Family Guy is one of the longest-running shows in TV history: It’s been airing on-and-off since 1999 and has nearly 400 episodes in its run. In fact, the 400th episode will be in the show’s 21st season (which premiered in September) and it’s inspired by artists like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez.
According to Variety, the episode will feature Stewie developing an obsession for a famous pop star. Seth MacFarlane himself, who isn’t as hands-on with writing the show these days as he used to be, pitched the idea to the show’s producers.
Co-showrunner Rich Appel said of the episode, “That’s not a story that would have even occurred to us to tell five years ago, that phenomenon of fans of artists like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez — you name them — who are just really so devoted, that they adopt their viewpoints.”
Fellow showrunner Alec Sulkin also noted, “It’s always very fun to to come together and make each other laugh, which is really the main part of our job. Family Guy, in particular, is a show that’s known for its humor, its edgy humor and sometimes its dark humor. So, it was just a great group of people to be laughing with at a time when so much was uncertain.”
Swift herself (but voiced by actress Ursula Taherian, not Swift) appeared in the 2016 Family Guy episode titled “Chris Has Got a Date, Date, Date, Date, Date.” In it, Chris asks Swift to go to the school homecoming dance with him and she surprisingly accepts the invitation. It is later revealed, though, that Swift was using Chris to help inspire her songs trashing him. Swift also appeared in a brief gag in the 2014 episode “3 Acts Of God.”
There’s not much when it comes to Gomez’s presence in the show, although she has been mentioned on it here and there.