Family Guy breaks Windows

If you have seen the show Family Guy, and at this point that would be most anyone from age 45 and down, you know what you are going to get. The jokes are hardly tame, the show is about as close to All in the Family as Archie was open-minded. But there is no question that this is all a given.

That's why advertisers love this show. Most of the time. Because they can reach their target audience, plus other people equally flush with cash. And almost every product can fit into the theme of any episode. It's just that sometimes the advertisers just can't handle an episode or a dozen.

Microsoft is the latest of advertisers to balk at the content. After making major plans, and potentially a lot of money, to have Seth MacFarlane hawk Windows 7 in the upcoming Family Guy special Microsoft lost their nerve. Either that, or the execs that loved the demographics of the show never bothered to watch a single episode before they made the deal.

But once they did get to watch a special taping of what they would be involved with, well the deal broke. It seems that deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest are all topics that Microsoft can't find humor in. Not that any of these things are new subjects for this television program to tackle. I suppose they really would have lost their minds if it included the recurring BDSM themes of the show (or maybe they would have liked that??)

Honestly this makes me wonder only one thing. How stupid can the brains at Microsoft be? All they had to do is watch less than 30 minutes of television and they would have known if this was the right kind of show for them. A quick Google search (or MSN if they want to lie) and they would have found no end to the topics that some object to on Family Guy. Instead they look dumb, snobbish, and insincere.

Somehow I think Microsoft will get a bit of advertising in the end. It may not be this episode (though I think it will be) but I think that Seth MacFarlane will trash talk the computer giant - with references to broken windows or more directly to the landmine that was Vista. Somehow I don't think Microsoft will like the attention, and I'm sure it won't add to their bottom line. But it will probably be very funny.

So I look forward to seeing that in Family Guy.

Oh, for Microsoft. I have advertising space available for you on my blogs, if you can handle what I say. Give me a call.

What’s funny about abortion?

Well that was a question that was addressed by the one television show that could possibly find a funny angle to such a controversial topic. Family Guy. Of course the general public will never be able to see this on television, unless it comes out in a DVD (yeah, that won’t happen).

For those that somehow have missed this long running, 2x resurrected, animated comedy show you have no idea what you are missing. Don’t let the fact that this is animated beguile you into thinking this is just some kiddie entertainment. This even isn’t on the level of The Simpsons. No this is often high-brow, adult focused, risqué, pusing the edge comedy. With a bit of slapstick thrown in.

Some of the topics the show has dealt with are infidelity, swinging, gay lifestyles, nuclear holocaust, sex, BDSM, race relations, divorce, disabilities, pedophilia, various Rights and Liberties (taken to extreme), and television programming to name just the tip of the iceberg. To say this show often offends some viewers, on either side of the political scale, is to say that air is a nice thing to have.

Here are 2 examples of what I mean (though the video clip I wanted I can't find)





But the show hit a new point when they took on the abortion issue. Whatever actually happens in the show must have really sent the censors running as FOX will NEVER air the episodes on broadcast television. But they did provide this episode to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences that will be voting for the Emmy for a comedic series. Family Guy is nominated in this category, the first time since 1961 that an animated show since The Flinstones has been nominated.

What I do know of the story is the following:

“Most of the episode dealt with matriarch Lois (played by Borstein) deciding to become a surrogate mother for her infertile friend — against Peter's wishes. After her friend is killed in a car crash, the Griffins are left with the difficult decision of what to do about the pregnancy.

At one point, Peter watches an anti-abortion video, which proclaims several people would be alive if abortion wasn't legal, including a fourth Stooge, the guy who would have killed Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden's America-loving brother, who could have prevented 9/11.”

According to the AP the viewers were in stitches, thus answering the question posed in the headline of this post. Which makes me all the more curious about what they did in this episode. But until the DVD comes out, or someone makes a bootleg on the internet – neither of which will happen anytime soon – we will never know.

Still, somehow, I expect that those for and against abortion will waste no time in attacking this episode of Family Guy, and/or anyone speaking about it.