Category: Family Guy

‘Family Guy’ Staff Back at Work
Once again, rumors of the demise of “Family Guy” appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
Scribes on FOX’s apparently unkillable animated comedy returned to work this week after a two-month hiatus that led many naysayers to suggest that “Family Guy” might be down for the count once again.
Initially scheduled to kick off writing on the sixth season of “Family Guy” back in late October, the show’s staff was sent home as 20th Century Fox TV attempted to iron out a new deal with series creator/voice/executive producer Seth MacFarlane.
While both industry trade papers agree that MacFarlane fresh pact with the studio remains unconsummated, the “Family Guy” writers were called back into the offices on Tuesday (Jan. 2) and started breaking stories on Wednesday.
MacFarlane, who also executive produces “American Dad” and the upcoming “The Winner” for FOX, is expected to have a lucrative deal in place soon.

‘Family Guy’s’ Stewie hosting Web talk show
LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) – Heeeeere’s Stewie!
The tyrannical tyke in the Fox animated series “Family Guy” will be the virtual host of a talk show being developed strictly for the Internet later this year.
Stewie’s show will be based on familyguy.com (http://www.familyguy.com) and other News Corp.-owned Web properties catering to the young demographics that have embraced the Fox series.
“We think that the property is perfectly suited for that audience,” Fox Interactive Media president Ross Levinsohn said Tuesday.
He added that the idea for the show has been embraced on Madison Avenue by potential advertisers. He does not expect the program to cannibalize viewing for the Fox series or other “Family” brand extensions like DVD. Stewie wouldn’t be the first animated character to get his own talk show; that distinction belongs to “Space Ghost Coast to Coast,” which aired on Cartoon Network.

‘Family Guy’ DVD for the fans
A new animated comedy DVD — Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story — is a big shout out and thank you to the fans of the show.
“Fans saved the show,” says Family Guy writer-producer Chris Sheridan, who collaborated on the feature-length, 88-minute movie. It debuted on DVD this week under the banners: “All-new, outrageous, uncensored!” and “Pee-in-your-pants fun!”
Sheridan says: “We wanted to say thanks.”
The adult-oriented, animated Family Guy series was revived in May after being cancelled by Fox. Two factors were crucial: DVD box sets of earlier seasons sold millions, and re-runs set records on the Cartoon Network. Fox could not ignore the millons in fresh revenues.
So that saga is savagely lampooned in The Untold Story, along with a fresh Stewie adventure in which he joins the talking dog Brian and the sex-crazed neighbour Quagmire on an epic trip to San Francisco.
The movie is actually three new episodes bound together by a framing device in which the members of the Griffin clan are stars going to their movie premiere. The Griffins are allowed to break the fourth wall and exist outside their own show, allowing for the Fox insults.
“The fans are just clamouring for it,” Sheridan told The Toronto Sun about the revived show and now the new DVD during a Toronto visit with co-writers Steve Callaghan and Mike Henry (who is also the voice of Cleveland).
“Four years ago, the first time we were cancelled, we told Fox they were making a mistake, and the second time we were cancelled that they were making a bigger mistake. And it’s sort of great to be here now. We were right and they were wrong.”
Callaghan, known as the “voice of reason” in the writers room, does want to tone down the Fox criticism.
“As much fun as we had at the network’s expense,” he says, “they deserve a lot of credit for picking the show back up. Because it would have been very easy for pride or ego or whatever to get in the way of their making the decision they did. We’re glad to have our jobs back and we’re thankful to them and they’re good sports about us giving them a hard time.”
As for the caustic jokes, “we’re calling it like it is,” says Henry. “They basically made a mistake and we’re calling them on it — because that’s what we tend to do.”
The three Stewie episodes may eventually be broadcast separately, but they are joined here to create a full story in which the venomous baby searches for his roots.
“Bottom line,” Sheridan says, “he is the most popular character (on Family Guy). It felt natural, in doing the movie, to make Stewie the central character of it. You feel that, if he wasn’t the centre of it, people would be disappointed. And Stewie would be damn pissed! So that was a conscious effort.”
The finding-himself story was more challenging than having Stewie once again try to kill Lois or take over the world, Sheridan says. “It’s more emotional and more character-driven than if it became an action sequence. There are action sequences within it, but I don’t think you could drive this movie if it wasn’t emotionally based — like any movie.”
Smart folks writing smart jokes
Family Guy writer-producer Chris Sheridan figures he knows the secret to the show’s phenomenal success.
“I think the mystery ingredient, to some extent, is that we have a lot of smart writers on the show,” he tells the Sun during a recent Toronto visit.
“And there are a lot of smart people who watch Family Guy. The reality is that smart people who get a Benjamin Disraeli joke actually like fart jokes, too, and in other circles probably wouldn’t admit it. But it’s funny sometimes. It’s funny to hear someone fart.”
The classy trash factor has led to a bonanza in DVD box set sales. Family Guy: Volume 1 (which is comprised of seasons one and two) and Family Guy: Volume 2 (which is season three) are already in stores and selling millions. Volume 3 (the 2005 revived season, which launched May 1) is set for DVD release on Nov. 29.
The new DVD, Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, is a single DVD with the feature-length Stewie movie plus a group commentary headed up by creator Seth MacFarlane, as well as a risque “bonus uncensored audio track” and other less significant extras.
The writers get away with more extreme situations and saltier language than in the regular show. But even on the regular Family Guy, they push the limits.
“Look,” says Sheridan, “you get away with a lot in animation. Stewie does horrible, horrible things but he’s really cute and so you get away with it.
“On the DVD, he kills (I’m censoring this to avoid playing the spoiler). Yet he’s a baby. He’s screaming. He’s cussing. But, you put a pacifier in his mouth and he suckles himself to sleep. And I think that’s the beauty of that character, because he can be a monster and yet he’s still a little baby and you’ve got to love him!”

