Seth MacFarlane

GROEN DRAIN

matt groeningSimpsons creator Matt Groening has always enjoyed a favorable relationship with the press. Serving as a sort-of go-to cultural commentator, the head of Fox’s billion-dollar cartoon franchise is often quoted on everything from animation to music to high school to Olympic mascots. These days, however, he is often asked to comment on Fox’s other billion-dollar cartoon franchise, Family Guy. In a Wall Street Journal article about Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, MacFarlane’s contemporary is relegated to a handful of sentences, including a paragraph which curiously reads like a line from a Fox press release:

Cartoonist Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons,” says, “He’s laid the groundwork with this smash hit show and now, with new media opening up and Seth’s specific kind of rapid-fire visual humor, how to exploit it just depends on how ambitious he wants to be.”

Given that Fox and the Journal are corporate siblings, could this be another sign of The Simpsons‘s diminishing stature in the eyes of Fox executives? [Wall Street Journal]

ANNOYED GRUNTS

A critic at a Television Critics Association panel asked a panel of nine FOX animated show producers why they’re so white:

A critic gets a laugh by starting a question with,”Here’s a question for the women and people of color up there” (there are none) … and asks about the lack of diversity in the genre.

[Family Guy creator Seth] MacFarlane: “There’s something about the medium of animation that it’s male dominated … might also have something to do with the demographics of animation also skewing male.”

[The Live Feed]

VOICE BOX

The voice actors and powers-that-be are in contract talks for like the 30th time over the past 10 years probably because they don’t think they’re getting enough royalties from bart simpson meat thermometers or something who knows

Since I didn’t have to be sitting in negotiation this afternoon, I drove over to the Starz Media/Film Roman facility, where I discovered (via the employees) that Fox and the six voice actors on The Simpsons are deep in talks for a renewal of contracts. And that all parties, according to the artists, have imposed a news blackout.

Ten years ago, Fox was on the brink of replacing all the actors. If contracts aren’t renewed this time, maybe they’ll just get Seth McFarlane to do all the voices. [TAG Blog]

GROEN DRAIN

The aloof creator of The Simpsons will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Playboy! Here is a funny quote:

As a parent, Groening says, “I’m the dad I wished I had. I try to let my kids have a good time.” His reward? “[My kids] tell me I’m not funny anymore. … My son said he wishes [‘Family Guy’ creator] Seth MacFarlane were his father.”

[NY Daily News]

TOON BEAT

Matt Groening doesn’t think so:

“At the beginning, there was probably some competition going on” between “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” he says. “But certainly not from me.

“I know how hard it is to do an animated TV show. [‘Family Guy’ creator] Seth MacFarlane is a good friend. And ‘Family Guy’ is funny. It’s got its own style. The more the merrier. I want more cartoons on TV,” Groening says.

MacFarlane had some nice things to say about The Simpsons, too:

“You could almost say ‘The Honeymooners’ or subsequently ‘All in the Family’ laid down the ground rules — everything structurally — for a live-action sitcom.

“And I think it’s the same thing for ‘The Simpsons’ regarding subsequent animated shows. They reinvented the process. A lot of things worked. So of course you’re gonna use that as a springboard.”

[Chicago Sun-Times]

TOON BEAT

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has declared that he will prolong the epic CARTOON WARS that are threatening the very fabric of our society with more shots at supposed rival show The Simpsons, after they semi-recently took a shot at Family Guy and American Dad. It’s like the Cold War nuclear arms race except with cartoons and nerds [ToonZone]