Along withThe Simpsonsand Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy has been the cornerstone of Fox’s Animation Sunday, but now the show is facing its most drastic schedule change and fans can’t help but worry for its future.
As well as not premiering in the fall, Family Guy has also given up its tightly held Sunday night spot and will now air new episodes on Wednesday.
Despite this massive change, Fox Television Network President Michael Thorn tried to reassure fans that the move was to help keep a balance between legacy shows and new series.
Thorn also stressed that Family Guy continues to be of “crucial importance” to the Fox audience and the “beloved” show still received a full season order, so the schedule change will not impact the amount of episodes it has.
Unsurprisingly, this change has some fans thinking the worst. Onetweeted, “Yeah this show’s days on Fox are numbered. This alongside their constant push of their newer original shows. No wonder they’ve been getting renewed before the show even airs.”
Anotherwrote, “This new fall schedule is actually disgusting,” while a thirdcommented, “DO NOT TAKE THIS SHOW AWAY FROM ME PLEASE.”
It’s fair for Family Guy to worry: sometimes, shows are moved to midseason due to poor viewership or other issues behind the scenes.
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According to TVLine, the showreceivedan audience of about 919,000 viewers during its Season 22 premiere, which is a slight dip from its Season 21 premiere which had about 1.57 million views. So, the move could be Fox’s way of slowly pushing the show out.
However,Family Guy creatorSeth MacFarlane is showing no signs of slowing the gravy train down as hetoldThe Hollywood Reporter, “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.”
MacFarlane has also hinted that aFamily Guy moviecould be in the works as he revealed he’s had a plan for a feature-length film for 15 years.
Kayla Harrington was a TV & Movies Writer on Dexerto’s US team, specializing in The Boys, The Walking Dead, House of the Dragon, Marvel and Star Wars. She also has bylines at Mashable, BuzzFeed, and The Mary Sue.
