Posted in: Fox, TV | Tagged: Alex Borstein, family guy, fox, mila kunis, seth green, seth macfarlane

Family Guy: Seth MacFarlane Could See Series Going Another 25 Years

Seth MacFarlane addresses the future of FOX's Family Guy and if he sees any end in sight for the long-running animated series.

Family Guy has a unique distinction that not even animated series contemporaries, The Simpsons and South Park, have achieved in their longevity: surviving cancellation. The series' original run on FOX lasted from 1999-2001 before its revival in 2005 and hasn't looked back since surpassing 400 episodes and 22 seasons strong. The Los Angeles Times did a comprehensive profile on the non-sequitur-driven animated sitcom from its cast in creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, and Mila Kunis and showrunners Alec Sulkin and Rich Appel. Most of the core cast plays multiple characters, and Kunis wasn't part of the original cast as she replaced Lacey Chabert as daughter Meg in the middle of the initial early FOX run. The rest of the primary roles of the cast are MacFarlane as the father, Peter, and dog, Brian; Borstein as the mother, Lois; and Green as the son, Chris.

How 'Family Guy' Expanded the Cast's Legacies as Actors

While Family Guy helped put MacFarlane on the map, expanding his career in the animation world with American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, he's also gained notoriety in science fiction with his Star Trek-type series The Orville, receiving critical acclaim in live-action he didn't achieve before. He's also built another empire with the live-action Ted franchise with two films and a Peacock TV series prequel, voicing the title character. Borstein, who got her start in the voiceover world voicing various characters in the Power Rangers universe, also has an equally impressive live-action resume on film and TV, including a memorable run on Mad TV. Kunis and Green already developed impressive TV resumes at a young age by being a part of their respective prime-time franchises in That '70s Show and Buffy the Vampire Slayer before joining Family Guy.

As busy as MacFarlane is nowadays, he doesn't see an immediate end to Family Guy counting his blessings as even critical acclaim manages to preclude staying power with Disney, leaving The Orville in limbo following season three. "At this point, I don't see a good reason to stop. People still love it," he said. "It makes people happy, and it funds some good causes. It's a lot of extraneous cash that you can donate to Rainforest Trust, and you can still go out to dinner that night. There was a time when I thought, 'it's time to wrap it up.' At this point, we've reached escape velocity. 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." For more from the cast and showrunners about the show's initial cancellation, its longevity, updating with the times, how they've changed as actors, representation, and more, you can check the piece here.

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