Da Boom - Production

Production

Da Boom was the third episode of the second season of Family Guy, and the first for director Bob Jaques. The episode was written by writing team Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan, who had written episodes for the show in the first season including "Mind Over Murder".

This was the first episode to have Mila Kunis providing the voice of Meg. Lacey Chabert, the original voice of Meg, left the series due to time constraints with her acting role in Party of Five, as well as schoolwork. Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show. Seth MacFarlane, the show's creator, called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her.

"Da Boom" also introduced a new character, Ernie the Giant Chicken, an anthropomorphic chicken who serves as a rival to Peter. He has a long, unexpected fight with Peter, which interrupts the main storyline. This has become a running gag, having reappeared in episodes such as "Blind Ambition", "No Chris Left Behind" and in "Meet the Quagmires". He is voiced by regular show writer Danny Smith.

In addition to the regular cast, actress Victoria Principal, comedian and actor Will Sasso, reporter, commentator, war correspondent, anchorman Jack Perkins, voice actor Joey Slotnick, and character actor Patrick Duffy guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actress Lori Alan, writer Danny Smith, and actor Patrick Warburton also made minor appearances. It first aired on December 12, 1999.