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Posted: **2004-03-01 12:57am**

Well, it's official I guess, Family Guy will return. I think I speak for everyone when I say, W00T!!!!!

IGN

IGN wrote:February 27, 2004 - Rejoice, Griffin fans, production is about to restart on The Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane, the brains behind the show, tells IGN he's been given the go-ahead and the only question mark left is whether the new material will air initially on Fox or on Cartoon Network.

"Cartoon Network will be involved regardless," he says. "Whether it goes there permanently or winds up on Fox first and then Cartoon Network remains to be seen. So at the very least it will be on Cartoon Network, which is great because at the end of the day that's where we built our biggest fan base. So I'm happy either way."

He's doing what he can to restore as much of the old writing team as possible. However, there are a lot of good writers looking for work in Hollywood thanks to the reality show craze.

In fact, the series lost a few people before season three began, but MacFarlane expects to get back more of the original writers now than he did when season three was in production. The voice over actors won't be too much of a problem since it's animated and the voice recordings can be done around the actor's schedule.

If production begins in April, as he hopes, MacFarlane will present the new material to Fox around December, and it will decide if it picks up the show for 2005 or if it goes directly to Cartoon Network. That may seem like a long time, but MacFarlane says it would take even longer to get something done if he didn't have five leftover scripts from the show. Three are in good shape but two will need some rewrites, he says.

His other pitch, American Dad, is still in production. He created the show with Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, who were supervising producers on The Family Guy. He describes the show as "Family Guy meets All in the Family, designed to poke fun at the particularly intense political state we're in right now."

The dad, Stan, is an extreme right-wing Republican while one of his daughters is an extreme left-wing Democrat. Stan works for CIA and has an alien (as in from outer space, not an illegal) living with the family. Fox is expected to decide on whether to pick up the series this spring.

The resurrection of The Family Guy comes after a groundswell of fan support, the strong ratings on Cartoon Network and stellar sales of the DVD sets. The Family Guy Volume 1 and Volume 2 have combined sales of close to two million units, according to MacFarlane.

"I think that's what made them sit up and take notice and say maybe there's more money to be made off this property and this thing is not dead yet," he says. "Because of DVD and cable, the show has been able to build an audience that, in the past, a show could only build on a network. So it's an indication that the landscape is changing a lot."

Needless to say, he's happy to do double duty with The Family Guy and American Dad. "It's gonna be a challenge but this is what I do and what I love doing, so it's a monumental challenge that I'm happy to undertake. I'm thrilled. I think it's great," says MacFarlane.

Posted: **2004-03-01 12:59am**

YES! I want it to be on CN, Fox is no longer worthy of The Family Guy.

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:02am**

Let's hope this time around they remember that story is more important than gags.

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:05am**

*collapses into a warm puddle*

I'm so happy, I'm speechless.

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:06am**

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Let's hope this time around they remember that story is more important than gags.

Each episode did have a story about as sophisticated as the average Simpsons episode, it just flings comedy at you at a rapid-fire rate making you forget about it.

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:07am**

Joe wrote:YES! I want it to be on CN, Fox is no longer worthy of The Family Guy.

It's harder to justify the $1 million an episode on Cartoon Network's budget, so I'd actual be happier with Fox and CN running it concurrently as long as Fox pushes it appropriately.

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:17am**

Joe wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Let's hope this time around they remember that story is more important than gags.
Each episode did have a story about as sophisticated as the average Simpsons episode, it just flings comedy at you at a rapid-fire rate making you forget about it.

Well, the show always seemed rather anarchistic in the way gags connected to the story. Most were just random, like a cartoon from the 20s. While I like Family Guy, I didn't think it was assembled very well, and actually prefer Futuramma because its gag/story ratio is more coherrent.

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:22am**

Excellent. Absolutely excellent. Fox doesn't deserve the show after what they did to it the first time.

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:42am**

*Sublimes*

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:42am**

Great show. It was hard to get into at first. But once you relax a bit and get into the pattern of speed comedy and random lunacy mixed with pop culture wit, it is a blast. And I am glad to see a new season coming. When I got to the end of last DVD I was wistful. That's it? Now the answer is no. Yeah!

Posted: **2004-03-01 01:46am**

The Kernel wrote:
Joe wrote:YES! I want it to be on CN, Fox is no longer worthy of The Family Guy.
It's harder to justify the $1 million an episode on Cartoon Network's budget, so I'd actual be happier with Fox and CN running it concurrently as long as Fox pushes it appropriately.

How much was the budget per episode of Big O II?

Posted: **2004-03-01 02:30am**

Thinking some more I hope this show avoids going the way of other Fox shows, bringing in guest actors and stars to boost the show. Hopefully Seth keeps the control he had the first time through. Hopefully, Fox will actually not meddle for once.

Posted: **2004-03-01 02:53am**

Let's hope this time around they remember that story is more important than gags.

I liked it just fine as-is. But then, I'm a fan of non-sequiturs.

Posted: **2004-03-01 02:50pm**

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Joe wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Let's hope this time around they remember that story is more important than gags.
Each episode did have a story about as sophisticated as the average Simpsons episode, it just flings comedy at you at a rapid-fire rate making you forget about it.
Well, the show always seemed rather anarchistic in the way gags connected to the story. Most were just random, like a cartoon from the 20s. While I like Family Guy, I didn't think it was assembled very well, and actually prefer Futuramma because its gag/story ratio is more coherrent.

I completely agree with this post

Posted: **2004-03-01 03:21pm**

DPDarkPrimus wrote: How much was the budget per episode of Big O II?

