Stewie (Family Guy Spinoff)

[Pooky]

Meh, not necessary but not egregious, at least not in concept. I like Family Guy for jolly times and easy laughs, but I don't think it's got any kind of internal integrity that needs to be maintained and protected (and if it ever did it hasn't in about 20 years). Put it this way, I would say The Patrick Star Show had even less going for it on paper, and from what I saw and from general consensus that didn't turn out too bad.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

This is like giving Bart Simpson his own spin off. He’s a major character already. Why does he need his own show?

I guess to be the... smidgen of fair to the creative team of this series not only does Stewie using sci fi tech at least offer some more significant ideas then a major Bart centric series could really do (unless you were willing to change tactics on tone more on that later) but Stewie is at least still behind Peter the main central figure of Family Guy. Bart in the early seasons was the prime major character and then Homer exploded but I think arguably over the last decade even before when the series starting righting itself a bit, Lisa and Marge rose more as a characters over Bart when it came to important focus. So i can see why Stewie would be targetted more though with that being said...

Stewie is already a major character on Family Guy. He already gets a lot of focus and screen time. What's the point of a spinoff?

A spinoff should be for a minor or side character. Stewie is neither.

Typically you really only give a major character a spinoff if

A. The Main show has already died but the character is still popular so you are giving them something else to do. I mean that was the whole point of Archie Bunker's Place right as yeah FG is obviously inspired a lot by All in The Family so why not go after their style of how to do spinoffs?

B. You are giving it a totally different tone or appealing to a different age group/audience then you were previously. Like I hate to say it but that's something Hanna Barbera seemed to do better with their insane Happy Days Meets Doctor who esque series Fonz and the Happy Days gang since that's at least taking beloved characters and appeasing to a totally different market. Pretty clear this isn't really being done to get younger viewers into the baby Griffin character and going with that same audience so it does make the idea have less weight to it believe it or not.

I would have guessed Tom Tucker in some Anchorman-esque spinoff or Dr. Hartman in a medial dramedy or Meg at college even.

That said I think after the failure and mocking of the Cleveland Show the only way they would do another spinoff is with a super popular character not just a side one no one has that much investment in. Dr. Hartman is pretty much just a slightly random joke character, Tom Tucker is their expositional news man they only occassionally give stories to (and yeah we don't even see much else of the Channel 6 news team. Seriously Why hasn't Joyce Kinney had a line in... a decade? I know they always favored Tom over Diane when Diane was alive but at least she was still around in some sense before "And Then There Were Fewer") and yeah Meg is either the wild child or the punching bag at this point. Now I could actually see a potentially decent spinoff being done with Meg, the same way that believe it or not I kind of thought Spongebob should have done a more edgy adult Squidward spinoff for Paramount Plus but yeah that would revolve around bringing in a totally different kind of writing team and focus I don't think the team is willing to commit to.

They might as well give Roger a spinoff, too.

Well unlike Family Guy, American Dad isn't really a brand into itself. Like it has some level of success but I think at this point it's the "we are just lucky to still be on let's not push our luck" level of success. With that being said Roger is another character who I could see more easily working as a spinoff. Either a prequel showing more of his life after the Smiths or even a future alt reality show where maybe his people invade earth and the reprecussions after it. Like there's possibilities more so then with a Stewie show. Though spekaing of Ol Stew...

The way they described it, it seems like Total Dramarama meets Rick and Morty.

It is also sounds like Nickelodeon's failed spinoffs for some of their most popular Nicktoons that either never got off the ground or stumbled and fell spectacularly. You know like the Angelica and Suzie's preschool daze that only had 4 episodes that no one remembers sans those going through every Nicktoon or going over every crash and burn the Rugrats series ever had. Or yeah when Butch Hartman tried getting a spinoff for Spellementary School based on the miaddventures of Poof and Foop. So yeah kind of weird if you think about it but the ripoff Stewie griffin actually first attempted this kind of spinoff though sadly even Butch kind of had more of a point since at least Foop and Poof have a relationship you can explore that wasn't just created for this spinoff. Stewie doesn't as I don't see them bringing back any of his rival characters (Penelope, Olivia, Bertram, even Doug and yeah I know a lot of them are supposed to be dead but how much does that really stop a show like Family Guy from using characters) to really give things a more interesting spice.

