode of the first season of the American animated television series Family Guy. Written by series creator Seth MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin, the episode aired as a sneak peek on Fox in the United States on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII. In the episode, Peter loses his job after drinking too much at a stag party and falling asleep at work. He signs up for welfare to keep his wife, Lois, from finding out, but receives far more money than he expected. After spending the money recklessly, Lois discovers the truth, prompting Peter to dump the remaining cash from a blimp at the Super Bowl. He is arrested for welfare fraud and must await rescue from his family, alongside various performers who would later become recurring and guest voice actors on the series. The episode was the first overall episode to be animated by Film Roman, Inc. and Sunwoo Digital International through its animation division, Grimsaem Animation Co. The basis for "Death Has a Shadow", as well as Family Guy as a whole, was MacFarlane’s thesis film The Life of Larry, created in 1995 while he was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. A sequel, titled Larry & Steve, was conceived in 1996 and aired in 1997 as a segment of Cartoon Network’s World Premiere Toons. Both shorts caught the attention of Fox, which contacted MacFarlane in 1998 to develop a series based on the films. A hand-drawn pilot was created by MacFarlane with a budget of $50,000, leading to the series being accepted for production and the pilot being remade and expanded into its broadcast form. Critical responses to the episode were mostly positive. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed...