Peter Shin Movies

Although poor ratings had compelled the Fox network to cancel its iconoclastic, cutting-edge cartoon series Family Guy at the end of its third season in 2002, the series' astonishing popularity in rerun form on cable's Cartoon Network coupled with the spectacular sales posted by the property's initial DVD release in 2003, prompted Fox to revive the show, with brand new episodes beginning in the spring of 2005. The first of the 14 comeback adventures of the supremely dysfunctional Griffin family is "North By North Quahog," which, in addition to its expected Hitchcockian undertones, manages to find time to skewer Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ. In later episodes, the Griffin's family dog, Brian, ends up as a substitute teacher for high-risk kids; dad Peter Griffin swallows a bunch of nickels, goes blind, and accidentally becomes a hero in a story that somehow also accommodates a guest voice appearance by Judd Hirsch; nebbishy neighbor Cleveland goes into "worm turns" mode when he is told that his wife, Loretta, has been fooling around with the libidinous Glen Quagmire; Peter takes an intelligence test and winds up losing custody of his kids (and his wife); Brian shows up as a contestant on "The Bachelorette," while son Chris Griffin is afflicted with a demonic talking pimple. Later, to pay his pharmacy bill, Peter sells daughter Meg to the druggist's son; mom Lois' kleptomania forces the family to take refuge in "Asian Town"; and Lois earns "real money" as a model in her spare time ("And so can you!"); after spending several months marooned on a desert island, Peter finds that he is even more expendable than Tom Hanks; and actor James Woods becomes Peter's very best friend -- and refuses to leave the house. Taking all this into consideration, the season finale, in which Peter and Lois go the Laverne & Shirley route at their local brewery, is as traditionalist as an episode of The Waltons. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a land where cartoon characters and flesh-and-blood people work side by side, one little black duck lands in a big pot of trouble in this comedy, which brings the beloved Looney Tunes characters into the real world. Daffy Duck (voice of Joe Alaskey) has grown tired of his status as Warner Bros.' leading avian second fiddle and demands that if he can't be given equal billing with his rival Bugs Bunny (also voiced by Alaskey), he wants to be released from his contract. Kate Houghton (Jenna Elfman), Warners' vice president in charge of comedy, is way ahead of Daffy and orders studio stuntman D.J. Drake (Brendan Fraser) to kick the duck off the studio lot. D.J. soon discovers getting rid of Daffy is no easy task, and the duck is in tow when Drake makes a startling discovery -- his father Damien Drake (Timothy Dalton), a movie star best know for playing ultra-suave secret agents, really is a secret agent, and he's been kidnapped by Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin), the evil leader of the monolithic Acme Corporation. Damien knows the secret hiding place of the priceless Blue Monkey Diamond and Mr. Chairman will stop at nothing to get it, so D.J. and Daffy set out to rescue Damien and save the diamond, one step behind Acme's musclemen and one step ahead of Kate and Bugs, who now realize how important Daffy is to the Looney Tunes franchise. Looney Tunes: Back in Action also stars Heather Locklear as a lounge singer working for Yosemite Sam (voice of Steve Babiar), Joan Cusack, John Cleese, Stan Freberg, and Roger Corman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On this, the premiere episode, Stewie (voice of Seth MacFarlane) has turned an ordinary child's toy into a mind control device, and he declares war on Lois (voice of Alex Borstein) when she takes his "toy" away. Peter (MacFarlane) goes to a stag party. Lois makes him promise not to drink, but things don't work out that way. The next morning, the family finds him passed out on the breakfast table. Worse yet, that day he falls asleep on the assembly line at Happy-Go-Lucky Toys, and when some dangerously defective toys end up on the shelves as a result, he loses his job. "Daddy's still going to put food on the table," he tells his concerned children, "just not as much, so it might get a little competitive." Peter decides to hide his joblessness from Lois. "I hate lying to Lois," Peter confides to Brian (MacFarlane), the family dog, "It's just the best way to keep her from knowing the truth." Inspired by Brian's exhortation to "think of his family's welfare," Peter applies for welfare. The government accidentally sends the Griffins a check for 150,000 dollars each week. After living high on the hog for a while, Lois realizes something is up, prompting Peter to concoct a cockamamie scheme to give the money back to the government and prove his devotion to his wife. When the creators of Family Guy learned that the show would premiere after the Super Bowl, they added a relevant scene, and enlisted the voice talents of Pat Summerall. The title of the episode, "Death Has a Shadow," springs from a short-lived idea the writers had to title each episode in melodramatic, 1960s TV detective-show fashion. This idea was abandoned after a few shows when they realized they could never identify the episodes from the title. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide