How Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane felt about the show’s cancellation

Seth MacFarlane, the star and creator of the series “Family Guy”, believes that the show has achieved such momentum that there is no reason to cancel it. Until people get sick of Family Guy, MacFarlane said it will be on the air — and they haven’t tired of the Griffin family in the 25 years since the show debuted. Speaking to the LA Times in 2024Macfarlane explained:

“At the moment I don’t see a good reason to stop. People still love it. It makes people happy and funds some good causes. That’s a lot of extra money you can donate to the Rainforest Trust and you can still go There was a time when I thought it was time to wrap it up, we had reached escape velocity.

I like it one of McFarlane’s key inspirations, The Simpsons, the animated sitcom Family Guy has been around for so long (and the cast/crew are constantly busy) that it’s well past the point where it can get a decent finale. But MacFarlane’s vision of an endless “Family Guy” has been funny since the show has faced cancellation — twice, even.

“Family Guy” was briefly canceled in May 2000 after its second seasonreportedly due to competing timeslots that made it difficult for the show to post quality ratings. It was then quickly renewed for a 22-episode third season, which aired from 2001 to 2002. the controversial season 3 finale, “If You Wish Weinstein” debuted on DVD in 2003) “Family Guy” appeared to be over again after season 3, but strong DVD sales and popular reruns on Adult Swim convinced Fox to revive it. As McFarlane pointed out in an interview with the LA Times, this was because his deal with Fox was still in effect, and the network actually renewed that deal to renew “Family Guy.” Season 4 of Family Guy premiered in May 2005, and the series has been churning out new episodes ever since.

However, how did McFarlane feel when his first show was cancelled? In the aforementioned interview with the LA Times, he admitted that he had “nothing to compare it to” and said, “It was the first show I ever did and it got picked up. I thought, ‘Oh, I guess that’s okay.’ Which of course wasn’t the case when I got cancelled, I was like, “Okay, that’s okay too.” But it wasn’t like they’re kicking you to the curb, it was, “We still want to do business with you.”

McFarlane and Fox had no idea that they would soon be back in the Family Guy business.