– says the guy who created it

Family Guy is past its prime and should have ended years ago – and that’s according to the show’s boss.

Creator Seth MacFarlane says he believes the animated comedy should probably have shut down in around 2009, when the seventh series ended.

But the show is now into its tenth series, with no obvious end to its popularity.

MacFarlane is also executive producer as well as the voice of Peter, Stewie and Brian Griffin, as well as Glenn Quagmire and other minor characters.

But he told the Hollywood Reporter: ‘Part of me thinks that Family Guy should have already ended.

‘I think seven seasons is about the right lifespan for a TV series. I talk to the fans and in a way I'm kind of secretly hoping for them to say we're done with it.

‘There are plenty of people who say the show is kind of over the hill... but still the vast majority go pale in the face when I mention the possibility.’

MacFarlane said that viewer demand, and the fact that the show employs 300 people, are good reasons for the show to continue.

Family Guy was cancelled by the Fox network in 2002, but revived three years later, on the strength of strong DVD sales and online fan support.

Published: 13 Oct 2011