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Fox Considering a Return of "Family Guy"
wo1verin3 writes: "USA Today is reporting that all is not lost and due to exceptionally strong DVD sales Family Guy may return with as many as 35 new episodes! A DVD set of the show's first 28 episodes, released in April, has sold nearly 1 million copies, making it this year's top-selling TV show and the No. 4 television title ever, according to Video Store magazine."
I love the Family Guy! Does that make me sick?
I feel like I just heard they brought Futurama back.
Oh now I feel sad now...
I love that show, I saw every epoisode on Fox that I could catch, and I watch ever one that I can on adult swim. As I remember it fox keep moving the show from night to night. Sometimes showing it sometimes not, it really didn't make a log of sense. It was one of those shows that you couldn't depend it being on. I am glad that Fox is reconsidering.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
what kind of "restrictions" are they gonna place on it?
The show got cancelled more because of controversy than lack of ratings. It's good to see Fox selling out on this due to response (whoddathunkit? Fox?), but I hate for the Family Guy people to sell out too.
In some ways it was good that it went out on top; Look at the Simpsons now; yech.
As a proud owner of both volumes, I can say, "FINALLY!" In my opinion, Family Guy is one of the smartest, most subtle shows ever on Television.
Maybe the audience over the commercial sponsors for once. That would be awesome.
You've obviously never watched it then... Family Guy is levels upon levels above King of the Hill, and in my opinion actually better than the Simpsons too. It mixes an awesome blend of 'stupid' humor with underlying intelligent themes.
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
It's funnier. Far, far funnier than King of the Hill, and averaging funnier than recent seasons of the Simpsons.
It's also good because it's one of the only times in life when you get rewarded for watching shitloads of tv shows and commercials during the 70s, 80s & 90s (as in, you get the jokes:).
(from the USA Today article) "...new episodes could end up going directly to Cartoon Network."
That would solve the controversy problem since Cartoon Network is a cable channel.
Family Guy actually utilizes the same basic premise behind the Simpsons, and borrows quite a bit from the show:
- a show about a family with 3 kids
- the father is a moron
- the wife is usually the sane/careful one
- setting is in a fictional American town, although in Family Guy, we at least know the state (Rhode Island)
- the children are a boy, girl, and a baby
- the father spends a lot of time at the bar
There's a few others. The biggest differences in the two have to deal with the fact that the family pet (Brian, a walking, talking, alcoholic mutt) is personified, as well as the baby (Stewie, who has napoleonic tendencies) Needless to say, I've enjoyed both shows enough to consider myself a big fan of each.
Sigs are for losers
relatively short network run may have helped DVD sales, Video Store's Judith McCourt says. "It really speaks to something that had a following, was cut off network TV, and people said, 'What did I miss?' "
I don't think people are saying "hmm, I think I'll check out the family guy." Consumers of the DVD were fans of the show. It sounds like no one wants to admit that fox made a mistake when they cancelled it. Also I wonder if they make the same turn around when they see the strong Firefly DVD sales
That sets a precident.
everybody, go buy the Firefly DVD set as soon as it's out.
hmmmm?
OK, I get Harry Potter. I get The Simpsons. But why do geeks love Family Guy? Is it a Stewie thing?
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One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
Yes, I quoted your sig. But that's the exact reason. For most people (and likely Fox execs) The Family Guy is pure flamebait. Ever see that episode with the "Diamonds are forever" commercial? 'Nuff said! However, if you're not an overly sensitive person, most of the humor there is a veritable goldmine! Others have said it, but it's worth repeating that TFG has at least triple the wit of any other show packed into its 22 minutes, and I'm being conservative.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
So they have similar characters. Big deal. The difference is in the style. Family Guy used the 'flashback' joke a LOT, as in: "Oh, they don't let Peter rent from the video store anymore because he kept recording over the tapes. {cut to scene of opening of 'citizen kane', which goes staticy for a second and then it's Peter on a couch, obviously being filmed with a home video camera, saying "It's a freakin sled, okay! Rosebud is a freakin' sled! There, now I just saved you from wasting two boring pointless hours of your life.", and then the movie continues.}
The Simpsons generally tried to stick to the story, and use the plot for the humor, while Family Guy was usually funny *despite* the plot, because the humor was in fast, small snippets.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
South Africans have a distinctly different sound, even though they describe themselves as "sounding a bit British" - like canadians and americans. Stewie sounds rather well-bred, and acts the part; the ep with the girl who speaks Cockney is classic for this..."Ugh, she doesn't speak the language so much as murder it."