COUP D’STEW
Sorry Stewie.
The highly anticipated, uncensored “Family Guy” movie doesn’t come out on DVD until September, but some Internet whiz-kids are already trading full-length, pirated copies of “Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story” online.
The film is technically three closely related, never-before-aired “Family Guy” episodes linked together.
One tells a tale about Stewie – the evil baby bent on world domination – that closely resembles Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s fall. In it, Stewie, sporting a wild Saddamesque beard, is found hiding in a spider hole – as was the Butcher of Baghdad.

‘Family Guy’ Movie Gets September DVD Release
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – “Family Guy” will return to the world of DVD after owing its network revival in part to brisk DVD sales of the series.
Creator Seth MacFarlane is set to release a direct-to-DVD movie based on his irreverent animated FOX series on Tuesday, Sept. 27, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story” centers on Stewie — the precocious Griffin baby with the football-shaped head — having a near-death experience. He decides to mend his evil, world-dominating ways and sets out on a road trip to find his real father.
MacFarlane promises that a “special gag” will feature the voices of “Beverly Hills, 90210” stars Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling, along with celebrity guest voices Drew Barrymore and Ron Livingston. Numerous special features are planned, including deleted scenes, still galleries, animatics and a commentary from MacFarlane to accompany the 83-minute, unrated movie.
“We also sandwiched special features around the movie,” explains MacFarlane. “It begins with an animated movie premiere, with the family arriving to watch it, and then there’s an after-party at the end.”
MacFarlane says that “Untold Story” is a thank you to many fans who purchased the series’ DVDs and contributed to FOX renewing the series two years after it was canceled in 2003. The temporarily canceled show also found fans in reruns on Cartoon Network. “Family Guy” resurrected in May, with 11.85 million people catching the fourth-season premiere.

‘Family Guy’ Bounces Back Big for FOX
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) “Family Guy” fans put their eyeballs where their DVD money had previously been and turned out in droves to watch the show’s return.
The animated series, returning to FOX more than three years after the network last aired an original episode, gathered some of the best ratings in its history Sunday (May 1). About 11.85 million people watched the fourth-season premiere, according to fast national ratings from Nielsen, and a huge number of them fell in the young-adult demographics FOX loves. (Final ratings will be out Tuesday.)
Sunday was a pretty good night in general for the broadcast networks. ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” each drew their second-biggest audiences of the season, and the CBS movie “Riding the Bus with My Sister” also performed well.
It was “Family Guy,” though, that provided the most eye-catching numbers of the night. The show scored a strong 5.7 rating among adults 18-49 — second to “Housewives” and more than double FOX’s season average (2.5) for the half-hour. It even beat the ABC hit among two of the demographics that helped resurrect “Family Guy,” teenagers and men 18-34.
All this for a show that averaged fewer than 5 million viewers per week in its most recent season on FOX, 2001-02. Strong ratings for repeats on Cartoon Network and DVD sales helped convince FOX to put the series back into production.
The network’s other animated offerings posted decent numbers as well. “The Simpsons” celebrated its 350th episode (although some counts have the show at 351) with two episodes that averaged just over 11.1 million viewers, and “American Dad” held onto about 80 percent of the “Family Guy” audience. Like its lead-in, “Dad” also improved substantially on the network’s season average for the time period.
For all the good news at FOX, though, ABC still dominated the first Sunday of sweeps. Nearly 25.9 million people watched “Desperate Housewives,” the second-largest audience of the season for the show. Its 11.4 rating among adults 18-49 was also its second-best performance. “Grey’s Anatomy” (18.5 million viewers, 8.5 18-49 rating) had its second-largest audience and best-yet rating in the 18-49 demographic.
At CBS, “Riding the Bus with My Sister” brought in 15 million viewers, an improvement of close to 4 million over the network’s season average for its Sunday movie.

