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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.
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Family Guy is endemic of ADD style sitcom animation.
It has none of the true satire, warmth, dimension or lasting humor of even mid-quality Simpsons, or hell, The Honeymooners. Arguing that that was never the intention of Family Guy is not an argument. There’s something dead about it as a show, and it was a relief to see South Park tear it to pieces.
It’s not offensive or groundbreaking, it’s just lowest common denominator entertainment, herd-fun like Dane Cook, Harold/Kumar, Bruno, etc. – maybe shocking to the boojy masses but not the least bit confrontational to the status quo (despite marketing efforts to suggest otherwise).
How seriously embarrassing for a writer to be caught chasing something as cheesy and industry establishment as an Emmy. Way to be ‘edgy’.
Family Guy doesn’t cross lines, it is a ‘youth lifestyle product’ from the Fox corporation, and looks like it.
The design of the characters is generic, a lame combination of Simpsons and Flintstones – this show is boring to look at and boring to experience.
In other words, relax, you’ll get your Emmy.
Unfunny infantile nerds. Sign of the times. Pathetic.
The always annoying Patrick Meighan, Culver City has finally found a way to be more annoying than his show. So this is just a win all the way around.
This definitely isn’t the first time I’ve encountered this. I once received a phone call from a writer whose show had been nominated in the Daytime Emmys for best children’s show. He somehow got the name of every academy member and personally called every one of them to ask for votes. (I can’t remember if he won.) In any case, how is this really any different from all the self-serving ads media companies place in the soon-to-be-extinct paper publications, promoting their movies, shows, actors, etc. to voters who may be reading those papers? Meighan’s letter is actually more clever and entertaining than those ads. That said, 30 Rock rocks! (Also love Flight of the Conchords) I agree with Meighan’s assessment that his letter will likely help him lose to 30 Rock by a smaller margin.
Meh. South Park was breaking boundries and crossing the line for humor far before Family Guy came along. And it’s still a much better, smarter and funnier animated comedy than FG will ever be.
Classless but funny. Kind of like everything Seth MacFarlane does. Well except for the funny part…
What’s sad for Patrick is, odds are he is NOT an emmy nominee. Writer/Producers have to go through a vetting process to be considered actual producer-nominees. The Academy is cracking down and unless you are actually an Executive Producer (or MAYBE a co-ep) there’s probably not a nomination coming your way.
Love Family Guy! It’s one of the rare shows that actually makes me laugh at loud.
Wait…. which one of the manatees who write “The Family Guy” is Patrick Meighan? Is he the chunky one, or the one with the cute little mustache?
Family Guy should win an Emmy. But not because it’s funny or good. It’s the best example of the shit that passes for TV these days. It’s derivative, hackery from “writers” who never met a pop culture reference that didn’t steal.
So give it to them. Not the vastly superior and edgy SouthPark or The Venture Brothers or even that other little show called The Simpsons. Lets give it to these jerkoffs because they asked for it.
Oh and by the way:
PALIN FOR PRESIDENT
10 OSCAR NOMINATIONS IS GREAT
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT
AMERICAN IDOL ROCKS
TYLER PERRY WINS AN IMAGE AWARD
AND JEFF ZUCKER IS A VISIONARY
While I find the email very tasteless and tacky, he’s just doing out in the open what so many people in this town are doing at bars, restaurants, and other back alleys…
We’ve never seen such naked trolling? Every single award nomination in Hollywood, from the Oscars to the Black List, is the result of campaigning. And why the hell not, considering that everyone’s careers is riding on them.
I just love the smug elitism of all the South Park fanatics.
You ever notice the mantra of these insufferable blowhards regarding this show: “It’s great social satire. It’s great social satire. It’s great social satire.”
Hey, look! Cartman just made an Obama reference! Wow, Parker and Stone are such insightful sociopolitical commentators! Boy, I can’t wait until the end of the show when Kyle (or is it Stan) muses about a common sense approach to everything in life and politics. Gee, if only our politicians weren’t muddle-headed narcissists.
And yeah, South Park doters! You tell everyone who has the audacity find amusement in the antics of the Family Griffin that they’re a bunch of idiotic troglodytes who should be forcefully sterilized. It’s really too bad there are too many viewers not as intellectually gifted and refined as you. The ratings bear this out. Family Guy trounces South Park regularly in the ratings. I’m talking reruns on Adult Swim at 11 PM routing first-run South Parks. Not only that, but Family Guy has built and maintained an audience in addition to getting resurrected by Fox whereas South Park peaked with 6 million viewers in the late 90s, but millions soon discovered Parker and Stone “wore no clothes” and they now barely pull in 2 million, which again, is lower than what Family Guy pulls.
Alas, South Park fellators, you always have your supremely-evolved cerebral cortices to fall back on.
His plea for votes is both funny, smart and charming. I have no problem with it. It’s actually kind of refreshing to see someone doing it for themselves rather than relying on some PR flack, studio or network to do it for them while they pretend it’s not all that important to them.
Hell, nothing wrong with this. He’s funny. His show is funny. Everyone votes for their friends anyway.
I say, go for it!
The real crime is that this show was nominated in this category at all. Ever since the show has come back it’s been empty, lifeless, and pretty awful.
Should have just stayed dead.
“O.K. Crackerby” deserves the comedy Emmy. It has been overlooked long enough. Burl Ives’ performance in the lead is a non pareil — funny, yet touching.
Whatever one’s opinion of the merits of Family Guy versus 30 Rock, the fact is that MacFarlane’s other series American Dad has been a stronger show than Family Guy for at least a year.
Nothing wrong with this at all, and like Family Guy itself, it’s completely self-aware. It’s not spitting any venom and in turn neither will I.
The only strange thing is that the nomination comes on the heels of some of the worst Family Guy episodes being produced. And that’s why it doesn’t deserve to win. Except for the early episode Cherry wrote about Joe’s wife finally giving birth, that one was great.
FG needs to overhaul it’s writing staff. Although look what happened to Weeds when it did that. That show is shit now.
Matt and Trey would never plead for awards because they’re too busy actually writing original and funny stuff. This writer Patric Megan seems to embody his show; a cloying, derivative, shock-value-first belch for attention that lives to hear its own voice.
Who EXACTLY is this guy’s agent and did that numbskull sign off on this? Surprised Nikki isn’t ready to out the rep who no doubt giggled all the way through his client’s piece of pathetic junk mail!
So apparently Oscar campaigns consist of spending millions of dollars on ads, investigating the other movies for dirt (c.f. Harvey Weinstein) and smearing them, and generally doing anything desperate to get votes.
Emmy campaigns, if you send out an email, you cross a line? One email? Seriously? John Scalzi did something like this before the Hugo noms were announced. That’s right: a tactic so tame fiction writers use it.
The email’s funny, and I am kinda shocked anyone, in this era of self-promotion, has a problem with it. And yeah, “Family Guy” is still funny.
What truly SUCKS about Family Guy getting this nomination is that the Simpsons and South Park have been so much more deserving over the years.
Both FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD depress me before Monday comes.
Fox had it right when they canceled this show the first and second times around.
Ever seen a Family Guy fan? Overweight mouth-breathers, all of them. They belly-laugh at every stupid mockery of a joke that is on that show, even the exact recreations of scenes from other movies. I’m guessing most of them aren’t above a fourth grade reading level.
Take crazyproduceguy’s first post and the opposite of it is true. Cancel this show once and for all and save me from ever having to hear Peter Griffin’s stupid voice ever again.