Seth MacFarlane talks FAMILY GUY, Rebooting STAR TREK, Disney, THE FLINSTONES and More
THR recently did an in depth interview with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, and in the interview he talks about anything and everything. For example, how he would like Family Guy to end, and he has a desire to reboot Star Trek for TV. He talks about why he hates Disney, and gives some info on the upcoming reboot of The Flinstones he's developing.
Here's some interesting information on MacFarlane on what he's done and where he's going. I strongly suggest you read the full article for this it may be long, but it's worth it. The article is a great read, and there's a lot of interesting stuff that you might want to know about MacFarlane and his plan for world domination. Read over and tell us what you think!
HE'S AMBIVALENT ABOUT FAMILY GUY'S CONTINUED SUCCESS
"Part of me thinks that Family Guy should have already ended. I think seven seasons is about the right lifespan for a TV series," he says of a show that launched its tenth season last month. "I talk to the fans and in a way I'm kind of secretly hoping for them to say we're done with it. There are plenty of people who say the show is kind of over the hill… but still the vast majority go pale in the face when I mention the possibility." As he sees it, there’s something to be said for wrapping up the series and doing a movie once every couple of years. "Creatively, that would be the way to do it for me. Do a really fantastic final episode while the show is still strong," he says, acknowledging that there are plenty of powerful reasons -- including the viewer demand and the amount of people employed by the series, some 300 people in total -- to give him pause. (There is a deal in place for a Family Guy movie, which he is writing with series co-producer Ricky Blitt; it's now a matter of finding time in MacFarlane's schedule to make it happen.)
HE'S NOT MUCH OF A DISNEY FAN
Though he dabbled in theater and then stand-up comedy (an impression of Bill Clintontalking to Scooby Doo was a standout) during his time at Rhode Island School of Design, MacFarlane was there to become an animator. A career at Disney, which had just releasedBeauty and the Beast, was his dream job. "That's until I found out that it was essentially Theresienstadt," he cracks, referencing the Nazi concentration camp known for what appeard to be a thriving cultural scene. During those college years, he became fixated with a newer series called The Simpsons, which he believed was rewriting all of the rules of the primetime animation genre. (He still watches on occasion.) Among the draws was its less-is-more visual style, which MacFarlane claims is the secret to the genre. "It's the simplicity," he explains, arguing if The Simpsons was animated by Disney, it would be "a hundred times" less funny.
HE'D LOVE TO REBOOT STAR TREK
MacFarlane is particularly eager to reboot one of his favorite franchises, Star Trek, for TV. "I don't know who would give me the keys to that car," he jokes, acknowledging that the films have been so profitable for Paramount that he isn't so sure they have a lot of interest in getting back into the TV business. "But I’d love to see that franchise revived for television in the way that it was in the 1990s: very thoughtful, smartly written stories that transcend the science fiction audience.”
THE NEW 'FLINTSTONES' WON'T BE TOO DIFFERENT FROM THE OLD FLINTSTONES
To hear MacFarlane tell it, there isn't a tremendous amount that needs refurbishing with The Flintstones, outside of such things as the characters' devices, which he suggests were prehistoric versions of 1960s technology in the original version. (Expect iPads in the MacFarlane version.) The updates will be more evident in the series' writing: "Fred skipping out on the opera to go to the lodge is something that probably would need to be a little fresher in 2011,” he says of a series efforts that will be broader and more accessible, a la The Simpsons, as opposed to the bawdier, more irreverent Family Guy.
DON'T EXPECT ANY SIMPSONS-STYLE SHOWDOWNS WITH FOX
MacFarlane doesn't foresee having Simpsons-esque troubles with his voice actors, whom he considers close friends. "They know I have their backs, and I know they're never going to gouge us to an excessive degree," he laughs. "So I don't anticipate us having the standoffs that The Simpsons have had." (The Simpsons was recently renewed for a 24th and 25th season following a public contract battle between Fox and the show’s voice cast.)
HE GOT HIS START DOING WEEKLY NEWSPAPER CARTOONS FOR $5 APIECE
MacFarlane has been drawing -- the Flinstones, Woody Woodpecker, whatever he saw on television -- since he was two-years-old. Growing up the son of a butcher in Kent, Connecticut, he got his practice scribbling cartoon characters on customers' grocery bags. "It was a small town so everybody knew everybody else and the locals tolerated it," he shrugged, acknowledging that some kept his doodlings, which undoubtedly hold value now. (His recently widowed father has many more pieces saved in his nearby Los Angeles home.) By nine, he was hired to do a weekly cartoon strip titled Walter Crouton for the local newspaper, The Kent Good Times Dispatch. The gig, which he kept until he went off to college at Rhode Island School of Design, initially paid him $5 per strip, but was later upped to $10.