Last season Fox did something weird with Family Guy, removing the show from the Animation Domination block entirely and trying out a Tuesday run. It didn’t work out very well, and we can’t imagine the Griffins were happy (Stewie is especially someone you don’t want to make mad) so the network is now making it up to them with the most prized slot of Sunday night — a place usually reserved for The Simpsons.
It will only be for six weeks, but for a month and a half’s time Family Guy will enjoy an 8 PM time slot, kicking off the AniDom block for the first time. It’s quite a whiplash move for Fox, who treated the show like it was half-dead one year ago and favored its newer shows like Krapopolis instead.
The changes go into effect February 16: Family Guy will start Animation Domination at 8, followed by the return of Grimsburg at 8:30 (yep, it still lives. This is also a better timeslot than Grimsburg got its entire freshman run). The Great North resumes its fifth season at 9, and Krapopolis winds the evening down at 9:30.
You actually won’t see The Simpsons at all until March 30, when the schedule reverts. It will reclaim its traditional slot on March 30, at which point the lineup will look like this:
8 pm The Simpsons (new Season 36 episodes resume)
8:30 pm Family Guy (time period premiere)
9 pm The Great North (new episode)
9:30 pm Krapopolis (new episode)
Is the second season of Grimsburg just six episodes long? No, they’re just holding the other seven for a later time…but who knows when that is.
In the long term, the future of Animation Domination itself — which turns 20 in May — is unclear. People scoff at me when I say this, but I’m still predicting Fox will announce the cancellation of The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers and The Great North in one day, and put a couple of boring procedurals on Sunday nights. Also, TBS will cancel American Dad at the same time, shrinking the pool of adult animated shows significantly overnight.
But I’m also predicting there is already an arrangement in place for Disney+ and Hulu to pick up some of those shows, and that The Simpsons and Family Guy will live on there — just with 10 episodes a year instead of 20 or 22. The “special” streaming-exclusive episodes of both shows were intended as test runs, I figure. This all seems obvious to me, but apparently not to anyone else. Remember, when it happens, don’t act shocked — you read it here first!
