Claim: Family Guy was invented by Seth MacFarlane.

Family Guy is an American adult animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company . The series centers on the Griffins , a family consisting of parents Peter and Lois ; their children Meg , Chris , and Stewie ; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian . The show is set in the fictional city of Quahog , Rhode Island , and exhibits much of its humor in the form of cutaway gags that often lampoon American culture .   The family was conceived by MacFarlane after developing two animated films , The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve . MacFarlane redesigned the films ' protagonist , Larry , and his dog , Steve , and renamed them Peter and Brian , respectively . MacFarlane pitched a seven-minute pilot to Fox in 1998 , and the show was greenlit and began production . Shortly after the third season of Family Guy had aired in 2002 , Fox canceled the series , with one episode left unaired . Adult Swim burned off the episode in 2003 , finishing the series ' original run . However , favorable DVD sales and high ratings for syndicated reruns on Adult Swim convinced the network to renew the show in 2004 for a fourth season , which began airing on May 1 , 2005 .   Since its debut on January 31 , 1999 , episodes of Family Guy have been broadcast . Its fifteenth season began on September 25 , 2016 . Family Guy has been nominated for 12 Primetime Emmy Awards and 11 Annie Awards , and has won three of each . In 2009 , it was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series , the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961 . Family Guy has also received criticism , including unfavorable comparisons to The Simpsons .   Many tie-in media have been released , including Stewie Griffin : The Untold Story , a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005 ; Family Guy : Live in Vegas , a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005 , featuring music from the show as well as original music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy ; a video game and pinball machine , released in 2006 and 2007 , respectively ; since 2005 , six books published by Harper Adult based on the Family Guy universe ; and Laugh It Up , Fuzzball : The Family Guy Trilogy -LRB- 2010 -RRB- , a series of parodies of the original Star Wars trilogy . In 2008 , MacFarlane confirmed that the cast was interested in producing a feature film and that he was working on a story for a film adaptation .   A spin-off series , The Cleveland Show , featuring Cleveland Brown , aired from September 27 , 2009 , to May 19 , 2013 . `` The Simpsons Guy '' , a crossover episode with The Simpsons , aired on September 28 , 2014 . Family Guy is a joint production by Fuzzy Door Productions and 20th Century Fox Television and syndicated by 20th Television . In 2013 , TV Guide ranked Family Guy the ninth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time .   Family Guy premiered for a fifteenth season on September 25 , 2016 . A sixteenth season was silently renewed by Fox in May 2017 .