Return of the living-on-in-reruns dead

This ought to make a few people happy. It looks like the criminally ignored Futurama and the won't-stay-dead Family Guy, after having been jerked around by Fox with poor and inconsistent timeslots before their eventual cancelation in favor of far inferior shows, are on their way back to television with new episodes.

The bit about Futurama is a surprise (albeit a welcome one), but it's not a surprise to see Family Guy back. It's doing great ratings in reruns and blockbuster business in DVD sales. And it's been killed and revived before. So, why'd it go off the air in the first place? Well, it didn't help that Fox put it up against Friends. But oddly enough, none other than creator Seth MacFarlane's old prep-school headmaster led a campaign against it that led advertisers to shun the show. And you thought your high-school principal was an asshole.