Family Guy aired its “final” episode 24 years ago today after it was cancelled with Fox, and that last episode was truly a bizarre one to end it on all these years later. Family Guy has had the kind of run that no other animated series could really pull off in the same way. The animated series started off very strongly with Fox after it made its debut with a primetime, post-Super Bowl time slot with the best kind of backing yet. But that wasn’t the same case two seasons in. In fact, it was almost cancelled before it even got a third season.
Family Guy was cancelled heading into its third season, but was allowed one final chance at success with its final episodes. That third season ultimately wasn’t enough to save it with Fox, and its final episode, “Family Guy Viewer Mail No.1” remains a wild potential finale had the franchise not become a massive success through its reruns and DVD sales in the years that followed. 24 years ago today, this would have been a wild potential episode to end it all on.
Family Guy’s First Final Episode Aired 24 Years Ago Today
Courtesy of 20th Television Animation
24 years ago today, on February 14, 2002, “Family Guy Viewer Mail No. 1” aired as the final episode of Family Guy‘s third season, and the finale to that initial run with Fox. This would mark the end of a very integral era of the franchise that would serve as the launching point to an even bigger shift to come. These first three seasons would then be licensed to other networks like Adult Swim (who were already airing reruns of other cancelled animated shows), and be sold on DVD in stores back when that was important.
These first three seasons ended up selling so well, and doing so well with just their reruns alone that Fox was then inspired to bring the animated series back for a fourth season three years later. And as fans know well enough by now as Family Guy prepares to return for its 450th episode milestone to start a brand new season later this month, the animated series was never in danger of being in cancellation ever again. It became an absolute powerhouse within Fox, Disney, and the world of adult animation.
It’s just all so hilarious in retrospect to see just how big it has all become 24 years later when looking at the final episode of the series for a time. Family Guy was a traditional animated sitcom at the time, so it’s not like the final episode was capping off some grand narrative or build like fans might see in adult animated series these days. But in their own hilarious way, Family Guy did decide to wrap things up on a big event type of episode with a fun anthology imagining all kinds of kooky stories that they really couldn’t do otherwise.
Family Guy Went All Out For Its Cancellation Finale
Courtesy of 20th Television Animation
“Family Guy Viewer Mail No. 1” already sets itself out from the others by imagining Brian and Stewie as actors outside of the usual series, and then takes it further with anthology stories breaking the reality of the show. Though the animated series has gone far wackier in the decades since, the first few seasons of the series had a few invisible boundaries for its world. It didn’t push things too far outside of a semi-grounded Quahog, and the anthology gave the team time to experiment in fun ways.
The first segment gave Peter a genie and wishing he had no bones, the second segment gave each of them fun super powers, and the third season turned them into The Little Rascals. Each of these segments took place outside of the main Family Guy timeline, and was allowed to end in some fun ways as a result. There are some classic bits here too like the family’s bone transplant visuals at the end, Meg’s ability to grow her fingernails, and just the general big head look for their kid designs in the third segment.
As a final episode, it’s certainly a fun one. It would have been a solid finale that left fans feeling like there was still much more fruit on the vine for Family Guy after its cancellation, and that’s exactly why it worked as well as it did. Fans saw all of this and loved those first three seasons to such an extent that Fox realized what they had on their hands was an actual hit. Ratings would later improve to further prove this, and Family Guy is still going strong all these years later.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!