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20th Century Fox Television chief finds time for families at home, at work and on TV
After giving a speech at Yale a few years back, 20th Century Fox Television Co-President Gary Newman expected the students at his alma mater to inquire about the quickest path to a high-powered career in Hollywood. Instead, he recalls, "15 hands immediately went up when I got done speaking, and all the questions were about Family Guy. "
The animated show about a dysfunctional Rhode Island family wasn't even on network TV at the time. But the students' interest proved to Newman what a cultural phenomenon Family Guy had become after two failed stints on Fox, and it convinced him that it deserved another shot.
After a campaign that involved licensing two months of free reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block and producing 48 episodes for Cartoon and the DVD market, Family Guy returned to Fox in 2005 and sold into syndication the next year.
The show's reversal of fortune was one of several successes Newman has enjoyed since he and Dana Walden were named co-presidents of 20th Century Fox Television in 1999. With his dealmaking prowess, Newman has helped the studio become a powerhouse supplier of hits like 24 , Boston Legal and My Name Is Earl.
A proud accomplishment
But, for Newman, the return of Family Guy was a personal victory, one he calls his "proudest accomplishment."
"It was a show that we all had tremendous passion...