“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] are ready to award an animated show best comedy,” MacFarlane says. “I don’t think they’re sure of what that would mean to the institution as a whole.” Still, he says, the nomination is enough. “In a lot of ways, this is a bigger deal than if we had won in the animation category. It opens the door for [others] to submit in that category next year.”

I don’t know….I think that we might be pleasantly surprised and see Family Guy actually walk away with the Emmy. What do you think?

Post from: Stewie's Playground

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 Borstein was the first cast on this show and is the only “official” cast member as the voice of Lois Griffin.

“Quahog,” the name of the Griffin’s hometown, is also the name of an edible clam. The bar the characters frequently visit, “The Drunken Clam”, is a reference to this.

Brian’s voice is simply Seth MacFarlane speaking normally.

Seth MacFarlane based the voice of Peter Grifffin on a security guard he knew while going to college.

A gag was animated for an episode that involved “The Newlywed Game”, featuring the biblical figures Mary and Joseph (the human parents of Jesus Christ). Bob Eubanks actually came in and did the voice of his character for the gag, but quickly pulled out after realizing the nature of the joke (he had just finished work on a “Christian Workout Video”).

Stewie’s voice is based on Rex Harrison.

The original idea for titles of episodes were supposed to be based on 1940s Mystery Radio shows. This is why the first few episodes have some sort of reference to death in them. Eventually the writers of the show had to start describing the episodes to one another (rather than simply using the titles), so that idea was dropped.

Lois was originally drawn as a blonde. After much debate, the creators decided to make her hair red.

Glen Quagmire drives a ‘57 Chevy Bel Air convertible.

Believing the series to be cancelled after season 2, many of the writers took on other jobs for different shows. The show was renewed for a third season at the last minute; many new writers were used for the new series.

The first part of the opening credits, where Lois plays the piano and sings with Peter, is a spoof of Edith playing the piano and singing with Archie during the opening credits of All in the Family.

By 2 May 2003, there was an online petition with over 111,000 names on it, to save the show.

When the series was first pitched to Fox, William H. Macy had auditioned for the role of Brian.

The boy with the upside-down face, newscaster Tom Tucker’s son, is named Jake.

As of the end of the third season the character of Bonnie Swanson is still pregnant. Peter even mentions this in Season 4, Episode 3. “Bonnie, you’ve been pregnant for like six years, alright? Either have the baby or don’t.”

Stewie’s full name is Stewart Gilligan Griffin.

The opening of the PTV episode, including the beating up of terrorists in the middle east, and Stewie riding his trike through the city, is a parody of the Naked Gun series of films.

Chris’s middle name is “Cross”. Peter’s middle name is Lowenbrau.

Seth Green reveals in the commentary on _Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin – The Untold Story (2005) (V)_ that the voice of Chris is based on Ted Levine’s performance as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.

The character of Neil Goldman, the boy who perennially chases Meg, is named after one of the show’s writers.

Meg goes to James Woods Memorial High School, and Chris goes to Buddy Cianci Junior High in fictional Quahog, RI. James Woods is from Warwick, RI, and Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, Jr. is the former mayor of Providence, RI. Peter graduated from James Garner High School.

The Griffin’s live at 31 Spooner Street, Quahog, Rhode Island.

The character of Herbert (the old man with a crush on Chris who lives on Spooner Street) only appeared in one episode, “To Live and Die in Dixie,” before the show was canceled in 2002. In the three years that followed, he became such a popular character among fans that he has made frequent guest appearances since the show began airing new episodes in 2005.

Ranked #12 in TV Guide’s list of the “25 Top Cult Shows Ever!” (30 May 2004 issue).

Brought back an unprecedented second time after its amazing DVD sales (record for best selling TV show on DVD), and its popularity on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, which a few times had a higher Nielsen rating than broadcast television at that time slot.

In “The Story on Page One”, the cover of the TV Guide featuring the likeness of ‘Luke Perry’ says in the bottom right corner, “If you can read this Family Guy is on the air”.

The gag reflects on the ever-uncertain airing of the show by Fox due to its content each week, and the writers in the second season often thought they would lose their jobs any day while in production.

