f13.net

We will once again be the undeserving recipients of Seth MacFarlane's comedic genius.

Fox is showing reruns until May 1st, when the new season starts.

Brian: Oh my god. They ate Tricia Takanawa.
Peter: Why? They're just gonna get hungry again in an hour.

Looking forward to it....Although, to be honest, I'm not as excited as I would have been a year or so ago. Sealab, ATHF, and the Venture Bros. provided me with the fix I needed in the meantime. And now, not even Mcfarlane's genius can compete with that.

EDIT: Oops, didn't mean to shit on your thread. Carry on.

Stray, I just rewatched Family Guy on dvd. It's smarter and funnier than the Adult Swim stuff - which I LOVE. He had an absolutely caustic sense of humor, as where the adult swim stuff is "holy shit, did I...just...noooo...that didn't happen on tv."

FOR TEH WIN!

Stewey: ...throw one of my famous Sexy Parties! /cue hilarity.

Family Guy has its moments, but the show is hit and miss for me. Sometimes it seems like they're trying too hard. I'll watch it if my Tivo grabbed an episode and there is nothing else on. In the animation world, I'd much rather see new episodes of Home Movies or Invader Zim.

Still, FG can make me laugh once or twice an episode, and I can't say that about most of what passes for comedy on any channel.

Personally I think Family Guy is hilarious.  Easily on par with good South Park.  What's more, I can't even think of a *bad* Family Guy episode -- although ""When you wish upon a Weinstein"certainly didn't live up to the hype. So I'm more than happy to see it come back.

Oh, and I like Home Movies too, but it's a much subtler brand of humor.

Bruce

Dr. Katz...best animated comedy...ever!

I agree on family guy hit or miss...I'm not a big fan personally. I'm sure a "best of..." would be pretty good though.

But lets face it, nothing can beat Dr. Katz 20-something son living at home eating Panda Flakes...

Yeah, Dr. Katz was great. Though I missed quite a few episodes....By the end there it seemed like it was being relegated only once a day at the strangest times. I could never catch it.

I watched an episode of Home Movies for the first time last week. It was a rerun called "Therapy". I didn't realize what I was watching at first and almost thought it was Dr. Katz. I don't know how I passed it up all this time, not realizing they shared the same creator. Too bad it's been canceled as well.

Many of the same voice actors as well, done in the "Squiggelvision" style.

He also did this small kids cartoon called Science Court, which taught kids science in a very entertaining way.  It only lasted a season or so, though, so good luck trying to find it on anywhere.  It's very clever, though.

Bruce

Family Guy is one of the few shows that can reduces me to fits of laughter so raucous I can hardly breathe. It's that funny when it's on. When it's not on it can still catch you. Brian is by far my favorite character. Any smart, sarcastic, drunk character wins in my book, but the fact that he's a dog is even better.

I love Family Guy, have since the beginning. I also love the fact that Fox has tried repeatedly to cancel it, only to get the big "FU" when the DVD sold like wildfire. Family Guy brings teh funney mainly by never stopping; it never takes anyone seriously, and never tries to pretend that the story is anything more than window dressing for assloads of jokes being thrown at you from every angle. The best ones usually are things so totally off the wall, like the Koolaid man busting through the wall of the courtroom to scream "OH YEAH!" and then just slinking out red-faced as everyone just looks at him.

The Weinstein episode was hilarious. My favorite joke is when Peter's seeing all the people he didn't know were Jewish and says, "Hey look, there's half of Lenny Kravitz!"

Venture Bros. is a "better" show, in that it does try to stick to a story, though not a contiguous story from week to week. The other Adult Swim stuff is more along the lines of Family Guy, stories used as excuses for good jokes.

And speaking of Adult Swim, is it just me or is Tom Goes to the Mayor the most awful piece of shit ever put on Cartoon Network (other than maybe DBZ or Super Milk Chan)? I mean, what the fuck is this show trying to do?

No, you're right. They need to get rid of that shit asap.

My friend and his wife are crazy about DBZ, so whenever I hang out, I get a little dose of it from time to time. It isn't so bad I guess (even though I don't know what the fuck it's about). I'd never watch it on my own, but it's definitely not as bad as Tom.

Super Milk Chan....Hrm..What can I say? I have no excuses here. I want to pull myself away, but I just can't. My eyes are glued from start to finish. I don't know why or how to explain it, but it's probably my favorite show on Adult Swim that isn't produced by the network itself (but again, like DBZ, I have no idea what the fuck it's about -- even moreso *scratch that* much, much, moreso in this case).

