Just think of MacFarlane as an ”All in the Family” type of guy
He’s a family man, evil infant, talking dog and sarcastic alien.
Meet Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Fox’s “Family Guy” and “American Dad” – as well as the voice of many of the characters on the two witty and ribald animated series.
This day, at a table reading for an episode of “Family Guy,” MacFarlane as title character Peter Griffin sings a song about working, provides baby Stewie’s biting commentary, and invests Brian the mutt with lively common sense.
Eventually, during an exchange between Brian and Peter, he gets the voices mixed up – to a chorus of laughter from some 60 people gathered in the conference room at MacFarlane’s office.
Fox originally canceled “Family Guy.” But now, in response to the success of the show’s DVDs and reruns on the Cartoon Network, the network has ordered 35 new “Family Guy” episodes – along with at least 13 episodes of MacFarlane’s newest series, “American Dad.”
The shows begin airing back-to-back tonight at 9 p.m. (KAYU-28 in Spokane).
“I’m too excited to gloat,” the 31-year-old MacFarlane says, laughing.
Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, co-creators and executive producers of “American Dad,” say it helps to be “twisted” if you work with MacFarlane.
“American Dad” is about Stan Smith (voiced by MacFarlane), a trigger-happy CIA agent obsessed with national security.
His ultraliberal daughter, Hayley, is voiced by MacFarlane’s younger sister, Rachael.
Roger, a space alien also voiced by MacFarlane, lives in the Smiths’ attic.
The family circle also includes Klaus, a German-speaking, sexually obsessed goldfish, the result of a CIA experiment gone wrong.
MacFarlane says the show’s concept “sprang from the climate during the (presidential) election … a very politically charged time, with the whole country split in half.”
He’s a big fan of “All in the Family,” which satirized the sharp cultural and political divisions in the 1970s, and feels “that’s what we are dealing with now.”
A liberal on most issues, MacFarlane co-created in Smith a right-wing character who is “completely the other end of the spectrum.”
But, he says, “It’s interesting, because by its nature, it does keep us in check from getting on a soap box, because at the end of the day, you have to like your main character.”
MacFarlane freely acknowledges his influences and inspirations.
He’s a fan of “The Simpsons” and of Gary Larson‘s “The Far Side” cartoons, in which the “animals were always drawn completely real.
“If you look at his cows, there’s nothing cartoony about them – other than that they are standing on their hind legs. But those leg joints are like real cows, only these have names like Warren, Paul and Steve.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Glenn Ford is 91. Singer Judy Collins is 66. Singer Rita Coolidge is 60. Actor Dann Florek (“Law & Order: SVU”) is 54. Actress Maia Morgenstern (“The Passion of the Christ”) is 43. Country singer Wayne Hancock is 40. Actor Charlie Schlatter (“Diagnosis Murder”) is 39. Country singer Tim McGraw is 38. Bassist D’Arcy (Smashing Pumpkins) is 37. Actor Darius McCrary (“Family Matters”) is 29.