Reddit AMA Recap: Seth MacFarlane

Lots to sift through here.

Seth MacFarlane dropped by Reddit yesterday for not one, but TWO AMA’s, where the first one was him having fun with tech difficulties and talking about his new show The Orville and the second one got more into his other projects including Family Guy and status updates on The Flintstones (not happening), Cosmos Season Two (sounds like this is happening) and more. Check out highlights from his AMA sessions below:

On Seth’s least favorite project

Ok you want the truth? The Cavalcade of Comedy. I didn’t feel like I had the time to put into it that it required. I thought it suffered as a result.

On whether or not Seth’s take on The Flintstones will ever happen

As of now, probably not. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out a way to find enough differentiation between a modern-day Fred Flintstone and… Peter Griffin.

On Family Guy clips being uploaded to Youtube and why doesn’t the show get more specific in terms of hand-drawn details

Clip uploading is the world we live in now — I see it as enthusiasm for the show. Then again, I don’t work for Fox legal. But personally, it doesn’t bother me.
As far as the other question, I believe a “less is more” approach to prime time animation works best for the comedy. There’s something funnier about a blank stare than there is about a detailed, emotive reaction

On who is the hardest and easiest to voice on Family Guy

These days, Brian is my favorite because it’s an easy vocal transition – Quagmire is the hardest because my voice is pretty much thrashed by the end of the session

What did Seth think of the South Park episode that lampooned Family Guy

I thought it was really funny. They flagged our cutaway setups, which had been getting a little fast and loose at the time. Props for that. RE: the cutaways themselves, though, they were off the mark a bit. The cutaways are actually the hardest things to write on the show. Story-centric jokes come a little easier, but when you have to conceive and invent a whole independent little sequence several times in an episode, it’s challenging as hell. Like doing a Far Side cartoon 10-12 times an episode.

On jumping back and forth between TV and film

I jump between TV and film for that reason. I felt fried after 12 years of Family Guy so I left to do Ted. At some point maybe I’ll wind up writing for Family Guy full-time again. I haven’t written on Family Guy since 2010 as I have left that to my co-writer Alec Sulkin

Family Guy returns with new episodes on October 1st