As far as I'm concerned, the Venture Bros. is the new King of Cartoons. Better than Family Guy, better than Sealab, better than Aqua Teen. It's everything I ever enjoyed about after school kid's cartoons, with the all of the adult humor and Lydia Lunch references to boot. Plus, Warburton helps.

Super Milk Chan is one of the greatest things ever put on American television.

And if you have a chance - and have access to on-demand Comcast Cable or the anime network - you MUST watch Puni Puni Poemy and Colorful. I think it's categorized under Super Happy or something like that.

You people took a nice little trip into the land of "I have no idea what you are talking about anymore."

Can you stick to the subject of the family guy and stop pimping every retarded cartoon you like? That's another thread.

Super Milk Chan is one of those things that produces a reviled expression of slack-jawed amazement at. I haven't watched an entire show yet, because my fragile little psyche is damaged enough by the snippets seen on the commercials. I just cannot imagine a psyche that dreams that shit up and then puts it out there for everyone to see. It not only defies objective description, it rapes your ocular sockets with loving care.

Don't get me started.  On acid, Super Milk Chan is probably hilarious, or maybe impressively scary.  I don't know.  When the mayor goes on for 5 minutes about how he wants to bone his cat and Chan does her 85-times-an-episode patented 'You dumbass!' I'm left looking for the funny.

My current animated humor hall of fame:
1. The Mooninites.

Ignignokt: You and your third dimension.
Frylock: What about it?
Ignignokt: Oh nothing, it's cute. We have five.
Ur: Th-thousand.
Ignignokt: Yes, five thousand.
Ur: Don't question it!
Frylock: Oh yeah? Well, I only see two.
Ignignokt: Well that sounds like a personal problem.

2. The episode of the Brak Show in which everyone was rapping.  I think it was called 'Brakstreet'.  Seriously, my eyes were bleeding with the funniness.  If anyone can find this episode, in the name of all things holy deliver it to me please.

3. Family Guy

Brak? Annoying.

Brak rapping? My eyes would bleed too, after my brain exploded from the pain.

Too much of the Adult Swim stuff is smug and weird just to be weird. I suppose I'm too old to get the joke.

The Mooninites are just the shiznit. I still crack up over their giant Laser of death.

Damn you all. Now my TiVo will fill up with cartoons.

Adult Swim needs more Sealab.  

And bring back Captain Murphy.

Capt. Murphy is dead. No, really. The actor who played Murphy (Harry Goz) died last year. The actor playing the Coach is Harry's son.

IIRC there's a better dub of Milk Chan out, the adult-swim one uses a cleaner, more Japanese-themed one, there's also a rougher (language and content wise) one that has a lot of the more obscure Japanese things Americanized a bit.  I've only seen bits and peices but the people I know who've seen both reccomend the second.

Venture Bros. is the best cartoon out there, and will probably remain so until Futurma comes back.

I've watched all of the episodes of both Futurama and Family Guy way too many times, and there is absolutely no question in my mind that Futurama was much much better.  The Simpsons during their peak was also much much better.  And Venture Bros. is the current champion.

Not to say Family Guy wasn't great, because it was.  But I rank it below The Simpsons in its prime, Futurama, and Venture Bros.  AQTHF and Sealab are definitely funny, but their short episode format and limited characters kind of handicaps them somewhat IMO.

And I can't handle Super Milk Chan yet either...I've watched two episodes and have yet to laugh.  Thats not really a bad thing, I just don't know how to react to whats going on...

I hate Brak, it's awful.

I suppose I'll have to give Venture Bros. a try, based on the raves I see here. I'm dubious ... but I was dubious about the new Battlestar Galactica, which turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. So, we'll see.

I will also watch the new eppies of Family Guy. After being cancelled and brought back, I'm thinking the creators will be energized by this second chance and want to put their very best into it.

A lot of very smart, funny people who I respect as friends and colleagues have told me how hilarious Aqua Teen Hunger Force is. There must be a wire disconnected in my brain somewhere, because it goes right over my head. I can't get through an entire episode, which are only 15 freakin' minutes long.

Good to see that Family Guy is back.

I was getting tired of DVRing it off of TBS and Adult Swim.  I guess I could just buy some DVDs tho.



