Fox Considering a Return of "Family Guy" 694
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."
Woo Hoo! (Score:3, Insightful)
I feel like I just heard they brought Futurama back.
Oh now I feel sad now...
Pick a day, any day... (Score:5, Insightful)
The question is (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
There is a Santy Claus (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe the audience over the commercial sponsors for once. That would be awesome.
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:1, Insightful)
FOX = morons (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:5, Insightful)
The ANSWER is... (Score:5, Insightful)
That would solve the controversy problem since Cartoon Network is a cable channel.
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:2, Insightful)
- 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.
Not Curiosity/Firefly DVD (Score:5, Insightful)
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
Re:Pick a day, any day... (Score:5, Insightful)
well, that's great. (Score:5, Insightful)
everybody, go buy the Firefly DVD set as soon as it's out.
Re:Why Family Guy? (Score:2, Insightful)
--
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.
Re:The question is (Score:5, Insightful)
List of characters is not the difference (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:There is a Santy Claus (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not Curiosity/Firefly DVD (Score:3, Insightful)
stewie sounds noble british (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bloody Hell (Score:3, Insightful)
Can I have my free cookie now?
Re:The question is (Score:3, Insightful)
Mod parent up (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:The question is (Score:1, Insightful)
As someone else mentioned, it was bad scheduling on the part of Fox that killed the show. It was shuffled to nearly every day of the week throughout its life and sometimes would be shown at a different time without warning, so viewers started disappearing.
I fell in love with this show from the first episode, but I only saw it occasionally because I never knew if it would be on or not. I usually ended up having to check the TV listings just to find out when it would be each week.
Re:The ANSWER is... (Score:4, Insightful)
They are a cable channel that cuts the Professor on Futurama when he says "sweet zombie Jesus", at a time that is supposed to be only adults watching. I wouldn't look to them for controversial programming.
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Not Curiosity/Firefly DVD (Score:3, Insightful)
I also suspect (like with Futurama, though to a lesser extent here) that the type of people who would allow a Nielson box in their homes are not the type of people who watch Family Guy. I also suspect that this is why we see so many "millionaire" shows, and Judge this and Jerry that...
It's a biased system in the first place, in that there is (I suspect) a rather narrow class of people that would participate in Nielson ratings (and answer Arbitron's unsolicited phone surveys, etc).
That's my theory anyway...
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.)
Re:Why Family Guy? (Score:3, Insightful)
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?
Re:There is a Santy Claus (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes.
Re:Why Family Guy? (Score:3, Insightful)
Ditto
DarkAngel OT (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Better Than The Simpsons? (Score:3, Insightful)
Uh, yea... if Homor went to Brown and was very intelligent. The only similarity is the alcoholism.