Microsoft taps the 'Family Guy' to sell Windows 7
Microsoft on Tuesday plans to announce a deal with News Corp.'s Fox that will see Microsoft sponsoring a TV show that will merge a pitch for Windows 7 with the comedic stylings of "Family Guy" voices Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein.
The show, dubbed "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show," will air Sunday, November 8, at 8:30 p.m. (ET and PT). There won't be any commercial breaks; just Windows 7 built into the story line.
MacFarlane
In a statement, Microsoft and Fox said they hope to "bring the old 'Texaco Star Theater'-style sponsorships into the 21st century." MacFarlane, creator and primary voice of "Family Guy," and Borstein, voice of the series' Lois character, teamed with the folks from Microsoft, as well as Redmond's ad agencies--Universal McCann, and Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, to create the show.
"While the way people watch TV has evolved, their desire to be entertained, and marketers' need to deliver compelling content, hasn't changed," the companies said. "Microsoft and Fox are joining forces to showcase how the power and simplicity of Windows 7 can enhance the content Fox viewers enjoy most, whether it's comedy, drama, sports, or reality programming on TV or on the Web."
Microsoft and Fox also plan to put on a 12-week college tour allowing students to try Windows 7 and tying in outdoor-movie nights hosted by the Stewie and Brian characters of "Family Guy."
Financial details of Microsoft-Fox partnership were not disclosed. Interestingly, Google had a deal with MacFarlane a while ago.
Windows 7 is set for its big launch next week in New York, and CNET News will be on the ground with plenty of coverage of all the festivities.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
Apple users have Steve Jobs. Windows users would have Stewie. Guess which one would be more popular with consumers.
That all depends on which consumers you're talking about. Don't forget that Lord Jobs does have a decent sized gathering. If Steve announced the new iSuicide Pill at his next conference, there would be thousands of twinkly-eyed followers waiting in line to buy them. This despite the fact that they'd cost $900 per pill. Although if you're just going to kill yourself, money wouldn't be a worry to you anymore, huh?
That's a good point- I hope Jobs never mistakenly or jokingly makes such a suggestion, even in jest, or we'll lose a lot of people. Heh.
Also since when does the windows OS have anything to do with content we watch on Television shows as this quote says:
"Microsoft and Fox are joining forces to showcase how the power and simplicity of Windows 7 can enhance the content Fox viewers enjoy most, whether it's comedy, drama, sports, or reality programming on TV or on the Web."
It's not like there will all of a sudden product placement on Family Guy (although they missed an excellent opportunity earlier this season when Quagmire finds out about internet porn "and with my new Windows 7 computer, I never have to worry about catching a virus"). Besides, while its the people who voice Family Guy, they never said they would it would use those characters......
Also, remember, this is from the guys who said "Hey Bill Gates, can you show me how to use my Zune.......Oh wait, I have an iPod like everyone else."
...and if Microsoft offered you millions of dollars to strangle a newborn baby?
Now obviously that sentence fragment was hyperbolic, but it'll be relevant later. Let's try this bit of thought:
You spend years working on something artistic (anything, really). It finally becomes popular with the masses, and you're making quite a bit of bank from it. Now you want to make it subservient to some corporation for a mere percentage of its annual earning potential?
Oh, about the first fragment? Let's boil it down to something closer as an analogy, shall we?
What's the difference between a street ***** and a call-girl, once you remove the money from the equation?
I sounds like they aren't going to use the usual McFarlane characters(they will probably have the same dialog humor voices, just drawn differently). the idea of the integrated ad show is an old idea that definitely has merit for the coming ad scene. we already get ads all over our TV shows every time you notice a Nikon camera in NCIS or see a brand name in the show someone paid ad dollars to get it there same as the commercials that are on either end of the show segments. I for one would rather watch 30 minutes of entertainment with a built in agenda then 5 minutes of show wrapped in 3 minutes of **** poor ads
remember what fred flintstone said "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should"
Bill Gates doesn't work for Microsoft. This has nothing to do with Bill Gates.
@daedbird:
McFarlane isn't shy about his viewpoints on things. Recall the McCain/Palin button put on Stewie Hitler's uniform in the time travel episode? How much money was involved there, I wonder?
@Random_Walk:
Commericialization is commonplace. Even Apple does it. They don't give away the computers or OS for free, remember. They want money for it.