You're not the only one.  While my girlfriend and I immensely enjoy Aqua Teen, some of our friends don't get it at all.  Which is odd, because I generally have friends with similar/same senses of humor to mine.

Heck, for the longest time, I called Meatwad, "Meatbag."  But I played KOTOR too much.

Family Guy is more funny if you're really into TV and remember a lot of old sitcoms, since that's about the only thing that Peter makes jokes about. It's still awesome otherwise.

Sealab jumped the shark when Goz died. It's just not as good without him.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force I can't explain. It's random just for the sake of randomness, something I usually hate with a passion (and why I fucking hate Brak and Tom Goes to the Mayor), but for some reason I just can't stop laughing at it... Especially the Dr. Weird bits that were used to start off the show for the earlier seasons.

My Favorite:

(Close shot of Dr. Weird's face)

Dr Weird: GENTLEMEN...! ...THIS, MAY WORK!

(Cut to Steve)

Steve: But uh...ah...you, you said that it would, uh, never work..

(Pan out to Dr. Weird, who is being pumped full of BBQ sauce from a large tank.)

Dr. Weird: (looks at the tank) ...YOU FOOL! THAT'LL NEVER WORK!

Puni Puni Poemi......................Super Happy...................I think my brain just melted.  Sure, it is like an acid trip, but I dont think Super Happy is exactly how I would describe it.

Which makes me wonder: Have you ever seen excel saga, Jungle wa itsumo Hare nochi Guu, or Bobobo~bo Bo~bobo? (might have to hunt up fansubs of those last two).  If you like Puni you would probably like those as well.

Given he listed Jungle Wa Itsumo as one of the best anime ever (or something) I'd say its more than likely he's seen it.  I've seen part of it, and have been wanting more. :p  Apparently some psychotic company liscensed Jungle Wa Itsumo for American release, so the fansubs vanished.

Damn.  I wish I had known that.  I stuck in my craw something awful when they "replaced" him.

RIP.

Yea, I've seen them. Guu is eternally on my XBox harddrive so I can watch it whenever I want.

Like I've said before, 99% of the anime out there is shit. You just have to hunt for the good stuff.

Speaking of crap anime....prolly about half the stuff on the [adult swim] lineup is garbage....dbz, TGttM, Super Milk Chan...

But I've fallen in love with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, especially the intro/outro.

TGttM?

Tom Goes to the Mayor?

Not anime, but yeah, as it was stated before: Garbage.

Funny though. I hate Anime (except old Captain Harlock and Fist of the North Star episodes)...Yet, like I said, I'm completely enthralled by Super Milk Chan. If that's how children's cartoons are in Japan (and by "children", I mean "five"), then I'm missing out.

Either give me some bad ass motherfuckers like Harlock or the Fist, or the crazy ass Super Milk Chan stuff. Less teen angst please (I'll admit though, Ghost in the Shell does that well).

Stray, you must search and hunt down Jungle Wa Itsumo hale Nochi Guu. Must. Now.

As an act of kindness - I offer you the 3rd part of the series.

Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu FINAL (http://animesuki.rut.org/series.php/310.html)

I actually like Dragon Ball and the first couple seasons of DBZ quite a bit. The later seasons of DBZ and DBZ GT are total ass though.

Ghost in the Shell is just amazingly boring.

ATHF I didn't like at first either. You have to be in the right mood or something. It's great to come home really late after a stressful day of work and watch something completely absurd.

Thanks for the link, schild. Not any having any luck with them atm, but I'll try over the weekend.

Both Aqua Teen and Sealab are shows you cannot enjoy watching if you try to connect anything together. They seriously are just weirdness thrown in for weirdness sake, but unlike Tom Goes to the Mayor, they work. I especially love the threaded stories they have over the continual reincarnations of MC Pee Pants (I LIKE CANDY!). I think Karl and the Mooninites are still some of the funniest characters ever created.

Futurama is ok, but I just can't get into it much. I try to watch episodes and I just get bored. Bender is funny, but the show as a whole just doesn't hook me.

Generally I love Aqua Teen, but there's a few 'duds'; for instance, "Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future" annoys me.  Although "The Dressing" (which is very similar to "Cybernetic Ghost") is more entertaining; I guess the story about evil chickens from 9595 is more entertaining than Santa the great red ape...poultry trumps monkeys for funny.

But episodes like "Total Recarl" more than make up for any weakness.

