One of the cooler panels during the course of the TCA Press Tour was unquestionably the “dinner theater” provided by the cast of “Family Guy,” who did a table read of their upcoming 100th episode for the assembled critics as they ate lunch. We were warned ahead of time that, yes, it was the unedited version of the script, and that several bits had been removed from the upcoming air version, but I didn’t hear any complaints after the fact, so I guess those of us with delicate constitutions managed to survive. I won’t give away any of the jokes – I mean, the show isn’t even scheduled to air until October – but I will say that it’s called “Stewie Kills Lois,” that there are jokes involving The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, and “The Lake House,” that there are tentative plans for guest appearances by James Woods and Rob Lowe, and that it’s a two-parter, so even we don’t know what happens in the second half.
Oh, and I’m guessing that Peter’s bit where he reminisces about he and Lois going to an abortionist is almost certainly not going to be in the version that you see on Fox.
After the read, the cast remained on stage and took a few questions from the crowd…the first of which, unsurprisingly, was, “Seth, what exactly did you cut out of that script?”
“Oh, I think the abortion one was about eight times as long,” MacFarlane laughed. “Some of this stuff, actually, you will only see on the DVD. There’s some stuff that was, you know, judiciously edited with our approval. And some stuff — for example, the swearing you’ll only see on the DVD. Since that’s become such a big part of “Family Guy,” there are — occasionally if we bleep something for TV, we’ll let it slide on the DVD.”
Most surprising admission from MacFarlane: that they’re never out to shock for the sake of shocking. “The thing that I try to do with ‘Family Guy,'” he explained, “is to kind of have this balance between the classic and the edgy. You know, we do a lot of poop jokes, but at the same time, we use a 45-piece orchestra every week with a full string section. If something is just shocking and not funny, then we’ll cut it out. And we have these table reads every week, which we do for each episode, in which we have a very good cross section of artists and people from the outside and writers, and, you know, the studio network is there. And no one is shy about gasping in horror if we have crossed the line, and so it’s a very good barometer.”
Best bit of gossip from MacFarlane: “Certain members of the Brolin family were amused by the (Barbra Streisand) gag that we did. That’s all I’ll say.”
Most surprising anecdote: the FCC responded to the show’s FCC-themed episode…and thought it was funny! MacFarlane admitted that it “surprised the hell out of me…and gives me a little bit of hope!”
Least surprising question: let’s just say it involved a reference to manatees. (I’m as guilty as anyone; I did the same thing when I talked to him…but I like to think that my comedic timing was better.) Of course, MacFarlane offered up his now-stock response about how he’s actually a big fan of “South Park,” but what he also provided was a surprisingly solid explanation as to why they enjoy doing the cutaways that Parker and Stone busted their balls about.
“The cutaways they sort of see as a deviation from the story,” MacFarlane explained, “(but) we sort of see them as, in a weird way, kind of these animated versions of, like, one-frame ‘Far Side’ cartoons that are sort of, you know, something you can only do really, I think, effectively in the animation medium. And, you know, they’re just kind of laughs for laughs’ sake. You don’t have to know what’s going on with the plot. You don’t have to know what’s going on with character drive. They’re just pure comedy…we hope!”
