First Details on Seth MacFarlane?s Fourth Show

Now I know what I meant to say. You can blame Seth for letting things become duller and duller over the years. Probably because he's not taking enough control. That pretty much nulls my other post. Anyway when this show comes on I hope it has some characters who look and sound different at least. The animation style will never change by the look of things though.

If it didn't change the 3rd time, why would it change the 4th? Maybe I'm asking for miracles from a guy who is confused about what his audience wants.

Macfarlane is a strange character.
 
I think the difference is that Seth clearly has political clout that other creatives don't have. The fact that were even talking about Seth getting a fourth show is proof of that (playing it safe or not, most cartoonists can't even get ONE pitch greenlighted in spite of their reputations). Cleveland got a spinoff in spite of the fact that FOX rejected all of the various Simpsons spin-offs they were pitched over the years, and on any other network in any other circumstance, American Dad (which was only pitched as a family sitcom because it was created when FG's fate was uncertain, BTW) would've been on the chopping block long ago.

Is FOX compelling Seth to stick to a template? Who knows. Is Seth powerless to fight that (if in fact he doesn't want it that way), and is FOX even forcing Seth to create all these shows in the first place? I'm not so sure.
 
I think he knows exactly what his audience wants. If he didn't, Family Guy wouldn't be as popular nor would it get such high ratings. Stuff like the '80s shoutouts prove he knows his audience, even though the internet community is incredibly vocal about the show's flaws. But he even acknowledged that in "The Former Life of Brian".

"Look, if you don't like it go on the internet and complain."

The real audience for Family Guy are the young adults (and older) who - after a long day of work or whatnot - turn on the TV on Sunday nights, Adult Swim, TBS or whathaveyou and just expect to laugh for a little bit at some brainless antics before turning off the TV and getting on with their lives. It's the internet critics who pick apart the show at every turn who MacFarlane doesn't care about.
 
Eh, you're neglecting to acknowlege the younger viewers. Since middle school, there have been tons of kids I've known who watched FG. Hell, I've been watching the show since I was 8.

Actually, the critics on sites like IGN or the AV Club are pretty positive on most of the recent episodes.
 
Ditto. Seth's shows only annoy me when they get so hung up on political points that they FORGET to be funny (the Stewie/Star Trek-less A-plot of "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven"). It's like what Charles Schulz said about Walt Kelly.
 
Of course they do. Peter treats Meg like garbage, so it's only natural that she hates him for it. And Hayley is an extreme left-winger in a house run by Stan, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republican; the two of them almost never get along.

The only difference is that the relationship between Hayley and Stan is much more understandable - their political views are at such extreme opposite ends of the spectrum that they don't see eye to eye on anything. With Meg, there's no apparent reason for Peter to treat her like crap aside from "the script says so".
 
Whatever suits you. I would rather him use his creative mind, but whatever. :shrug:

Anyways, I won't watch this when it comes on, I don't care much for crude humor. Haven't watched Family Guy or TCS for months.
 
I'm quite sure Seth aims the show towards teenagers and adults. Teenagers for the one-liners and potty/cheap jokes, and culture references for adults...
 
I do see your point regarding Hayley and Stan and it would seem natural for Meg to hate Peter after all the crap she's been put through but I do recall some moments with her trying to be nice toward Peter despite it all.
 
The humor on Family Guy is so juvenile that I'm sure Seth is aware of how appealing that is to young viewers. When FG first broke on Adult Swim which was like in...2003...I was 16 and the obsession by me and everyone else I knew could rival that of other age groups.

Yet as the people around me have gotten older, interest in FG has gone down. The last time I had a FG discussion outside the Internet was in 2007 during the Stewie vs Lois two-parter.
 
You are evidently, since you're resorting to defending McFarlane in part by pointing to profitability and gloating about how McFarlane is "laughing to the bank" and supposedly inspiring unhinged rage in people that don't value his work as much as you do. So, is he a repressed genius obeying his corporate overlords or is he happily riding the gravy train? Pick a defense.

It's great that his formula (yes, he does have one) continues to make you laugh. Some people are tired of it or might get tired of it later. That's not crazy. There is such a thing as oversaturation, and some of us would like Fox to not crash the Titanic before investing in a new ship. Again, not crazy. I burned out on his stuff once before, so I'm happy mostly sticking to the occasional FG episode and a rare episode of Cleveland Show.
 
Proof otherwise:

During the writers' strike Seth's contract with FOX expired. He had the power to take on any outside project he wanted to provided it was non-WGA, and so he signed on to create a bunch of Internet shorts. They were the same blasted thing -- the cutaways -- only even more profane and less funny. Same humor style, same art style, same everything.

He had the freedom THEN, and he chose to make the same thing.
 
And there goes The Simpsons.

I can not believe that King of The Hill had to end for The Cleveland Show. KoTH is faarrrr more entertaining. (now that I've actually watched it. lol)
 
I can understand a new writer being rejected for having a daring idea, but since Seth has made hit after hit, I'd think that the higher ups would have faith in any show he tries.



To look at a different medium, take Spider-Man as an example. When the character was conceived, it was assumed that the character would be a failure because teen heroes either were sidekicks or part of a group. Today on the other hand he's a icon.
 
To me, KotH had always been pretty been "meh"ish but had it's moments. It was a good time killer for me, I guess.
I'm not really saddened by it's loss.
 
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