I just watched the first episode of that.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE JAPANESE PEOPLE? I felt more clearheaded while sick with the strep than I do after watching that.

Keep watching and don't start crying like a little bitch with a cut knee until you're done.

I watched the entire episode. I feel like my eye sockets have been sexually violated by the ghosts of Hiroshima. Is this revenge for 1945?

You've seen NOTHING yet. You've no clue how deep the rabbit hole goes, Junior.

You and schild both shouldn't be allowed to watch that. Fucking geeks have to ruin everything.

And starting on the third series of anything is never a smart idea chief.

Geeks ruin everything? You just came to an internet message board to insult people, kettle.

How the fuck was I supposed to know it was the 3rd series? Shit, I had to have schild translate the goddamn title for me to even know what it meant.

I have no problems with being thought of as too fucking stupid to understand that shit.

The first season doesn't exactly make sense, but it's more defined type of craziness. 3 requires a bit of forknowledge of what came before to get all the humor. So starting with 3 is yeah, a bad idea.

And yes schild, I am calling you a geek. You took a beautiful thing and sold it to someone in a bad way because of your super geek powers. Shame on you.

Is this about Waterthread/f13 again or about crappy japanimation?

The first season does make sense. In fact, I just explained it to Haemish over the phone. More importantly, you're picking a fight over anime. I think that's a new low, even for you.

A good story is a good story. I don't care if it's told with fucking shadow puppets. You sold a good story poorly. Hell, the entire Passion thread was me having the same argument in a different way.

Alright, asshat, how would you have sold the story? And telling them to wait for release could be an eternity seeing as fansubs aren't easy to find since it's licensed and a quick search at animeniacs.com (http://animeniacs.com/index.php?act=catalog&subact=d_inv&cat_search=Jungle+Wa+Itsumo&cat_catagory=all) and discountanimedvd.com show there's no bootlegs for the show.

......if you can't steal Guu online in all of 2 days, both series, you aren't trying hard enough.

Two seconds on box torrents will find you links to both the other series. I certainly wouldn't start at the end and expect people to get it.

Haemish, download the first series [it being the one ending in Guu rather than Deluxe or Final] and give it a shot. It starts out slower than Final does, and you are actually introduced to characters rather than being expected to know who they are and why they are doing the crazy shit they do. Granted it's not exactly sane, but it's less crazy. If you don't like it, cool, but give it a shot.

He has access to E-Mule/E-Donky and a lot of time right?  Licenced or not, there is ALWAYS a place to find it. (ask me, i could probably get a full series BT link pretty fast if i had to)

I just did, and it took under a minute. Box Torrent. It has a lot of torrents for complete series. Anime at least. There are a thousand other links off the top of my head for tv shows, movies, books, whatever. I don't have a computer and a cable modem because I'm a geek, I have them because I'm cheap and the internet lets me steal most things fast. You leave a cable modem and computer on, you go out, you work, you sleep, you come back and you have a ton of shit. No muss, no fuss.

I'm not a big supporter of piracy. Licensed is offlimits.

Haha, that episode is funny as hell imo. The big red ape nonsense is just an excuse to get Glenn Danzig on the show. But I guess if you're not a fan, or you don't know who he is, it isn't going to be funny. To me, it's one of the best.

It's ok once it gets to Danzig and all the elf blood and stuff, but that's like the last two minutes of the episode.  The rest of the time I just want the robot to STFU.

This thread took a hilarious turn halfway down the page.
Edit: I'd like to know how people watching something ruins it, among other things. Kind of an art-fag view of things. (As schild would say)

Wow, MacFarlane doesn't look like I thought he would. (http://www.theonionavclub.com/feature/index.php?issue=4104)

That comment is more revealing of you than it is McFarlane (and no, I'm not talking about "gayness" here...I'll let you figure out the rest for yourself).

What did you think he would look like?

Also, "gayness" whaaat? Does he look gay, or is he gay, or something? Where did that comment come from? That picture doesn't scream gay to me, is it supposed to?

No, it has nothing to do with that. I shouldn't have said anything about gayness. I just added that so Ardent didn't think I was accusing him of being a fag (not that it would matter).

I'm simply saying that for him to make a comment like that, he's being very small-minded. Telling from Ardent's previous posts, he thinks everyone who's "geeky" has to fit under some kind of stereotype. He expresses genuine disbelief when people (like the posters here) tell him that they're not quite so pathetic. The only reason I'm bringing it up here is because the comment about McFarlane was headed in the same direction.

