He’s an insatiable monster, constantly tackling any and everything he sets his sights on.
No, it’s not the Sasquatch. It’s Seth MacFarlane, the mutli-talented comedic mastermind behind the new animated series “American Dad” and “Family Guy.” The season premieres of each aired Sunday night on FOX as a part of the station’s “Animation Domination” campaign, but that is only a glimpse of what he’s been up to lately. He is not only the creator but the voice talent for multiple characters in both shows. Over the past couple years, MacFarlane’s craft has also spawned DVDs, books, a recently-released show tune CD, live performances and even a “Family Guy” movie, which is still in production.
And all that work has tired him out.
“This is the largest episode order we’ve ever done, this was 35 episodes in a row,” he told The News in April. “We’re really just walking around like zombies right now.”
But all the hard work has paid off. “Family Guy,” which centers around buffoon Peter Griffin and his Rhode Island family, is at the height of its popularity. There seems to be an endless stream of related programming and products on the market.
Lately, the show’s reruns on Cartoon Network have regularly beat “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The Late Show with David Letterman” in the demographic of adult males aged 18-24, MacFarlane said. Even though FOX has canceled “Family Guy” and brought it back three times now, MacFarlane feels more comfortable this time around.
“Taking an overall temperature of how many people are aware of the show now, opposed to when it first premiered, I think it is going to do better,” he said. “Just from my daily conversations with people it seems that more people are aware. There’s times in the past when it seemed like the audience had finally mushroomed into the size that would make it a network hit but [maybe] the fourth time is the charm.”
While the season four premiere of “Family Guy” got right back into delivering the show’s signature reference-riddled humor without skipping a beat, the series premiere of “American Dad” may have a hard time shining behind the shadow of its predecessor. The show will continue to air directly after “Family Guy” and will need time to develop the same dynamic between characters that is present in MacFarlane’s first show. And as the creator has less to do with “Dad” than he does with “Family Guy,” there may be a difficult road ahead, despite its accompanying time slot.
“It’s physically impossible to do two shows a week as a full-time executive producer,” MacFarlane said. “It becomes more of a production company set-up. It’s enough work to just get one show out a week. Most of my time is spent on ‘Family Guy.'”
MacFarlane noted that “American Dad” co-creators and executive producers Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, who have also written numerous “Family Guy” episodes, are mainly in charge of “Dad.”
“They have taken that show in its own direction,” he said.
“American Dad” is a decidedly more political satire-oriented show. The main character, Stan Smith, works as a member of the CIA. MacFarlane explained the distinction, saying he “didn’t want to do the same show twice” and since the country is in “more of a polarized political climate,” it seemed it was the right time to do a show like “American Dad.”
The fact that FOX allows most of its shows the freedom in generally saying what the writers want is something MacFarlane said he greatly appreciates. Oftentimes, shows like “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” even get away with directly poking fun at the broadcasting company, or indirectly, as when an animated actual fox was used for a visual pun in Sunday night’s episode. The only thing MacFarlane said his shows have had to tone down is the language.
“FOX has been under pressure, certainly from the FCC,” he said. “From my standpoint, they are doing their best to help shield us from [censorship] as much as they can and keep the show as much [like] it has been.”
According to MacFarlane, the “Family Guy” movie will be a direct-to-video release, which his staff was able to complete by approaching it through three separate episode orders. Although he wouldn’t go into detail, he revealed that the plot of the movie focuses on Peter’s diabolical infant son Stewie, whose voice is based on a Rex Harrison impression, thinking he has found his real father.
“It’s got a nice third act twist that takes it in a totally different direction that I think will surprise people,” MacFarlane said, also assuring that the film’s style won’t deviate too much from that of the show. “I think the biggest mistake oftentimes animated series make with features is they try to make it too different. There is in the DVD movie [however] some language we couldn’t do on TV but not much of it.”
The comedy album, titled “Family Guy Live in Las Vegas,” was released on April 26 and also isn’t restricted in its language. The package offers a 15-track CD and a bonus DVD. The CD might surprise listeners with its crudeness and the high volume of toilet humor, but MacFarlane said “there’s that base of the brain thing where you hear a fart and you can’t help but laugh.
“I remember when my father was in his 30s bringing a tape home to the family and all it was was an audio tape of a guy taking the biggest, longest shit of his life and [my father] was laughing his ass off,” he said with a chuckle. “And this is a guy who is one of the most intellectual and socially-conscious people I’ve ever known, so I figure if he can laugh at a fart joke, then we’re OK.”
The movie, which is appropriately titled “Family Guy: The Movie,” has no official release date yet, but MacFarlane said it will come out later this year. The two shows will continue to air back-to-back from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sundays on FOX.
