Seth McFarlane’s long-running comedy Family Guy is returning to Adult Swim for the first time since September 18, 2021. For the first three days of the new year, Adult Swim is airing an all night Family Guy marathon from 7 pm-5 am. Once the marathon ends, Family Guy settles in to a regular slot at 10-11:30 pm. Since its acquisition by Disney, it has aired on many other channels including Fox, FXX, FX, and Freeform. Recently, Family Guy also joined Comedy Central’s schedule, indicating Disney has decided to allow the exclusivity to Disney owned channels to lapse.
Family Guy first aired on Fox on January 31, 1999. While the early seasons received positive reviews and are considered by many fans to be the show’s best, they were unable to live up to the ratings of other Fox cartoons like the Simpsons. Family Guy’s first run on Fox came to a close on February 14, 2002 after three seasons had aired, excluding one banned episode. Matt Groening’s Futurama suffered a similar fate at Fox, ending its original run on August 10, 2003.
And then, Adult Swim reintroducing Family Guy to the world.
In 2003, Adult Swim underwent many changes. The original pool bumpers were retired. Adult Swim lost Saturdays for a year and a half, but gained Monday-Thursday nights. The first show to air on the new January 13 weekday lineup was Futurama, which was followed by Home Movies. Three months later on April 21, Home Movies would be replaced by Family Guy, and weeknights’ lead hour was cemented as Futurama and Family Guy. This stayed as a winning combination until the end of 2007, when Adult Swim lost the rights to Futurama to Comedy Central.
Because of the success of Family Guy and Futurama on Adult Swim and DVD, both shows re-entered production. Eventually, Fox even began airing Family Guy spinoff series American Dad and the Cleveland Show. These series made their way over to Adult Swim as well. The Cleveland Show was cancelled in 2013 by Fox and left Adult Swim in 2018, but American Dad continues to air new episodes on TBS and Adult Swim long after Fox dropped the series. The hours announced for Family Guy’s new run on Adult Swim currently are currently part of a two hour block of American Dad. If American Dad begins airing a half hour earlier, that will allow King of the Hill, Bob’s Burgers, and American Dad to air for an hour each before the hour and a half of Family Guy. Fans of Fox comedies should find a lot to enjoy in the new year on Adult Swim.
Discuss this article on the Toonzone Forums!
The post Family Guy Returns To Adult Swim In January 2025 appeared first on Anime Superhero News.
