"NEW BOOK "FAMILY GUY AND PHILOSOPHY: A CURE FOR THE PETARDED" A MUST READ FOR FAMILY GUY FANS"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) August 13, 2007 -- NEW YORK, NY – (August 10, 2007) – Should you feel guilty about watching “Family Guy?” What’s so funny about dysfunctional families? Where’s the line between parody and nonsense? These are just a few of the many questions asked and answered in a new book published by Wiley-Blackwell, "Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure For the Petarded", Editor, J. Jeremy Wisnewski, September 3, 2007.

“People today take tend to take themselves and things too seriously,” according to Dr. J. Jeremy Wisnewski, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY. "This show provides an escape, a release; it's full of legitimate insights that get us to laugh at things that might surprise us. It defies expectations.”

“This book is about the most misunderstood show on television," say Dr. Wisnewski. "There's a lot going on here, and it's not all on the surface. It's philosophically deep and I knew it from the first time I saw it. The show makes philosophical points but in ways that make you laugh, that are easily accepted by the average Joe. This book will help the reader see the points more clearly and appreciate the show even more, and of course laughing all the way.” With chapters such as “Quagmire: Virtue and Perversity”; “Lois: Portrait of a Mother (or, Nevermind Death, Motherhood is a Bitch)”; and “Let Us Now Praise Clueless Men: Peter Griffin and Philosophy”, there’s sure to be something of interest for everyone.

With its debut in January 1999, Family Guy was almost immediately compared to – and accused of ripping off – The Simpsons. In Chapter 13, "'The Simpsons' Already Did It! This Show is a Freakin Rip-off!", Shai Biderman and William J. Devlin, of Boston University, start out with that very assertion. This was a real charge leveled against the program by numerous publications and even other artists at the time. The authors of this chapter proceed by way of discussion of rip-off, art, parody, satire, plagiarism, and postmodernism to dispel the claim. In doing so, they argue "Animation is built on plagiarism! If it weren't for someone plagiarizing The Honeymooners, we wouldn't have The Flintstones…Family Guy is a postmodern work of art that intentionally tears down the distinctions between appearance and reality, original and copy, and uses the world of television to push this dissolution."

The show was cancelled in 2000, reinstated in 2001, and cancelled again in 2002. Because of re-runs and extremely strong DVD sales, Fox resumed the show in 2005. It was the first cancelled show to be raised from the dead by reason of DVD sales. This was an example of public pressure used to reinstate an element of popular culture. The contributing authors and editor of "Family Guy and Philosophy: A Cure for the Petarded" seized upon this popularity, counted on it, and used it as a vehicle to philosophize. In doing so, they show how this cartoon program can teach us about ethics, ego, hypocrisy, death, life after death, and breaking wind.