Questions about anything

[minor muppetz]

Not that I watch "Family Guy" anymore, but why was Brian killed off, again?

You can find the answers here: http://www.ibtimes.com/why-did-fami...s-killed-dog-life-brian-episode-video-1484056

 

[charlietheowl]

I just found out that along with the most recent format change, you can no longer rate episodes of shows at The AV Club. Why did they do away with the rating system by readers?

They said in an article about the site's revision that the ability to rate episodes would be back by the end of the year.

 

[Drtooth]

Not that I watch "Family Guy" anymore, but why was Brian killed off, again?

As much as everyone supposedly hated Brian being a mouthpiece and a way for the writers to blow off steam from the Bush years and religious zealots, that really shouldn't have been the character to die off.

Among other reasons, the Brian and Stewie adventure episodes were becoming the best of the series. Especially since the show was polluted by Peter becomes obsessed with something and acts like a child for 20 minutes. The Road To episodes were something I actually looked forward to. It was much better than the cast sitting around saying "This is worse than the time [Peter did something stupid]" and being out of character mean to each other.

I guess they took Brian because the obvious choice was Meg. Yeah, every so often they have an episode where Meg gets to be treated like a character, but more often than not, they snap back and do the "we don't know how to write for this character Fox pretty much made us put in the show, so let's do mean things to her." And those jokes got tired and heavy handedly sadistic. Especially when Lois did it. Hey, wasn't Lois the one who made Quagmire pull a statutory when the popular kids threw meat at her? Yeah...

There is going to be a fan revolt. If anything, the entire show should be the thing put to sleep.

 

[D'Snowth]

What, FAMILY GUY is suddenly unlike all other cartoons, the characters don't com eback to life in the next episode anymore? Wasn't Lois killed once?

 

[Drtooth]

Family Guy kinda does kill off characters for real, and then at the same time, they kill off characters for a gag.

As for Lois... that was a simulation... and even then, Stewie didn't really kill her. She came back at the end of the episode as a cliff hanger.

 

[minor muppetz]

Family Guy kinda does kill off characters for real, and then at the same time, they kill off characters for a gag.

As for Lois... that was a simulation... and even then, Stewie didn't really kill her. She came back at the end of the episode as a cliff hanger.

And then there was the time they killed off James Woods for real, but then they later revealed that he was given special hospital treatment only given to celebrities (has James Woods ever really been that famous, though?) which meant that he's now alive and well again.

Among other reasons, the Brian and Stewie adventure episodes were becoming the best of the series. Especially since the show was polluted by Peter becomes obsessed with something and acts like a child for 20 minutes. The Road To episodes were something I actually looked forward to.

Maybe they can do those kinds of episodes with Brian's replacement.

I guess they took Brian because the obvious choice was Meg. Yeah, every so often they have an episode where Meg gets to be treated like a character, but more often than not, they snap back and do the "we don't know how to write for this character Fox pretty much made us put in the show, so let's do mean things to her."

Meg would have been an obvious choice, not just because she's the butt monkey of the show, but because Mila Kunis has suddenly become a bigger star in recent years and she doesn't do other voices (Seth Green does do other voices besides Chris, but not really any other major characters... There is Neil Goldman, who hasn't been used much in the last several years, though he made a sudden cameo appearance recently). In fact a few episodes ago there was an episode that ended with it being said that Meg died a year later. I had wondered if that was just supposed to be a joke or if it was telling us that she's the one who would be killed.

Though with all the abuse she gets I wonder if her death would have been taken seriously. Then again the others do tend to mistreat Brian at times, so it's a little surprising that they took his death seriously (though not as surprising as if they took Meg's death seriously).

 

[minor muppetz]

So does anybody have any idea what creators of TV shows do when they send their first pitch of the show to a company to produce?

What I would do, and I don't know if this is normal (and I don't know if anybody here knows the answer, but they might), would be to send in a letter with info about the format, the kinds of episodes I would want to do and certain running gags/once-per-season episodes, a rundown of all characters I have ideas for (with a description of who they are, running gags and catch phrases for those characters, maybe even episode ideas for those characters), and a rundown of the kinds of regular locations.

 

[D'Snowth]

That's bound to be rejected on the spot, minor muppetz.

One of the things I learned from Sid & Marty Krofft is when it comes to pitching an idea to a network, they're not even likely to read any kind of outline you submit to them. Networks like to be able to SEE what it is that's being presented to them, which is why test pilots (not to be confused with actual pilot episodes that kick off the series) are sometimes done, especially if the series sounds like an odd concept on paper... shows like THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, THE MUNSTERS, and even I LOVE LUCY had test pilots before their series were picked up.

But, getting back to the Kroffts, what they often did when it came to pitching shows to networks was show them what their art department was working on, so their pitches were basically large scrapbooks full of the conceptual artwork of their characters, the setting, and such, and maybe something like a storyboard of what the premise of the show would be about.

So, yeah, it's a good idea to make your pitches and presentations as visual and pictoral as possible.

 

[minor muppetz]

I can't believe they would reject a pitch just because it was so detailed about what the creator wanted.

So it makes sense that they would want to see drawings of the characters, if it's an animated show (and maybe a puppet show), but what if it's a normal live-action show (meaning the main cast is as normal as they can be, there's no supernatural elements, etc.)?

Regarding test pilots, are creators supposed to just use their own money to send a test pilot to companies or networks, unsure if they'll even get picked up (I guess that's not too different from a company spending money on a pilot or test pilot, except it's an individual without much money)? And if the creator doesn't have experience in the business, are they just supposed to get a camera and whoever they can get (as opposed to people who would be cast in the end)?

But after reading this, I remembered that I have read that a pilot script for The Brady Bunch was written before it was pitched to the networks (and the networks all liked it but wanted changes). I guess that might be common, to write the pilot scripts and then send it to the networks (I wonder if the pilot scripts have non-script information about the show). I also remember now that an episode of Family Guy had Brian write a pilot script that had previously gone unpitched.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Speaking of Krofft shows, in the opening credits of H.R. Pufnstuf, Jimmy gets on board the boat, Witchiepoo turns the boat into a monster that grabs Jimmy, he dives overboard to escape, and ends up on the shores of Living Island. But during the struggle, even though he saves Freddie, he loses his hat.

Did his hat float away to Liddsville?