Here's more proof, if proof were needed, that in these times of shows being axed almost before they air, a good idea always deserves a stay of execution.
After spending most of its life on Death Row (and being terminated more than once), Family Guy is now heading into its seventh season, and it continues to go (the odd misstep aside) from strength to strength.
Its not a matter of confidence, either - it always had that in spades, despite the critics, who usually dismiss it as the crass little brother to Foxs other dysfunctional cartoon family. But where the Griffin clan initially just brazened out their similarities to The Simpsons, the creators have recently begun to embrace their differences more overtly: while Groenings gang (or at least their parent studio) has been careful to maintain a PG appeal beneath the wit, Family Guy has progressively become ruder
and more adult.
In the USA, each episode now exists in two formats - the censored cut for prime time, and the version proper that goes out on the Cartoon Networks late-night slot, Adult Swim. Thats what is included here, in all its incorrect and occasionally sweary glory. Very little else has changed - it still moves like a rocket, the writers offering up more non-sequitur gags than any sensible plot can hold together, but fans will be appreciative of an overall lift in consistency from the lacklustre fifth season.