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Among countless "Take On Me" homages and parodies, this is one of the weakest.

The post Why General Mills Missed The Mark With This ‘Take On Me’-Inspired Spot appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Walt Disney was a Nazi! Who cares if it's true or not?

Some popular animated programs are being recognized for the first time this year.

Real-Life Peter Griffin (aka Robert Franzese) explains why he does what he does.

It’s been 48 years since the iconic Batman television series first aired. Adam West, the man behind the cowl, was at the New York Comic Con on Friday afternoon promoting the new television box set and Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham video game that will available for purchase on Tuesday, Nov. 11. The footage has been digitally re-mastered and available in its entirety except for the full length motion picture.

Here are five things I found interesting during the West’s victory lap:

From East to West: Apparently, West was friends with the legendary Bruce Lee. “Bruce Lee and I were friends. We used to surf together out on the beach, strangely enough. Bruce was a very quiet, introspective guy, and he was a dream to work with because he did everything that was required and more.”

Adam West never auditioned for the role: “They seen a commercial for a film I had done before I went to Europe to film some spaghetti westerns. When I got back, my agent said they want to see me at Fox and ABC because they saw something I did that they liked, and I didn’t know what it was. I went out and read the pilot script by Lorenzo Semple Jr. I thought it was brilliant and insanely funny, and I said “I’ll do it.” I knew they wanted me, but they tested others to give me a little fright.”

Julie was his favorite Catwoman: West gave some mad respect to the late great Frank Gorshin. West admitted that his favorite arch-nemesis was Gorshin’s Riddler. There were three actresses that play Catwoman but the stunning Julie Newmar had a special place in his heart. “It has to be Julie because I worked with her first and the most. She promised to date me when she got out of jail. Time off and good behavior.”

Gray Ghost in the works?  “I enjoyed the Gray Ghost. There’s some talk about doing it as a series. People ask me about that a lot, and Family Guy.”

Money talks… Someone from Guinness World Records was in the crowd, and she asked Mayor West how did he feel about breaking the record for most screen appearances as Batman and if he would like to break any more records. West signed and said “The highest paid.”

Legendary Hollywood actress Lauren Bacall has died at the age of 89.

While Fox’s Sunday night lineup was dubbed Animation Domination in May 2005, it did not officially become all-animated until 2010. Now, the announcement of their fall 2014 schedule reveals that the cartoons will be ceding some of their Sunday night territory to live-action comedies "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "Mulaney," which will be taking over the 8:30 and 9:30 time slots, respectively.

Considering that three crossover events have already been announced for next year, 2014 may just become the year of the cartoon mash-up.

With still three weeks left Phineas and Ferb join forces with Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk and Thor in Phineas & Ferb: Mission Marvel, it was announced at Comic-Con that the angle-headed stepbrothers would star in an hour-long episode that relocates them to the desert planet of Tatooine, living next door to a popular sci-fi figure named Luke Skywalker. When plans for destroying the Death Star accidentally fall into their hands, they are recruited into the Galactic rebellion, and…well, you know the rest.

In addition, there have been recent announcements that The Simpsons will be rubbing shoulders with not just one, but two sets of their ‘toon contemporaries when they team-up with both Futurama and Family Guy. Serving as either The Simpsons season 25 finale (May 2014) or the season 26 premiere (fall 2014), Futurama’s Bender will travel back in time with the intention to kill Bart before his actions negatively affect the future. While a date to-be-determined The Family Guy episode will feature the Griffins becoming fast friends with Homer and his family after a road trip leads them to Springfield.

While these episodes are guaranteed to be fan pleasers, they would also appear to be carefully coordinated gambits for ratings. As less and less media companies own more and more entertainment properties, expect to see these kinds of crossovers with greater regularity in the future.

In early January, I posted a clip from Family Guy that one of our readers thought was making of the drawing style in the Fox show Bob’s Burger. Yesterday, I received an email from Alex Carter, a producer on Family Guy, who explained the backstory of the gag. Alex explains that Bob’s Burger creator Loren Bouchard suggested to the Family Guy crew that they “take a shit on my show.” So if you’ve been losing sleep over this gag, rest assured, they’re all friends.

My thanks to Alex for writing to clear the air. Below is the full text of his letter:

Hello Cartoon Brew amigos! My name is Alex Carter, a writer for Family Guy. Don’t stop reading, just continue. A recent episode I wrote, called “Space Cadet”, contained a somewhat controversial joke when it aired in January. The joke involved Chris getting a failing grade in art by submitting an art project showing the face of Bob Belcher, from Bob’s Burgers. Some of you guys here decried us for bashing an “actually good show”. But, I just have to admit some stuff.

First, Loren Bouchard, the creator of the show, was in on the joke the whole time. Everyone here in the Fox writing department knows each other pretty well. Bob’s Burgers was in between production between the show’s second and third seasons, so Loren went to a pitch meeting one day to see how our show works. We were pitching out ideas for “Space Cadet”, and Loren told us his idea that Family Guy, would, in his own words, “take a shit on my show.” And things went on from there.

Second: How did we discover the whole controversy? Well, after episodes air, we look on review sites and see what went right and what went wrong. That way, it will help us for future episodes. And Brian, one of our writers, showed me a link to Amid’s article about the incident. I was a little upset, so I was hesitant to e-mail you until now. I just want to say that even though I may disagree with your opinion, Amid, I respect it.

Third, some of you mentioned that it was “all Seth’s fault”. I just want to make something clear: Seth has had no involvement in the writing process nor the animation process since about season six. If you want to blame someone, blame Steve Callaghan and Mark Hentemann. They’ve been running the show for three seasons now, and they have a very tight grip on the show’s content. So, if you see something you don’t like, don’t blame Seth. But this season, Rich Appel was brought back on the show, Steve left for American Dad, and Mark was demoted to producer, and it’s been a little freer than other seasons. Let me say this, I think you guys might enjoy next season.

Thank you guys for taking the time to read this message (if this is posted on the site), and want to let you know I read Cartoon Brew every day. It’s a nice place, and I hope it continues for years to come.

Sincerely,
Alex Carter
Supervising Producer
Family Guy

I'm not sure if it has more to do with the lack of buzzworthy new shows, the CW's early start or the fact that folks never really stopped talking about "Glee" when it went off-air (mission accomplished, FOX), but this fall TV season totally snuck up... Read the rest of this post

FCC gets an earful for 'Family Guy' (as the most frequent offender for broadcast indecency. Surprised? Also has MTV become more lax towards violent behavior in the "The Real World' cast?) (Los Angeles Times) (Best Week Ever) - Recession Kids (super... Read the rest of this post

Heh.

Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog | Permalink | 3 comments
Tags: Animation, Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, video

Today we bring you another installment of Youth Media Movers and Shakers. We've culled through industry publications looking for the recent executive placements we think you should know about. If you have executive news that you want us to highlight... Read the rest of this post

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