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."

Best Move Ever...

[JuJue]

All I gotta say is...its about damn time

Hmmmmm

[ziggy_zero]

Maybe they could save us all a little time and release them straight to DVD instead of on TV first....If I remember correctly part of the reason they got cancelled was they gave it a shitty timeslot so nobody watched it.

Re:The question is

[wo1verin3]

>> The show got cancelled more because of
>> controversy than lack of ratings.

Actually according to the article it was ratings dwindling. I mean if SouthPark can air on TV, Family Guy should have nothing to worry about. This is Fox after all.

Re:bogus nielsen ratings

[Vrallis]

That reminds me....I have my Nielsen rating 'diary' due back to them this week. Time to go hunting through the TV guide for all the stuff I like, but haven't watched recently (Futurama and Family Guy, for example...I have all the DVDs anyway, and VCDs for the stuff that hasn't been released yet)

First Farscape, now Family Guy...Now I just need to hear about Futurama returning, and I'll be set!

Re:woohoo

[Cornelius the Great]

That's a Simpsons quote there.

I believe the appropiate term in this case would be "This is freakin awesome!"

Re:Better Than The Simpsons?

[Wyatt Earp]

"...setting is in a fictional American town, although in Family Guy, we at least know the state (Rhode Island)"

The Simpsons are set in Oregon, more here...
http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.c gi?id=123 92
http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id =126 27
http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id =126 25

There used to be a map on the Portland Tribune site about it.

Matt is from Portland although I argue that the Springfield vs. Shelbyville rivalry comes from Eugene and Springfield, but it might come from Portland and Vancouver Wa or Eastside vs Westside.

Re:Why Family Guy?

[cK-Gunslinger]

Let me try present this little equation for you:

Family Guy == (The Simpsons)^2

Family Guy is an outrageously funny and fairly original show. It achieves a near-perfect blend of "stupid" humor, "intelligent" humor, and "wacky" humor. It's one of the few shows that is truly LOL funny. It is slightly "controversial" at times, but not so blatantly insulting as South Park. Also, it does incorporate a *lot* of pop/sub-culture and geek humor.

Re:The question is

[kmcg83]

In some ways it was good that it went out on top; Look at the Simpsons now; yech.

Yeah, but the Simpsons has been on for 14 seasons. And up to around 9 or 10 they were awesome. I mean, I think that the best Simpsons came around 3-4 and 8-9, so it's not like they had a really short shelf life.

The family guy, on the other hand, was cut short when there really was no sign of it slowing down. They had only gone for a couple seasons before they were taken off the air. They might have "gone out on top", but that doesn't mean that they didn't have anywhere to go from there. And I, for one, am interested to see what else might come of this.

Cartoon Network envy

[gad_zuki!]

>gave it a shitty timeslot so nobody watched it.

Which timeslot? I remember being moved at least twice.

Also, let's toss in Futurama while we're at it.

All the cartoon network did is take these gems and give them a consistant timeslot and *gasp* did some advertising. Now Rupert Murdoch et al are all scracting their heads at how much money CN is making and why dreck like "King of the Hill" isn't the cash cow it used to be.

I think you're right, I'd rather just buy the DVD than deal with FoxVision - where the shows you expect to see aren't there! Here, have some football instead.

Hell, if Cartoon Network had Fox-like money they'd be doing this too and with Futurama.

(above message from a Tivo owner and I still couldnt record Futurama because of football, for shame Fox)

Futurama, dammit!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, Family Guy was funny, kinda, in a "more clever than most crap on tv, but still pretty base, 'fart-joke-y' and uninteresting." Never really dug it myself, but to each their own.

OTOH... **Futurama** was smart, insightful, intelligent, hysterical... and suffered from the same mismanagement / incorrect time slot / juggling / etc... try giving it a REAL chance, in a REAL time slot!

Oh. Wait. Juvenile offensive humor. Never mind - that explains why Fox "executives" are reconsidering Family Guy.

Re:The ANSWER is...

[tipsymonkey]

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. They also cut out the "although they killed our Lord" from the Wish Upon a Weinstein episode. And the Osama Bin Laden references are cut of adult swim and the dvd.

Re:Better Than The Simpsons?

[Overdrive_SS]

I think I watched that episode last night(I was programming at the same time, so I wasn't particularly glued to the screen) but I believe both of your examples are in the same episode. Oh, and the Simpsons are still better, you just have to watch the right seasons.

Re:Better Than The Simpsons?

[nosredna]

I've always been of the opinion that the jokes that drag on and on for considerably longer than sanity might dictate are done that way for a reason. Watch Adam West talking about Taffee in 'E Peterbus Unum' It's worth a little laugh, but it drags on until it's not funny, then drags on even longer until it's actually funny again. Same thing with the 'Wasted Talent' when Peter falls and hurts his knee. Then you laugh even harder when he does it again later in the episode.

