Ranking Seth MacFarlane's Properties From Worst To Best

Pregnant with hilarious characters, genuinely very funny gags and surprisingly well written for something that flirts with the gutter so much, Family Guy has always pushed hard as Fox's best animated family sitcom. It's The Simpson's bawdy cousin, invited to the big table because of a cult appeal that quickly turned mainstream, and it remains eminently quotable.

Watching the first seasons back now, it's not exactly hard to see why the show was cancelled. Yes, it was funny and it offered an interesting counterpoint to The Simpsons (more profanity, less morality), but it wasn't the polished gem it would become, and while MacFarlane might not have been exactly delighted, the cancellations actually helped shape it.

Unlike The Simpsons, whose sag would have been series killing were it not for the decades long foundation, Family Guy has actually blossomed as it has progressed. Its later successes are buoyed by MacFarlane's commitment to pushing the envelope and the limits of good taste: he comes across as a naughty school kid flashing grins and committing sins, and it's terribly hard not to find it very endearing.

Plus, which other shows could manage to pull off the Star Wars redo with such impressive aplomb? Well, aside from Robot Chicken, maybe.