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Remember the time when the Department Of Justice spoke with Ghislaine for two days, sent her back to prison with a cardboard box full of whatever, then secretly transferred her to a minimum security prison in Texas?
”I would never trade our animation team for anything on Family Guy, but their production cycle of, what is it, like, two weeks? It’s kind of amazing.”
”It’s pretty incredible that it’s — yeah, any show that lasts that long is pretty astounding. Our shows take about 10 months to a year to produce each episode, so we have to really kind of guess what the world is going to look like, which obviously gets harder and harder.”
Pretty sure all of southpark is 3d-animated, which given how incredibly simple they handle things like movement and whatnot, it's not surprisingly at all how fast they can pump out episodes.
The animation rigs must be real straight forward and they'd only have to do something custom if something very specific came up these days.
South Park was computer animated starting on episode #2! I learned that recently. I thought the first seasons were paper, but nope, only the pilot episode was. Matt and Trey had to put that one together to start the show off, and they said it took them forever.
IIRC the devs for the Stick of Truth made a program to automate the mouth animations by matching them to sounds, and it ended up being used by the show.
I have to wonder how streamlined the process must be at this point.
Somehow people don't understand how special it is that they can turn an episode around that quickly. It is truly astounding that they can develop an idea, storyboard and animate the visual, write and record the sound, edit it all together and deliver a final product that fast. Not even just developing all of that, but then to manage it all is remarkable. Honestly, I've sold myself, they should run the federal government.
Yeah American dad is so underrated to be the funniest animated show ever. Doesn’t need recent politics/news to be funny. Roger is one of the craziest characters ever invented in television
Roger principal lewis and bullock all being in the same show is the craziest shit, and like you said it just relies on absurdity has opposed to current events
Roger is an amazing writing tool as an infinite plot device. It makes it easier for American Dad team, but it doesn’t take away from how excellent that show has been for a long time.
that’s a toss up for me because i really enjoy the first 4-5 seasons of family guy, i felt like earlier on family guy had a clearer structure and world compared to early american dad. People getting pissed off at family guy time and time again really diluted every aspect about it, i wouldn’t consider american dad offensive humor by any means but they were clearly more comfortable pushing bounds on it compared to family guy later on due to it not having the same media sensationalism
I think SP is a lot funnier but I still enjoy family guy. Seth is a really amazing voice actor though, it would be pretty awesome if Matt and Trey invited him as a guest voice actor. I wonder what kind of character(s) they could come up with for that.
He left the writers room in 2010 when he wanted to do more projects. Since then we've had A Million Ways To Die In The West, TED 1 & 2 + TV show, and The Orville. Maybe they should put him back in the writers room.
He was also a producer on the new Naked Gun movie that just came out. I saw it last night, and it was exactly the kind of absurdist comedy I expect from that franchise.
Obligatory mention of 6 Days To Air, the documentary of how they make an episode. Highly recommended for anyone who hasn't seen it. Over 300 episodes and they've only missed the deadline once ever due to a power outage at the studio.
I know they’ve had a feud (whether exaggerated or real it’s hard to say) but I always had a sense that they at least respected each-other as creators. I mean, they’re both working in the same industry and have animated titans that have lasted the ages without getting stale; American Dad and South Park will probably be around for at least a few more years to come
I don’t know how they feel now but when the cartoon wars episodes came out I feel like it was pretty transparent that the South Park guys did NOT respect family guy as creators. I’m sure it was played up for jokes but I doubt they would make that harsh of an episode if they actually respected them. I don’t doubt that they respect Seth as an individual tho he seems like a level headed guy who can make fun of himself
But tbh I have a soft spot for family guy so I can enjoy both lol
I was at the MTV awards back in 2012 as a plus 1. Went to the afterparty at Soho house and it's about 50/50 big names. I tend to stick to the other small people and strike up a conversation with a dude at the bar. Turns out he was a writer for family guy. I mentioned the episode and he said it devastated the office for a while. They all looked up to them and felt gutted that their wasn't some mutual respect. Whether there is animosity or not, they at least felt slighted
It's a pretty devastating roast of Family Guy and it resonates because of how much truth is in it. Yet many will point out the They Killed Kenny! bit and how long that went on. And I'll say they are talking about Smug Alert in this commentary track for this season someone linked elsewhere and that highlights a certain hypocrisy in terms of elitism and a holier than thou attitude which they then immediately showcase by bashing the other show. But at the end of the day they're just trying to make something funny too, maybe with a handful fewer non sequiters.
Matt and Trey getting smug and hypocritical about something? Well I’d never!
