Honestly, it’s kind of a miracle that Family Guy is still on the air. Think about it. This is a show that Fox famously cancelled twice—once in 2000 and again in 2002—only for it to be resurrected by the sheer, unadulterated power of DVD sales and Adult Swim reruns. It was the first time a show was ever brought back because the fans essentially voted with their wallets. Now, decades later, the Griffin family is a permanent fixture of the pop culture landscape, for better or worse.
Most people think of the show as just a series of "remember that time" cutaway gags. That’s the reputation. But if you actually look at the evolution of the Family Guy television show, there’s a much weirder, more complex history involving creative burnout, massive legal battles, and a complete shift in how television comedy is written.
The Seth MacFarlane Formula and Why It Broke Television
When Seth MacFarlane pitched the show to Fox executives back in 1998, he was just 24 years old. He was a kid. He had been working at Hanna-Barbera, and you can see that DNA in the early episodes. The thick lines, the bright colors, and the way Peter Griffin moves all feel like a warped version of a 1950s cartoon.
But the writing? That was different.
The "cutaway gag" became the show's calling card. It’s a specific comedic device where a character says something like, "This is worse than the time I had dinner with David Hasselhoff," and then—boom—we’re in a 10-second scene of Peter at a dinner table with a shirtless Hasselhoff. Critics hated it. They called it lazy. South Park even dedicated a famous two-part episode, "Cartoon Wars," to the idea that the show was written by manatees picking random idea balls out of a tank.
But here’s the thing people miss: it worked because of the pacing. In the late 90s, sitcoms were slow. Family Guy was fast. It was built for a generation that was starting to develop a shorter attention span, even before social media existed. It was the precursor to TikTok humor—short, punchy, nonsensical bursts of content that don't necessarily need context to be funny.
The Evolution of Peter and Stewie
If you go back and watch Season 1, the characters are unrecognizable. Peter was a well-meaning, if slightly dim, father. He wasn't the chaotic, borderline-sociopathic force of nature he became in later seasons. Stewie was a genuine villain. He wanted to kill Lois. He wanted world domination. He was basically a Bond villain in a diaper.
📖 Related: Why American Beauty by the Grateful Dead is Still the Gold Standard of Americana
The shift happened around Season 4, right after the first revival.
The writers realized that a baby trying to commit matricide every week has a limited shelf life. So, Stewie changed. He became more flamboyant, more intellectual, and his relationship with Brian the dog became the emotional core of the show. That’s when the Family Guy television show actually found its legs. The "Road To" episodes, inspired by the old Bing Crosby and Bob Hope movies, proved the show could handle long-form storytelling and musical numbers that were genuinely sophisticated. It stopped being just a sketch show and started being a weird, meta-commentary on entertainment itself.
Why the Show Refuses to Die
You’ve probably heard people say the show "isn't as good as it used to be." People have been saying that since 2006. Yet, the ratings stay consistent, and the streaming numbers on platforms like Hulu and Disney+ are astronomical.
There are a few reasons for this staying power:
- Comfort in Chaos: There is something weirdly soothing about the Griffin family's static life. No matter how many times Quahog is destroyed, everything is back to normal by the next Sunday night.
- The Voice Acting: MacFarlane voices Peter, Stewie, Brian, and Quagmire. That’s the majority of the main cast. This gives the show a very specific rhythmic timing that’s hard to replicate in a traditional writers' room.
- Controversy as Marketing: Whether it’s mocking religion, disability, or politics, the show leans into the "offensive" label. Every time a celebrity gets mad or a parents' group starts a petition, it just drives more eyes to the screen.
The Legal Battles and the Carol Burnett Incident
The show hasn't just been a target for angry viewers; it’s been a target for lawyers. One of the most famous cases involved Carol Burnett, who sued the show for $2 million over a parody of her "Charwoman" character in a porn shop. She lost. The judge ruled it was a protected parody.
This was a landmark moment for animation. It established that Family Guy—and by extension, other satirical shows—had a broad legal runway to mock whatever they wanted. They’ve also been sued by the publishers of "When You Wish Upon a Star" (which they turned into "I Need a Jew") and even by a guy who claimed he invented the idea of a talking, sophisticated dog. They won those too. The show is legally bulletproof at this point.
👉 See also: Why October London Make Me Wanna Is the Soul Revival We Actually Needed
The Brian Griffin Death Hoax of 2013
Remember when the internet went into a total meltdown in 2013?
