TED 
FAMILY GUY 
AMERICAN DAD! 
On Wednesday, The Paley Center for Media hosted day eight of its annual PaleyFest Fall TV Previews for Fox’s new sci-fi series, “The Orville.” Created by Seth MacFarlane, “The Orville” follows the adventures of Ed Mercer (MacFarlane) and his crew aboard one of Earth’s space fleet vessels as they explore the cosmos.MacFarlane and castmates Adrianne Palicki, Halston Sage, J. Lee, Mark Jackson, Penny Johnson Jerald, Peter Macon, and Scott Grimes were joined by executive producers Brannon Braga and David Goodman on the...
Fuzzy Door Productions
Seth
MacFarlane
Principal / Actor / Director / Producer / Writer
Having built a Sunday night empire of Fox animated shows, it’s easy to forget that Fox canceled “Family Guy” in 2002, only to bring it back a few years later after robust DVD sales boosted the title’s profile. With a strong draw among tough-to-reach young male viewers, “Family Guy” melds its throwback format (dumb dad, voiced by MacFarlane, gets into scrapes) with clever modern, off-color tangents.
The success of the revived “Family Guy” led to a mini-empire of MacFarlane’s own making on Fox, including “American Dad” and “The Cleveland Show.” MacFarlane also detoured into science with a revival of “Cosmos” and onto premium cable with Starz’s “Blunt Talk.”
In addition to crooning on multiple albums, MacFarlane directed and co-wrote the big-screen, foul-mouthed talking teddy bear comedy “Ted,” which spawned a sequel. He also wrote, directed and starred in the comedy “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” which was a box office disappointment. Along the way, he hosted the Oscars in 2013.
MacFarlane studied animation at Rhode Island School of Design and his thesis film laid the groundwork for characters in “Family Guy.” Up next for the multi-hyphenate is Fox’s live-action comedy “The Orville,” an homage to “Star Trek,” which he created and stars in as the captain of a spaceship 300 years in the future.
