g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets
Brian Tiemann
Silicon ValleyNew York-based purveyor of a confusing mixture of Apple punditry and political bile.

btman at grotto11 dot com

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Cartago Delenda Est




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Tuesday, May 6, 2008
10:06 - Great, Fox—now do this for Mitchell Hurwitz
http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=c1da3179-7e04-41aa-8ee2-c16

(top)
Well, I guess our little Second Golden Age of Animation was good while it lasted:

From wunderkind to TV mogul: After 2 1/2 years of negotiations, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has inked a new overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV that would make him the highest-paid writer-producer working in television.

The pact, which could be worth more than $100 million, will keep MacFarlane at 20th TV through 2012. It covers his services on Guy and his other two animated series for 20th TV and Fox -- American Dad! and the upcoming Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show -- as well as his series development, which includes a multicamera comedy with Guy writer Gary Janetti.

Hey, why stop at three? Clearly the demand is there for an infinitude of rubber-stamp clone shows of what was a rubber-stamp clone show to begin with.

Via Dean Esmay, who on this point at least is seriously loopy.


Back to Top

6 comments

1. Keith - 10:43 Tue 5/6/2008 ( email | web )

(Disclaimer: I haven't yet followed the links you provided.)

I don't quite get your "rubber stamp" analogy, in that Family Guy and American Dad seem significantly distinct from each other, similar to The Simpsons/Futurama. And I'm not talking about the whole let's-make-an-opposites-show thing that led to American Dad's creation. I mean that AD is much more focused than FG, and doesn't rely on the pop culture cutaways for its humor. And while the characters can be complete idiots, it's not just based on that idiocy, whereas the majority of FG's stories seem to hinge on Peter's curious brand of mental retardation.

American Dad has really evolved nicely, and has great writing. It no longer feels like the home for Family Guy's second-string jokes. I'm hopeful that The Cleveland Show will do the same.

Okay, I guess I don't have any thoughtful point to make. Other than I love Roger the Alien, and will happily view any other crap that McFarlane and company blurt out until it bores me and I go back to watching Futurama reruns.

2. Brian Tiemann - 11:19 Tue 5/6/2008 ( email | web )

Hum. Well, I admit I haven't watched any American Dad since bits of the first season, when it didn't give me any reason to suspect it would become anything but a dumping ground for McFarlane's anti-Bush venting. If it's in fact become something more than that—and, honestly, if there's something that's become of the cast that makes it look more appealing than the cast of also-ran cartoons they briefly showed in the second season of Drawn Together, like the understudies for all the Family Guy roles all taken straight off line 2 of each of the brainstorming session whiteboard lists, then perhaps I ought to give it another look. But damn, I feel like we can do better than this somehow...

3. Keith - 20:33 Tue 5/6/2008 ( email | web )

I was afraid of the Bush-venting as well, but it never really materialized. (There's some, but it's surprisingly balanced with hippie-berating.)

Roger has turned into an all-purpose vehicle for making fun of everything. He's crabby, boozy, and prone to hysterics. He has an extensive wardrobe for venturing out into the world, and he played a spectacular Bond villain (Tearjerker!) in one episode.

And Haley has turned out NOT to be the constant voice of reason that I feared. She's just as screwed up as the rest. They even had one episode with a La Femme Nikita plot centered around her. Oh, and the episode where she slept with Bullock was outstanding.

4. Brian Tiemann - 20:44 Tue 5/6/2008 ( email | web )

That's reassuring. I was afraid of having to reassess my opinion of Patrick Stewart in light of his ongoing association with the show, but if it's not as bad as I'd feared, well then. :)

5. Mark Aanerud - 21:32 Tue 5/6/2008 ( email | web )

Is there anyone else here that likes Robot Chicken as much as me? Anyone? Bueller?

6. BeckoningChasm - 05:40 Wed 5/7/2008 ( email )

Ah geez Brian. Remember the time when I sold Fox the rights to animate a deck of playing cards...[cut to dead joke]
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