Pre-strike: The Griffins started their sixth season off with a bang, and continued to appease die-hard fans thanks to the salacious 100th episode: “Stewie Kills Lois” and the follow-up, “Lois Kills Stewie.” Playing on a storyline that’s as old as the show itself, creator, writer and master voice, Seth MacFarlane gave loyal viewers what they wanted. But once the strike hit, a couple of the stories were reportedly aired without MacFarlane’s consent, leading to rumoured discontent between the creator and Fox.
Post-strike: When the show returned in mid-January, we were excited to see the results of some time off. But the excitement was short-lived when we had to go an entire month before seeing the second new episode, and continued to only receive a new episode a week after that.
Character Development: Cleveland’s rumoured spinoff has us wondering why exactly the show would bother, especially considering his minimalist role on the original show. Because of the half-hour raunchy format, whatever happens in an episode is erased with a clean slate for the next instalment, so this category is fairly irrelevant.
Cliffhangers/Wrap Up: Peter gets a pet parrot and becomes a pirate, but his quest is cut short when he accidentally kills the bird. Chris finds love in the form of a pet clinic intern, voiced by Amanda Bynes, who probably won’t be coming back next season. Not much of a cliffhanger there. With MacFarlane and other show writers suing Fox (they're claiming unpaid wages), the future of the show seems tumultuous at best. But rest assured, the first 14 episodes of Season 7 have already been named.
Overall Grade:
