The Simpsons had a fun little Mother's Day treat for fans with a Disney+ subscription, and there was a lot to love about "May The 12th Be With You." In addition to a Bluey cameo that could prompt a crossover, fans also got another crossover appearance from Family Guy's clan, with Seth MacFarlane appearing for a Stewie cameo. When talking to Simpsons executive producer Al Jean about MacFarlane's return, I also asked for his thoughts about the two shows no longer airing together on Sunday nights.
The Simpsons winked at the Griffin family in the latest all-star animated short, which also joked about King of the Hill and Bob's Burgers not being available on Disney+, via Marge exclaiming, "Who let the Hulu kids in?" Stewie was the only one of that bunch to actually speak up, and Al Jean told CinemaBlend that the ever-busy Seth MacFarlane was happy to lend his talents.
Seth [MacFarlane] voicing Stewie is my favorite part. We asked him and he immediately said yes. He was very nice and said, ‘You had your choice of animated characters. We appreciate you picking Stewie.’ Couldn’t be happier that he’s in it.
It is quite a compliment that The Simpsons to highlight Stewie Griffin in such a way, considering it had the entire Disney lineup, Marvel, and Star Wars characters to choose from. Of course, there's been great mutual respect between the two shows over the years, which led to one of the greatest Family Guy episodes of all time with them crossing over.
It was nice to see Stewie in such close proximity to The Simpsons in the short because that has not been the case in Fox's primetime lineup. The network moved Family Guy to Wednesday nights, separating it from the rest of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Sundays. While FG showrunner Alec Sulkin said he wasn't concerned about the switch, Al Jean had some blunt thoughts to share about the shift:
It's not up to me, but I say bring it back to Sunday.
Not much to read between the lines on with that statement. Al Jean would like to see Family Guy move back to Sundays with The Simpsons, Krapopolis, and the other animated shows that rotate in and out of the decades-long programming block. As a longtime fan of both shows, I can attest it is weird to see them out of their programming slots, but I will concede I'm part of the crowd who catches both on streaming rather than their scheduled times.
Stewie Griffin's appearance on "May The 12th Be With You" was a blast, enough to make me wonder if there's justification to see Family Guy and The Simpsons back together again. It's not just on Sunday nights, either, as I think another crossover episode would be a blast. Maybe they could find a way to get all the primetime animated shows together for one big adventure.
Hey, Disney already had the Simpson family link up with a bunch of Disney characters. I wouldn't say that my idea is as impossible as some would think. If they have the creative runway to joke about Bambi's mother being shot a second time by hunters, I think they can make just about anything happen. Let's get a shot-for-shot remake of The Avengers with Homer as Iron Man and Bobby Hill as Captain America.
The Simpsons is available to stream on Disney+, and if you haven't binged the first ten seasons or more in a while, it may be high time to get to it. As for Family Guy, it's over on Hulu, and hopefully still rolling strong with its metric for success seemingly not entirely reliant on traditional television ratings.
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