Production
Family Guy was first canceled in 2000 following the series' second season, but following a last-minute reprieve, it returned for a third season in 2001. In 2002, the series was canceled again after three seasons due to low ratings. Fox attempted to sell the rights for reruns of the show, but it was difficult to find networks that were interested; Cartoon Network eventually bought the rights, " basically for free", according to the president of 20th Century Fox Television Production.
When the reruns were shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in 2003, Family Guy became Adult Swim's most-watched show with an average 1.9 million viewers an episode. Following Family Guy's high ratings on Adult Swim, the first season was released on DVD in April 2003. Sales of the DVD set reached 2.2 million copies, becoming the best-selling television DVD of 2003 and the second highest-selling television DVD ever, behind the first season of Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. The second season DVD release also sold more than a million copies. The show's popularity in both DVD sales and reruns rekindled Fox's interest in it. They ordered 35 new episodes in 2004, marking the first revival of a television show based on DVD sales. Fox president Gail Berman said that it was one of her most difficult decisions to cancel the show, and was therefore happy it would return. The network also began production of a film based on the series.
Dan Povenmire, who became a director on Family Guy during the series' second season, took a more prominent role in directing by the third season, having directed five episodes. Creator Seth MacFarlane granted Povenmire substantial creative freedom. Povenmire recalled that McFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised this management style for letting him "have fun."
Povenmire brought realism, and material from his own experiences, to the visual direction of Family Guy. For "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea", several characters carried out fosse moves in prison — Povenmire went into the office of a color artist, Cynthia Macintosh, who had been a professional dancer, and had her strike poses in order for him to better illustrate the sequence. In the episode "To Love and Die in Dixie" Povenmire drew on his childhood in the deep south to sequence a background scene where the "redneck" character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river.
Read more about this topic: Family Guy (season 3)
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