When Family Guy debuted in 1999, I was obsessed. I was young and loved The Simpsons, so any animated show dropped on FOX was appointment viewing. It helped that the show was funny and pretty “edgy” for ten-year-old me. The show was crass in a way The Simpsons wasn’t but it gave me plenty of heartfelt moments and character-driven comedy. Family Guy’s cancelation was devastating, and when it disappeared, it felt like I was the only one who knew it had existed. I spent the next few years rewatching VHS recordings I’d made and cherishing the three seasons I was given. Then, something miraculous happened.
2003 saw the release of Family Guy on DVD. I was barely into High School and didn’t have much money, so I couldn’t run out and purchase them. However, I didn’t need to. In addition to the show dropping on physical media, it began airing on Adult Swim, the late-night block of Cartoon Network. Huzzah! I could finally rewatch all my favorite episodes. Not only that, others were more likely to see them too. Instead of airing Thursday nights after the live-action Tick, Family Guy would be airing at a time other kids like me were interested in, and it worked!
Family Guy was huge for Adult Swim and vice versa. The show boasted incredible ratings and was eventually renewed for a new season! I plotzed! I still remember getting deliriously excited. The show would air after my beloved Simpsons where it belonged. My hair was standing on end and I settled in to see a new episode of one of my favorite, most sought-after shows. I f***ing hated it.
Whatever magic had existed between Family Guy and myself had died. The new episode felt hollow in a way the show initially did not and I was devastated once again (albeit for different reasons). I couldn’t let on at school. Suddenly, people who had never seen the show wanted to talk to me about how good they found the new episode. For a while, I pretended to be as excited as they were. Luckily, I graduated about a year later and could leave that legacy behind.
I assumed Family Guy would eventually disappear, especially after being taken down by South Park in a way that felt like a killing blow. That was not the case. I emerged from my year and a half in a theater conservatory to find that normal people out in the world still loved Family Guy and the bits of the show I saw seemed farther and farther away from the one I had fallen in love with. Even a crossover with The Simpsons couldn’t save the show for me, and couldn’t make up for one of the most disgusting “bits” I had ever seen which included Quagmire raping Marge and then murdering her and Homer. Abhorrent s*** that was presented as comedy.
There’s a likely chance the show did similar things when I watched the first three seasons as a child. I haven’t rewatched them in decades. The show was ruined for me once it returned and I don’t miss it. However, America still loves it. So much so that Adult Swim is bringing it back to their network after letting the rights lapse in 2021. The re-airing will begin with a 3-day marathon and then air from 10-11:30 PM on weeknights. David Zaslav has been actively gutting Cartoon Network and Adult Swim so using one for reruns of a decades-old show is way too common a practice on network television to be surprising.
Family Guy gave Adult Swim an enormous boost in 2003. Now, the landscape could not be more different. I’m not here to yuck anybody’s yum. If you want to tune in to Adult Swim to watch a show that has long overstayed its welcome, be my guest.