 Family Guy officially premiered after Fox 's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31 , 1999 , with " Death Has a Shadow " . The show debuted to 22 million viewers , and immediately generated controversy regarding its adult content . The show returned on April 11 , 1999 , with " I Never Met the Dead Man " . Family Guy garnered decent ratings in Fox 's 8 : 30 pm slot on Sunday , scheduled between The Simpsons and The X @-@ Files . At the end of its first season , the show ranked at # 33 in the Nielsen ratings , with 12 @.@ 8 million households tuning in . The show launched its second season in a new time slot , Thursday at 9 pm , on September 23 , 1999 . Family Guy was pitted against NBC 's Frasier , and the series ' ratings declined sharply . Subsequently , Fox removed Family Guy from its schedule , and began airing episodes irregularly . The show returned on March 7 , 2000 , at 8 : 30 pm on Tuesdays , where it was constantly beaten in the ratings by ABC 's then @-@ new breakout hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire , coming in at # 114 in the Nielsen ratings with 6 @.@ 32 million households tuning in . Fox announced that the show had been canceled in May 2000 , at the end of the second season . However , following a last @-@ minute reprieve , on July 24 , 2000 , Fox ordered 13 additional episodes of Family Guy to form a third season . 