FOX Issues May Day Call for ‘Family Guy’
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) “Family Guy” fans who have been clamoring for the show’s resurrection will see their wish come true in May.
FOX announced Monday (Jan. 17) at the TV Critics Association winter press tour that the show will air its first new episode in more than three years on Sunday, May 1. The network has committed to a full season’s worth of episodes, so it’s likely that the show can run well into the summer without repeating.
Also that night, FOX will launch the series run of “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane’s new show, “American Dad.” It centers on Stan Smith, an excessively gung-ho CIA agent who tends to bring his work home with him.
Viewers will get a first look at “American Dad” on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6, when the pilot will be paired with a sports-themed episode of “The Simpsons” after the game. Come May, the two shows will occupy the 9 p.m. Sunday hour; until then, FOX will program reruns of “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons.”
“Family Guy” also received the coveted post-Super Bowl premiere spot in 1999, but the show never got much love from FOX after that. It bounced around the network’s schedule for three-plus seasons before being pulled for good in February 2002.
The show’s loyal cult following, however, made it a huge seller on DVD — its compilations have sold a combined 3.5 million units — and repeats on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim performed well, prompting FOX to commission new episodes.
FOX also announced Monday that its new comedy “Life on a Stick” will debut at 9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, May 23, in the cushy spot following the “American Idol” results show. The series stars Amy Yasbeck (“Wings”), Zachary Knighton, Charlie Finn and Matthew Glave.

‘Family Guy’ Finds Another Home
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – The formerly unloved-by-networks “Family Guy” is going back into production at its original home, FOX. It’s one of Cartoon Network’s highest-rated shows. And now it’s being added to a third lineup.
The animated series will join the TBS prime-time slate on July 7, airing Wednesdays at 8 and 8:30 p.m. ET. The pickup is part of TBS’ effort to remake itself as “the ultimate destination for comedy lovers,” chief operating officer Steve Koonin says.
“Family Guy” will be paired with “Seinfeld” reruns on Wednesdays. It will also remain part of Cartoon Network’s lineup, where it remains the No. 1 show in the late-night “Adult Swim” block that’s a haven for young-adult viewers, in particular the elusive college-age male.
The show follows the lives of the middle-class Griffin family of Quahog, R.I., with portly patriarch Peter (voiced by creator Seth MacFarlane) doing his best to provide for his family — wife Lois (Alex Borstein), insecure daughter Meg (Mila Kunis, “That ’70s Show”), dim-bulb son Chris (Seth Green, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), evil genius baby Stewie (MacFarlane again) and talking dog/voice of reason Brian (also MacFarlane).
After bouncing it around the schedule numerous times over three seasons, FOX cancelled “Family Guy” in 2002. Strong ratings for the Cartoon Network repeats and brisk DVD sales persuaded the network to order new episodes, scheduled for summer 2005. MacFarlane is also at work on a new FOX series, “American Dad,” set for midseason.

‘Family Guy’ Crowd Heading to Montreal Yukfest
OTTAWA (Hollywood Reporter) – Wayne Brady, Caroline Rhea, Tim Allen, Tom Arnold, Jackie Mason and the voices behind the animated show “Family Guy” are among the comics slated to perform at the 22nd Just for Laughs Festival, running July 15-25 in Montreal, organizers said Tuesday.
Just for Laughs chief operating officer Bruce Hills said he is particularly excited about having Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green and Mila Kunis do a live script reading of “Family Guy.” A question-and-answer session with cast and creator MacFarlane will follow the reading.
“The big thing this summer is ‘Family Guy,”‘ Hills said. “That’s a big one because they rarely do this, and that show is one of the biggest-selling DVDs out there.”
Brady (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”), Rhea (“The Caroline Rhea Show”), Allen (“Home Improvement”) and Arnold (“The Best Damn Sports Show Period”) are slated to headline six galas, with Brady and Allen handling gala duties twice.
The festival also is catering to children for the first time, with the North American premiere of James Campbell’s stand-up comedy for kids ages 5 and older.
For more mature audiences, Mason, once a regular on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” is performing his one-man show “Jackie Mason Freshly Squeezed.” There also will be the world premiere of “Evil Dead 1 & 2: The Musical,” a comedy based on the director Sam Raimi’s campy horror classics.
Brady will be joined by his “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” co-stars Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops and Brad Sherwood as well as Sean Masterson (“The Drew Carey Show”) for some improvisational comedy.
Also, British comic Dave Gorman will present his “Googlewhack Adventure,” which premiered at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. New on this summer’s roster is “Late Nite Down Under,” a spotlight on the funniest acts from Australia and New Zealand, including performances by Colin Hay of the Grammy-winning band Men at Work.