Another animated sitcom of exaggerated proportion, creator Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy is sort of a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, and I freely admit that it eventually reaches a point of diminishing return, where it’s only really funny in relation to your understanding of and appreciation for the characters. “More is more,” could be the unofficial credo of the show, much to the chagrin of those invested in quaint notions of story. The difference is that Family Guy‘s characters are so out there, and its setting (Rhode Island) and point-of-view are so canted and different from a lot of other sitcoms out there that it can be willfully ridiculous and still fairly successfully funny at the same time, if ultimately fleeting and a bit forgettable.

The Da Vinci Code, Chris battles a talking zit and the angry monkey that lives in his closet). There are times when the story stops cold so that Peter can engage in a two-minute fight sequence with a giant, evil-eyed chicken. “PTV” and “Brian Goes Back to College” kick things off, with the former finding Peter refuting the FCC’s stringent new broadcast standards (leading to this hilarious song) and realizing that everything is much more interesting when framed as part of a reality TV show and the latter highlighting the differences in Brian’s intellectual interests and pursuits from the rest of the family. Other episodic highlights include “I Take Thee Quagmire” and “The Courtship of Stewie’s Father.”

It’s fitting that since Family Guy was rescued from the trash bin of cancelled TV series by (at least partly) its robust reception on DVD, this release includes a heaping helping of supplemental material. First off, it must be noted that the full frame, 1.33:1 presentation of the series looks exceptionally pristine, though that may speak more to the cruddy broadcast quality of my local Fox affiliate than anything else. In addition to jocular audio commentaries on every episode from MacFarlane and other writers, Family Guy: Volume Four also includes multi-angle scene studies on four episodes (“PTV,” “Brian Goes Back to College,” “Patriot Games” and “Sibling Rivalry”) and a featurette that shows one how to sketch the irascible Stewie.

The bulk of the supplemental material is available on the last disc, and includes a seven-minute walking tour of the writers’ offices and animation studio with frequent guest voice Adam West, as well as a 15-minute look at what it means to be a director on an animated show. The disc’s crown jewel, though, comes in the form of more than 40 deleted scenes; if the show’s scattershot humor is right up your alley in the first place, these are like manna from heaven, and definitely provide some fun new clips for your outgoing answering machine message. B- (Show) A- (Disc)