Family Guy also was never given away for free either- Fox pays McFarlane to produce the product. It always has and will continue to be a commercial product. McFarlane makes a LOT of money from this product not only from the show being on Fox as well, but with all the merchandising as well. You're suggesting that he's selling out by making money outside of the show itself, and that's... well, against the very nature of the industry.
Go look at sethcomedy.com and you'll see that this is hardly the first time Seth McFarlane has done this. It's not news.
@Cloudmatt:
Seth McFarlane has been selling his services for quite a while now. Hulu and Burger King both have used his services. He actively markets the promotion services at sethcomedy.com. This is nothing new.
So is female circumcision in Africa today, antisemitism in 1930's Europe, and Malaria in any equatorial region.
Something being commonplace isn't much of an excuse...
"Family Guy also was never given away for free either- Fox pays McFarlane to produce the product"
No kidding - but the product itself is based on...? Think about this one for a minute. You may even come to the realization that the reason 'Family Guy' got so popular has to do with its anti-establishment and anti-commercialist slant.
Not much left when you remove the whole raison d' etre, is there?
I guess trivial things like morals and ethics are overruled by money?
It must suck to be a slave to greed.
Who knows, maybe this is the one that be the magic bullet.
:D
CUT TO: EXT (Y), NIGHTTIME. (X) is riding an anteater while throwing (Z) at black people.
I just wrote an episode of Family Guy featuring Windows 7...where is my check Microsoft?
there are no jokes.
there, did i sound mentally handicapped a enough for you?
...and that's what will kill it.
For those among us who remember (and still somewhat frequent) Adult Swim (look it up), this nomination is a travesty. Family Guy was once a cutting-edge show, whose most common response from the viewer was a laughter-filled "holy s**t I can't believe they just did that!"
Now it's expected, and Seth is apparently running out of ideas to keep the edge sharp. He also tamed it down... a LOT.
Sometimes, you have to know when to quit. I suspect that if Seth had any brains, this season would be the last. Some of the best comedy cartoons in recent history were smart enough to wind things up while they were still ragingly popular. The original Ren and Stimpy was mind-blowingly hilarious, but subsequent episodes just petered out. The Simpsons is something I don't even bother with anymore, and haven't for years - even though the first five seasons were nothing short of awesome as far as cartoons go.
Nickelodeon's Invader Zim is a perfect example of knowing when to quit. That whole series is still funnier than hell, and I don't get tired of pulling the disks out once in a great while and watching 'em. Most friends I meet are surprised that the thing exists, and almost always get a huge kick out of it the first time they watch it. Same with Sealab 2021 (on AS), or Space Ghost, Coast to Coast (originally a spoof of the old Art Bell 'Coast to Coast' AM radio show), etc.
they should say something like
even meg who is nasty as they come doesnt have as many viruses as my windows 7 pc
Brian: Is that Vista?
Stewie: Is that hwat? (misspelled for comedic value)
Brian: Vista, you know, the current Operating System from Microsoft.
Stewie: No the current Operating System from Microsoft is Windows 7.
Brian: No, Windows 7 won't come out for almost another month so that must be Windows Vista.
Stewie: I'm personal friends with Steve Ballmer and he assured me this is Windows 7 and that it is the current operating System from Microsoft so you must be mistaken.
---meg walks in---
Meg: What ya doin?
Stewie:...
Brian:...
---meg stares at both---
---stewie looks at fake watch---
Stewie: oh look! it's time for me to soil myself.
---stewie leaves---
Brian: So, umm. How's your boyfri.... HA HA HA! OHHHH ZINGGGGG
next scene.
And yes, that's actually funnier than most new episodes I've seen.
Also, good for Microsoft. At least they're trying to publicize Win7 as much as possible. So far it's the best MS OS yet.
:D
Yup, from morons like you who have no business owning a computer.
BTW, I love FG!
Windows 7 and FG are the freeking coolest things on the planet right now!
I have not been this impressed since Windows 95 launch. Most Win OSes I wait a year before I try it out, at least until the first Service pack. Win 7 works flawlessly out of the box.
All I can say is try it before you knock it, but then again you are probably one of the Mac fanboys that believes everything the Mac commercials tell you.
