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Family Guy - the first cartoon for nearly 50 years to be nominated for a comedy Emmy. Photo / Supplied

It is the cartoon that came back from the dead and now its resurrection is complete. Family Guy, the irreverent TV show about a suburban family that includes a martini-drinking dog and a homicidal baby, has been nominated for an Emmy award.

The nomination is the first time a cartoon series has been up for an award in the Outstanding Comedy Series category since The Flintstones received the nod in 1961. Even The Simpsons has never been nominated.

The news has sparked a furious debate among TV critics and in the blogosphere. Although Family Guy, shown in the US on Fox, in Britain on BBC3, and in New Zealand on TV3, has legions of fans it also has many critics who condemn its humour as derivative.

Even the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, seemed stunned at the nomination. "On the one hand, it's really exciting and we're delighted, and on the other hand, we feel like, really, The Simpsons should have been on this list in the 90s when they submitted," he said.

Family Guy follows the adventures of Peter Griffin and his unusual family in New England. Its trademark is outrageous, often surreal, storylines and a fondness for drink, sex and violence, all set against a quiet suburban backdrop.

Perhaps the character most loved by fans is that of Stewie Griffin, a baby barely old enough to crawl but who has the wordly cynicism and voice of a camp Bond villain and is perpetually seeking to kill his own mother and take over the world. One spoof "Wanted" poster lists his crimes as: civil disobedience; attempted matricide; possession of an illegal death ray; conspiracy to invade Europe; and dumping toxic diaper waste. Emmy recognition may yet see him installed ahead of Bart Simpson as America's number one troublesome child.

The show first appeared in 1999. It was cancelled in 2003 after its third series but the move prompted outrage. A petition quickly gathered 100,000 signatures and Fox studio executives were targeted by a mass email and letter-writing campaign. That, and the growing popularity of repeats of the show and booming DVD sales, eventually persuaded Fox to revive it a year later.

If it wins - The Flintstones lost in 1961 - then its triumph will be complete. MacFarlane said that he hoped it would pave the way for mainstream acceptance of cartoon series. "It is nice that they stopped ignoring the fact that the animated shows are major players in the comedy landscape of television. This is a huge step forward," he said.

But Family Guy's success will not please everyone. Critics say that the cartoon is benefiting from an expanded number of Emmy nominations this year. The show also has some high-profile enemies in the shape of feuds with other cartoons.

In several episodes of The Simpsons accusations are made that Peter Griffin is a rip-off of Homer Simpson. But Family Guy's main enemies are Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park. They have made no secret of their loathing for the series and once devoted a South Park story spanning two episodes to panning it. At one stage the South Park character Cartman fumes to his friend Kyle: "Don't you ever, ever compare me to Family Guy, you hear me Kyle? Compare me to Family Guy again, and, so help me, I will kill you where you stand!"

But Family Guy can look after itself. After the magazine Entertainment Weekly slammed the show, Peter used a copy of the magazine as toilet paper in a subsequent episode. In another, Stewie breaks the neck of an Entertainment Weekly reporter.

The show routinely pushes the edges of what is acceptable in mainstream comedy. Stewie's sexuality - even though he is a 1-year-old - is deliberately ambiguous and he has touched on hanging out in gay bars. In one episode Stewie remarked of his desires to kill his own mother: "I sometimes wonder if all women are this difficult, and then I think to myself: my God, wouldn't it be marvellous if I turned out to be a homosexual?"

Other notorious episodes have included Brian the family dog going to Hollywood to become a porn director and Peter converting his son, Chris, to Judaism out of a belief that it would make him smarter. That episode, called "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein", took several years to come to air because Fox executives feared it might be construed as anti-Semitic. Indeed MacFarlane showed the script to two rabbis - who approved it because Peter's idiocy is pointed out at the end - as a way of ensuring the episode was finally shown.

That sort of thing never happened in the Flintstones.

What: Family Guy, Emmy-nominated cartoon comedy
Where and when: TV3 Sundays, 8pm; C4 Thursdays 7.30pm