Here's Why Seth MacFarlane Considers Himself Lucky To Be Alive
Imagine a world without Family Guy. After eighteen seasons and upwards of three hundred and forty episodes, it may seem difficult to picture late-night television without the Griffin family and their off-color adventures. The popular comedy program, however, was a couple of drinks and a typo away from being a two-season hit. The reason? The show’s creator Seth MacFarlane almost died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Fans have been wondering what would have come of MacFarlane’s cartoon empire if he had not made it. And what would Fox even air if not for Family Guy or his other big hit American Dad?
We have taken some time to break down how exactly MacFarlane escaped death on that fateful day in 2001 and why the event continues to be relevant to his best television creations.
Saved By The...Bar?
MacFarlane’s escape from death was such a close-call that the show creator admits that he was actually saved by his own disorganization. In an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, MacFarlane revealed that he was scheduled to fly on American Airlines Flight 11–which crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center. However, a hangover and a slight clerical error were enough to make him miss the flight by about ten minutes. According to MacFarlane, it was only minutes later that he found himself in the airport lounge watching his flight go down.
“I was giving a lecture at my college the night before and went out with some of the faculty afterwards, and I had a few pints...and my travel agent had listed the flight on my itinerary as leaving ten minutes later than it did...That was the flight I was supposed to be on. I was late. I missed it,” MacFarlane told Morgan.
How did the experience change MacFarlane’s life view? According to the man behind the cartoon, the answer is: ‘not much.’
The show creator told Morgan, “I am not a fatalist. I was not shaken to the core in the way that I changed my whole outlook on life. Mainly because I had missed planes before, and coincidences do happen.”
Basically, MacFarlane sees his escape from death—and the survival of Family Guy along with it—as nothing more than a lucky accident.
9/11 References In Family Guy
Even though MacFarlane does not consider his 9/11 experience to be indicative of destiny, he does believe that if he had boarded that flight, his shows would have died along with him. The cartoon creator was not afraid to express this line of thought in a Family Guy episode in which Brian and Stewie reveal that they are lucky to be alive.
Brian tells Stewie, “you know, I was supposed to be on one of those planes.”
Without hesitation, Stewie replies, “yeah, me too.”
The scene alludes to the fact that MacFarlane does the voice acting for many of the show’s major characters, including both Brian and Stewie. Without MacFarlane, it is difficult to imagine that Family Guy would still exist as anything more than a handful of reruns.
How Far Is Too Far?
Over the years, MacFarlane has taken the show’s 9/11 references and drawn them out well past a short scene or two. One episode actually went so far as to imagine an alternate universe in which Brian and Stewie traveled through time and prevented the attacks. Some fans, however, have felt that MacFarlane’s cartoon representations of terrorism have gone too far.
In an interview with Rove LA, MacFarlane opened up about the controversy surrounding his 9/11 alternate universe episode. According to the creator, viewers may have missed the point he was trying to make. Apparently, the episode was supposed to be about the unknown dangers of time travel and not the actual events of the terror attacks themselves.
“Within the context of the episode, Brian and Stewie go back to the pilot episode of Family Guy, which aired in 1999. And they go back in time for other reasons, and while he’s there, Brian tells (his past self) about 9/11...the moral of the episode is that you should not tamper with the past,” MacFarlane revealed.
While the show’s creator clearly felt justified in his portrayal of events, not everyone agreed. Entertainment Weekly wrote a scathing review of the episode, arguing that Family Guy knows no bounds when it comes to mocking terrible events: “in the grand scheme of Family Guy- which has joked about everything from the Holocaust to domestic abuse -is this simply par for the course?”
So, will MacFarlane stop referencing 9/11 in his shows?
The short answer is: no. When asked to defend his controversial episode on Rove LA, MacFarlane replied, “it’s ridiculous. It’s a ridiculous discussion. But let’s f***ing have it!”
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