Here’s Seth MacFarlane’s thoughts on the Emmy nomination of Family Guy, nominated twice since 2001 for animated program, plus once for an hourlong episode, and has never won:
“It’s surprising that we hadn’t been able to get a nomination in the animation category the last several years, yet in the comedy category we had success…..”It’s more of a function of the landscape of television comedy changing overall. You now have five or six animated prime-time shows as of this fall. At some point, they’re just too influential, too much a part of pop culture” to exclude them. “I don’t think [voters] …read more

The characters of Peter and Brian are very similar to Larry and Steve from the shorts The Life of Larry and What a Cartoon: Larry & Steve, which feature a moronic man who adopts a talking dog and puts the dog through hell, and were both written and directed by Seth MacFarlane.
Before Seth MacFarlane created the idea of a regular half-hour series, he conceived of the Griffin family appearing as characters in animated shorts to appear on MADtv. Many of the regular voice actors (including Alex Borstein, Phil LaMarr, Debra Wilson and Nicole Sullivan) are Mad TV alumni. Alex …read more

Already voted for the “real” President? Well, go ahead and take advantage of that civic spirit and vote for Stan Smith or Peter Griffin as President of Animation in the new FX special. Here’s more:
As part of the comedy block, Thursday nights from 9pm, FX presents a double of Family Guy and American Dad that are linked by an electoral ‘issue’ – the same issues that American voters will be weighing up before they go to the polls on November 4th. Issues include family values, terrorism and the war on drugs. Viewers will get the chance to pick from:
Whilst …read more

It’s been confirmed that the cast of Family Guy will be coming to Carnegie Hall November 24 and 25 for Family Guy Sings. Here’s the official announcement about the show:
“This unique, unpredictable and unforgettable musical experience will feature the superstar cast singing live with a 40-piece orchestra conducted by ‘Family Guy’ composer Walter Murphy,” reads an announcement for the show. The evenings will include “a live reading of two uncensored, classic episodes hand-picked by MacFarlane, as well as bonus material never before seen on Fox. The cast will sing musical numbers from those episodes, along with many other classic songs …read more

I had the privilege of listening in on a conference call with Al Jean yesterday, who has been the head writer on The Simpsons since 1989. Here’s my notes from the call:
On Plopper, the Spider Pig
– spider pig might be coming back! but he was definitely made for the movie. Plopper might show up in show as a cameo.
On science fiction spoofs
– in March, Homer will get poison to kill rats (they look like Ratatouille), leaves Maggie on a convent porch, turns into a Da Vinci and National Treasure spoof. 3D Homer again? Perhaps.
On going into …read more

Family Guy writers talk about how they worked in VERY close quarters when the show began – they were all in one room! This created a close bond, but also made everyone smell like feet. No women in there, which made for some interesting dynamics. Watch: