ClockStomper
One who loves naked Kagome
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2002
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In the last tvshowsondvd.com interview, Seth said the decision on Family Guy's continuance was short coming. Now here's an update, although it's not the most solid or consistant news, it does come from the FOX horse's mouth:
He could possibly mean they'll skip broadcast, BUT maybe he was trying to state the reason the show's coming back. His wording is rather confusing. But at least we now have confirmation it IS indeed coming back.
I hope they sell the episodes to CN, since the television viewing audience for the show is about 1 million people. Small potatoes for FOX, but a big deal for CN. So FOX will hopefully remain in the producing role (they produce all sorts of shows for other channels, NYPD Blue and Buffy the most notable) and don't try putting it on their network, only for it to get cancelled in 3 weeks. Be it producing for CN or DVD sets, being put on FOX is a bad idea.
Direct link: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/articles/sales.cfm
In November we first reported that Fox was considering a plan to resume production of Family Guy...based on strong DVD demand and ratings in syndication, according to a story that was then being run in USA Today. Just a few days ago, TVShowsOnDVD's owner, Gord Lacey, had the opportunity to interview Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, who confirmed that a return of new episodes to broadcast was pending, and that a decision would be forthcoming very quickly.
Now The Hollywood Reporter has checked in on the matter, with an interesting roundtable discussion between them and the Presidents of 5 different home entertainment divisions: Universal's Craig Kornblau, DreamWorks' Kelley Avery, Disney/Buena Vista's Bob Chapek, Artisan's Steve Beeks, and 20th Century Fox's Mike Dunn.
That roundtable will be good reading to anyone interested in the DVD industry. In the course of their discussion, Mike Dunn (President of Fox Home Entertainment) mentioned that they will do something with the Family Guy property:
THR: And now with TV DVD coming on so strong, there are even more titles to get in front of people.
Beeks: I think what's really amazing is something like what happened at Mike's company with (Fox's) "Family Guy," which only aired for one season but went on to become this phenomenal DVD success ...
Dunn: And we're going to go back into production on "Family Guy" specifically for the DVD market, as a result of the DVD success. I think this 34-year-old male, who is a very avid purchaser, fits right into the demo of our TV DVD business. The things that really work, like (Fox's) "The Simpsons" -- which will do 1.6 million units on Season One alone, over the period of a year and a half -- are in that sweet spot, and it's created a revenue source that didn't exist during the VHS days. It's that male consumer that has a high-end home entertainment system and is a collector.
A couple of notes about that quote: first, Steve Beeks was mistaken in one respect: Family Guy aired for 3 "seasons" (though it was on-again, off-again a lot, so we can understand anyone being confused about this). Second, Mike Dunn's choice of wording seems to indicate that this is for Direct-to-DVD. We don't think so, after our interview with Seth MacFarlane. He seemed convinced that it was a broadcast return deal that was on the table. And that he was merely waiting for the go-ahead decision. Well, Dunn's comments at the roundtable certainly make it sound like the decision has been made to go ahead. A move to return Family Guy to production status is unprecedented. But it won't necessarily be unaccompanied.
He could possibly mean they'll skip broadcast, BUT maybe he was trying to state the reason the show's coming back. His wording is rather confusing. But at least we now have confirmation it IS indeed coming back.
I hope they sell the episodes to CN, since the television viewing audience for the show is about 1 million people. Small potatoes for FOX, but a big deal for CN. So FOX will hopefully remain in the producing role (they produce all sorts of shows for other channels, NYPD Blue and Buffy the most notable) and don't try putting it on their network, only for it to get cancelled in 3 weeks. Be it producing for CN or DVD sets, being put on FOX is a bad idea.
Direct link: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/articles/sales.cfm