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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."

14 of 694 comments (clear)

  1. Pick a day, any day... by ericspinder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Pick a day, any day... by Doomstalk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Fox loves to do this. Especially with shows they air around the same time as The Simpsons, which is by far their most popular show. They like to use those slots to show off whatever new series they feel like hawking that week, causing the musical slots effect you're talking about. That and football games that go into overtime generally mean the kiss of death for whatever show is unlucky enough to be there. The sad part is that they kill great shows to promote ones with far less lasting power.

    2. Re:Pick a day, any day... by xalres · · Score: 5, Informative

      From what I heard from when Seth Green was on Love Line. It was a huge fan success with a fanatical following but there was one guy way way WAY up the ladder at Fox that just didn't get the show and didn't like it. He made the decision to switch the times around and drop airings from the schedule at random (a surefire way to get a ratings drop if you want a show pulled).

      How do you like that eh? The best show on television with a huge fanbase pulled because of one ass-hat at the top. That's Hollywood for you. But hey, at least we have gems like American Idol and Joe Millionaire (1 and 2) to fill the quality TV gap left by Family Guy. I hope that exec gets slapped and sterilized.

      --
      If whales learn how to use weapons we're all screwed!
  2. The question is by BizDiz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:The question is by CrowScape · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except South Park is cable, Family Guy is network. There is a massive difference. Cable channels can take far greater risks as they generally cater to niche audiences. So if Comedy Central alienates the "moral majority" with an episode about a gay dog, it doesn't hurt them much because the audience that was offended probably wasn't watching Comedy Central anyway.

      --
      common sense: noun
      What those who are ignorant of the subject matter think; usually wrong.
  3. Wow, back on Fox? by trp642 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I figured they'd end up on UPN with Buffy and the gang...

    Chris Griffin: Where do you think you go when you die?
    Southern boy: I learned from church that if you're good you go to heaven but if you're bad, you go to a place where the dead believe they're still living and they pray for death but death won't come.
    Chris Griffin: UPN?

  4. FOX = morons by glassesmonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How annoying, first they cancel the show despite the LARGEST viewer response of any cancelled program. Then they leave it cancelled just long enough so it will suck by the time they put it back on the air. And then they claim it was a "late-bloomer". Fact is they realized they fsck'd up when they looked at the DVD sales and some exec wanted an explaination.

    Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman Sandy Grushow said a decision is expected soon and called the series a late-blooming phenomenon that may have aired before its time.
  5. Not Curiosity/Firefly DVD by ucsckevin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

  6. Re:Stewie by Comatose51 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Victory is ours!

    --
    EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
  7. Re:Family Guy.. by calebtucker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone can thank me. I told the fox network executives that my kid was dying and his last wish was to have another season of Family Guy.

    --
    My sig can beat up your sig.
  8. Re:Better Than The Simpsons? by Kentamanos · · Score: 5, Informative

    The show is very clever. Some of the things they parody are brilliant.

    Ever seen the episode where Stewie says "I know what it takes to be cool" and then imagines himself doing an Elton John "Rocket Man" spoken word exactly like the one William Shatner did?

    Ever seen the episode with the National Gun Association? They talk about how child gun safety is a top priority. They then show a video with a kid talking to a puppet gun (Petey the Pistol, I believe). Petey says he gets lonely and wants the kid to hold him. He also says "when you squeeze me, I make the bad people go away". Insanely funny...

    I know I'm not doing these two scenes in particular justice, but the show really is great. Find a friend who has the DVDs and give them a watch or check out the episodes on Adult Swim.

  9. Re:Family Guy.. by dwillden · · Score: 5, Funny
    Everyone can thank me. I told the fox network executives that my kid was dying and his last wish was to have another season of Family Guy.
    So please, everybody forwards this post on to at least 10 friends. Fox is tracking this post and will donate one additional episode for every ten thousand forwards.
    --
    I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
  10. Favorite stewie quotes by Bigmell · · Score: 5, Funny

    My favorite quotes, cant remember them exactly but i'll try...

    Meg: Happy Birthday Stewie! You want some ice cream?

    Stewie: yes, but NO SPRINKLES! For every sprinkle I find, I shall kill you.
    -----------
    Mom: You look as happy as when you were born

    Stewie: But of course, that was my victory day, the fruition of my deeply laid plans to escape from that curse-ed ovarian bastille. (looks at mother who has his mind control device) Return the device woman!

    -----------
    Stewie: Excellent! The weather machine is nearly completed! What do you say to that broccoli? (broccoli just sits there)... STOP MOCKING ME!
    -----------
    Mom: Stewie, why dont you play in the other room.
    Stewie: Why dont you BURN IN HELL!
    -----------
    Stewie: (in diaper) I say, am I to spend the entire day wallowing around in my own feces?
    -----------
    Stewie: (Captured in airport trying to escape by security guard) Damn you! You're one of them arent you? What are they paying you? I'll double it! I'll give you whatever you want! Money! Women! (looks at him precariously) Men?
    -----------
    Stewie: (to Mom) Ohhh blast you and your estrogenical treachery!
    -----------
    Stewie: Well well Mother... We meet again!
    Mom: Stewie I thought I tucked you in an hour ago?
    Stewie: Not tightly enough it would seem! And now you contemptible harpy I shall end your oppressive reign of matriarchal tyranny.
    ------------
    Stewie: (to mom) Damn you vile woman! You've impeded my work since the day I escaped from your wretched womb.

    Im sure there are lots more :)

  11. Re:Better Than The Simpsons? by Lazlo+Nibble · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.)