Microsoft Pulls Out of Family Guy Variety Show Deal

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Microsoft Pulls Out of Family Guy Variety Show Deal

Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com] has pulled out of a sponsorship deal with the upcoming Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show after it was shocked - shocked! - to discover that some of the material wasn't exactly family friendly.

The deal was part of a major marketing deal between Microsoft and Windows 7 [http://www.newscorp.com/] operating system. Under the terms of the deal, the Almost Live Comedy Show would run without commercials, using integrated "Microsoft marketing messages" between segments instead.

All was well until Microsoft executives attended a taping of the show on October 16. The session featured Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein, the voice of Lois Griffin, pitching Windows 7 - and also making jokes about "deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest," according to Variety [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010418.html?categoryid=14&cs=1]. Microsoft apparently contacted Fox and MacFarlane several times to express its concern, but ultimately decided it would be best to just give up on the whole thing.

"We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of Family Guy, but after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand," said a Microsoft spokeswoman, who added that the company still maintains "a good partnership with Fox, Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein" and is working with them "in other areas." The rest of the sponsorship deal, which will encompass News Corp. properties including Fox Sports, Hulu, 20th Century Fox and more, will be unaffected.

Far be it from me to question the competence of anyone in in the Microsoft marketing department or the executives who approved all this, but I do feel a certain obligation to suggest that perhaps next time you're thinking about signing up for a multi-million-dollar television marketing deal, you might want to, you know, actually check out the show you're planning to appear on first. Just a thought.


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More Fun To Compute

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Nov 18, 2008
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Family Guy is deeply mediocre and evangelized all over the place by annoyingly persistent people. Yeah, I always thought of it as more of Mac show than a Windows show.
 

j0z

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Had NO ONE in the Microsoft marketing department watched this show before? And I agree with your final thoughts Malygris.
Next time Microsoft, get a deal with South Park, I am sure you will find nothing offensive in that show.

[small]i want W7...[/small]
 

ma55ter_fett

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Oct 6, 2009
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Just goes to show that the heads at microsoft are too busy makeing money to have any fun, such as watching family guy... and BTW hulu where the fuck are the new episodes?
 

TaborMallory

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May 4, 2008
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Seriously, have Microsoft been living under a rock?
Ignorance of Family Guy's material... thinking Family Guy is creative... not even checking out the show first...? What's wrong with them?

AddytheGreat said:
Am I the only one that didnt laugh at this.... at all? Where was the joke, the spartacus bit?
Nope. As I understand, Family Guy is for people who can't distinguish between funny-random and what-the-fuck-random.

There is no joke, there is only random garbage.
 

cleverlymadeup

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why are people shocked that m$ does a ton of stupid things and don't really think about what they're doing?

they've had a ton of stupid ideas and advertising campaigns, this is nothing new
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Malygris said:
Far be it from me to question the competence of anyone in in the Microsoft marketing department or the executives who approved all this, but I do feel a certain obligation to suggest that perhaps next time you're thinking about signing up for a multi-million-dollar television marketing deal, you might want to, you know, actually check out the show you're planning to appear on first. Just a thought.
Ah Maly, your bitter cynicism never gets old. :)
 

DazZ.

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Jun 4, 2009
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That clip was fucking horrible to watch.
What the hell was that? It wasn't funny at all and all I could think about was what the voice actors were thinking as they were made to say it.
 

Falseprophet

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Shorter Microsoft: "In our efforts to market to the ever elusive 18-35 year old male demographic, we failed to realize that entertainment that appeals to 18-35 year old males tends to annoy, irritate or offend damn near everybody else."
 

JeanLuc761

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AddytheGreat said:
Am I the only one that didnt laugh at this.... at all? Where was the joke, the spartacus bit?
I'm a fan of Family Guy...but they've been trying way too hard the last couple of seasons.

"Road to the Multiverse" was an excellent episode though.
 

GonzoGamer

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More Fun To Compute said:
Family Guy is deeply mediocre and evangelized all over the place by annoyingly persistent people. Yeah, I always thought of it as more of Mac show than a Windows show.
I've never typed this cliche but: you sir win the internets.
Also you forgot to add "a little pretentious" to your list of adjectives.

I'm sure they're going to replace that air space with a spoof of the Mac guy PC guy ads but using Peter and Brian.
 

GonzoGamer

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AddytheGreat said:
Am I the only one that didnt laugh at this.... at all? Where was the joke, the spartacus bit?
I don't think it was a joke, I think it was just the marketing they had planned. Maybe that's the real reason MS cancelled.

Also the baby wants to see Sparticus because he's gay.
 

DaxStrife

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Nov 29, 2007
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Malygris said:
The session featured Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein, the voice of Lois Griffin, pitching Windows 7 - and also making jokes about "deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest," according to Variety [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010418.html?categoryid=14&cs=1].
Why is Microsoft surprised? All that makes up about half the jokes of Family Guy!
Besides, the ads don't exactly inspire confidence in Family Guy or Microsoft, it's just old clips re-dubbed; I've seen Abridged series with better lip-flap syncing than that!
 
Feb 13, 2008
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GonzoGamer said:
Also the baby wants to see Sparticus because he's gay.
And didn't used to be until they found the "evil baby" bit wasn't as funny, so they made him gay because gay people are funny, especially when they can edge in jokes about wanting to kill his mother because all gay people secretly want to kill women because they can't sleep with them and it's all so terribly funny just like that time that [celebrity] did [something abnormal].