Original version of Family Guy: Larry and Steve

by Sajextryus Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:02 am

Larry and Steve was a program originally created for the bright side of Cartoon Network, but the pilot wasn't all that popular. In the original version, Brian was a brown dog named Steve, Peter was named Larry and had white hair and blue jeans, and the only one who could understand Steve (Brian) was Larry (Peter), and the animation was a lot looser and childish. Please leave your comments on this and wether you like it or not, and don't say you don't like it because Family Guy is better, just say if you would like it if it were a kid show. I personally like it as Family Guy, but I'm not so sure what I think about the children's cartoon. Well, here it is:

And here is the very original version, before it was going to be a children show pilot and before it was turned back to this with a diferent animation style:

This later formed into a much more familiar art style and went back to adult humor:

And later on, that had turned into the Family Guy we all know and love.

Here is the video description of the original children's show pilot:

After being hired at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., MacFarlane was given a chance in 1996 to direct a sequel entitled Larry and Steve, a seven-minute short broadcast as part of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons.

Larry and Steve (1997)This short begins with Steve in front of a camcorder recording an SOS tape for somebody to come and save him from his bumbling owner, Larry. Steve recounts for the tape the misadventures that have ensued ever since Larry bought Steve from the dog pound, focusing on a series of misadventures and hijinks that ensued when the pair went to the mall to buy items for Larry's apartment.

While at the mall, the two destroy nearly everything. Larry, looking for a light bulb for his bedside lamp, puts in a high-wattage lighthouse bulb, then criticizes Steve for saying that wasn't a good idea, commenting that he didn't go to kindergarten for 12 years because he was stupid. (It was because he got his foot caught in the radiator.) When Larry plugs the lamp in, it turns into a wide lightsaber and he cuts the store in half. As this is happening, Larry references the "Luke, I am your father..." line from the movie The Empire Strikes Back by saying "Luke, this is your landlord. You still haven't returned my Weedwacker".

ALthough not as crude as the first short, it still retains the same random feel with sight gags that mirror gags later used in Family Guy. Such gags include

A pilot handing the controls over a small boy, presumably his son, only to find that he crashed the plane while the pilot was gone and then taking the boy out for a snack, cutting the loss.
A Scotsman reacting to the realization that people are around by running away and jumping out the window. (a nod to a Looney Tunes gag where Gossamer reacts to people in a destructive and evasive manner)
Letters from store signs crushing innocent bystanders.