Microsoft pulls plug on 'Family Guy' special

Seth MacFarlane

Microsoft said Monday it has canceled its sponsorship of a planned variety show with the creator of the "Family Guy."

In a statement, a Microsoft representative said the show--a variety show to be done by Alex Borstein and Seth MacFarlane--was not "a fit with the Windows brand." Microsoft had hoped to use the show to tout its just-released Windows 7 operating system.

"We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of 'Family Guy,' but after reviewing an early version of the variety show it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand," the representative said.

Microsoft had announced plans earlier this month to present the Fox TV special.

Now who didn't see this coming?

[toosday]

"but after reviewing an early version of the variety show it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand"

Had they not watched Family Guy before? The humor is quite wild - and oftentimes offensive. What did they expect? :)

That being said, I would love to see this now that it's been pulled. There must've been some really controversial stuff in this episode!

[Crow120]

I doubt theres anything controversial in the show apart from it's usual content. Microsoft is a big company so any little digs against it or negative comments (probably something to do with Vista) aren't received well. They're trying hard to repair a broken public image after Vista.

[Random_Walk]

I'm guessing that Microsoft discovered to their horror that maybe the flood of jokes that could be associated between Windows 7 and Family Guy would be too great to withstand?

[Orion Blastar]

Peter Griffin installs Windows 7, surfs a lot of porn, gets his computer infected with viruses. Brian tries to remove the viruses and when he fails says "Peter you should have bought a Mac or used Linux if you were going to surf for porno." and Lois is mad because she cannot get on Facebook and update her status, and Meg cannot do her homework, and Chris cannot play his video games. But then Stewie turns it into a Hackintosh and runs Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard on it and saves the day. Followed by Steve Jobs and Apple suing the Griffins for software piracy, which forces them to use Ubuntu instead. The episode ends with a lot of Ubuntu jokes on what it really means.

[ferricoxide]

Often times? I love the show, but it pretty much goes out of its way to offend (which is a big part of what makes me like it).

[Thranx]

The show makes me sad. I see clips that are clean and amazingly hilarlious on the web, but every time I actually watch the show, it's 90% trash. I want to love the show, but it's just horrible.

I don't know why any commercial entity would find it wise to back a show (or another product based on the show, run by the show's creator) that contains recurring jokes involving an 80 year old man trying to seduce a 12 year old... I don't care who you are, that's not funny... it's just gross and wrong.

[ryokowerx]

Personally, I'm hoping this episode leaks out to the torrent sites. I'd love to see what set off MS (not that it would take much considering the "family friendly" vibe they've been trying to do for some time now) ... but seriously? Hasn't any of them ever actually watched Family Guy?

[DrtyDogg]

You don't have to wait for a leak, "Fox still plans to air "Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show" on Nov. 8" FYI it isn't a family guy episode, it's a variety show.

[Gold_Storm_Mac]

That's surprising.

[sciontcya]

How lame.
Probably afraid that Stuey would talk about how he lost his virginity waiting to get the upgrade from Vista to work properly! LOLZ MS!

[karpenterskids]

I was shocked that they decided to team up with Family Guy in the first place...did some idiot at Microsoft think it was a family cartoon about a guy?


I'm glad they're pulling the plug on this one (even though, I'll admit, I'd be half-curious to see what the "early version" that made Microsoft pull out consisted of). With Windows 7, the last thing the company needs is to alienate itself from their customers. And they know this all too well.

[rdupuy11]

they probably refused to change the name of the show to "family girl and/or family guy, however you choose to define family"

Microsoft is the most "PC' company on the planet, no pun intended. The only mystery is how they thought they were going to sponsor this show in the first place.

[supoman]

Just like Microsoft. Never paying attention until the last minute.

[The_happy_switcher]

I can't wait until the new FG episodes making fun of this. Should be hilarious.

[sciontcya]

You're right - this will be classic!
Bet it was Uncle Fester!

[shamanskyh]

Exactly. Seth MacFarlane will be so upset over this that I bet he mocks Microsoft for a good long time.

[Vegaman_Dan]

I strongly suspect there is a legal agreement restraining Seth from doing that very thing. Microsoft isn't stupid- they woudln't let them have a free reign on this. Remember- they already paid to have the show made- if they decide to bury it, then Seth could seriously be sued out of existance he does take any pot shots at MSFT for it.

[sciontcya]

@ vegetable dan:

They have no agreement you carrot! MS backed out!
D'oh!

[rapier1]

@Sciontcya,

You've never seen a legal agreement before have you?

