Press release:

FAMILY GUY RETURNS TO PRODUCTION WITH AN INITIAL ORDER OF 22 NEW EPISODES TO PREMIERE IN EARLY 2005

Emmy Award-winning animated comedy series confirmed to run on Cartoon Network; FOX Broadcasting Company retains broadcast window

In an unprecedented move, 20th Century Fox Television has committed to producing a minimum of 22 new half-hour episodes of Seth MacFarlane's Emmy Award-winning animated comedy series FAMILY GUY more than two years after the series aired its last original episode. The move comes on the heels of the series' elevation to pop culture phenomenon, particularly among the traditionally hard-to-reach young adult demographic, as demonstrated by its enormous success on DVD and on the Cartoon Network. In 2003, FAMILY GUY was the #1 selling TV property on DVD. On Cartoon Network, FAMILY GUY ranks #1 in its time period on cable among Adults and Men 18-34 and Adults and Men 18-24, and also beats both The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in head-to-head competition among Men 18-34 and Men 18-24.

The new episodes will be available in early 2005 to be shown on Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's late night block of animated programming for adults on which FAMILY GUY currently ranks as the #1 show. The Fox Broadcasting Company has an option to license the original runs of those new episodes.

Seth MacFarlane, creator and executive producer of FAMILY GUY and two-time Emmy Award winner for his work on the series, and producer Kara Vallow are currently assembling the writing and production staff for the new episodes.

"This is incredibly exciting for everyone at Fox," enthused 20th Century Fox TV President Gary Newman. "The overwhelming response to Family Guy this past year is a real tribute to Seth's vision and talent and it's been really gratifying to all the executives who never stopped championing him and the show. The fact that after all this time we were able figure out a way to get back into production is a testament both to Seth's passion for keeping it alive and some really great teamwork among the executives at our studio and home entertainment and syndication divisions and those at Turner and the Cartoon Network. We're thrilled for Seth, we're thrilled for his fans, and to be honest we're thrilled for our teenage kids who threatened to emancipate themselves if we didn't figure out a way to bring the show back."

Commented Seth MacFarlane, "I'm just incredibly excited that we're back in business on Family Guy. Now all those crazy kids who've been hounding me to bring the show back can stop bothering me and move onto more serious matters – like saving 'Coupling.' "

FAMILY GUY chronicles the lives of the Griffin family, a tight-knit but tense nuclear family living in Quahog, Rhode Island. Peter, the loving but not-overly-ambitious patriarch, and Lois, his devoted wife, maintain a comfortable middle class home. Teen queen Meg, slacker Chris and homicidal infant Stewie round out the Griffin brood, but the most sensible and well-spoken member of the clan is the family dog, Brian. FAMILY GUY had its series preview on FOX on January 31, 1999 following the Super Bowl and its series premiere on April 11, 1999. It earned an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (Seth MacFarlane) and an Emmy Award in 2002 for Outstanding Music & Lyrics (Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane) and was nominated for Outstanding Animated Series in 2000. The final original episode aired February 14, 2002. FAMILY GUY joined Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on Sunday, April 20, 2003 and immediately became the block's top-rated programming, dominating late night viewing in its time period vs. cable and broadcast competition.

FAMILY GUY chronicles the lives of the Griffin family, a tight-knit but tense nuclear family living in Quahog, Rhode Island. Peter, the loving but not-overly-ambitious patriarch, and Lois, his devoted wife, maintain a comfortable middle class home. Teen queen Meg, slacker Chris and homicidal infant Stewie round out the Griffin brood, but the most sensible and well-spoken member of the clan is the family dog, Brian. FAMILY GUY had its series preview on FOX on January 31, 1999 following the Super Bowl and its series premiere on April 11, 1999. It earned an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (Seth MacFarlane) and an Emmy Award in 2002 for Outstanding Music & Lyrics (Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane) and was nominated for Outstanding Animated Series in 2000. The final original episode aired February 14, 2002. FAMILY GUY joined Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on Sunday, April 20, 2003 and immediately became the block's top-rated programming, dominating late night viewing in its time period vs. cable and broadcast competition.