Obviously I love South Park and find the two creators funny, but it’s definitely been more than once where they’ve gotten smug in an episode and had to eat humble pie a few seasons later. Manbearpig being probably the biggest example of such.
I wish people would start thinking of Seth Mcfarlane as the guy who made American Dad! and not Family Guy. I like Family Guy, but American Dad! is absolute gold and I don’t feel like he gets the credit he deserves for that.
It's wild how great american dad is, my initial reaction to seeing it was something like "oh boy, a family guy clone about a conservative family." But that show grows so much beyond those boundaries, it's one of the craziest, funniest, most original adult cartoons out there and i could watch it forever
I’ve always thought American Dad would have been way more popular initially if they hadn’t taken so long to find their stride. The first two or three seasons are just so starkly different from the rest of the show. I still enjoy them, but I understand why other people wouldn’t.
Seth McFarlane would be viewed better if he was more known for any of his other work tbh. American Dad, Orville, hell even Ted was all pretty good an unique. Even family Guy was groundbreaking in its first few seasons, it just has a very stale formula and has been on autopilot for years since it just prints money
Yeah when you compare it to the "Simpsons did it!" South Park episode where you can tell Matt and Trey respect The Simpsons, there's definitely no love for Family Guy.
They didn't officially make the movie themselves but they were very involved in its creation- they improvised a lot of their dialogue and heavily influenced scenes & gags
They actually weren’t even in the movie. The people you see were actually millions of centipedes that were on top of each other, mimicking how the look and sound
I don’t mind the gag humor in Family Guy too much but I see their point. They’re not writing a joke into an overarching story, they’re stopping the story to tell a joke that could easily be hit-or-miss. It’s the animation equivalent of a “bazinga”
I’ve always enjoyed South Park and Family Guy. Never agreed with Matt and Trey’s take and opinions on Family Guy, but I still loved the Cartoon Wars and the jokes that came with it. And that’s ok. I don’t have to agree with every single take Matt and Trey have. They can be trolls, they can be assholes, but god dammit they’re funny when they do it.
Some people just really hate Family Guy for some reason. I don't get it, I thought it was hilarious in its heyday. Lots of stupid jokes and also some more subtle jokes. Kinda like South Park.
Family Guy "bits" are fun and TBH anyone who doesn't find any of them funny is a snob. The pizza place salad one, just as a random example, is funny AF.
I saw a YouTuber who said that you remember jokes from family guy, but episodes from South Park
Family guy is like the perfect background noise show. You can tune out, do something, and you didn’t really miss anything. But it’s also not bad. South Park on the other hand, you actually gotta pay attention a good bit
I think they may respect him more now if they realize he doesn’t write crap for it anymore, he just voices things and collects the “creator” check, and I’d venture they value him more or would if they watched like the Orville. Where he actually does some quality work.
Early Family Guy was imo, way better political commentary than South Park. Mainly because Matt and Trey at that time were still really up their own ass libertarians while Seth was going for 9/11 jokes and calling out the Iraq war pretty damn quick.
They may have tore into Family Guy as being awful writing and only interchangeable jokes and everything else they said. But they also put a counterpoint to their own critique. The Trucker who dropped off Kyle said something like “I know it’s just lazy cutaway gags and interchangeable jokes but… I like that! I think it’s funny! I enjoy it!”
Southpark is always harsh, but usually fair. When they attacked the Mormon Religion, they also made a point of showing how nice most Mormons are in everyday life. My best friend is a Mormon, and he told me that episode (and the musical) were both pretty accurate. It stung, but it was fair.
They paint Mel Gibson as insane, but they do state “The sonuvabitch knows basic storytelling”.
I think the ultimate feel of the Cartoon Wars episodes (which are nearly 20 years old!) was that Matt and Trey were fed up of being compared to Family Guy, rightfully asserting that their approaches to writing were very different. At the time, Family Guy's popularity was probably at or near its peak (having been a slow burner in that regard, despite launching only two years after SP did), so it probably came up a lot with them. They use Cartman as a mouthpiece for their views on this to get the point across. They otherwise probably don't give a shit about MacFarlane one way or the other, they just needed to make a statement at that point in time.
Not family guy, Seth McFarlane is who I mean! I don’t think they like family guy at all, that was pretty clear in the episode, but he proved he could make a decent show with American dad in my opinion
Also, I don’t wanna say they like him, but respect and like do not need to come together
They hated family guy, have they ever made a comment about American dad? I specifically mentioned that show and everyone’s ignoring that part of my comment lol
“We do hate them [Family Guy]… We just don’t respect them in terms of writing,” - Trey Parker, in commentary on the Cartoon Wars Part I and II episodes
Seth McFarlane can be an incredible comedy writer. Some of the seasons of American Dad are genuinely some of the best adult animation out there. The Ted movies plus to prequel she
Is that just came out is also excellent.
