Supposedly Meg was written that way because the writers had no idea how to write the character of a teenage girl. Not sure how true that is. If you look back at the earlier episodes, there's definitely a difference in how she is treated (it's more loveable neglect as opposed to outright abuse).
Mixed levels of truth.
My understanding is that they always had trouble with her, but initially kept it grounded looking for something to stick, until they discovered most members of the target demographic at the time found her annoying and disliked her. So, they sort of ran with that, and it spun out of control. I think the voice actor shifts in the first two seasons also might've played a part, since Alex Borstein played a big role in shaping Lois, and Seth Green with Chris, etc.
I do find it often disputed whether or not viewers are
supposed to sympathize with Meg, but for anyone curious, yes, you're supposed to. The writers don't torture her out of sheer hatred.
What gets the green light which would not have otherwise?
Nothing that we know of.
Family Guy was not considered a success at the time and FOX mostly wanted it gone until the [adult swim] reruns later on.
I tend to think King of the Hill would actually end earlier than OTL. After all, season 10 was originally going to be its last, and that may well be the case ITTL, since it won't be a part of the Animation Domination programing bloc that was supported by the ratings of both The Simpsons and the revived Family Guy throughout its existence. Fox has one less reason to keep it around.
This is what I was getting at before, yeah. FOX did not have an animation line-up before
Family Guy's revival and
American Dad's simultaneous premiere, going alongside their two existing animated franchises. With neither of those shows, it's just the highly successful
The Simpsons and the underrated unfavorite
King of the Hill, and the latter does likely go earlier.
Pretty much anything else animated on FOX is probably killed. Most *network* animated sitcoms between
The Simpsons and
Family Guy's revival were failures, and that's a huge reason why ABC, NBC and CBS have generally avoided animated projects since, even today, twenty years after the fact. It was widely assumed
The Simpsons was this one-time lightning-in-a-bottle moment, and I think
Family Guy proved the formula could still work on network television.
Just thinking aloud, this may butterfly away more beloved animated sitcoms like The Venture Brothers and/or Rick and Morty, since there wouldn't be the sustained example of gross-out, very crude animated comedy for adults (South Park may be looked at as happening in a vacuum).
This is something I've thought about as well, but a lot of it depends on how [adult swim] pans out ITTL. The original programming lineup is iconic to me as a nut on this stuff, but I'm not sure how many people really caught on to
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast,
Sealab 2021 and
Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I pointed out before, I think, that
Family Guy reruns formed the backbone of [adult swim]s' programming for years and still are the highest-rated syndicated shows on the network, and the other FOX projects still litter it, including the likely butterflied
Bob's Burgers.
I think
Venture Bros. still has a chance, since it was mostly born from that first wave, but
Rick and Morty is far enough down the line I'm really not sure.
South Park could easily be placed in a vacuum. Viewership was pretty consistent between the second and eleventh seasons and while it had (and has, myself included) a very dedicated audience, I don't think it was percieved as a breakout hit
within the industry, and at the time of
Family Guy's cancellation, it hasn't fully broken out of the "surreal comedy" reputation of it's early years, into the "social commentary and satire" reputation it's more known for today. The eighth thru tenth seasons did a lot of that work, since that's when controversy hit a fever pitch for it.
I wonder if the a lack of a successful Family Guy revival might mean recent TV revivals from OTL other than Futurama and Cosmos (like The X Files, Fuller House, and the upcoming 24 revival) are less likely to occur ITTL.
I tihnk
Futurama is definitely wiped out. I love
Futurama, it's a fantastic show, but I specifically remember the success of the
Family Guy revival was the example used by fans to get
Futurama back on the air, and considering both are from FOX, that makes it a much better selling point than if they never tried.
The general trend is harder to say, but I believe it's a plausible butterfly.
Family Guy was still *the* TV revival at the time it took place.
(If you all can't tell, adult animated programming is my jam.)