'Family Guy' Absent From Fox Fall, Hypes Up Season 23 At Comic-Con
'Family Guy' Absent From Fox Fall, Hypes Up Season 23 At Comic-Con
The previously-announced Hulu holiday specials will now kick off the season; get your full Animation Domination fall schedule here
It’s been 20 years since Family Guy has been absent from Fox’s fall schedule, having made its grand return from cancellation in May 2005, and the network has announced that indeed, it will be missing out, and season 23 has been held for midseason. This means that the Halloween special announced for Hulu in April will kick it off on October 14.
This means that only eight episodes will have aired for all of 2024, thanks to a strike-shortened six-episode back half of season 22. At the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, it was revealed that the Halloween special, whose title hasn’t been revealed Peter, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire attempting to defeat the reigning champion of Quahog’s annual pumpkin-carving contest, voiced by Anyone but You and Twisters star Glen Powell, “by any means necessary”. Famed Shakespearean British actor Derek Jacobi will be the latest to voice Stewie’s teddy Rupert, though by what means is unknown. The Christmas special hasn’t had its title or release date revealed. When the show does come back to Fox in 2025, it will remain on Wednesdays, where it moved to this year after so long of being a Sunday Animation Domination staple.
The logline for the season reveals “Peter accidentally exposes his inability to throw a ball… and Chris loses his earring in a Lord of the Rings-inspired escapade. Additionally, Stewie finds out his stuffed bear Rupert was made in China and makes it his mission to take him back there to meet his family.” A The White Lotus parody has the Griffin family vacation at a luxury resort, where Stewie worries that his wealthy new friends plan to sacrifice him in a volcano. Meg also starts dating the giant chicken’s son, whose name is Nugget. It also teases guest stars including Sir-Mix-A-Lot, Patrick Dempsey, Kyle Chandler, and Pete Davidson, who appears in live-action in a manner similar to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Ty Burrell and Ashton Kutcher previously. Or Gabourey Sidibe on American Dad!.
When pressed for why, Fox Television Network President Michael Thorn said it was balancing keeping its long-running legacy series, as it, The Simpsons, and Bob’s Burgers head into those second years on their most recent double renewals, while launching new Fox-owned series. He calls series such as Family Guy are still of “crucial importance” to both the network and its audience, and that despite Family Guy’s movement would not hinder it getting the full 20 episodes it had settled into before the disruption. Though it’s unclear if that’s 18 or 20 on Fox this season plus the holiday specials, which were very clearly present in the season trailer that played, so them being separate entities is unlikely. Fox CEO Rob Wade added “We talk a lot about looking at the schedule in a more modern way and rather than looking simply at the traditional time slots of shows, we look at our entire portfolio. We also think about SVOD partner in Hulu and how it would work best for them. Scheduling has changed significantly over the years and we approach it in a different way now.” At the very least, the midseason hold means the holiday specials won’t be numbered weirdly for however long it takes the season to begin properly.
And it doesn’t seem like they have any interest in canceling the trio, as Wade added that it was “very, very happy” with these shows while also feeling the same with its new shows. “I think we have enough schedule, enough time to fit them all in. The schedule has obviously been disrupted slightly in the last year because of the strikes, so that made things a little bit patchier but we love those shows, we have a great relationship with the creatives from those shows and we have a great relationship with Hulu and Disney. We’re seeing more and more how important the broadcast network is and how important that windowing is and you need a broadcast window for shows to cut through… I think these shows really benefit from being on Fox and I think Disney recognizes that,” he added.
So what is Animation Domination looking like this fall? Well it’s getting an early start thanks to a doubleheader NFL season kickoff on September 8 with one of the new comedies that Thorn and Wade were alluding to, Universal Basic Guys. From creators Adam and Craig Malamut and already renewed for a second season Universal Basic Guys is about brothers Mark and Hank Hoagies, who, after losing their hot dog factory jobs to automation, are given $3,000 per month in a new basic income program. They start using their free time and free money to find purpose in a world where they’re no longer needed. In this first season Mark and Hank try to reconnect with their “primal roots” by purchasing an automatic heat-seeking crossbow for deer hunting and a championship football ring on eBay to leverage for special treatment from his hometown team. Elsewhere Mark wants to get his love Tammy a fancy exotic animal for their anniversary but can only afford a former laboratory chimpanzee, and a face-ripper at that. It’s another Bento Box Entertainment series from Fox Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television. Dan Lagana of American Vandal is executive producer and showrunner for the first season, which will start off airing alongside unfinished business for Bob’s Burgers and The Great North, who still have episodes from last season to air.
