Show runner Seth MacFarlane and his group of producers have figured out a way around the Emmy policy that have always forced them to identify Family Guy as either an animated or comedy series. They are able to do so by classifying “Blue Harvest,” the Star Wars parody that served as the show’s hour-long season premiere last fall, as a special rather than a regular episode of the series.
This means that for the upcoming Emmy race, Family Guy will be entering in the animated program category, and for the first time, in the comedy series category. This may possibly upset some of the producers of Family Guy‘s rival animated series, which have struggled for years over the Emmy eligibility issue. However, entering the reclassified episode in two categories has been deemed legitimate for Family Guy.
“It always seemed a little odd that we were up against The Powderpuff Girls, ” Family Guy exec producer Chris Sheridan told Variety. “Our true creative competition is other half-hour shows, like Two and a Half Men and My Name Is Earl. We considered in the past switching from the animation category to the regular comedy series category, but we didn’t do it. The only way our animated people could be recognized was to stick with that.”
Of course, there’s no guarantee Family Guy will actually earn a live-action nod. Fans will just have to find out when Emmy nominations are announced on July 17.
Set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, Family Guy centers on a dysfunctional family consisting of blue-collar patriarch Peter Griffin, stay-at-home wife Lois Griffin, teenage daughter Meg, teenage overweight son Chris and diabolical infant Stewie, who peaks fluently with an upper-class accent and stereotypical arch-villain phrases.
Catch new episodes of the seventh season of Family Guy in September on FOX.
-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Variety
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
