Cartoon Network is a cable television station created by the Turner Broadcasting Company on October 1, 1992. The cable network often showcases television shows geared towards the younger TV audience. However, on September 2, 2001, the network launched a new block of programming known as Adult Swim, stylized as [adult swim]. Its purpose was to air TV cartoons geared more towards the teenage/adult audience.
After being canceled in 2002, Family Guy was given DVD releases and was acquired by Adult Swim in 2003. Its high DVD sales and ratings on Adult Swim led to it being brought back to primetime in 2005. Family Guy departed the network in September 2021, with a remembrance bumper played after the final airing featuring various Adult Swim characters bidding farewell to the show, including shots of Peter crying at the beginning and the Griffins waving goodbye at the end. Family Guy returned to the network in January 2025.
Throughout the series' original run on Adult Swim, Family Guy was shown with extra scenes and dialogue that were cut from the original FOX broadcasts. When the series returned to Adult Swim in 2025, standard airings were shown.[1]
Cartoon Network/Adult Swim references on Family Guy[2][]
In "Blue Harvest," Peter Griffin does not believe that Robot Chicken is a legitimate television program in part because it airs on this network.
In "Big Man on Hippocampus," the bumpers shown during commercial breaks were parodied. The unedited versions of the show's episodes that air on the block were referenced as well, and goes into clarifying that the viewer is still watching FOX. When the episode first aired on [adult swim], they returned the favor by parodying FOX's "Animation Domination" promos to continue the gag that this was being watched on "FOX". When the series returned in 2025, this episode uses the original Adult Swim parody.