The creators of the animated comedy series "Family Guy," along with Fox Network, have announced that they will finally be coming with an extended episode this coming spring. This is mainly due to the new mandate of the Fox Network, under its new leadership, Joe Marchese, who ordered that fewer advertisements should interrupt the programs. This means that fans of "Family Guy" will be seeing more of the dysfunctional family.
The title of the official episode that will have extended air-time is "Send in Stewie, Please," which will mainly revolve around the story arc of Stewie, who is voiced by the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, and will feature a special guest in Sir Ian McKellen -- who plays the role of the school's child psychologist. Stewie is sent to the child psychologist after a conflict he has between one of his other classmates.
After the two eventually meet, much will be revealed about Stewie's plot, as well as the crazy misadventures that he has been involved with that the audience has not seen yet. It is fortunate for the show that the Fox Network is choosing to test the waters in decluttering the television network with the reduction of advertisements. This makes it the first time in the long-running animated series' history to come up with an extended episode, due to the new policy.
As it turns out, Marchese believes that ads should coincide with the potential interests of the viewer in any given show. He stated that this move will be more relevant for both the advertiser and the audience, and should improve the network's viewership -- which is why Fox is committed to implementing the new rule. In fact, some form of the rule was already implemented for the television series "Empire" back in 2015.
"Family Guy" is celebrating its 300th episode, which will be airing on Jan. 14, and shows no signs of slowing down.
