All you have to know to read this excerpt is that Mike Reiss is a writer/producer on The Simpsons:
“I like Family Guy,” said Mike Reiss in a speech in 2009 at the 92nd Street Y in Tribeca. Reiss then related to a well-known story, how Family Guy’s creator, Seth MacFarlane, was scheduled to be on American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001. Because MacFarlane’s travel agent had given him the wrong departure time, MacFarlane narrowly missed the flight and watched on the airport TVs as his plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. “The point,” said Reiss, “is that I may like Family Guy, but God fucking loves Family Guy.”