Ummm...no idea, sorry. But Seth McFarlane came out and talked about the budget issue when the idea of Family Guy returning as a Cartoon Network exclusive was still being kicked around (David X. Cohen has made similar remarks about Futurama). He basically said that Cartoon Network could only afford around $400,000 an episode which would mean drastic cutbacks on the show (which on a show like Family Guy means writers).

Posted: **2004-03-01 03:40pm**

As much as I love Family Guy, the last season blew chunks compared to the first and second ones. I fear it may already have started a downward trend like the Simpsons over the last couple of years.

Posted: **2004-03-01 04:30pm**

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:
Joe wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Let's hope this time around they remember that story is more important than gags.
Each episode did have a story about as sophisticated as the average Simpsons episode, it just flings comedy at you at a rapid-fire rate making you forget about it.
Well, the show always seemed rather anarchistic in the way gags connected to the story. Most were just random, like a cartoon from the 20s. While I like Family Guy, I didn't think it was assembled very well, and actually prefer Futuramma because its gag/story ratio is more coherrent.

But that was the best thing about the show. Usually, similar shows like the Simpsons went for satirical or exaggerated comedy. Family Guy went for the Absurd and the Unexpected. When Peter said that he's only been defeated once, a TRON lightcycle race was about as expected as the Spanish Inquisition. Or the Daffy Duck gag on the episode where Meg was trying to interview Adam West. Even if you could see a gag coming, you never knew what it was. I mean, who knew Optimus Prime was Jewish?

Posted: **2004-03-01 04:37pm**

Blahaha. I was right! Screw you you nay sayers! I've just got a little bit of joy in my life

.

Posted: **2004-03-01 04:42pm**

Admiral Valdemar wrote:As much as I love Family Guy, the last season blew chunks compared to the first and second ones. I fear it may already have started a downward trend like the Simpsons over the last couple of years.

I disagree completely. Season 3 had such gems as:

And the Wiener is...
The Thin White Line
Brian Does Hollywood
Lethal Weapons
Emission Impossible
Screwed The Pooch
From Method to Madness
and European Road Show

I liked every single episode in Season 3 (although Death Lives and Mr. Saturday Knight were a little weak) but these 8 were all outstanding entries and are up there with funniest in the entire series.

Posted: **2004-03-01 04:54pm**

SAMAS wrote:But that was the best thing about the show. Usually, similar shows like the Simpsons went for satirical or exaggerated comedy. Family Guy went for the Absurd and the Unexpected. When Peter said that he's only been defeated once, a TRON lightcycle race was about as expected as the Spanish Inquisition. Or the Daffy Duck gag on the episode where Meg was trying to interview Adam West. Even if you could see a gag coming, you never knew what it was. I mean, who knew Optimus Prime was Jewish?

I agree that a lot of times the gags were funny, and the randomness was good (yeah, I agree that West's Mayor is just hilarious). But sometimes you just scratched your head and thought "What the fuck were they thinking with that gag?" or "That sure went nowhere fast". There's only so much random absurdity a show can handle before it collapses on itself and becomes drab. In the end, I generally just feel sort of hollow after watching: no fulfillment.

One of the worst things I thought about the show, besides the fact that Peter is such a dick with a laugh so annoying that I just want to rip that testicle chin right off the fat fuck's face is that often it was clear when they ran out of ideas for story/gags and just let some gags go on and on forever past the point where the humour exhausted. Yes, I know it's the worst gag in the series, but did we really need to watch Stewie sing "Rocket Man" for nearly a minute and a half?

And an aside about Stewie: not everything he said was hysterical, quite a bit what pretty droll and the same old stuff on repeat. It's like some people think he was the best just because he was a baby who talked with a startchy British accent. My favourite character has always been Brian, because he's almost always genuinely funny.

But then again, out of Family Guy and Futurama, my favourite is Home Movies. I adore that one, and pray that it soon gets a DVD release.

"Hugh Downs awaaayyy...!!"

Posted: **2004-03-01 05:04pm**

imma be an optimist and say that i think the new season will be grrrrrrrrreat!

Posted: **2004-03-01 05:06pm**

The Kernel wrote:I liked every single episode in Season 3 (although Death Lives and Mr. Saturday Knight were a little weak) but these 8 were all outstanding entries and are up there with funniest in the entire series.

Saturday Knight had the beautiful "gander up my frock" sequence though, as well as the guy saying "ting!".

"What's your fat ass doing here?"
"He's my only means of conveyance! But, I suppose I do spoil him."

And Death Lives had a beautiful ending.

"What the hell are you talking about? Animals fight all the time!"
"Not with nuclear arms. You can't hug your children with nuclear arms!"

Posted: **2004-03-01 05:12pm**

Uraniun235 wrote: Saturday Knight had the beautiful "gander up my frock" sequence though, as well as the guy saying "ting!".

"What's your fat ass doing here?"
"He's my only means of conveyance! But, I suppose I do spoil him."

And Death Lives had a beautiful ending.

"What the hell are you talking about? Animals fight all the time!"
"Not with nuclear arms. You can't hug your children with nuclear arms!"

True, but they can't compare to such wonderful lines from Season 3 as:

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but you're a total bitch."
"...Am I...am I supposed to conduct with my penis?"
"Pope? POPE!!! It's time to get up and put on your hat!"
"Go Lois! Pummel him with your fists of fury! Then when you're done, immasculate him with your incessant nagging!"
"I'll tell you what's wrong! I'm trying to make love to you and you're thinking of Chris!"

Posted: **2004-03-01 07:08pm**

People, I've been saying this for months.

Posted: **2004-03-01 07:52pm**

Dammit. Why did this pile of crap get ressurected but not Futurama? Fuck.

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