The problem with Vista was they rushed it out to meet a deadline, cut out the more innovative features - turning it into something akin to XP 3.0 (With bug-addled Xp at launch 1.0 and the strong service pack version 2.0)
Apple are doing well but they are still swimming against the tide (which makes their success even more remarkable I think, and probably why so many people 'love' apple) and one of the ways they do this is by putting their own people in store. If you're paying say $500 for a mac, probably the computer cost $490 at least of that whereas with a generic pc you could be looking at upto a couple of hundred dollars markup n(especially the ones that come bundled with a load of sh&tty 'peripherals' and stuff.
I remember a friend of mine used to work in a TV shop back in the '80s. Every morning his boss would tell them which models they needed to shift. Staff would then 'de-tune' or otherwise mess up the picture on the display models with lower priority. They would then spend the day marvelling at just how dumb we as people sometimes are.
Seaspray is right. Apple makes more profit on their computers than any other computer maker. The margins on standard are soo thin these days. That is why Dell, HP , etc, etc r taking a beating while Apple outperforms them all in profits.
Guess we'll have to wait and see. Nothing surprises me any more these days.
They must have sealed the deal with no commercial for fear Apple would run a Mac v PC ad during the show.
Nah, I don't think Apple would be that foolish to hand Seth an easy opening like that.
For all of you that think Family Guy is just selling out now didn't have a 360 as there are many Family Guy avatars and customizations on it. It kind of makes sense that M$ is using them, why not use an icon of a guy that in the show is considered legally retarded and a baby bent on dominating the world after killing his Mommy, sums up M$ quite nice. However Family Guy is going to lose a lot of good story ideas and subplots by siding with M$, guess they will have to be intent on burning Sony and Nintendo.
- by shycelticwitch October 14, 2009 8:08 AM PDT
- Another fine marketing campaign to add to the annals of MS. Mac is kicking their ass when it comes to snarky advertising and MS can only respond with a limp flip of the wrist. MS has been "buying" market share since its conception. They feed on the ignorance of the masses who believe that quantity is surely better than quality.
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- by heygeo October 14, 2009 10:03 AM PDT
- So to you "Snarky" ads are why you should by a product?
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- by dhavleak October 14, 2009 1:00 PM PDT
- @ shycelticwitch
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- by hencexox October 14, 2009 5:24 PM PDT
- I hope your not trying to compare Microsoft to the GOP Considering Microsoft owns a considerable share in MSNBC and I would call them far from being GOP related. Here Educate Yourself if you already don't know. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Msnbc
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- by Homncruse October 15, 2009 10:32 AM PDT
- >> MS has been "buying" market share since its conception. They feed on the ignorance of the masses who believe
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- by Dalkorian October 15, 2009 3:23 PM PDT
- "Apple vs. Microsoft war, back to back on national television in the form of tongue-in-cheek comedy."
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (92 Comments)Considering FOX is a GOP lapdog, and a member of the RICH (Ridiculously Irresponsible Capitalist Hoods) this move doesn't surprise me in the least.
but then you go on to say that MS buys market share and only the ignorance of the masses is why they own 90% of the market... huh yeah buying products based on snarkyness sure isnt ignorant is it?
Let me point out something... Apple charges 50% to 70% for equivalent PC/MP3/Phone counterparts, targetted at the RICH (your definition applies here)... going out on a limb here but do you own a mac? what does that make you?
So If I ever need a snarky ad I'll go with Apple, when I need technology i'll go with MSFT.
If you think being snarky is good trait, well, that explains a lot of your comments.
And you're trying to tie Microsoft to the GOP? That's as bad as a swift-boat attack!
And here you are again making baseless accusations against MS -- and if someone were to say that about your beloved Apple, you would be the first one in there saying how sad you are to see people trolling without proof etc. You paint a really sorry picture of yourself.
>> that quantity is surely better than quality.
Market share is market share. As long as the method works, I don't think any company looking to turn profit actually cares where it comes from. I'm actually surprised this isn't an Apple thing, really -- Seth is "cool", and Steve Jobs / Apple culture (side note: I find it odd that the two are so synonymous) definitely embodies "cool" much more than Microsoft. It would actually make more sense if Apple did it -- they probably would, too, had they thought of it first. Maybe Apple will do the same with American Dad - now that'd be great! Apple vs. Microsoft war, back to back on national television in the form of tongue-in-cheek comedy.
That may be the best comment made here ever. Well, at least the best one made this week.