Happy birthday to Seth Macfarlane. The man is a creative genius. My dad really enjoys the show Family Guy, so what better way to celebrate Seth MacFarlane's birthday than with a Daily Doodle about the project that jumpstarted his career?!
Seth Macfarlane was born on October 26, 1973. On May 15, 1998, at the age of 24, he wowed executives at Fox with a seven-minute demo made on his computer. Fox ordered 13 episodes of Family Guy. The show made its debut on January 31, 1999. Fox gave Family Guy a plush post-Super Bowl XXXIII premiere, unfortunately weak game ratings result in a disappointing debut of only 12.6 million viewers.
The show shared time slots with a few popular shows during the first three years and never really gained the traction Fox had hoped for, leading them to drop the show briefly after the second season, until a change in leadership at Fox which brought about the third season, and then in 2002, after its third season, the show wasn't renewed, once again. Fox released the first 28 episodes on DVD where it became a cult classic, selling nearly 400,000 copies the first month. The reruns played on Cartoon Network and viewership increased by 239%.
Fox recognized the cult hit, and in 2004 announced it would bring the show back for a fourth season. They are now on season 19 and going strong.
