Fans rejoice! USA Today recently reported that Family Guy may return to Fox. Why? I'll give you two reasons. First, DVD sales have been through the roof. Second, Family Guy pulls in big numbers during Adult Swim, a block of adult cartoons airing on the Cartoon Network.
Family Guy was cancelled in early 2002 after only three seasons. Fans were dismayed because the show was hysterical. It was also a critical success.
Why was it cancelled? No doubt Fox was nervous about the show's racial, religious and downright crude jokes. Remember, this is the same network who caved to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, and changed a reference to the Catholic religion in the "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" episode of The Simpsons which originally aired after the Super Bowl in January.
Decreasing ratings were another problem. But how could ratings have increased, or even held on, when Fox moved Family Guy from Sundays, to Thursdays and almost every other night on TV? Family Guy was also pre-empted more times than I can remember. Fox certainly didn't support the show with a steady, decent time slot.
Ah, but how the worm has turned. Now DVD sales are through the roof. USA Today reports that the "DVD set of the show's first 28 episodes released in April has sold nearly 1 million copies, making it this year's top-selling TV show and the No. 4 television title ever, according to "Video Store" magazine. A second collection, of 22 episodes, has sold 520,000 copies."
Family Guy is also seeing fantastic ratings at the Cartoon Network. In June, the Cartoon Network reported that "Adult Swim ranked #1 in its time period on all ad-supported cable with adults 18-34 and 18-24, and with men 18-34 and 18-24. And for the first time in its history, Cartoon Network ranked #4 for the week among all ad-supported cable for total day delivery of adults 18-34 (231,000 average viewers)." They were "surfing on the crest of Family Guy's continuing performance."
The fans have spoken, in terms of DVD sales and cable ratings. And Fox, finally, has listened. Sandy Grushow, Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman, told USA Today that Family Guy could return with as many as 35 new episodes for January 2005.
Can I get an "A-men!"?
