Death Has A Shadow - Production

Production

Production of the pilot for Family Guy began in 1998, and took six months to create and produce. Recalling the experience in an interview with The New York Times, MacFarlane stated,

I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot. —Seth MacFarlane, interview with The New York Times

Upon completion of the pilot, the series went on the air. "Death Has a Shadow" was the first episode of Family Guy to be aired. It was written by creator MacFarlane, and was the first episode to be directed by Peter Shin. The episode guest starred Lori Alan as Diane Simmons, Carlos Alazraqui as Mr. Weed, Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown, Billy West, Fred Tatasciore, Joey Slotnick, Phil LaMarr, Wally Wingert, and fellow cartoonist Butch Hartman as various characters. The episode aired after Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999.

For "Death Has a Shadow", several changes were made from the original pilot pitch. For the series, Lois was a redhead, as opposed to the original pilot, where she was a blonde. In the original pilot, Lois discovered that Peter lost his job, and by the end of the episode, he fails to get a new one nor does he apply for welfare. The idea for Peter to apply for welfare and unintentionally become wealthy was suggested by executive producer David Zuckerman, who suggested the idea in order to add a larger amount of plot to the episode. Several sequences and gags were integrated into the episode from creator MacFarlane's 1995 thesis film The Life of Larry, including the sequence where the Griffin family sees Philadelphia, and a brief cutaway where Peter farts for the first time at the age of thirty.

MacFarlane was cast as four of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire. MacFarlane chose to voice these characters himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it. MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical My Fair Lady. MacFarlane uses his regular speaking voice when playing Brian. MacFarlane also provides voices for various other recurring and one-time characters, including news anchor Tom Tucker and Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt.

Alex Borstein was cast as Lois Griffin, Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown, and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt. Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the original pilot while she was working on MADtv. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen". At the time, Borstein performed in a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redheaded mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins. The voice was originally slower, but when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less annoying...and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours". Seth Green was chosen to play Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman. Green stated that he did an impression of the "Buffalo Bill" character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition. His main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he were speaking through a public address system at a McDonald's. Lacey Chabert was cast as Meg Griffin. Chabert voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes), but due to a contractual agreement was never credited. Chabert left the series because of time conflicts with schoolwork and her role on Party of Five, and was replaced by Mila Kunis.