Profile of Seth MacFarlane on Famous Like Me

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (born October 26, 1973 in Kent, Connecticut) is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the animated series Family Guy and American Dad!

Biography

Early career

MacFarlane received his diploma at the Kent School in Connecticut, whose headmaster publicly rebuked MacFarlane for his "low" brand of humor. Seth attended and studied animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. While in college, he created a short film entitled The Life of Larry, an early ancestor of Family Guy. After graduation, he was hired by Hanna-Barbera Productions and later worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoon series, which included Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory and Cow and Chicken. He was also a writer for the animated series Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry called Larry and Steve, which featured the bumbling middle-aged Larry and his highly intelligent dog Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. Executives at Fox saw both Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters.

Family Guy

Family Guy is an animated series which follows the life of the Griffin family. Peter Griffin, the father, is a loud, obnoxious, sexist, inconsiderate oaf with a thick middle-class New England accent (which strangely is only shared by his wife but not any other members of the family). Peter's wife, Lois Griffin, is usually a kind, calm, level-headed housewife who can sometimes be as crazy as her husband and kids; she teaches piano lessons out of the house part-time while tending to the children. Meg Griffin is the only daughter and oldest child of the family, craving for social interaction and wishing the rest of her family would respect her privacy and longing for good looking James Dean-esque cool kid, Craig Hoffman. Though just plain and not really repulsive looking, although several people in a department store set themselves on fire and jumped out of windows on seeing her, she has been the butt of many jokes. Chris Griffin is the middle child, a son who is subnormally intelligent, but sweet, and has a talent for drawing. Brian Griffin is by far the most eloquent and rational member of the household. He is a talking dog who drinks, smokes, sings, acts, and is Peter's best friend. Finally, "Baby" Stewie Griffin is a talking, genius infant with a head the size of a watermelon and an effete, archaic English accent, who is bent on world domination and the destruction of all who oppose him. He especially wants to kill his mother, Lois, but that aspect has been considerably played down in later episodes of the show. On the show, MacFarlane provides the voices of Peter, Brian, Stewie, and sex-maniac neighbor Glen Quagmire.

Family Guy first aired in 1999 after the Super Bowl on Fox. Nielsen ratings for the pilot episode (known as "Death Has a Shadow") were excellent and Family Guy's future looked optimistic. However, after three seasons and 50 episodes, Fox cancelled Family Guy. A huge undertaking by the show's loyal fanbase worked to bring it back to life, and, combined with record DVD sales of the three aired seasons and the show doing very well on Adult Swim, led to Family Guy returning to Fox on May 1, 2005.

American Dad!

American Dad!, MacFarlane's latest undertaking, first aired after Super Bowl XXXIX as a sneak preview on February 6, 2005. It then began airing regularly on Fox on May 1, 2005. It focuses on Stan Smith, a CIA agent convinced that terrorists are everywhere, even in his own household. He has a loving wife and two children, along with two unusual houseguests: Roger, the extraterrestrial alien who rescued Stan from Area 51, and Klaus the goldfish with the brain of a German man implanted into him.

MacFarlane has said that his discontent towards George W. Bush's presidency was a motivating factor in the development and plot of the show.

Notable guest appearances

MacFarlane is an avid fan of Star Trek and has appeared as the engineer Ensign Rivers on the show Star Trek Enterprise in the Season 3 episode "The Forgotten" (3.20) and the Season 4 episode "Affliction" (4.15). He also appeared in a 2002 episode of the Gilmore Girls entitled "Lorelai's Graduation Day," as a classmate of Lorelai's.

September 11, 2001 experience

On September 11, 2001 MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 after being a keynote speaker at his alma-mater in Rhode Island. In a 2005 episode of Too Late with Adam Carolla, MacFarlane stated that he was actually trying to make the flight, but arrived about ten minutes after final boarding ended. He was told he would need to wait for the next flight and then sat down next to someone as they were watching the terrorist attacks and he said to the man beside him "I was supposed to be on that flight." At 8:45am, one hour after the departure of American Airlines Flight 11, it was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

In an interview in USA Today a few days after the attacks, he said that he was unable to get in touch with his office or his family in Los Angeles. He ended up driving half way across the country before he finally was able to contact his office and parents to tell them that he was all right.

In an interview with tvshowsondvd.com, Seth had the following to say about his 9/11 close call: "The only reason it hasn't really affected me as it maybe could have is I didn't really know that I was in any danger until after it was over, so I never had that panic moment. After the fact, it was sobering, but people have a lot of close calls; you're crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car....this one just happened to be related to something massive. I really can't let it affect me because I'm a comedy writer. I have to put that in the back of my head."

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