The Griffin family first appeared on the demo that MacFarlane pitched to Fox on May 15, 1998. "Family Guy" was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show "MADtv", but the plan changed because "MADtv"s budget was not large enough to support animation production. MacFarlane noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Fox, as he thought that it was the place to create a prime-time animation show. "Family Guy" was originally pitched to Fox in the same year as "King of the Hill", but the show was not bought until years later, when "King of the Hill" became successful. Fox ordered 13 episodes of "Family Guy" to air in midseason after MacFarlane impressed executives with a seven-minute demo.