The Simpsons' Envy: Every animated FOX primetime show since

After the success of “The Simpsons,” the show’s original writers were given opportunities of their own. Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who ran the show in seasons three and four, split off to create the comedy “The Critic.” Jon Lovitz starred as Jay Sherman, a movie critic, which lent itself to a lot of movie parodies. The first season actually aired on ABC, but when they passed on a second the show moved to FOX. There was even a crossover episode with “The Simpsons” that creator Matt Groening hated so much, he had his name taken off the episode.

The first cartoon to pair with “The Simpsons” and really take off was “King of the Hill,” which debuted in 1997. A more low-key style of comedy, “King of the Hill” focused on the Hill family, including patriarch Hank. The Mike Judge sitcom actually lasted for 13 seasons and 259 episodes. We’d talk about how impressive that is more if, you know, “The Simpsons” hadn’t aired over 700 episodes.

“The PJs” had one big piece of cache going for it: It was co-created by Eddie Murphy who also voiced the main character. In 1999, that meant quite a bit. “The PJs” stood out for having a stop-motion, claymation style. Despite Murphy’s presence, the show only lasted for 33 episodes on FOX before moving to The WB for one final season.

Hey, if you are trying to recreate the magic of Matt Groening’s “The Simpsons,” why not get Groening himself to create another show? Joining forces with “Simpsons” writer David X. Cohen, the duo brought us “Futurama,” a beloved sci-fi comedy many consider on par with “The Simpsons” in terms of quality. There’s a reason why the show proved durable. After being cancelled following four seasons on FOX, the show was reborn as four direct-to-DVD movies. These movies were successful enough Comedy Central brought the show back for two additional seasons. Those years aren’t as good, but they don’t dilute the quality of that initial fantastic FOX run.

No FOX comedy has been as polarizing as “Family Guy.” Some people absolutely love Seth MacFarlane’s cutaway-happy, anything-for-a-laugh style of comedy. There’s a reason why the show was brought back after being cancelled and has now run for a whopping 19 seasons and 366 episodes. On the other hand, few animated shows have detractors as vocal as “Family Guy” does. It is worth noting that, like “The Critic” and also “Futurama,” “Family Guy” had a crossover with “The Simpsons.” The big difference here is that MacFarlane was never a “Simpsons” writer.

Considering that FOX once cancelled “Family Guy," they got on the MacFarlane train again awfully fast. They let him create a new show, “American Dad,” which was a different style of comedy, one that began with a riff on the Bush administration and the War on Terror. Eventually, FOX would tire of “American Dad” as they did with “Family Guy.” This time, though, it was a different network that brought it back. The show has been on TBS since 2014, and has also become a much stranger, more meta show with MacFarlane having less to do with it these days.

If you loved “Arrested Development,” you may have been excited when you heard Mitch Hurwitz was bringing a new show to FOX. This time it was animated, and it focused on a group of teachers at a school. However, even the diehard members of the “Arrested Development” cult couldn't defend “Sit Down, Shut Up.” The show was largely terrible, and it didn’t even last a full season.

Yet another show from Seth MacFarlane, this time just a straight-up spinoff of “Family Guy.” Cleveland was a neighbor of the Griffins, and a friend to Peter, but then he got his own show. It was the least successful of the three MacFarlane cartoons on FOX, as it lasted four seasons and 88 episodes before getting cancelled.

Eventually FOX started branding its Sunday nights as “Animation Domination,” which was a cartoon-heavy comedy block built around “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.” One of the first attempts to add a show to that “Animation Domination” grouping was “Allen Gregory,” a comedy about a pretentious seven-year-old voiced by Jonah Hill. It lasted all of seven episodes before being cancelled.

“Napoleon Dynamite” was a surprise cult smash film in 2004, but eventually the enthusiasm for the film started to wane. By the time the cartoon adaptation came to life it was 2012, the movie had largely fallen out of the zeitgeist. This iteration proved even less successful than “Allen Gregory,” making it to only six episodes.

FOX added a third tentpole to their Sunday night animation block when “Bob’s Burgers” showed up. Created by Loren Bouchard, “Bob’s Burgers” brought a decidedly-different style of animation to this family sitcom about the Belchers, who run the titular burger diner. The show boasts a real impressive voiceover cast, led by the likes of H. Jon Benjamin, Eugene Mirman, and Kristen Schaal. “Bob’s Burgers” has run for over 200 episodes and the show has been renewed through a 13th season.

“Golan the Insatiable” began life as a show on FOX’s late-night animation block ADHD, the network’s answer to Adult Swim. In 2015, they decided to move the block to FXX. When they did that, though, they decided to keep “Golan the Insatiable” for the FOX network. The second season actually opened with a pilot. However, the show only got six episodes on FOX to go with six episodes from ADHD.

You could call “Bordertown” a fourth MacFarlane show, as he did serve as an executive producer. However, in this case he was really just added his name to a show from a former “Family Guy” writer to try and give it some name recognition. It didn’t work, as the comedy set on the U.S.-Mexico border was cancelled after one season.

“Bless the Harts” felt like an attempt to recapture the sensibilities of “King of the Hill.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as successful at doing that. While the show had a great voice cast, including Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, it only lasted for two seasons before being cancelled.

Of the recent shows introduced by FOX, “Duncanville” is the best of the bunch. Amy Poehler pulls double duty as the voice of Duncan, a 15-year-old teenaged boy, and his peppy, slightly overprotective mom. It’s a fun show that has already been renewed for a third season before the second has even aired. Finally, a new comedy might be sticking with FOX.

Speaking of shows with early renewals, “The Great North” got a second season before the first premiered. Well, it comes from the “Bob’s Burgers” family, so they may have felt comfortable with what they were getting. It’s an animated show set in Alaska, which is certainly a new concept to us. We feel it is a little early to pass judgment on its quality, but fans of “Bob’s Burgers” will likely enjoy it.