Family Guy
The Griffin family of Quahog, Rhode Island—led by bumbling dad Peter, his wife Lois, and their motley crew of kids and pets—became a Fox phenomenon after its Super Bowl XXXIII premiere in 1999. A sharp departure from typical sitcom fare, Family Guy was built on rapid-fire cutaway gags and irreverent humor. Though Fox canceled it after just three seasons, a DVD renaissance in 2003 became so successful it sparked a network reversal—the show's comeback is considered television's first revival based on DVD sales.
Seth MacFarlane created Family Guy, which premiered on Fox on January 31, 1999, immediately following Super Bowl XXXIII. The show follows the Griffin family of Quahog, Rhode Island: bumbling patriarch Peter, his resourceful wife Lois, their sarcastic daughter Meg, son Chris, and the precocious, diaper-clad Stewie—along with Brian, a sophisticate talking dog who drinks martinis. MacFarlane voiced multiple main characters, and the show's signature style was rapid-fire cutaway gags that became instantly recognizable.
Fox canceled Family Guy after its third season in May 2002, but the show found unexpected salvation through DVD releases. Reruns began airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim starting April 20, 2003, and fans embraced the show with fervor. The DVD collection became the best-selling television DVD set of 2003, with approximately 2.2 million copies sold—a phenomenon that caught Fox's attention.
On May 20, 2004, Fox ordered new episodes of Family Guy, marking what would become the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales. The series returned to air in 2005 and went on to run for many more seasons, becoming a cornerstone of Fox's animation lineup and proving that fan devotion could resurrect a canceled show.
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Futurama
Delivery boy Fry cryogenically freezes and wakes in the year 3000 to join a space-shipping crew led by the sardonic Leela and foul-mouthed robot Bender. Created by Matt Groening, this sci-fi comedy was staffed with Ph.D.s—the writers brought genuine math-smart humor and surprising emotional depth. Fox premiered it in 1999, but it became a cult phenomenon on Comedy Central; episodes like 'Jurassic Bark' showed its tearjerking side, and it won six Emmy Awards over its life.
King of the Hill
In the fictional Texas suburb of Arlen, Hank Hill tends his post as assistant manager at Strickland Propane—where he sells 'propane and propane accessories' with the understated decency that defines him. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels created a grounded animated comedy that treated its working-class characters with genuine affection, centered on the beer-drinking alley banter of Hank and his neighbors. Premiering on Fox in 1997, King of the Hill won an Emmy in 1999 and became a quiet landmark of late-90s television, proving that a show about a propane salesman could outrun trends and speak to the heart of American ordinariness.
![Video thumbnail — [Adult Swim] 2001 Pool Bumps](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hoWcIE8VRMI/hqdefault.jpg)
Adult Swim
Cartoon Network's late-night block launched in 2001 as a joke about pool rules — and became a proving ground for surreal, irreverent animation that refused to fit anywhere else. Deadpan bumpers over footage of elderly swimmers announced shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Harvey Birdman to an audience that had grown up with the network and wasn't ready to turn in.
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
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