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October 27, 2009

Microsoft Drops 'Family Guy' Tie-In

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So much for Stewie and Brian: Microsoft last night abruptly dropped plans to sponsor a special TV event with "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane. According to the software giant, an early peek at MacFarlane's draft for the show revealed it to be a bit too ribald for Microsoft.

"We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of 'Family Guy,'" Microsoft wrote in a statement explaining its decision. "But after reviewing an early version of the variety show it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand."

MacFarlane's shows, of course, frequently step well past the bounds of good taste, and Fox, no stranger to tasteless TV, has actually refused to air a few episodes of "Family Guy." Interestingly, MacFarlane will forge ahead with his variety show, but without Microsoft. Presumably, it will air with the usual commercial interruptions—originally, Microsoft would have been the only advertiser—but perhaps they could find another sponsor.

Bad taste ... Hm. How about Apple?

Related Reading:

End of Article



Reader Comments
@lotsa:

I grant you one free gloat. ;-)

jersey72 October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


Does ANYONE in Microsoft's marketing department know what the hell they're doing? I'm glad common sense prevailed here, but do these people actually watch the show, or did they just look at a spreadsheet with demographics? This is so emblematic of the "Microsoft Way": If it looks good on paper, if you can check off more ticks on a spreadsheet, if you pull out your "units" to compare length and you come out ahead, it must be the right way to go.

I guess common sense and taste just don't come into play.

lotsamystuff October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


Thanks jersey. I called it, didn't I?

lotsamystuff October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


You did. And I'll give you full marks. (As painful as it might be for me to do it.) ;-)

jersey72 October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


Agreed, lotsamystuff & jersey72. Paul, these frequent digs at Apple are getting rather old.

scottm99999 October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


@scott:

When he goes that far out of his way, and isn't at least creative, I agree. But again - it gets hits...

jersey72 October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


Paul must be the only *cough* 'journalist' *cough* on the planet who thinks Apple has bad taste.

I'd love to hear what he thinks Apple has done to deserve his jibe.

Brown Zune, Mr clippy clip (or whatever it was), Microsoft Bob, almost all hardware with a Microsoft badge on it, etc, etc, etc.

infiniteloop October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


Perhaps, Paul you could visit this site to witness the design awards Apple regularly wins, yet Microsoft doesn't.

Funny that.

http://awards.dandad.org/2008/

For those that don't know, the DandAD awards are the design industy's equivalent of the Oscars.

infiniteloop October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


I don't have a lot of experience with Macs, but their commercial are bad taste. Personally, I'm not big on the All-in-One monitor CPU thing. This includes the HP models, though.

However, Microsoft does make some good hardware. Their Keyboard and Mouse solutions are quite nice, and the new Zune looks pretty nice (although I do not have extensive experience with it).

As to Bob, this was a prototype, don't knock on a company for trying. Clippy was a good idea, for the time.

de Silentio October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


The great thing about Windows is that if you don't like HP laptops, you can get IBM laptops, or even Mac laptops and run Windows. WIth OSX, however, you are limited to only the Apple design.

de Silentio October 27, 2009 (Article Rating: )


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