"Bringing Family Guy to the Adult Swim lineup last April really helped turn the block into a cultural phenomenon with young adults," said Jim Samples, Cartoon Network executive vice president and general manager. "Now, as the destination for new episodes of what has become the block's most popular series, Family Guy will help boost Adult Swim to the next level in terms of buzz and ratings. We could not be more excited to have Seth and 20th Century Fox Television on board as Adult Swim continues its growth as the best place on TV for young adults."

Adult Swim launched in September 2001, airing programming two nights a week. In January 2003, Adult Swim expanded to five nights per week, currently airing Sunday-Thursday from 11 p.m-5 a.m. (ET, PT). Adult Swim features quirky original comedies including Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law; popular favorites Futurama and Family Guy, and action/adventure hits like InuYasha, The Big O, and Cowboy Bebop.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and the leading provider of programming for the basic cable industry.

20th Century Fox Television, a division of News Corp, is a leading supplier of entertainment programming domestically and around the world.

While it has not officially been anounced before, it was pretty common knowledge that the show was going to start back up again in January 2005.

With that said, hell yeah!

Did we really need another freaking thread about Family Guy which gives out information that is MONTHS OLD?

The press release (well, part) was already posted HERE.

While this is good to hear, I'd rather they were restarting production on Futurama.

Some BBC website has a recent video interview with Seth on line.

He says they already have six full unused scripts from when the show was cancelled, so they plan to jump right in on those and get them voiced and into full production immediately. This next batch spreads more of the focus onto the non-Griffin characters.

EDIT:
Awwwwl right!

Giggity-giggity-giggity!!

As great as this show was...my question is...will people care? A whole year from now? After all the DVD's will have been out for about two years? And the show will have been cancelled a whole four years ago?

I think if it was able to come back now, it'd be great. I wonder if the craze and undying love of this show will still be there in a year. Or, will people sort of be over it after four years off tv?

Sure they will. The show still gets fantastic ratings on Cartoon Network, among the highest the network has. The DVDs obviously have slowed down a bit in sales, but they are still among the highest for any TV show on DVD. People will care. People are the reason this show came back from the dead.

That's because its no longer cool to like Family Guy. Too mainstream. Futurama has taken over that spot.

Well said Jobronie

Best news I've read in a while...

Excellent!

Now you two, fight to the death!

Most excellent news indeed!!

About time also!

Can't wait

i just hope the whole cast returns.

can't wait!

Seth Mac: next

Alex Bornstein: don't recall seeing here in ANYTHING other than MadTV. Touring with her 1 woman show, so that's no problem.

Seth Green: Will Work For Food ( or as long as they validate parking). Has he ever turned down a job....?

Mila Kunis: she was the only one I was wondering about, mainly because of her age (remember, you thought a lot differently at that age then you do now).

Seriously, the cast has been locked in for a while now, from what I've read......

No, Futurama should come back because its a damn funny show.

Found a few more recent tidbits, from Seth's mouth to planet-family-guy.com 's ears:

to get the deal done, FG had to accept a ~10% cut in budget, from ~$1.1M per ep down to just under $1M per ep.

current order is for 22 eps, but once they get going, the order could very easily get bumped up to 40 eps.

It was decent. Nothing near Family Guy.

Wow, that seems like a lot of money to me.

That's the beauty of Opinions, everyone can have one. I personally loved futurama more then I did family guy or the Simpsons.

It had a Geek sense of humor where as Family Guy has a terrible Hit and Miss ratio. It seems like it is trying to hard half the time to see if any joke will connect.

In saying that I'm glad family guy is coming back. It may not have been my favorite, but atleast the fans will be getting what they want.

I just wish Futurama had a second chance, Both series were equally treated like crap by fox with time shifts. Futurama was also treated bad because of fox politics of not having full control over the show.

Futurama was on how long? Four years?

Also, anyone know if it ever got a traditonal "series finale?"