Last week when Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane walked the picket lines with his fellow writers, he said that "Lois Kills Stewie", which aired this past weekend, was the last episode completed before the Writers Guild strike began. Now however, Variety reports that FOX is currently planning on running a brand new Family Guy, "Padre de Familia, this coming Sunday.
Like most animated series, Family Guy episodes take a long time to complete, with scripts written and the initial vocal recordings done many months before an episode airs, before the animation work begins. Then of course is the editing process and there are many final tweaks done to an episode before it's completed - everything from various technical work to any additional dialogue recording needed. And as MacFarlane said "We've been behind [schedule] for eight years. We're always scrambling to catch up to our air dates."
However, FOX and the show's production studio 20th Century Fox TV (both of whom, like IGN, are owned by News Corp) are apparently doing the final work on this coming episode without MacFarlane, and potentially three other episodes MacFarlane tells Variety were "relatively close to completion" before the strike began. MacFarlane acknowledges that the network and studio can legally do this, but adds that he strongly hopes they will reconsider the decision, bluntly telling Variety he thinks "It would just be a colossal dick move."
Seth MacFarlane in happier times: At the Oct. 29 Family Guy 100th episode celebration.MacFarlane notes "They've never done anything like this before, in which they've said, 'We're going to finish a show without you.' It's really going to be unfortunate and damaging to our relationship if they do it."
The Family Guy situation is an example of the precarious place the strike could leave the relationship between talent and the studios/networks in the future. Eventually the strike will end, but the decisions made while it's occuring could have a long lasting effect. MacFarlane has noted that he's technically currently not under contract, having been working under an interim agreement for the past year while details of a new long term contract were ironed out. If things got to the point where FOX's decision to finish and air Family Guy episodes without him led to him parting ways with them, it would be a very notable loss for the show. Not only is MacFarlane the creator and a writer/producer for the series, but he provides the voices for three of the main characters -- Peter, Brian and Stewie -- amongst others.
Like nearly every other striking creator/writer/showrunner MacFarlane is currently refusing to do any work on the series, meaning many of his usual duties would have to be filled by others to complete any more episodes, including voice acting. According to reports on deadlinehollywood.com, showrunners have agreed to return to work to do their non-writing producing duties, including completing already produced episodes, provided the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers) will return to the negotiating table. However, the AMPTP says they won't return to the negotiating table as long as the writers are striking at all, leaving the situation at an impasse.
Family Guy has turned into a highly profitable series, having been resurrected from cancellation thanks in great part to booming DVD sales - which is notably one arena where the writers have been fighting for higher residuals.
Though it was before the news about FOX finishing and airing a new Family Guy episode without him came out, MacFarlane told me last week "I hope to, when all this is over, continue to be working for them for a long time. Because the experience, despite all this, creatively has been very good."
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