Seth MacFarlane might have one of the most overrated shows on television right now (in my personal opinion, of course), but he hasn't let that cloud his realism when it comes to its future. He of all people realizes that the best shows are the ones that left people hungering for more long after they left the airwaves. You following me, Scrubs?
MacFarlane told the Edmonton Sun and TV Guide Canada's resident TV junkie Amber Dowling that he has seen the future of Family Guy's finale and hopes it will come to an end while it is still on top.
The show's creator told the Canadian outlets that he wanted to get out while the getting is still good unlike "The Simpsons", which at the current rate is scheduled to air its season finale just on the cusp of the end of the universe. Maggie will age into a toddler by then.
It also sounds like the show has taken a lot out of him physically since it is "a year-round job, it's seven days a week" that can get "exhausting." That's just the grind of television. I'm sure the people behind My Mother, The Car lost loads of sleep, even though it looks as though their show was put together by drunk monkeys.
But in terms of quality, MacFarlane wants to be done with things "before they're done with us."
"Ideally we would go another couple of years and then wrap it up," MacFarlane told Dowling. "That would be my perfect scenario. I can already see it coming. We're in Season 8, and it gets harder and harder to do new stuff. Every show starts to suck after a certain point. We could already be there for all I know; I don't know."
Are you done with Family Guy?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-11-2009 @ 6:54PM
Andy said...
Family Guy is a prime example of this. It was a great show for 2 years, then it got cancelled and everyone wanted more. When we finally did get more, it was pretty crappy.
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9-01-2009 @ 1:14PM
Wii60 said...
Those first few episodes back were good, but after that the mediocre outweighed the good. I stopped watching a while ago.
8-11-2009 @ 7:08PM
kef said...
So he wants it to end in 2002?
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8-11-2009 @ 7:19PM
Riley Freeman said...
This show is still great. I would be sad to see it go but i understand.
Smallville needs to get cut just because they dont know how to make the show grow up.
Simpsons should have been cut a decade ago.
I am a huge saw movie fan and they announced years ago they were going up to 6. Now they announced there will be a 7? ridiculous. its out of hand now. 6 should have been the last one.
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8-11-2009 @ 7:37PM
Butters said...
I watch Family Guy and The Simpsons each week, and many reruns in between. As long as they keep on producing it at the current quality then I will still watch.
The tenth season of Southpark was one of the best ever, so it shows that there are always fresh ideas out there for an animated show. Plus even the worst episode of Family Guy is better than 90% of the TV produced today.
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8-11-2009 @ 8:03PM
Cartman said...
Family Guy has sucked since they bought it back on TV after it was cancelled.
I think the problem is it quickly turned from a niche show to a show trying to please everybody.
Obviously if you have a bigger audience you have to dumb down the content to appeal to the lowest denominator.
A lot of quality shows in the past started off as appealing to a niche and then were watered down to appeal to a broader audience and this is the problem when a show gets more popular.
I think Family Guy and The Simpsons are both just cash cows with little good content. The fact that South Park isn't quite the cash cow yet means it does fairly better in quality but that show is slipping too.
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8-12-2009 @ 12:15AM
Suntzu said...
Yeah a show that frequently slams the conservative right is trying to please EVERYBODY give me a break. What do all you people want? One more show about forensics, or how about another mindless dating reality show??
8-11-2009 @ 8:21PM
Anti-believer said...
Family guy doesn't suck at all!
That shit is hilarious!!!
The religious people must be blogging on this board, 'cause FG is very funny.
Last season was one of the best.
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8-13-2009 @ 1:49AM
H said...
The "religious people"... how intelligent.
Thank you for proving "Cartman's" point about how FG has dumbed down the material for "the lowest common denominator". You're obviously a prime example of the average FG fan.
8-11-2009 @ 8:50PM
Benjh said...
I'd love a Family Guy finale spoofing 6 feet under, with the characters finally aging, then dying...
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8-11-2009 @ 9:49PM
tunaman said...
"The religious people must be blogging on this board, 'cause FG is very funny."
No, it's because Seth MacFarlane turned FG into his own personal soapbox. That's why "American Dad" is still funny while "Family Guy" is not.
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8-12-2009 @ 1:37AM
bruce said...
"We could already be there for all I know; I don't know."
You've been there for a few years now, Seth. Sorry. But I love American Dad.
Family Guy was just never the same after they brought it back, and it's gotten considerably worse since then. This last season was entirely forgettable and nearly entirely unfunny. I could take all the funny bits that managed to make me laugh and make a 7 to 8 minute clip from them. That's it. I'd love to love Family Guy, but I'm just not one of those pathetic people that continue to unquestionably like a show simply because I once liked it. For a lot of people, family guy can do no wrong, they'll always applaud it and always say it's freakin' hilarious... no matter how objectively UNFUNNY it is. And no, I'm not one of those nitwits who is offended by it. I don't get offended, it's a stupid emotion (and it's not like the show got edgier once it came back from cancellation). Family Guy can make fun of who/whatever it wants, the only thing I require is that it's actually funny.
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8-12-2009 @ 1:39AM
bruce said...
Oh and yea, while I personally agree with Seth's politics, putting them into a family guy episode guarantees an unfunny episode.
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8-12-2009 @ 2:24AM
luyun009 said...
Family Guy is very interesting and I love the show to the death. It always makes me laugh. I hope there could be more seasons and I will be the honest fan forever.
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8-12-2009 @ 2:57AM
Jay said...
I'm pretty sure Family Guy peaked after its second episode. I had pretty much seen everything that it had to offer.
Oddly enough, I actually don't mind American Dad at this current point in time, it seems to have actually improved since its debut, and they use all the characters a bit better than Family Guy.
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8-12-2009 @ 4:24AM
Noone Cares said...
I guess im one of the few people that thinks the show got better since they brought it back. I always liked Family guy for its comedy not its characters or its plot(or lack thereof).
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8-12-2009 @ 8:14AM
Sheldon Buck said...
Family Guy is a great show. When it's time for MacFarlane to pull the plug, well that will be a sad day for me. But I will have all of the seasons (however many that is...) on DVD to watch as much as I want.
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8-12-2009 @ 9:24AM
Martin said...
Family guy has sucked since cancellation, and I love the show and still watch it. They only really had one redeeming episode during the return which was Petarded...
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8-12-2009 @ 11:42AM
teleboy said...
Seth is turning into Alan Alda and should go away.
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8-12-2009 @ 2:27PM
Sam said...
Yeah, it's been overrated since cancellation (and even before then it wasn't that amazing). But it never did get back up on it's feet. I just don't like it.
That being said, I was thrilled to see that fan interest brought the show back to life. If Firefly wasn't a pricey live action show, you know that would have seen a second tv life. But now we got Futurama coming back, thanks to fan interest, and I just hope that it is as solid as the original run.
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