In the episode "Life of Brian," the writers did the unthinkable: they killed off the family dog. He was hit by a car. They even replaced him with a new dog, Vinnie, voiced by Tony Sirico from The Sopranos. Fans were livid. There were petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures. People were threatening to boycott Fox.
It was all a giant troll.
Two episodes later, Stewie used a time machine to save Brian. MacFarlane later tweeted, "I mean, you didn't really think we'd kill off Brian, did you? God, we'd have to be [expletive] high." It was a masterclass in how to manipulate the modern news cycle. They proved that even after a decade on air, they could still dominate the conversation by just doing something genuinely unexpected.
The "New" Family Guy Tone
Lately, the show has changed again. It’s less about the cutaways and more about "meta" humor. They spend entire episodes making fun of the fact that they are a TV show. They talk to the camera. They acknowledge the animation errors.
The writing staff has also become more diverse over the years, which has slightly shifted the perspective of the jokes. While it’s still crude, there’s a self-awareness now. They know they are the "old" show on the block. They lean into it. They mock the "prestige TV" era and the "Golden Age of Streaming" with a cynical bite that only a show with 400+ episodes can manage.
✨ Don't miss: How to Watch The Wolf and the Lion Without Getting Lost in the Wild
What Most People Get Wrong About the Show's Politics
It’s easy to label the show as purely "liberal" because MacFarlane is a high-profile Democrat. But if you actually watch the show, especially in the later seasons, nobody is safe. They take massive swings at the "woke" left just as often as they mock the MAGA right.
Brian is the perfect example of this. Brian is the show's mouthpiece for liberal intellectualism, but he is consistently portrayed as the biggest hypocrite in the series. He’s pretentious, he hasn't actually read the books he claims to love, and he’s often the most selfish character in the room. By making their "liberal" character the butt of the joke, the writers maintain a level of nihilism that prevents the show from feeling like a lecture. It’s not about being "right"; it’s about everyone being equally stupid.
The Technical Craftsmanship
We need to talk about the music. This is the most underrated part of the Family Guy television show.
Every episode features a live 40-to-90-piece orchestra. That is unheard of for a modern sitcom. MacFarlane’s obsession with the Great American Songbook and musical theater means the show has a higher production value in its audio than almost anything else on network TV. When they do a parody of a Disney song or a Broadway showstopper, the arrangement is technically perfect. It’s a weird contrast: you’ll have a song that is musically brilliant, but the lyrics are about something absolutely disgusting. That juxtaposition is the show's secret sauce.
How to Actually Enjoy Family Guy in the 2020s
If you’re looking to get back into the show or you’re a newcomer who only knows the memes, don't just start from the beginning and binge-watch. You'll get burned out by the repetition. Instead, focus on the "concept" episodes that show off what the writers can do when they're bored of the standard format.
- Watch the "Road To" Episodes: Specifically "Road to Rhode Island" and "Road to the Multiverse." These are the peak of the Brian and Stewie dynamic.
- Check out "And Then There Were Fewer": This was the Season 9 premiere. It’s a double-length murder mystery at James Woods’ mansion. It’s genuinely well-plotted and surprisingly atmospheric for a cartoon.
- Explore the Emmy-Bait Episodes: Look for the ones where they parody three different styles of filmmaking (like "Three Directors"). It shows a level of cinematic knowledge that most comedies don't bother with.
- Listen to the Commentary Tracks: If you can find the old DVDs or digital extras, the commentary tracks with the producers and voice actors are incredibly revealing about how many jokes were actually censored by Fox's Standards and Practices department.
The reality is that Family Guy isn't going anywhere. It has survived cancellations, lawsuits, and the total transformation of the television industry. It’s essentially "The Simpsons" for a meaner, more cynical generation. It’s a piece of television history that continues to rewrite itself every Sunday night, proving that as long as there are celebrities to mock and pop culture tropes to deconstruct, Peter Griffin will have a job.
To get the most out of your viewing now, pay attention to the background details. The animators often hide visual gags in the corners of the frame that go unnoticed on a first watch. Also, try watching the "uncut" versions available on streaming; the timing of the jokes often works much better when they aren't edited for broadcast time slots. Stay tuned for the seasonal specials, as those typically have the highest budget for the orchestral scores that define the show's unique sound.