In one clip, viewed 14 million times on YouTube, family members stage a "puke-a-thon" to see who can hold off vomiting after guzzling ipecac. In another, the same brood performs a spirited song-and-dance routine about the joys of smoking marijuana.
Welcome to the world of Stewie, the diabolical toddler at the center of "Family Guy," who's supplanted Bart Simpson as TV's enfant terrible and who's just pushed the often-staid Emmys into new territory.
With its first major nomination Thursday, Fox's cartoon series pulled off something even the longer-running "Simpsons" couldn't, becoming the first animated show in the Emmy comedy category since "The Flintstones" back in 1961.
And the raunchy "Family Guy" -- a rare case of a onetime underground show rising to claim its first major nod a decade after its network premiere -- is about as far away from Fred and Barney's traditional homes in Bedrock as the Emmys have ever ventured in such a prominent category.
Focused around the Griffin clan of Quahog, R.I., and their talking, martini-sipping dog, Brian, the show swims in a sea of jokes about celebrity, politics, religion and bodily functions.
The triumph of quirky shows like "Family Guy," Showtime's "Weeds" and HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" -- two other first-time comedy nominees -- offers as compelling a sign as any of the near-total retreat of the more conventional sitcoms like "Seinfeld" and "Friends" that not so long ago dominated network lineups.
"Family Guy" -- which has inspired a spinoff with "The Cleveland Show" this fall -- averaged 7.6 million total viewers last season, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's moderate by today's network standards but far larger than the fewer than 1 million that HBO's "Conchords" draws.
This year, for the first time, none of the seven nominees in the newly expanded comedy category is in the conventional sitcom style pioneered nearly 60 years ago by "I Love Lucy" -- shot with multiple cameras on a soundstage, often with a laugh track to underscore what the creators hoped were the funny parts.
"The playing field is different now," said "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, a former Hanna-Barbera animator whose recent $100-million deal with Fox reportedly made him the highest-paid writer in television.
