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Seth MacFarlane can be considered one of two things; a
genius whose vision has become an internet phenomenon beloved by its
viewers with a loyal fanbase that has saved a cancelled show twice and
laughed in the face of network television or he can be considered a
un-PC hack whose misogynistic, homophobic, blasphemous and
racist. However, MacFarlane is Catholic, hires numerous talented
female performers and writers - it is worth knowing that without the
input of his producer Kara Vallow, 'Family Guy' would not be the
success it is now. The hack part comes from his looting of pop
culture references for his comic output, meaning he relies on askew
view of entertainment personalites for his laughs, unlike the more
observant and scute social sensibilites of 'The Simpsons' and 'King of
the Hill'. 'Family Guy' is renowned for the famous cutaway where the narrative is jettisioned momentarily for a pop-culture reference which serves no purpose to the plot other than to provide a quick laugh (my favourite is when Peter Griffin mentions the name Benjamin Disraeli - British Prime Minister of the late 1800s, you cut to a cartoon version of the PM sitting at the desk, he looks up to the camera and says 'You don't even know who I am') quick, punchy and quirky. As an extension of this and to extend his online audience and global family, MacFarlane launched 'Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy' online it received over three million hits in two days - the premise being an outlet for weird ideas updated weekly featuring MacFarlane's blog and video updates. While some of the scenes were obviously hit and miss, there was a lack of freshness with some scenes including 'The Frog and the Princess' -the first scene uploaded remaining online for too long. Which is where we are now with the DVD release of Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy - uncensored, un-PC to the maximum limits of taste and uninhibited hilarity. Featuring up to 50 comic shorts, some feature storylines and warped timelines (AIDS Patient Zero - about the first AIDS sufferer and how he came to aquire it) as well as its typical lack of praise for other American television shows Four Years of Entourage - condensed into a four second skit, making 'Entourage' as hated as 'Scrubs' in the MacFarlane household, 'Scrubs' because they stole the format of cutting away from the storyline to something unconnected after 'Family Guy' started the trend, 'Scrubs' took it to the mainstream. Obviously this is not just for fans, there are things you will not see online due to the questionable nature of the material and even on the internet you will still get people who report or flag up unfitting material, meaning even though MacFarlane can stream online new material for his fans, he is aware that people's private homes is the real place to watch all of his material, in thier own time. And it begs for repeat viewings to watch Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Popeye and Muhammed Ali have the most subtitled conversation in history and so you can answer the eternal question, 'How does a mountain climber relieve himself?' Hilarious viewing will ensue with these fun nuggets and you will tell your friends and family about it, and if you do not,they sure will hear you laugh.
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