Microsoft Bails on “Family Guy” Variety Show
Oct 27, 2009 - By Jared Newman
Microsoft and Windows 7 will no longer be part of a Fox variety show by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, as it finally dawned on the software giant that MacFarlane’s humor is far from family-friendly. Variety writes that Microsoft executives went to the taping of “Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show” and didn’t like what they saw, including “riffs on deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest.” Standard Family Guy fare, to be sure, but this special was supposed to be commercial-free, replacing traditional breaks with endorsements laced right into the programming. The color of MacFarlane’s humor was probably too close for Microsoft’s comfort, as the company called the show “not a fit for the Windows brand.”
According to Variety, the show’s animated shorts were tame compared to the live sequences with MacFarlane and comedienne Alex Borstein, who voices Family Guy’s Lois, with the pair playing Latino housekeepers at one point. Microsoft reportedly sent several concerned letters to Fox and MacFarlane, but in the end they predicted a PR disaster and backed away. Microsoft will still promote Windows 7 across a slew of other News Corp. properties, including Family Guy itself. And the show will go on, with a still-unnamed sponsor filling Microsoft’s shoes. Lucky them. [via Variety]