In this candid conversation, the series’ EPs and showrunners discuss the show's enduring success, their long-running creative partnership, and how production has evolved while staying true to its roots.
After more than two decades on air, Family Guy remains one of television’s longest-running animated shows. Part of FOX’s Sunday evening Animation Domination programming block, the show, now in its 23rd season, just received a massive 4-season renewal alongside The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers. Produced by 20th Television Animation, Family Guy stars creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane, who voices Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire. Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin; Seth Green voices Chris Griffin; Mila Kunis voices Meg Griffin; and Arif Zahir voices Cleveland Brown
Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin serve as executive producers and showrunners, while Steve Callaghan, Tom Devanney, Danny Smith, Kara Vallow, Mark Hentemann, Patrick Meighan, and Alex Carter are executive producers.
AWN recently had a chance to speak to Appel and Sulkin, who shared insights while reflecting on the show’s durability, their working relationship, and what it means to write comedy that still resonates.
Dan Sarto: Let’s start with the obvious: why has Family Guy lasted so long?
Rich Appel: It’s always surprising to people that the three longest-running comedies on television are The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park. And they’re all animated. I think people like animation.
One reason is that we have a long production time. We do a table read, and three months later we see the rough animatic. Three months after that, we see it in color. So, the show in effect has sat on the shelf for us, and we can approach it with fresh eyes and make it better. That luxury doesn’t exist in single-camera or multi-camera shows.
The second reason is Seth’s prescient genius. Long before YouTube, even before social media, Family Guy had built into its DNA these cutaways, TV gags, and bits that could exist independently. If you went back in time and asked, ‘What’s the best thing for a comedy to take advantage of Instagram and TikTok?’ it’s those standalone moments. And as you can see, memes of characters from our show just flood social media.”
Alec Sulkin: That’s true. And I think also, we have a lot of writers — about 20 — and most of them have been here 10, 15, 20 years, which is incredible. It brings to mind the Malcolm Gladwell theory: if you spend 10,000 hours doing something, you become an expert. I think we have a lot of expert writers who keep coming up with funny ideas, jokes, and turns of a phrase. It’s a real safety net.
RA: In comedy, if you have the luxury of working with the same people for that long, there are very few inhibitions left. And inhibitions are comedy killers. To feel completely at ease with your fellow writers and not be afraid of saying something stupid or offensive — that leads to the most fun and original stuff.
DS: What’s the dynamic like between the two of you, and between you and Seth?
AS: My dynamic with Rich is fantastic and has been since day one. He was already running the show when I came back, and we’ve always had a great working relationship. When we disagree, it’s never a problem. We navigate those moments skillfully. You hear stories about shows where rooms are split between leaders — that’s never happened here.
RA: I was at the show in 2007 for six or seven months before doing The Cleveland Show. After three or four days in a room with Alec, I thought he was one of the singular comic voices I’d worked with. There are maybe three or four people in 30 years I’d say that about.
We agree 95% of the time. The other 5%? Let’s see who’s right. It usually breaks down that I’m always right [laughs]. Just today, we had a script I was underwhelmed by, that Alec loved. I trust him, so we’ll take it to table and see.
Neither of us subscribes to ‘It’s good enough’ or ‘With a wing and a prayer, maybe this will work.’ We take seriously the standards Seth set. He’s not involved day-to-day, but he plays 65-70% of the characters, so he reads every script. He sometimes has notes, and we’ve both seen him throw out things we thought were pretty good, only to replace them with things that were better. His presence is felt.
DS: How has production changed since the early days of the show?
AS: Most of it has stayed the same, which is a credit to Kara Vallow [executive producer] and her whole team. Some things have gone more digital on the production side, but the writing side is unchanged. We’ve just gotten better at it. It’s more streamlined now.
RA: I’ll say what showrunners don’t usually say: our studio deserves a lot of praise. They’ve let us keep our production cycle intact. We can throw out stuff that doesn’t work. Yes, we do it carefully because we’re throwing out hundreds of hours of artists’ work. But we still have the freedom to do that.
Yes, animators now use styluses and computer screens instead of lightboards. But it’s still hand-drawn. Coloring might be a tap instead of a scroll, but it’s still done by hand. You can tell the difference in our show: our backgrounds are denser, we have more characters, we do production numbers. That stuff takes time and labor.
DS: What can you share about this season?
RA: Peter meets Brett Kavanaugh. One says ‘I like beer,’ the other says ‘I like beer,’ and they switch places. Peter ends up on the Supreme Court, and Brett just wants to hang at the bar. We do a riff on the opening of Super Friends, which we call The Supreme Friends.
AS: Our premiere was a Top Gun parody. We’ve got a lot of parodies this year. We’re sort of famous for our Star Wars parody and others over the years. This season we parody three Hulu shows in one episode, and there’s a White Lotus parody later in the season. It’s great that we can make fun of shows on our own platform, and the studio has been totally supportive.
RA: One episode involves The Bear. None of our characters have seen it, so they’re flying blind. At one point someone says, ‘Peter, you’re not The Bear?’ And another says, ‘Is the restaurant The Bear?’ Hulu was able to laugh at itself, which was nice.
DS: What do you enjoy most about the job?
RA: Hands down, sitting in the writers’ room with people like Alec making me laugh. People say, ‘Your job must be fun,’ and it is. A big part of our job is just trying to make one another laugh. When someone pitches something great, it’s honestly joyous.
AS: Ditto. Just 20 minutes ago, Rich made me laugh. It happens all the time. It’s a joy to come in and find out what’s funny.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
