• Family Guy
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Entourage
• Flight of the Conchords
• The Office
• Pushing Daisies
• Two and a Half Men
• Ugly Betty
• Weeds

Official Emmy nominations will come out July 17.

Post from: Stewie's Playground

The time when Peter Griffin was doing a stand-up comedy routine in a hospital full of terminally ill children.

Making fun of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Sick.

Michael J. Fox and Parkinson’s.

Quagmire finding the tied-up cheerleader in the bathroom.

However, here’s the thing: Family Guy is going to offend everyone eventually. That seems to be their main goal. So even though they do push the envelope a wee bit too far sometimes, that’s why we keep watching.

The only bad part is when the really poor taste jokes are not done well – like the Prom Night Dumpster Baby. That was just stupid. Also, when they do the same joke a hundred times in one episode – that’s just lazy writing! What do you think – are there any moments or jokes in Family Guy that made you go “oh, they went too far!”?

Post from: Stewie's Playground

First, Brian.

Luke Chueh vs The Family Guy by ~Luke-Chueh on deviantART

I would actually buy this one and hang it up somewhere. It’s pretty good.

More Family Guy art after the jump:

I had to look at this one for a while to figure it out.

Lucky There’s A Family Guy… by ~Chibi-Lianna on deviantART

I guess that’s Family Guy as anime? Peter looks about 15.

Next, we go with Sexy Lois.

Family Guy: Lois by Dawn by ~tosaints on deviantART

And an interesting Scooby Doo version of the Griffin family:

Scooby Doo and Family Guy by ~bloodymoon100 on deviantART

Family Guy vs. The Simpsons – Chris with an axe? I don’t think so. Maybe Stewie would be more believable.

Family Guy Vs. The Simpsons by ~GlxyDs on deviantART

The Superhero Griffins. This one needs to be on a t-shirt.

Teen Titans and Family Guy by ~bloodymoon100 on deviantART

Last, Lois. This one made me feel weird.

Family Guy – Lois by ~h4xx0rz5upr3m3 on deviantART

Which one is your favorite?

Post from: Stewie's Playground

On the show’s humor: “The thing that I try to do with ‘Family Guy’ is to have this balance between the classic and the edgy. We do a lot of poop jokes, but at the same time, we use a 45-piece orchestra every week with a full string section. And, you know, we don’t try to shock for shock’s sake. If something is just shocking and not funny, then we’ll cut it out. And we have these table reads every week, which we do for each episode, in which we have a very good cross-section of artists and people from the outside and writers, and the studio network is there. And no one is shy about gasping in horror if we have crossed the line, and so it’s a very good barometer.”

On the show’s cutaway scenes: “We see them as, in a weird way, these animated versions of one-frame ‘Far Side’ cartoons that are something you can only do really, I think, effectively in the animation medium. And they’re just laughs for laughs’ sake. You don’t have to know what’s going on with the plot. You don’t have to know what’s going on with character drive. It’s just pure comedy, we hope.”

Image credit Newscom

Post from: Stewie's Playground

Post from: Stewie's Playground

Post from: Stewie's Playground

This hasn’t been done before, but they got away with it because of the Blue Harvest animated special. Basically, this would put them both in the animated category AND the live-action half-hour comedy category, according to the Emmy rules, and would put them not only against the Simpsons, but also The Office and My Name Is Earl.

My opinion? It’s too much. They could possibly grab a win in the Animation category, but there is NO WAY they are going to win against The Office. What do you think?

Post from: Stewie's Playground

• That fat kid in the screenshot? That’s Cleveland Brown Jr., redesigned. I’m thinking that they put him on meds for his ADD and he got fat? Maybe?
• From ign.com: “Many years ago, Cleveland Brown (voiced by Mike Henry) was a high school student madly in love with a beautiful girl named Donna. Much to his dismay, his love went unrequited, and Donna wound up marrying another man. Cleveland once told Donna he would always love her, and if this man ever done her wrong, he’d be there when she called. Well, this man done her wrong. Donna’s husband skipped town with another woman, leaving Donna with a daughter and a baby. Now she’s come to Cleveland and offered him another chance at love. Unattached after the Loretta-Quagmire debacle and true to his word, Cleveland joyously accepts and he and Cleveland JR. move to Stoolbend, VA, to join their new family.”
• Talking Bears live next door that have some kind of Eastern European accent.
• Tentatively scheduled to be released in September 2009.

That’s all I have for now. One question I have for you – why do you think that Seth chose Cleveland Brown as his spinoff character? Why not Adam West, or Joe Swanson, or even Glen Quagmire?

UPDATED: May 27, 2008

OK! Here are some new tidbits about the Cleveland spinoff:

• The voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry, is comparing Cleveland to Bob Newhart. Which makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
• Cleveland thinks he’s on his way to California to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a minor league baseball scout – but ends up in his Virginia hometown, instead.
• The woman who Cleveland falls in love with is Donna, an old high school flame. She has a 16-year-old daughter, Roberta, who runs in the fast lane, and a 5-year-old son named Rollo, who’s streetwise and savvy to the ways of the world. Somewhat like Stewie.
• His next-door-neighbors on one side are the Pennyapple family from Great Britain, with Seth MacFarlane doing the voice of the father, Barrington Pennyapple.
• Across the street will be a family of rednecks – the dad is quite open about the fact he’s not quite comfortable with black people. Which should be both uncomfortable and funny, something that Family Guy is quite expert at.

Post from: Stewie's Playground

The only clip I saw in there that wasn’t from Family Guy was the one of three Clevelands dancing, although that one looks familiar too. Here’s the lyrics for the song you hear Cleveland singing:

The Cleveland Show Song

“My name is Cleveland Brown
And I am proud to be
Right back in my home town
With my new family

There’s old friends and new friends
And even a bear
Through good times and bad times
It’s good times we share

And so I found a place
Where everyone will know
My happy black guy face
This is the Cleveland Show!”

Post from: Stewie's Playground

©2008 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: FOX

I’m definitely going to give this a try, but honestly, spinoffs don’t usually fare that well. Look at how many horrific trainwrecks came out of “Friends” and “Cheers”, for example. If anyone has a chance to make this actually good, it’s Seth MacFarlane. We’ll see. What do you think?

Post from: Stewie's Playground