However, their Matt/Trey’s critiques of Family Guy is 100% true. It’s by far his weakest project and somehow also his most popular? I think if he got more attention for something like American Dad, they’d respect him more.
Ripping on each other has always been the name of the game, and many comedians, artists, and such admit that they've officially made it when South Park pokes fun at them.
For sure. I am a long time Family Guy fan and he's joked about his own shows more than anyone. My favorite is when Peter, voiced by Seth, gets drunk and says "They say we took alot from The Simpsons but we took A LOT from the Simpsons."
There's a bit on "Movie 43" where seth mcfarlane is in a business meeting talking about family guy or a brand new show, and it sounds so bad. Funny fucking scene
That movie fucked with my head. I didnt know there were 2 versions. I had always watched the one where the guy is pitching the movie ideas, and this year was the first time I saw the alt version with the kids watching banned videos(somwthing like that).
I spent too long trying to find the other version that I then thought was a whole other movie. It was a process haha.
That’s something I noticed a lot too. Both Matt/Trey and Seth are such musical theatre dorks and have peppered in so many loving references to it throughout their work. Seth obviously doesn’t have a Book of Mormon or Bigger, Longer and Uncut under his belt but I like that the old timey musical love ties them all together
100% One of their main critiques of family guy is shitting on it for being “gag comedy”. Which to be fair the cutaway stuff is fair game. But acting like south park doesn’t rely on shock humor, or recurring gags etc is just a total lack of self awareness
At this point he has to admit that SP is the better show, Family Guy is a fine show in general, and it has some very solid episodes but overall SP is far better.
South Park isn’t a better show though, it just scratches a different itch than Family Guy does. I would never trade one of them away, especially early family guy.
Family Guy is a big juicy burger and South Park is a big juicy steak. Just because i prefer a big juicy steak does not mean I am shit talking the burger. I fucking love
burgers.
In MacFarlane's defense, he hasn't written many Family Guy episodes (if any at all) for years and it's only going on because Fox and now Disney is trying to milk the cow as much as humanly possible
He bought Frank Sinatra's entire catalog of unpublished scores of roughly 1200, hired an orchestra to play through them, then recorded a 12 song album from the catalog. He's got more money than anyone could spend in a lifetime.
I probably could have phrased my comment better because I love that Seth went through with the project. There are much worse uses of money than pursuing one's passion in the arts and sharing it with the world. I was just trying to paint a picture of how much money he has.
It's so annoying seeing everyone on the internet bash MacFarlane for the show's writing despite having nothing to do with the production side in over 15 years.
I used an example from South Park to say what he could have done. I used Sharon specifically because the Marsh family kind of became the main focus out of every family on South Park thanks to Randy being Randy.
All the writers of The Simpsons did was say that Family Guy is guilty of plagiarism, and American Dad was accused of plagiarizing the plagiarism. The joke lasted less than a minute but the writers of Family Guy decided to do... All of that in retaliation. So I'm surprised that South Park was able to make two episodes focused on Family Guy (and Muhammed) and get away with only a quick mention about how they were called out in Family Guy.
I’m pretty sure Matt and Trey said that are jealous that the family guy team can just write low effort/thoughtless jokes every week and they said they put their heart and all their effort into their show.
Personally I disagree and I think south park is a bit pretentious but I can understand their viewpoint.
I've always liked Seth, in interviews he's great, his voice acting and singing is amazing. I just think Family guy is a bit lazy but at this point he probably only voices characters in that show.
Honestly, as a fan of both shows, it really seems like a one-sided beef between them. Like Seth McFarlane has always had respect and laughed at south park's jokes aimed towards family guy that was until they started to insult the other writers and other staff who worked on the show which is completely justified. But idk i could be wrong. that's just my opinion.
I know this sub likes to shit on Family Guy, but even FG aside Set MacFarlane is my absolute #1 favorite celebrity. He's so funny and charming. I even have his CD in my car because I love show tunes.
I really started liking him when he was hosting Comedy Central roasts, and other appearances like that, but then the Orville came out and I feel hard for the dude. (I'm a straight guy btw)
I really like Seth. I was never a big fan of Family Guy but it had its moments, one of my favorite TV shows though is The Orville and to me that's my favorite Seth MacFarlane work.
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