That’s what worries me about Family Guy’s attempted comeback. If all the fans who were begging for its return are just going to download illegal copies before the shows even air, it’s not going to work.
I don’t think it’ll be a problem. Every episode of the first 3 seasons was being traded before the DVDs came out, and before Cartoon Network started airing the show, and that didn’t put a dent in demand. It doesn’t look like any more episodes have been leaked early… of course, every episode will still be shared as soon as it airs, but that happens to every other TV show too.
In fact, according to one article I read, Family Guy episodes were more popular in the P2P crowd than porn! :eek:
Is it just me or did the opening scene air somewhere before? I can’t figure out why but when I saw it I had the strangest feeling of deja-vu.
Have you ever watched Fox before? The network that had Married with Children on it in the early 90’s? Fox has always been known as the most raunchy network.
I can’t remember if they did the “previously on FG” as part of the opening or just the promos, but the promos recycled scenes from the ep where Brian goes to Hollywood (they did a series of fake “previously on” shots, stuff like Chris kneeling over Quagmire’s body, Lois as a scientist, etc.).
The pacing of the joke is a FG standard, the “make it so long that it stops being funny and then starts getting funny again.” See Peter’s knee injury in Wasted talent.
The list gag itself was similar to a Simpsons gag where Homer listed off all the jobs he’d held in the course of the series.
I wasn’t appalled when Quagmire said “Jackpot!” That is one of the best in the series. The Pinocchio joke was lame and played out too long. If it had lasted a few seconds with Geppetto bending over and asking him to lie, it probably would have been funny. All IMHO, not fact, of course.
This time-honored technique is known as “comedy torture.” My favorite example is Norm MacDonald’s blank stare-into-the-camera when a joke flops on Weekend Update.
My favorite is the rake scene with Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons.
I just watched that scene of the Season 5 DVD. The episode was running short so they added several more hits to fill in time and duped Grammer’s reaction as needed. Grammer was surprised when he saw the final product.
I think this recent article might be relevant. It describes what happened with Battlestar Galactica, which aired in the UK three months before it aired in the US, and was shared online by fans in the meantime.