Meh, not necessary but not egregious, at least not in concept. I like Family Guy for jolly times and easy laughs, but I don't think it's got any kind of internal integrity that needs to be maintained and protected (and if it ever did it hasn't in about 20 years). Put it this way, I would say The Patrick Star Show had even less going for it on paper, and from what I saw and from general consensus that didn't turn out too bad.

You know never thought I'd ever have to defend the concept of the Patrick Star Show, but you know Spongebob though starting out being able to appease more older audiences as well was always made with kids in mind. And thus you can extend the mentality of "if a kid wants to see more of a certain product you don't have to stretch as much to justify it's existance." So yeah the Patrick show on some levels does feel like an obvious cash grab (let's not bring in the Hillenberg wouldn't have approved of such a thing debate here) but I do get who it's marketing towards. But Family Guy is not only an adult cartoon but also a very bitter and very cynical adult cartoon who even they themselves pointed out the absolute failure of their previous attempt at brand extension. Like Spongebob didn't try the Patrick Show a decade after the failure of say Kamp Koral or anything like that so again makes it more weird they're doing this now.

 

[SweetShop209]

At least the new cast could help this stand out. Does anyone remember anyone from his old school?

 

[SweetShop209]

The events of the series are independent from the main show.

https://www.animationmagazine.net/2026/03/california-extends-tv-tax-credit-to-animated-series-for-the-first-time/

 

[Frontier]

The events of the series are independent from the main show.

https://www.animationmagazine.net/2026/03/california-extends-tv-tax-credit-to-animated-series-for-the-first-time/

So no need to worry about continuity or anything .

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

This is like giving Bart Simpson his own spin off. He’s a major character already. Why does he need his own show?

Which is funny because Bart had his own comic book spin off to Simpsons Comics, back in the Noughties.

 

[Frontier]

Which is funny because Bart had his own comic book spin off to Simpsons Comics, back in the Noughties.

I actually have a trade collection of that very comic series .

 

[CookieS]

I feel like they've tested out this premise many times with the various Stewie & Brian time travel episodes. I have a feeling like his classmates will mirror the same dynamics as the characters from Family Guy.

 

[glennbyrnes]

I wonder how Quagmire will react to the Stewie spin-off. Remember how jealous he got when Cleveland got one.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Voice cast announced. Kenan Thompson, Vanessa Bayer, Melissa O’Neil, Mike Henry, and more!

 

[TheBludderBusser]

Barney Google in the DeBeck comics had more edge and hilarity then any character in family guy and Snuffy Smith under DeBeck is just as good in the 30s era.

 

[SweetShop209]

Voice cast announced. Kenan Thompson, Vanessa Bayer, Melissa O’Neil, Mike Henry, and more!

That's definitely quite the cast.

 

[glennbyrnes]

I wonder how Quagmire will react to Stewie's spinoff. Remember how jealous he got when Cleveland got one.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

Okay I know Family Guy is really the show with like negative continuity and clearly a character like BJ exists because "we want to put someone in that's like this already established character but wouldn't fit the setting so have get a similar being fill that role" (Like Doppy on Planet Sheen because they couldn't find a way to put regular Carl Wheezer in THAT spinoff), but like if we're doing Bruce's kid, shouldn't it be Liza from "Fertilized Megg?" You know the little baby that Meg was a Surrogate for? Like you could still have Mike Henry do a Bruce esque voice just pitch it up to be a female and that feels like it'd add a joke anyway and connect more to the universe which you can argue "how much should this show be doing" but they're adding Bruce's kid in anyway so why not go all the way.

Admittedly from base descriptions it's hard to tell if the extended cast will be of any interest. I feel like NO ONE in The Cleveland Show main family or extended cast really stuck in anyway whatsoever, and American Dad really focused a lot on the family before doing that much with any of their cast so don't know if any of these kids have any potential. Still does seem like they are extending past a fair amount of the typical VAs associated with Family Guy. Plus as someone who was always kind of bothered by that FG joke from "He's Too Sexy For His Fat" about the plastic surgeon saying he used fat to "make the two good burger kids" nice ot have a legit connection between Kenan Thompson and a FG series. But yeah feels like this class will have to try extra hard to really win anyone over and jury's still out on that one.