[kaibelf]

They can have a legal agreement not to use the content of the special, but MS can't pursue any legal block to parody. Family Guy could have a field day with them, and be just fine doing it. It's not like MS hasn't handed the public a boatload of materials for years. What can they claim? They have a contract that Seth wouldn't ever criticize them? He's NEVER sign it, considering he's got a $100m contract. Microsoft couldn't have offered him anything that would cause him to compromise his approach.

[sciontcya]

@ rapier1,

You are as foolish as the company that is going to get mocked endlessly...
Get your DVR ready.

[solitare_pax]

They should've gone with "Muppet Babies" - that would have been the ideal way to show how simple Windows 7 is.

Until Baby Gonzo ate the PC.

[dylerl]

HA!!! Great. Microsoft you love not understanding anything, does the word "research" mean anything to Microsoft, cause they don't seem to do any of it in regards to anything they do, including building their crappy products.

[The_happy_switcher]

Wow, the forces of powerful stupid are emanating strongly from Redmond today. First the inability to provide an OS update over the internet and now this. The levels of ineptitude from this company are staggering and without bounds--apparently.

[Vegaman_Dan]

And yet they still fail to match up to your ability. Could you give them some pointers?

[The_happy_switcher]

Why would 'I' give them pointers since you're their paid expert. I won't take the pay cut to do your job, Danny boy.

[amakh]

The Seinfeld-Gates adds were much more wild and offensive than Family Guy could ever be.

[baconstang]

They were just plain boring.

[Vegaman_Dan]

I'd say the Seinfeld ads were disjointed and without any real point- much like the shows themselves.

[sparrowhyperion]

Eegads these Mac and Linux fanboys are everywhere....

[Perry_Clease]

Yes, the market share for those operating systems are growing :)

[revengeofthecow]

@Perry_Clease

I would imagine that many of the Mac fanboys don't actually own a Mac and just parrot slogans like "It Just Works (TM)" while on Vista on a $400 Dell machine. Marketshare may be growing, but there's still a big fat '9x%' in Microsoft's number.

[Mr. Dee]

Seth MacFarlane: Uh, so you mean I am not getting any of that 12 billion in revenue at all?

[CorvettemanAZ]

Microsoft has lost its backbone! No guts no glory!

[salmoriarty]

They probably realized that Family Guy isn't funny, and they already tried the unfunny thing with the Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld commercials.

[CaptThom]

Hate to be the wet blanket here, but I think a lot of you ought to go back and read the article again.

The show in question is NOT an episode of "Family Guy." It's a variety show starring Seth McFarlane, the creator of FG.

According to the article, the show itself has not been canceled. Only Microsoft's sponsorship of the show has been canceled. As recently as last night (during the AL championship game), the show was being promoted by Fox.

Having said all that, I do agree with those posters who wonder out loud, Doesn't anyone at MS actually watch Family Guy? If so, their red flags should have gone up from the beginning. After all, considering the content of FG, it would be likely that any show produced by the creator of FG was likely to contain at least one or two questionable bits.

Sheesh.

[DrtyDogg]

Reading is obviously not a strong point of trolls.

[arbrackin]

hahaha because they made fun of the zune to bill gates on it! Saying that the iPod is better

[thejasman]

but those stupid bill gates commercials with seinfeld were a good idea?

[da_bombdiggidy]

I gotta feeling this would have been like Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondance Dinner. I so want to see it.

[baconstang]

+1

[reighman]

Ever since MS used The Stones for it's Windows 95 ads its been a downhill slide for its ad folks. We are a nation of sound bites and twitter feeds. Get with it guys! Make it snappy, funny and to the point. Who thought a variety show would be a good showcase for an OS? Come on MS! We live in Seattle. I am sure there is more than one creative person left in town.

[JoeF2]

They of course left out an important part of the Stones song ("Start Me Up"): You make a grown man cry...

[baconstang]

What about the "dead man"?

[JohnPhoenix]

Microsoft did the TV thing with Windows 95 too with Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston. It was just like that sitcom where there's friends except nobody's laughing. No, wait, it's the same.

[Freiheit13]

"but after reviewing an early version of the variety show it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand"

True. Family Guy was cancelled by the network and brought back on the uprising of support from its fans. Windows has few real fans, just people who use it because they don't know any better. Definitely not a good fit.

[rapier1]

Go back and read the article. This isn't about family guy. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they pulled sponsorship because a variety show is just a crappy vehicle doomed to failure.