"Family Guy" - feature length film?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by AKA, Jun 1, 2003.

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  1. AKA

    AKA Senior Member Thread Starter

    FAMILY GUY MAKES ITSELF AT HOME ON DVD
    Surprising sales from a series that was never a hit with TV crowd

    By Josef Adalian

    MAY 30 | It has been more than a year since Fox aired an episode of Family Guy, but the oft-controversial cartoon comedy is still making noise.

    In a surprise even to producers of the show, nearly 400,000 copies of a DVD collection of Family Guy episodes have been sold since 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment shipped the three-disc set last month, according to the studio. Although nowhere near the 1 million-plus units sold of shows such as The Simpsons, Friends and Sex and the City, the number is pretty amazing considering the sitcom was never a ratings hit and aired sporadically during a good chunk of its three-year run on Fox.

    What's more, repeats of Family Guy have proven to be a major hit on Cartoon Network. Earlier this month, a Thursday night repeat drew nearly as many viewers 18 to 34 as hits such as South Park and Trading Spaces and slightly outdrew MTV's hit Sorority Life 2.

    Newfound buzz has even prompted talk from creator Seth MacFarlane of a direct-to-DVD feature-length Family Guy, although that's still in the early stages of discussion.

    "It's all pretty insane," MacFarlane told Daily Variety. "It's certainly some vindication and a sign that the show is as popular as we always suspected."

    Indeed, Family Guy bowed with a bang in a post-Super Bowl berth in 1999, but its numbers soon cooled, particularly when the show was moved to Thursday night in its second season. Fox execs, particularly entertainment chief Gail Berman, stuck by the show for three seasons but ultimately pulled the plug in 2001 (the finale episode aired early last year).

    The latest success for Family Guy represents a bittersweet victory for MacFarlane.

    "Fox certainly gave the show more of a chance than a lot of shows would've gotten, and we're indebted to Gail for the fact that we even got a third season," he said. "But it's also frustrating for everyone who worked on the show. We all felt it was killed before its time."

    Berman's decision to order a third season of Family Guy might not have worked out for Fox Broadcasting, but it was a smart move for the News Corp. bottom line. Extra segments produced will allow Fox to put out a second volume of Family Guy episodes this fall.

    It's also good news for die-hard fans, who'll finally get a chance to see an episode that never aired on Fox. The network declined to run the segment "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" in which Peter (a.k.a. "the family guy") tries to convert his son to Judaism. n

    Reported by Daily Variety for Reed Business Information
     
  2. Steve-oh

    Steve-oh Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    I picked up this DVD set and the shows seem a lot funnier to me than when I watched them originally on Fox. I was watching some just the other day thinking Fox probably pulled the plug too early, but they jerked it around the schedule so much that who knew when it was ever on.

    The only quibble I have with the DVDs is there are too few commentaries, especially compared to the Simpsons/Futurama sets.
     
  3. AKA

    AKA Senior Member Thread Starter

    They actually recorded commentaries for every episode, but I guess some of them were so dirty, Fox yanked them.

    Let this be a lesson to Fox. I bet the sales of the "Freaks And Geeks" set (when/if it comes out) will teach NBC the same lesson.
     
  4. Steve-oh

    Steve-oh Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    Ah, thanks Brad, that explains it. They ran into a "South Park"-type problem. Now that I think about it, I could see that happening, given what they say during the commentaries that remain.
     
  5. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    I really hope THE PJs also gets released on DVD, although airing on two networks probably complicates the matter considerably. That's another excellent show Fox kinda jerked around the schedule until even fans didn't know when it aired. Why do networks do that?

    Had CHEERS or HILL STREET BLUES debuted today, they wouldn't have finished their first season.
     
  6. Jamie Tate

    Jamie Tate New Member

    Location:
    Nashville
    Two of the better shows produced the last few years, Family Guy and Freaks and Geeks. I started recording Freaks as soon as I saw it because I knew it was going to be short lived. It was targeting a very specific audience but it really nailed us. Has any other program ever addressed the teenage boy obsession with Neil Peart? I can remember annoying my girlfriend with similar efforts to show off for her. I played La Villa but I don't think she understood what (or why) I was playing it. She just kept asking me why the drums were so loud.:p
     
  7. Steve-oh

    Steve-oh Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    Absolutely. Nowadays TV is a lot like music - you either hit it big right away, or you get no chance. I saw something the other day on a newer show (can't remember the exact one right now), where the creater said he had to keep reminding the network that Seinfeld finished 94th it's first year.
     
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