Summary
- Family Guy, an iconic animated comedy, is moving its premiere from Sundays to Wednesdays after 18 years on the Sunday night block.
- This scheduling change raises concerns about the future of the show and whether it will face cancelation after 25 years.
- Although Family Guy’s ratings have declined, and it may be past its prime, there is still uncertainty about its future as it is renewed for the 2024-25 season, and creator Seth MacFarlane is in demand elsewhere.
When one thinks of this century’s iconic animated programs, Family Guy is typically one of the first that comes to mind. Since its debut 25 years ago, Seth MacFarlane‘s animated masterpiece has both entertained and polarized audiences of all ages for over 400 episodes. It’s been a staple of Fox’s Sunday night animation lineup for nearly two decades, though that will soon come to an end.
This spring, Family Guy will move premieres to Wednesdays, marking the first time it’s aired on a weeknight since 2002. TV shows switching premiere days is nothing new, and linear scheduling is becoming more and more obsolete in the age of streaming. However, this is significant for a few reasons. Family Guy is one of network TV’s most iconic comedies, and part of that legacy comes from its place on the Sunday night block. Could this be an ominous sign of the show’s future?
In the past, switching timeslots of long-running shows has occasionally foretold their demise. Is Family Guy ready to cap things off at 25 years? Since the Disney-Fox merger, the Griffin family has been under the corporate umbrella of the powerful House of Mouse. Let’s be honest: Family Guy doesn’t exactly fit the Disney family-friendly image. So, could this be the end of the road? Let’s see what we know.
The Early Years and Cancelations of Family Guy
Family Guy
- Release Date
- January 31, 1999
- Seasons
- 22
Family Guy came in with a bang, launching after Fox’s Super Bowl broadcast on Jan. 31, 1999. Audiences loved the wacky, vulgar, and offensive Griffin characters right away. It started running on Sundays in the spring, joining an animation lineup with other animated powerhouses like The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and Futurama. However, the scheduling became more erratic by the second season. It bounced around from day to day and ran several episodes in the typically dead summer months. Fox canceled the show in 2000 around the end of season two. But later that summer, they reversed course and ordered a third season.
Season three aired semi-regularly until early 2002 when the show was canceled for a second time. It joined Adult Swim shortly after, with reruns there quickly becoming the network’s highest-rated show. DVD sales picked up as well. Fox responded by ordering new episodes once again in 2004, and Family Guy returned on May 1, 2005, after three years away. It joined Fox’s new Animation Domination Sunday block, along with The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and MacFarlane’s then-new American Dad!. And that’s where it’s stayed ever since. Until now.
MacFarlane’s Exit From His Animated Series
The success of Family Guy and American Dad! increased MacFarlane’s star as the network’s new hitmaker. At one point, he controlled 75% of Animation Domination after The Cleveland Show arrived in 2009. Around this time, MacFarlane stepped away from an active, creative role on Family Guy to work on the first Ted movie. His animated Fox empire dwindled, with Cleveland ending in 2013 and American Dad! moving to TBS in 2014. Even without its leading man actively involved, Family Guy continued its remarkable streak. Even after 25 years, the show is still going strong.
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In 2019, Family Guy moved from its longtime 9:00 pm anchor slot to the less prestigious 9:30 pm time, the first sign things may be changing. This was also around the time the merger between Fox and Disney was finalized. The new Disney leadership team didn’t seem as committed to retaining MacFarlane on their broadcast networks. His sci-fi comedy The Orville left Fox to move to Hulu, where it’s currently in production limbo. MacFarlane’s latest series, a prequel to the Ted movies, launched in 2024 on Peacock.
What Do These Family Guy Changes Mean?
There was a notable Sunday night shakeup when Fox released their strike-delayed lineup for the 2023-24 broadcast season. Family Guy and other longtime staple Bob’s Burgers were out, moved to make room for the returning The Great North and Jon Hamm’s new Grimsburg. The Simpsons retained the 8:00 pm slot they’ve occupied since 1994, which they will continue until the sun swallows the Earth.
Family Guy is now headed to Wednesday nights at 9:30 pm ET, airing after The Masked Singer and Joel McHale’s live-action comedy Animal Control. Moving a show from a night it’s occupied for 18 years is a big shakeup in the world of broadcast TV. It’s not even a particularly strong timeslot either, as The Masked Singer doesn’t pull the huge numbers it used to. Though it’s still among Fox’s highest-rated shows, Family Guy‘s ratings are unlikely to change drastically. At this point, they’re so low it’s almost impossible to fall any further.
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It’s true that Family Guy is past its heyday, with new episodes now bringing in less than a million viewers. That’s low even by dying broadcast standards. This move to Wednesday nights could be Fox’s attempt to prepare for the end while giving their new animated offerings a chance to shine on Sunday. It’s not strong enough to prop up the similarly low numbers for Animal Control, so there was no real reason for this move other than freeing up space on Sunday.
Family Guy is renewed for the 2024-25 season, so there’s an immediate risk of it ending. MacFarlane also personally does not believe the end is in sight. However, he is not exclusively at Fox, and his talents are in demand elsewhere. If we learn from history, Family Guy is not indispensable. It’s been canceled before, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t again if the network feels they no longer need it. While it’s safe now, times are tough for the entertainment business, and Disney may want to move forward without some of their more “controversial” titles. All we can do is wait and see. Family Guy is currently available to stream on Hulu.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
