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What a Guy! Fox, Seth MacFarlane Ink $100 Million Deal

080505familyguy_macfarlane.jpg
Family Guy courtesy Fox, Seth MacFarlane by Michael Yarish/Fox
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has signed a landmark deal with 20th Century Fox that makes him the company's highest-paid writer-producer and keeps him there through 2012.

The deal, which includes new media and retail projects, covers Family Guy, American Dad! and the upcoming Guy spinoff, The Cleveland Show. MacFarlane will also team up with Family Guy writer Gary Janetti to produce a sitcom.

MacFarlane didn't hold back his feelings about signing the deal, which was finalized after nearly three years of negotiations. "I get a lot of pleasure out of making shows. It's a bonus to be getting paid well for it, and it's a double bonus to be getting paid exorbitantly for it." — J.R. Whalen

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Posted by TV Guide Staff
May 5, 2008 11:58 AM
To me, this is akin to paying hobos to urinate in public, but obviously there are lots of people who disagree with me.
Posted by Chappy Quiddick
May 5, 2008 12:37 PM
I'm one of the many who disagree with you.

Family Guy is awesome. The only un-PC (scripted/non reality) show left on network TV - everything does not need to be sanitized. Whole episodes may not be as funny as earlier seasons but there are always a few jokes in an episode that induce tears.
Posted by grablove
May 5, 2008 1:05 PM
...but there are always a few jokes in an episode that induce tears. - grablove

Yeah, they induce tears alright.
Posted by Chappy Quiddick
May 5, 2008 1:13 PM
Four shows? It would be nice if he focused on making ONE that was funny/watchable. There are a few laughs here and there but it's like the writers just throw as much s*it against the wall and hope that something sticks.
Posted by Buffy Freak
May 5, 2008 4:49 PM
Amen, Buffy Freak.

But as bad as Family Guy is -- and it's pretty bad -- it seems like a Peabody Award-winner next to American Dad.

I've seen funnier -- and less crude -- things written on the walls in public restrooms.
Posted by Chappy Quiddick
May 5, 2008 5:52 PM
I have no issue with crude...South Park does crude but it makes it funny. To steal something from someone on another board "that reminds me of the time I did something strange that had something to do with pop culture from the 1980’s, and acted like it was commonplace even though it was absurd, slightly disturbing, had nothing to do with the plot and not remotely funny."
Posted by Buffy Freak
May 5, 2008 6:06 PM
That's GREAT!

And I don't have a problem with crude either -- as long as it's genuinely clever and funny!

MacFarlane's shows are never either of those. I've never laughed at anything on them -- it all just seems so labored and low-rent.
Posted by Chappy Quiddick
May 5, 2008 6:43 PM
Aren't most of the funny parts in his shows stolen from others anyway? I know a bunch of other writers have complained about him lifting their stuff.
Posted by mooshki
May 6, 2008 1:23 PM
That's interesting, mooshki. I hadn't heard that before.

I don't watch it enough to say for sure, but I do know that whenever I have seen it, it doesn't seem terribly original.

It reminds me of back in college when the drunk guys in my dorm used to sit up at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night and rehash every joke from Airplane -- I knew I had heard it all before, and done much better.

I find it interesting to note that Dane Cook -- another notoriously unfunny yet inexplicably popular waste of humanity -- has also faced accusations of joke-stealing.
Posted by Chappy Quiddick
May 6, 2008 3:25 PM
I love Family Guy so I'm pleased.

100 million is some serious bread...talk about the whole damn bakery!
But if that's what they think he's worth then cool beans.
Posted by SharonTateFan4ever
May 7, 2008 12:55 PM
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