Hot Trailer: ‘The Wolverine’ 
Ric Robertson Taking Paid Summer Hiatus From Movie Academy … 
‘The Big C’ Finale Airs On Showtime Tonight 
Obama Scandals Bring MSNBC 7-Year Low While Fox News Rises 
Season Finale Of CBS’ ‘Mike & Molly’ … 
Ang Lee Departs FX Pilot ‘Tyrant’ 
DreamWorks Eyes January For ‘Glimmer’ And Dylan … 
Warner Bros TV & ‘Smallville’ Co-Creators … 
How Many Times Does Seth MacFarlane Have To Say No To The … 
UPFRONTS 2013: TV Spinoffs’ Almost Perfect Year 
OSCARS: Animated Feature Rule Change 
Cannes: Relativity Sets ‘Hunger Games’ Liam … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: Billboard Awards Surge From 2012, … 
Cannes: Park Chan-wook’s ‘Sympathy For Mr. … 
Cannes: Stanley Weiser To Script ‘Three Graves … 
Yahoo CEO Foresees Big Opportunities To Sell Ads On Tumblr 
Disney, Lucasfilm Animation Prep ‘Star Wars … 
Cannes: Deadline Crashes Palais Forum With Costa Gavras, … 
Hammond On Cannes: Sun Comes Out As Parties, Deals And … 
Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio In Talks To Join ‘X … 
‘Fast & Furious 6′ Breaks Records In … 
It’s rare that any writer openly campaigns for an Emmy. But Family Guy‘s Patrick Meighan sent around this amusing email that raised a few eyebrows to the many people who received it. “I’ve certainly known plenty of people nominated for Emmys (hell, who hasn’t been nominated?),” one of the recipients told me, “and I’ve never seen such a naked trolling for votes.” Appropriate or inappropriate? You decide:
Hey, friend-of-Pat. Hope you’re doing well.
Prolly you’ve heard that Family Guy got nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy today. It’s the first time that an animated show has been nominated in that category since 1961 (when The Flintstones lost to The Jack Benny Show). 1961! Alaska had just become a state. Internet porn about pregnant chicks was still a crazy, futuristic dream. And the leading cause of death in our nation among males age 18 to 40 was whistling at white women.
We at Family Guy are simultaneously thrilled and confused by today’s development. Mostly thrilled, though. And since I, in particular, am new to this whole Emmy scene, I’m gonna violate longstanding rules of Emmy decorum and beg you — if you happen to be a member of the TV Academy — to please consider wasting your Best Comedy vote on our cartoon picture!
Note that Academy members who wish to vote in this category NEED TO SIGN UP TO VOTE (see instructions and link below).
And if you, yourself, aren’t an Academy member but happen to know someone who is (and who is amenable to voting for homosexual cartoon babies and poop and rape jokes and whatever else), please forward this information to ‘em.
**THE DEADLINE FOR THEM TO SIGN-UP IS FRIDAY JULY 24.**
After that date, no one else will be able to join the voting pool. So, probably the pool of actual voters will be relatively small — all the more reason to get this to as many people as possible as soon as possible. Your vote (or your friend’s vote) could make the difference between Family Guy losing to 30 Rock by lots and lots of votes and Family Guy losing to 30 Rock by just lots of votes. That second thing
is what we’re shooting for, right there.Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Pat Meighan
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
Whatever it is, it’s precisely what one would expect from anyone at Family Guy. The show is funny, offbeat, and for those with a slightly perturbed sense of humor. It makes perfect sense that they would do the inappropriate thing and campaign for votes … because that’s what the show does. It breaks those boundaries. If there’s a line for humor and it just about reaches it, then Family Guy is sure to cross it.
It’s what makes the writing original and why it should win but probably won’t. 30 Rock’s gotten both bizarre but ironically safer. FG’s stayed bizarre and still crazy.
Oh, what the Hell. Give that manatee an Emmy! (And by running Pat’s smart ass email, you’ve all but doomed our precious “30 Rock.”)
What a strange thing to take umbrage to. I can’t see anything wrong with a friendly, cajoling email asking people to vote for your show. It’s not like he’s forcing anyone. What’s funnier is the person that forwarded this email to DHD faking some shock, worthy outrage at Patrick’s thrill and enthusiasm for an Emmy Nod. Don’t listen to them Patrick, get some T-shirts printed up to really rattle ‘em.
Juvenile and classless; like the show.
Dont you mean shallow and pedantic?
