Microsoft Not Amused by Family Guy, Pulls Plug on Sponsorship
An infant's unwavering devotion to matricide—good. Jokes about incest and deaf people—now that, according to Microsoft, is crossing the line.
Doing absolutely nothing to fight its uncool reputation, the software giant has pulled out of sponsoring Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show, what would have been an otherwise ad-free variety special from Stewie mastermind Seth MacFarlane.
In exchange for the corporate backing, the show would have seamlessly woven promotions for Windows 7, Microsoft's latest operating system, into the program. But after some Microsoft bigwigs attended the live taping of the special on Oct. 16—and heard jokes about deaf people, the Holocaust, incest and feminine hygiene—the company bailed.
As the jokes themselves were completely in keeping with the MacFarlane brand of envelope-pushing comedy, the abrupt pullout certainly gives off the impression that no one from Team Gates had bothered to check out an episode of the show prior to signing up for the deal.
Either that or the Microsoft crew has particularly delicate sensibilities.
Update
Family Guy Head of Housewives?
ABC/RON TOM; FOX
Wisteria Lane residents, be advised: Stewie's plan for world domination is coming together.
Hot off its historic Emmy nod, Fox's Family Guy scored its biggest audience in more than a year: 10.2 million, for its eighth-season premiere, preliminary Nielsen estimates showed.
Even more impressive, in the 9 p.m. half-hour, Family Guy dominated a downsized Desperate Housewives among young people who weren't watching the football game on NBC.
All in all, it was a pretty ugly night for Housewives.
The pretty: The six-season-old ABC soap ended up as Sunday's most-watched scripted show, with 13.2 million fans. The ugly: It lost about 5.5 million fans from last fall's opener.
How'd the premieres go for Family Guy's new neighbor and the other returning shows?
Family Guy Doesn't Abort the Funny at Controversial Table Read
For anyone wondering which of this year's crop of Emmy-nominated series was best equipped to tackle the sensitive and politically charged topic of abortion in a responsible and thoughtful way, the answer came last night in the form of a publicly staged Family Guy table read.
Wait…what the deuce?
Granted, responsible and thoughtful ended up taking a backseat to controversial and laugh- (and even groan-) inducing, but Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, along with the voice cast and a full orchestra, gathered in Los Angeles last night for a live reading of the too hot advertiser-unfriendly-for-TV episode "Partial Terms of Endearment."
The episode revolves around Lois agreeing to be a surrogate mother for a pair of married friends only to see them perish in a car crash, leaving her with the decision of whether or not to keep gestating their egg. As anyone familiar with the Family Guy canon has no doubt guessed by now, she doesn't.
But before she doesn't, there's a fair share of Griffin family pontificating.
Family Guy Tackles Abortion; Will Fox Play Along?
Fox
It's official: Family Guy has now taken on every taboo.
At a weekend Comic-Con panel, show ringmaster and freshly minted Emmy nominee Seth MacFarlane says Stewie, Peter and the crew will tackle abortion—but he's not sure whether the episode will even make it to air.
"Twentieth Century Fox, as always, allowed us to produce the episode and then said, 'You know what? We're scared to f--king death of this.' "
Family Guy Sneak Peek: Lauren Conrad Is a Genius
Lauren Conrad is gettin' fancy! Not only does her animated self get busy with Brian Griffin (not every celebutante can say that!) in the May 3 episode of Family Guy, but she also reveals that she's smarter than the average reality bunny.
Lauren says of her Guy gig, "The idea in the episode is that they make fun of me for being dumb and then discover that I'm actually a genius, and that [Lauren Conrad is] kind of a character I play [on TV], because America likes dumb people."
And how did L.C. handle the challenges of playing a cartoon genius?
Family Guy Lives Long and Prospers on Sunday
FOX
This one's for all you Trekkies out there!
Sunday's episode of Family Guy, "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven," reunites the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, who "couldn't have been more game to spoof themselves," according to show runner and Star Trek fan David Goodman.
Find out more about this episode and what supergeeky fun lies ahead for Family Guy…
Family Guy: McCain-Palin Ticket Appeals to Nazis?
One guess which way Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is voting.
In case you missed last night's episode of Family Guy, Stewie and Brian steal some Nazi uniforms (get a recap) and find a lapel button promoting the McCain-Palin campaign. Ouch!
But that's not the only negative buzz surrounding the Republican team in TV land these days: Jon Stewart just gave a big ol' ef-you to Palin for her recent small-towns-are-pro-America speech. And Larry King wants to make sure everyone knows that the Late Show wasn't the only thing McCain bailed on.
Fame and now politics...ain't it a bitch.
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