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Seth MacFarlane was responsible for over a dozen voices, including Stewie. He also, like, created it and stuff.
Can I have my free cookie now?
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Family Guy was ok, but I felt like I needed ADD just to keep up with how much they randomly changed topics.
Now, Futurama, that was a show to savor. You had such a good mix of comedy and drama. You had story arcs, plot, character development, and most scifi inside-jokes than anyone could catch. Just look at "Jurassic Bark": Dolemite references and an ending that genuinely make me tear up, something that a television show has never make me do before.
Cogito ergo sum in Slashdot.
no.
I agree with the other responders to this message: TFG is much, much wittier than The Simpsons. They're also less afraid to go for the cheap shot, and the musical bits just knock me on my ass. (Don't get me started on those flaccid "Evita" takeoffs on The Simpsons the other day -- yecccch!)
Most significantly to me, Family Guy doesn't succumb to a sitcom-ish last-two-minutes-of-the-episode personal-redemption jones. The Simpsons seems to be constitutionally incapable of wrapping things up on a mean-spirited note. Nobody ever "learns a valuable lesson" on The Family Guy; it's kinda like Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm in that sense.
It's obviously a matter of personal taste, but if you haven't seen The Family Guy you should at least give it a shot. When it first aired I dumped it after a couple of episodes because the whole "Stewie killing Lois" thing was way too overwrought for me, but after jumping back in for the Adult Swim airings I realized just how good a show it is. Arguably it's the most tightly-written network comedy in recent memory.
(I would leave King of the Hill out of the discussion, because it's a completely different kind of show -- much more grounded and less reliant on pop-culture references and flights of whimsy and "wackiness" than TFG or Simpsons, or even your average network sitcom.)
The one failing of the show, I think, is that sometimes they just can't let go of a joke. I remember the sequence when Peter go into a brawl with a giant chicken ... it went on for a good 3-5 minutes. That's entirely too long for a simple humorous interlude. There was also the letter that Stewie wrote Brian after he'd left for England to live on the set of that English show. It took over a minute to read the thing, and it just lost its humor after 15 seconds anyway. There are tons of other examples of what should be small interludes being dragged out to fill 30 seconds or more throughout the series, but the rest of the show is hilarious enough to make up for it. Whenever God makes an appearance, it's always funny.
... Kaaaaaaaren!
MEG: I wish God would just kill me now!
[Camera goes to Heaven, with God pointing a sniper rifle at Meg's head. Then a phone rings.]
GOD: Hello?
My GOD!!! That chicken sketch was the most action packed cartoon scene I have ever seen. Right near the end when Peter says, "Chicken, gave me a bad coupon...", and it starts up again... Just thinking about that makes me laugh but I digress. I think that is one of Family Guys strengths. They keep going with stuff, and it really has an effect on me.
Ditto
Firefly sucked compared to what it replaced. Dark Angel was better. WAY better then Firefly.
Man, you gotta be drunk!
You mean the post apocalyptic show where a giant EMP destroyed all electronics/civilisation and EVERYONE has a pager? Computers all over the place? That show?
Where "old run down technology" is a brand new SUV with mud smudged on it?
Where they had "original" characters like freakin' Vincent from that 80's Beauty and the Beast show? He looked exactly like him had the same damn personality and the same powers! (Yeah, the beast is really a big softy, REALLY original!)
And don't forget, cat DNA means you can jump 20 feet in the air! It sure does!
Oh, and the hot star goes in heat...real classy.
What else...hey, her borrowed-womd mother looked exactly like her! Even though she had 0 relation to the baby she was carrying (not her egg)!
Dark Angel was cheap crap. It was the movie Soldier made into a TV show, with a weaker storyline and a hot chick to compensate for the total lack of originality, effort, logic, or good sci-fi. It was a festival of cliches and borrowed ideas, badly executed.
BUT, The star was hot. Really hot.
You can't take the sky from me...
Family Guy... so good it got CANCELLED!
Brian is almost a knockoff of Homer Simpson.
Uh, yea... if Homor went to Brown and was very intelligent. The only similarity is the alcoholism.
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell