Lois Griffin

For the former Toronto city councillor, see Lois Griffin (politician).

Lois Griffin (née Pewterschmidt) is a fictional character from the animated series Family Guy. She is the wife of Peter Griffin and the mother of Meg, Chris, and Stewie. She is voiced by former MADtv cast member Alex Borstein.

Role in Family Guy

Lois Griffin is the wife of Peter and is the mother of Meg, Chris and Stewie. Lois was born into the wealthy Pewterschmidt family from Newport, Rhode Island. Peter Griffin, her husband, was a towel boy at the family country club; Lois eventually fell in love with him, because of his low-class, easy-going manner, which she found more appealing than the stuffy, uptight suitors in her social circle. Lois was crowned Miss Teen Rhode Island, and wished to pursue a career in modeling. However her father thought that was beneath the dignity of the family. She also alludes to going to Kent State University when she says that, "...one time, the National Guard came and shot some of my friends." Meg says that she has a degree in journalism in "FOX-y Lady."

She teaches piano to supplement the family income, though she spends most of her time caring for her family, and has rarely been seen teaching piano in recent seasons. Chris, her first son and second child, was always overweight, even at birth, while her youngest son Stewie became intent on killing her, although she seems not to notice; on one occasion, when Lois noticed Stewie acting up, she assumed it to be a result of Stewie lacking fatherly attention from Peter. In a dream sequence, she finds Stewie's 'secret lab' while putting away clothes. She mentions that she smoked pot when she was pregnant with him, which could explain his obsession to kill Lois and his uncanny intelligence. Lois does not really mind her eldest child and only daughter, Meg, though she makes attempts in keeping with the apparent popular perception of Meg.

Lois has a younger sister, Carol, who has had nine husbands, at least eight of whom have left her, and had a boy by her eighth husband. Lois also has an older brother, Patrick, whom she discovers for the first time in "The Fat Guy Strangler". Lois took Patrick out of the asylum in which he was interned, refusing to believe that he was a serial killer until Brian confronted her with evidence. Lois discovers in the episode "Family Goy" that her mother is a Holocaust survivor.

Character

Creation

When he was still in college, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane created a cartoon short entitled Life of Larry. The short centered around a middle-aged man named Larry and his anthropomorphic dog Steve. In 1999, when MacFarlane was working for Hanna-Barbara Studios, writing for shows such as Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Labaratory and Cow and Chicken, he made a sequel to Life of Larry, which Cartoon Network broadcast in 1995. The short caught the eye of 20th Century Fox representatives, who asked him to create a TV series revolving around the characters. MacFarlane received a US$50,000 budget to develop a pilot for the show, which was, as MacFarlane stated in a 2006 interview, "[...] about one twentieth of what most pilots cost".

In three months, MacFarlane created the Griffin family and developed a pilot for the show he called Family Guy.

Design

Lois's design came to the show from Larry shorts, as the other characters of the show.

Voice

Alex Borstein, voice of Lois.

Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, she was doing a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother, whose voice she had based on one of her cousins. The voice was originally slower, when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less [...] annoying...and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours".

Aside from her role as the voice performer for Lois and several other characters throughout the series (including a brief appearance as Ms. Swan in a 2005 episode), Borstein is also a producer and staff writer.

Personality

Lois' morals can seem questionable at times. She went through a brief period of kleptomania in the episode "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do", for which she went to prison; she also showed a gambling addiction when the family went to an Indian casino in "The Son Also Draws" in the first season. Various episodes hint that Lois is a drug user, but this is shown most clearly in "Deep Throats". She revealed that she smoked marijuana when she was pregnant with Stewie, a claim backed-up by series creator Seth MacFarlane on a DVD commentary. Also, when asked by Peter where she got a tattoo on her lower back, she replied, "Oh, I don't know, Peter- meth is a hell of a drug." (Prick Up Your Ears) She also hints that she engaged in similar activities when a younger Meg was around. When Meg is thought to be pregnant, Lois tells her to "smoke and drink a lot" (when Meg doesn't want to get an abortion, which Lois hinted at beforehand). She also mentions, "but don't start, then chicken out halfway or you end up with Chris," which implies she smoked and drank while pregnant with Chris.

Lois is somewhat promiscuous. She had an extramarital affair with former President Bill Clinton, which resulted in a temporary separation from Peter, although the relationship was later rekindled after Peter himself engaged in a sexual liaison with Clinton. She has also been shown to have a large number of ex-boyfriends, including Gene Simmons of the band Kiss and by a friend of Peter's named Jerome--both of whom have given her the nickname "Loose Lois".

In "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas", she has a nervous breakdown when just about everything goes wrong, throws a destructive tantrum and is subdued with a tranquilizer dart by a police sniper. In I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar, Lois explains her role as a mother and homemaker by saying that feminism is about choice, that she chose not to have a job and that she shouldn't be stereotyped as a housewife. In "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", she gets into an argument with Mayor Adam West, threatens to run against him for mayor of Quahog and wins the election; however, she soon quits after encountering the difficulty of ignoring special interests and maintaining her integrity while in politics.

In an interview, Alex Borstein stated that it was fun to create a "darker side" for Lois and make her "more snarky and sassy and sexual".

Reception and cultural influence

Commendations

Lois won 32nd place on the 100 best cartoons ever made by inthe00s.com, she also appeared in several T.V Guides.

Merchandise

Alongside t-shirts, Lois has been included in various other Family Guy-related merchandise, including air fresheners, baseball caps, bumper stickers, cardboard standups, refrigerator magnets, key rings, buttons, dolls, posters, figurines, clocks, soapstone carvings, Chia Pets, bowling balls and boxer shorts.

External links

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