Re:Not Curiosity/Firefly DVD

[ucsckevin]

Not to be rude, but it's not like the makers of Firefly are some children's charity. They'll do fine just on their own.

Fox has got you in the palm of their hand if you think the firefly release is like some indie band from your college town that you want to help promote.

I like firefly a lot (fyi)

Daria, without butchered soundtrack

[Hecatonchires]

Whenever they release something for Daria, they don't include the amazing soundtrack/BGM that set the emotional level of each scene.

I'm in to buy all 5 seasons and the movie if its done right.

Re:Better Than The Simpsons?

[agrippa_cash]

OK, I cannot let people disparage King of the Hill any longer. It is a good show that is funnier when you know the characters. Stewie is funny but has no depth, watch Bobby Hill for a season and you will think he is damn funny too. I liked the Family Guy quite a bit, but it never approached the Simpsons at their best. And to those people why say Family Guy was a subtile show: There is a difference between subtile and obscure (and the difference itself is neither). Family Guy was too uneven to be great, and the total lack of a coherent universe around them was funny, but quickly became, as Stewie would say "Old Hat". But, yes it was better than most other shows.

Re:Futurama, dammit!!

[Jackmon]

Are you sure you're talking about the same shows as everyone else?!?

I like the Family Guy a lot. But how can you possibly be a big fan of it and not love the Simpsons or Futurama? The Simpsons did go through a dry spell, but it's been pretty good lately. And Futurama's had a few episodes that weren't quite as good as the others, but overall the writing and animation is brilliant.

Maybe I should have asked this at the get-go but are you just a troll?

Re:Why Family Guy?

[DJTodd242]

I find it interesting that in the Simpsons DVD commentaries, (I beleive it was) Al Jean took a number of shots at Family Guy for ripping off thier style of nonsensical cut aways. After hearing that I went back to re-watch a few FG's and man he was right. Good show, but in retrospect somewhat derivative.

Re:Why Family Guy?

[pediddle]

... or when Peter banged his shin and sat for a good thirty seconds going "ssstt, aaahhhh, ssstt, aaahhhh". Except, I disagree with you -- moments like that are hilarious! It just shows how much balls the producers had that they would allow 30 seconds of what was essentially dead air.

Re:Family Guy..

[ShadowBlasko]

*amazed to here something good has come out of this incredibly bad day*

I enjoy Family Guy for its spot-on grasp of the sense of humor of its target demographic. There was always something to make me laugh out loud at least three times an episode.

There is truly some genius in that show. Same for (IMHO) The Oblongs. Or perhaps it is just my twisted sense of humor.

The scene in Family Guy S2E14 "Let's Go To The Hop", where Lois and Peter are slipping into their BDSM gear while dicussing the problems facing kids today may well be the funniest thing I have ever seen in animation. And, *laughing* I'm pretty sure done by someone who knew what they were talking about at the time.

YMMV.

Re:Better Than The Simpsons?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually they used both. He said Kentucky during the original airing, but when they aired it as a rerun they said Missouri.

Now that's subtle humor.

Family guy Price

[Anonymous Coward]

Just to let you know Family guy costs about 1-1.3 million an epsioid.
But for FOX to put the show on the air the best thing you can do is to buy both dvd sets. That is the only reason why they are considering bringing it back!!!

Re:Why Family Guy?

[eatdave13]

Dude, that was an awesome scene. The fact that it was so obviously just to take up time made it twice as funny.

Bought the DVDs

[TechniMyoko]

Makes me glad I bought both boxed sets (and the XBOX dvd player kit)

Re:Why Family Guy?

[Anonymous Coward]

The diamond one was a classic.

My favorite one and one I thought was gonna get them in trouble was the one with a jew and palestinian with identical features except for the funny head gears and the guy says that he cant tell them apart, that they look the same to him!
I was stunned they were still on the air next week!

>TFG has at least triple the wit of any other >show packed into its 22 minutes, and I'm being >conservative.

And those capsules or flashbacks they did really helped pack it in. You know how you watch a Simpsons and the first ten minutes usually never have anything to do with the last 10 and how its hard for them to 'turn on a dime' with their storylines?
Family Guy could just skip any time consuming segue with a sidebar joke when htey felt like it and then continue the storyline as if nothing happened.
You can have a linear storyline but pepper it with
jokes which didnt interfere with it or even have anything in common with it.

Its not like they had to write anything much to lead into or out of the diamond comercial.

So it definitely is the writing but the way the show was set-up, you could fit in a lot more jokes that didnt need a build up. That I believe made it that in the 20mins they could

zeke