[lbo-talk] Fox suddenly decides its cartoon is tasteless

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Tue Oct 21 04:08:07 PDT 2008


[when it suggests McCain/Palin are nazoid]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/fox-family-feud-over-family-guy/

October 20, 2008, 7:25 pm

Fox Family Feud Over 'Family Guy'

By Brooks Barnes

A Sunday night episode of the Fox animated series "Family Guy" stirred

up trouble by suggesting rather directly that Nazi officers would have

supported the McCain-Palin ticket. And it was another arm of the News

Corp. conglomerate, Fox News Channel, that first reported on the

episode.

Fox (the broadcast network) aired the episode in which Stewie, the

obnoxious baby character at the center of the series, and Brian, a

talking dog, traveled back in time to Poland during the 1939 German

invasion. The characters ambush Nazi soldiers in an alley and steal

their uniforms so they can travel without drawing attention. Putting on

an overcoat, Stewie notices a McCain-Palin campaign button affixed to

the lapel. "Huh, that's weird," Stewie remarks.

"Family Guy" has never been known for its taste level. One recent

episode depicted Jesus binge drinking, and the hit show once got in

trouble with the Federal Communications Commission for showing a

partially nude cartoon character. The series' creator, Seth MacFarlane,

is a prominent supporter of Barack Obama's presidential bid. So fans of

the program seemed to take the scene in stride: by mid-day Monday, the

vast majority of blog mentions of the episode were favorable.

And the phones at the network's Los Angeles press office were silent

until ... a call arrived from the Fox News Channel asking for comment

for a story it was preparing and which subsequently appeared on the Fox

News Web site.

According to a Fox executive who would not talk on the record for fear

of angering his News Corporation colleagues, this generated more calls

from other reporters.



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