The new seasons for returnees begin on September 29, though The Great North will disappear for a bit while Bob’s and Basic Guys are joined by The Simpsons and Krapopolis. The Simpsons’s 36th season begins with “Bart’s Birthday” celebrating the “most shocking birthday party of his entire life”, one that could change everyone in Springfield forever. Former writer Conan O’Brien will make his second guest appearance after “Bart Gets Famous”, alongside Tom Hanks, returning for the first time since the movie, John Cena, Joel McHale and Danny DeVito. Showrunner Matt Selman, who was part of the show’s own SDCC panel with ceator Matt Groening and producers Rob LaZebnik, Jessica Conrad and Tim Bailey with guest moderator Kevin Smith, said the episode is “a pretty bold, big idea”. It wasn’t until Thursday that writer and producer Michael Price confirmed on the Four Finger Discount podcast that DeVito will be “playing a character that he has previously played on the show”, which could only be Homer’s half-brother Herb Powell, who distanced himself if not outright disowned Homer following the events of “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?”, way back in season 3. It’s not like it’s out of the question that DeVito could have played someone new, as John Lithgow played himself in season 30 and a character in season 33, let alone the multiple recurring characters Jon Lovitz and Phil Hartman played, or Albert Brooks’s various characters, including one of his earliest he just reprised in season 34.
There will also be not only the next Treehouse of Horror, but the return of “Treehouse of Horror Presents” following season 34’s “Not It”. In “Treehouse of Horror XXXV,” giant monsters created by political rage threaten to tear the town apart, a Victorian Mr. Burns is jump-scared on Thanksgiving by the ghosts of his abused workers, and a Venom parody made in collaboration with famed Robot Chicken studio Stoopid Buddy where Homer bonds with a pair of extra-terrestrial jeans in what’s cleverly called “Denim”. The opening sequence will be animated by El Tigre creator and The Book of Life director Jorge Gutierrez. Seth Green and Harv Harvatine joined the panel to showcase the actual denim jean puppets used. “Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes” is its own Ray Bradbury-inspired anthology, where a tattooed man at a mysterious night circus transports Lisa into stories from the innocent 1950s, the “chilling” retro-present, and a “brutalist future” where “prestige TV rules the world”. Andy Serkis guest stars, though source does not make clear if he’s the tattooed man. Apparently both “Treehouse” episodes will premiere after Halloween again, with the former airing November 3 (Halloween is a Thursday) and the latter probably the week after.
What else is going on? Well, it’s own parody of The White Lotus, or “Yellow Lotus” where the family encounters death on vacation at a high-end resort. Also Grandpa Abe reveals his secret past as a 1980s-era private detective and Lisa has a blazing misadventure in the dark world of Capital City’s downtown art scene.
On Bob’s Burgers, Bob must face his fears and join Louise in a father-daughter boogie boarding competition; Tina becomes the columnist for the anonymous “Ask an Eighth Grader” advice column; and the family must do everything they can to ensure the event goes perfectly when Mr. Fischoeder offers them two months free rent in exchange for catering an important reception at his house. Krapopolis has been renewed for a fourth season so clearly before its second premieres. It’s a second season that features such shenanigans the city overrun with debauchery as the annual Ice Week festival comes; Deliria and Shlub want to prove to Tyrannis that they understand the value of human life even when they’re accidentally killing the servants; and Tyrannis enlists Hippocampus to open the city’s first restaurant so Krapopolis can be featured on maps.
Sources: TVLine, Variety (1, 2), Animation Magazine, Deadline, Four Finger Discount