Family Guy has survived a lot in 22 seasons, including an outright cancellation early into its Fox run and a shift in pop culture that makes some of its older episodes a bit hard to get through. I say this because one of the greatest animated shows of all time faces yet another hurdle in the latest season, and that's a move to a new weeknight. Schedule changes might rattle other showrunners, but Alec Sulkin recently explained why he wasn't concerned.
Fox has moved the long-running sitcom out of the Animation Domination Sunday primetime lineup and placed it on Wednesdays after The Masked Singer and Animal Control. Both are great shows, but they're also quite different from Family Guy, which might feel more at home sandwiched closer to The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers. Or at least that's what I would assume, though Alec Sulkin told The Wrap why he wasn't all that worried about moving to the new primetime slot:
I think if this had happened 10 years ago, I might have been annoyed. But the fact of the matter is that almost everyone is watching the show on Hulu now.
Apparently, the day and time that Family Guy airs on Fox isn't that big of a deal to the showrunner. More people are using their Hulu subscription to watch the show, based on Alec Sulkin's comment, which isn't entirely surprising. A report in 2023 listed that less than half of American homes had a standard cable or satellite subscription. While many households can get Fox on their television without one, it's clear the bulk of audiences are moving to streaming. As long as people keep watching new episodes and the metrics look good, the Family Guy team is okay with being the lone animated show on Wednesday nights.
Those who do watch on Wednesdays can be assured that the series is just as raunchy and irreverent as it has ever been in Season 22. It's also in a time where the adult animation genre is well-established with several high-profile shows, which wasn't so common back when Seth MacFarlane first pitched the idea.
And really, audiences should be conditioned to seeing Family Guy on television more than just on Sundays. The series is in syndication with various networks and can be seen on television every night. For me as a fan, it does feel weird to watch a new episode on a night when I'm already well into the work week, but I'm sure that will fade in time. There are worse things that can happen, like that time the show got in hot water with a Russian official.
Family Guy airs at its new time on Wednesdays on Fox at 9:30 p.m. ET. Tune in and be sure to take a look at what other new seasons of shows are arriving on the 2024 TV schedule, as it feels like we're about to enter the peak of the spring television season.
