Entertainment
Seth MacFarlane would end ‘Family Guy’ for this 1 reason
“Family Guy” has charmed viewers for 25 years.
The animated comedy has been on the air since 1999, and creator Seth MacFarlane has no intention of ending it after 23 seasons.
The comedian, 50, got candid about the show’s stability in the last two decades in a Los Angeles Times profile to celebrate the series’ milestone anniversary.
He noted that he’s not ready to let go of little Stewie Griffin and his cartoon family just yet.
“At this point, I don’t see a good reason to stop. People still love it. It makes people happy, and it funds some good causes,” MacFarlane said.
“It’s a lot of extraneous cash that you can donate to Rainforest Trust, and you can still go out to dinner that night,” he continued. The funnyman even donated $1 million to the organization to help stop deforestation in 2022.
“There was a time when I thought, ‘It’s time to wrap it up. At this point, we’ve reached escape velocity,’ ” the “Orville” creator-star went on.
“I don’t know that there’s any reason to stop at this point unless people get sick of it. Unless the numbers show that people just are, ‘Eh, we don’t care about “Family Guy” anymore.’ But that hasn’t happened yet.”
The Fox TV series was first canceled after three seasons in 2002. Three years later, the network revived it.
Four hundred and twenty-three episodes have been broadcast since its premiere, scoring nine Emmy Awards over the course of the run.
MacFarlane also provides the voices for the characters Peter, Brian and Stewie Griffin, as well as Glenn Quagmire. Other members of the cast include Alex Borstein as Lois Griffin, Mila Kunis as Meg Griffin and Seth Green as the roles of Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman.
The “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” star, 53, also opened up to the “Los Angeles Times” about the legacy of “Family Guy.”
“I feel like every time we have a table read or recording, I’m laughing, and for me, that’s kind of my litmus test. If I’m still laughing at the scripts,” Borstein said. “If there’s three out-loud laughs. Because we’ve all been reading and doing comedy for so long, there’s not many guffaws left, but if I’m still really busting a gut at something, it’s worth it for me.”
In May 2023, MacFarlane stopped working on his famed cartoon due to the Hollywood strikes.
The “Ted” star and his other showrunners — Brian Boyle, Matt Weitzman, Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin — walked out to support the Writers Guild of America protests at the time.
They returned once an agreement between the WGA and his studio, 20th Television, was reached last September.