Family Guy sixteenth season premiered on Fox in the United States on October 1, 2017, and ended on May 20, 2018. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family, consisting of father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie, and the family dogBrian, who reside in their hometown of Quahog. The executive producers for the sixteenth production season are Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, Alec Sulkin, Steve Callaghan, Danny Smith, and Kara Vallow. Sulkin returns after a two-season absence as the new showrunner for the series, replacing previous showrunner Callaghan. Appel continues to serve as showrunner alongside Sulkin. The season featuresguest appearances from Bill Maher, Sir Ian McKellen, Kristen Bell, Louis C.K., and Modern Family cast members Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen and Sofía Vergara. The season also marks the final appearances of Adam West and Carrie Fisher following their deaths, as well as the show's 300th episode. Episodes this season include: A three-episode arc where a seemingly offensive Tweet turns Brian into a social pariah, a Christmas Carol parody where Patrick Swayze's ghost shows Peter what will happen if he never gets his Christmas spirit, Meg becoming a problem drinker, the Griffins pulling every TV trope and trick in the book in order to win an Emmy, Ian McKellen guest starring as a child therapist who has Stewie as a patient, a send-up of Sherlock Holmes-style Victorian mysteries, Brian playing the stock market, Quagmire losing his penis in an accident, Family Guy being reimagined as a sitcom that's been on TV since the 1950s, and Peter meeting God again. The season includes the 300th episode of the series where Stewie’s friendship with Brian is nearly destroyed when he drunkenly tears apart his teddy bear Rupert. As of season sixteen, the series' first-run cable syndication rights have switched from Adult Swim and TBS, who had premiered the first fifteen seasons, over to Disney-owned Freeform and FXX, who will continue to premiere new episodes on cable with the coming seasons. Freeform and FXX will begin exclusively broadcasting the first fifteen seasons starting in 2021.