Was voted No. 5 in a British TV poll to find the “100 Greatest Cartoons”. According to the British TV programme The 100 Greatest Cartoons, Seth MacFarlane’s favorite Family Guy moment is the scene from _”Family Guy” (1999) {Da Boom (#2.3)}_ where Peter is feeding Tom Selleck.

The show has been canceled twice, once following the second season, which caused the show to not air a new episode for a year, and the second (and longest) being between the third and fourth seasons, from 2002 to 2005.

This series is banned in Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Iran, South Korea, South Africa, and Malaysia.

In the early seasons in the opening credits, the pictures on the wall of Chris, Meg and Stewie, in the background, have blurred faces. Later on however, their faces appear normally.

In “No Chris Left Behind,” when the biplane pilot is flung out of his seat by Peter and the Chicken during their fight, Glen Quagmire’s facial features are modeled after Bob Hope.

Stewie’s e-mail address is loismustdie@yahoo.com.

Peter’s drink of choice is Pawtucket Patriot Ale.

All of the high end hotels seen on the show have Barrington in their name. Series creator Seth MacFarlane has stated they are named after the city of Barrington, Rhode Island, a very upscale community.

Brian drives a Toyota Prius.

source

Post from: Stewie's Playground

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 FX viewers can’t vote Obama or McCain, they can elect their own cartoon president by visiting http://www.fxuk.com/electionspecial and vote for their favourite episode of American Dad or Family Guy online in a bid to crown Stan Smith or Peter Griffin President of Animation. Viewers are also in with the chance to win a limited edition goody bag filled with prizes such as Family Guy/American Dad DVDs, t-shirts and a Family Guy Freakin Sweet Pack.

You can play here: http://www.fxuk.com/electionspecial. Looks like a lot of fun!

FX 2008 TTCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Post from: Stewie's Playground

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 that have been featured in the television series.”

As a special bonus, the audience will be treated to a sneak preview of the upcoming spin-off series, “The Cleveland Show.” David J. Foster, Jared Geller and Just For Laughs present the show.

– source

Anyone out there planning on going?

FAMILY GUY ™ and © 2008 TTCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Post from: Stewie's Playground

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 Season 20
Yes, they do keep track of other shows and how long they’ve gone. (Lassie and Gunsmoke) They just recorded episode 445, so they’re past Ozzie and Harriet and Bonanza. Through season 20 would be over 500 episodes in the can. Show has won 24 emmys.

A Simpsons spinoff?
Spinoffs: yes, there has been talk of it, but the decision would be it would be VERY diffulct to split off and still concentrate on the show. They like the big universe of the show as it exists.

On Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders, they love to write for him because he’s so much fun. Updating show where Simpsons gets foreclosed, Ned buys it from them and rents it to them, Homer takes advanatege of him and Ned gets fed up and evicts, but it ends up very sweet.

On another Simpsons movie
– will there be a followup? Perhaps if there was a good script, but first one took four years. Al’s preference would be after the series itself was all done (and there’s no timeline for that).

On other animated shows
Other cartoons have followed the Simpsons – does Family Guy appeal to the lowest common denominator? How does the Simpsons rise above that? From the beginning, Sam Simon said we would write a show for adults, as smart and as connected with human emotion as possible. It’s the golden age for TV animation right now. We’re outrageous, but we’ve tried from the beginning to intelligently depict family challenges.

Are there “phases” of the show?
Golden Age of the Simpsons? are there phases that the show goes into? not really, we’ve won a ton of awards lately, but there are no eras, we just make it as good as possible.

Upcoming guest stars

Mo meets a woman on the Internet and she’s three feet tall in real life; Simpsons go to Ireland, Homer and Grandpa go to bar and buy it, Kenneth Branagh will be the pub owner.

On the Simpsons ride

Simpsons ride in Orlando and Hollywood exceeded expectations; longest wait time for any ride at Universal,lots of writers worked on those rides.

Will the Simpsons kids ever grow up?

Will the kids ever grow up? Episode as kids as teenagers a few years ago, in terms as the basic template for the show, no.

images courtesy KING OF THE HILL, THE SIMPSONS, FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD ª and © 2008 TTCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Post from: Stewie's Playground

Post from: Stewie's Playground