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Family Guy Was Almost Cancelled By The Family Of One of Its Stars

Family Guy

Highlights

Family Guy's Patrick Warburton reveals surprising family animosity towards show, with parents actively trying to get it banned.
Despite its edgy content, Family Guy has heartwarming moments and social commentary, making it a well-rounded show for fans.
With a 2-season renewal, Family Guy continues to balance controversy and entertainment, keeping viewers invested in its long TV run.

While Family Guy fans are used to worrying over the show’s renewal over its long television run, a recent interview reveals the curious circumstances behind at least one of these attempts to get the show off the air for good.

Family Guy is a household name, and has garnered this notoriety for a whole litany of reasons, ranging from enjoyable television to controversial content over a broadcast lifespan of 25 years and counting. Fronted by talented vocal talent and voice actor Seth McFarlane, the show is a longrunning favorite with a lot of longstanding traditions, one of which Family Guy only broke recently after 19 years at the beginning of a new season. The show has always walked a razor’s edge by way of its edgy content and has come close to the brink of destruction on more than one occasion, making every season potentially its last from a fan perspective.

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While Family Guy got a 2-season renewal alongside other shows at the start of 2023, the series still has a lot of detractors, including two very surprising longtime haters. In an interview with People, Family Guy star Patrick Warburton, who provides the voice of prominent supporting character Joe Swanson, revealed that his parents not only dislike his involvement with the show as a whole but also that his mother has gone so far as to take part in efforts to get the show banned, despite Warburton providing financial support for the family via his role on the show. This animosity towards the show isn’t new but has grown in recent times, with Warburton admitting that his parents "-hate the show even more today than they did twenty-five years ago." His mother seems to have taken a special interest in getting the show off the air as a member of the American Television Council, even trying to get Warburton himself on board.

She tried to get me to sign the petition [to cancel the show]. I said, 'Mom, if you don't think I'm going to talk about this publicly, this is the greatest irony. You're laundering money; you're laundering it to yourself.' They hate it more today.

While it’s hilarious to think that there’s a star on the show with parents who actively want it to fail, it’s worth admitting that Family Guy has often given fans and casual viewers some of the most divisive episodes of any beloved TV show in addition to occasionally missing the mark and producing universally controversial episodes as well. For their part, Warburton’s parents have never been the sort to abide by such programming, with the star himself saying of his mother, "[She] went around the neighborhood when I was 13 years old, passing out pamphlets on the sins of masturbation," while nothing, "[this] did not get me into the cool crowd." As for his father, Warburton shared, "My father was in a monastery for three months. He almost became a monk." In a cheeky bit of fun, Warburton also identified his father’s spiritual advisor as one Thomas Merton, who he insists anyone would know "if you weren't heathens and watched Family Guy."

While it can certainly make for filthy adult entertainment, Family Guy also has a lot of heartwarming moments, as well as a splash of social commentary and actual points ot be made on occasion. While these aren’t the main appeal of the show, some detractors might do well to revise their stance on it based on its explicit adult appeal and the joy it's brought to its audience over more than two decades. Unfortunately, it doesn't look likely that the Warburtons are going to be on the list of converts anytime soon.

Family Guy is available for streaming on Hulu and on linear programming schedules.