If it isn’t, it won’t be because “Family Guy” compares unfavorably with other clever cartoons plying the airwaves. It’ll be because it’s not measurably better. The premiere, airing Sunday at 8:30 p.m. EST, revolves around the high jinks that ensue when eponymous family guy Peter Griffin (MacFarlane) accidentally demolishes the satellite dish that provides his New England town with TV service. He pins the crime on his teenage daughter, Meg, and tries, in witty ways, to cope with the loss of his beloved tube. A subplot showcases Stewie Griffin (MacFarlane again), a classic evil-scientist type trapped in the body of a toddler. Here, forced to eat broccoli, he creates a weather machine to kill the green stuff while it’s still safely on the farm.
The show is fast-paced, and it’s often genuinely funny. Dastardly Stewie is a break-out character if ever one was drawn. But “Family Guy” isn’t a bolt from the blue. The crude edge that separates it from, say, “The Simpsons” only drives it deep into “South Park” territory. If Fox’s gamble pays off, it’ll be because audiences want more of the same old thing.