Well im going to be seeing Mark Hentemann at USC Wednesday at a panel so should be interesting…. hehe
Yes how utterly awful and terrible this is. How dare he try to sway voters with a cheap email. What’s wrong with this man? Doesn’t he realize the appropriate method is to spend a fortune on full page ads in the trades the way studios and networks do? Who does this fellow think he is? I would only vote for a show that wastes money on full page trade ads. I’d certainly never vote for Family Guy unless FOX starts pissing money away on expensive ads. That’s the only way to convince me and all of my fellow voters.
“…and I’ve never seen such a naked trolling for votes.” Shows how out of touch the source is… Kathy Griffin nakedly trolls and wins.
I think the email was cute and appropriate. Good for the Family Guy team for sending it.
Family Guy is so unfunny, it’s not funny. Think about it.
@crazyproduceguy – Agreed. And don’t most nominees lobby behind the scenes?
Don’t really have a problem with this. In fact, Hollywood is so dependent and used to ‘third party’ affiliates promoting and speaking for the main entity, that it’s almost refreshing to see the writer do it himself. Let him have his moment and show pride in his work.
Pat doesn’t think he will win and he’s right. And what crazyproduceguy said. Wait til The Hangover is nominated for best picture. I wanna see that naked trolling.
It’s obviously a joke. The last line of the email makes the intent clear.
I wonder if Matt Stone or Trey Parker did this if there would be the same reaction. Probably not. Same with the Simpsons. Lots of jealousy out there I guess.
100% cool with that. What’s the big deal?
I think it’s hilarious and how is it different from the hundreds of thousands of dollars that studios and networks spend on full page ads in the trades? Those just take up space… this one made me laugh.
Wait, what is this? A family guy writer doing something extremely ham handedly? Well. I. Never.
HEY it’s networking…they need to be pro-active
How is this any different from a presidential candidate, or any political candidate for that matter, asking the people to vote for him? It’s fair and the American way. Besides, does anyone doubt that producers, writers, directors, actors and members of other guilds wouldn’t ask friends and colleagues to vote for them when they get Emmy or Oscar nominations? Seems like a very smart, very human thing to do.
Sorry pat and Seth,
No awards for you.
Seth will just have to settle with having lots of money.
Other than it being funny, who cares if The Family Guy guy campaigns for an Emmy? Colbert essentially does the same thing with his Tony Bennett/Barry Manilow jokes. Maybe there can be a new Emmy category for Best Emmy Campaign? Besides, as said recipient points out, “I’ve certainly know plenty of people nominated for Emmys (hell, who hasn’t been nominated?).” Um, exactly.
“Breaking boundaries”? This isn’t Rosa Parks. The only boundaries it breaks are the ones that suggest the best comedy is within an actual narrative structure. Family Guy had some quality to it in the first season or two, but it’s quickly devolved into nothing more than sarcasm and pregnant pauses.
There’s a difference between original and simply different. Family Guy is an example of the latter, and not in a good way.
Wait: Family Guy has writers?
Why do you need a writing staff if every show consists of ripping off The Simpsons, literally re-staging scenes from movies and TV shows (under the guise of spoofing them) and jamming in pop culture references if there’s any room left?
people ask their friends to sign up and vote all the time. membership in the tv academy isn’t automatic. this time, it got to you, Nikki, so the e-mail came out for general comment. but there’s nothing particularly weird about it or even wrong — he isn’t stuffing ballot boxes, nobody has to vote for him, he just wants people who qualify for emmy voting to sign up and hopes they’ll vote for family guy.
I agree with the first poster, he mentions he’s breaking decorum and is self aware enough to enjoy the novelty of the nomination, yet acknowledging it’s a real longshot. Their submissions were very clever with the packaging making fun of emmy voters and sending an episode where they go to germany during world war II. I don’t remember the exact line but something like you voters like to vote for nazi’s etc. It worked. But this is email is consistent with the campaign they ran to get nominated.
Has anyone ever seen the pressure put on employees at a Network or a Studio to not only become members of the Academy (see Fox in particular who actually pays for you to join) but to “be sure” to vote for their own nominated shows. This is such a benign note from a writer who loves working on his show and as he points out, knows it would be historic if for some reason Family Guy were to win (never going to happen). This is a much ado about nothing posting. Let the guy be happy and let him do anything he can to drum up votes for his show. What the heck, the Studio is doing this and much more to do the same.
Anyone out there who doesn’t already know that Family Guy is WAY FUNNIER that 30 Rock obviously has never watched Family Guy. Treat yourself.