I think its rule 7 or maybe rule 8.  Anything in an internet discussion thread can be taken as an assault on another persons sexuality.  It could be your avatar, it could be your sentence structure, it just doesn't matter.

Personally, I halfway expected family-guy dude to look something like the characters he draws.  Dunno why, just a mental association thing I guess.

Stray, thank you for your invaluable psychological analysis.

All I meant was exactly what I said: if I were to guess what the creator of FG looked like, I wouldn't have guessed he looked like he does. That's all, no deeper meaning than that.

Chill, my friend.

"The bullet is enormous, there is no avoiding it!"

"Jumping... is useless!"

Gotta love the Mooninites.

I liked the Brak Show as well, though it was hit or miss.  My absolute favorite episode, though, was with their somewhat evil neighbors... Ronda from the 7th Circle of Yar.

I really wish Family Guy just gave a big "fuck you" to Fox and stuck with Cartoon Network.  Fox treated them like crap and killed them, Cartoon Network brought them back to life and proved Fox wrong.  Now Fox realizes there's a buck to be made after all, suddenly they're interested.  I know this is business, but there's something to be said for believing in your employees.

One more Mooninite quote to end this post:

"This pornography is infinitely excellent."

I really try to like Family Guy.  However, within 5 minutes I have to leave the room because I find it so irritating.

When the show came out on DVD I borrowed it from the library because I hadn't really given the show a fair chance when it was on so I figured now that it was on DVD I could watch a few epsiodes and enjoy it.

I didn't enjoy it. I found it tedious and unfunny. If I wanted to watch something unfunny I'd tune in to any comedy on NBC.

It's too bad the series sold so well on DVD that they have to bring it back again. I'd rather stick needles in my eyes and ears than watch the show again.

Not that I have any strong feelings about it.

It will just get taken off the air again anyway. If there weren't enough people the first time, I don't think there will be enough the second time either.

Maybe, maybe not.

Remember how American Beauty didn't do well at all the first time it was released in theatres.  Then it got a lot of recognition and they rereleased it to much better sales.  Cartoon Network revived the series, and I think it's a lot easier to find fans of it now than it was before.  I'd definitely say its audience has expanded.

As long as Fox doesn't pull a Futurama on them, they should do OK.  It's not about the total number of watchers anyway, it's all about the 18-24 (or whatever) group.

When a network wants to cancel a show, this is what they do.  Moving the airing time/ day frequently means someone with power doesn't like the show and wants it canned (granted, that's if it's a good show.)  Moving it around means it'll get shit numbers in the ratings, which are all you need to justify cancellation.   But don't take my word for it, that's directly from Patrick "Puddy" Warburton when he was interviewed on local radio.  It's why The Tick, despite having a good fanbase in key demographics, was cancelled.

I didn't understand the reasoning for pulling FG off the air in the first place.

Werent the ratings any good for it?

That's not necessarily true.   For example,  when Everybody Loves Raymond first aired, it was on Friday Nights at 9:00 I think.  The show was good, but the ratings didn't reflect that....  so they moved it to a better timeslot on Monday Nights at 9:00....

and the rest is history.

One move can mean they are trying to position it better, or have something else they think will do better in the slot (but think the one they are moving can take its audience with it).  When they move it two or three times in the same season, they are trying to kill it.

--Dave

Well it was Fox. They wouldn't recognize a good show even if it'd  kick them in the balls.

Same procedure as Firefly or Futurama or $Show_with_promise. The kept changing schedules and moved FG to every conceivable bad timeslot available and also preempted it every week for football. Then it got cancelled due to poor ratings. Go figure.

They then released FG on DVD and were mildly puzzled when it outsold every other Fox franchise available on DVD at that time. They then did the same thing with firefly, which included the same mild puzzlement when the Firefly DVDs outsold every other fox franchise available on DVD at that time.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Jeff

Well, at least they let them shoot the full 13.  Thankfully, Wonderfalls, another great show they canned will be coming to DVD soon.  I hate Fox, if I like a show there, they either cancel it or turn it into the some sort of craptacular version of itself (see 24).

I love my firefly dvd set but man it also kinda depresses me a bit. They went so far out of their way to drive a steak into its heart to kill it off it was sick.

I tried to watch every episode when it first ran but between time slot flipping and randomly getting preempted and delayed for weeks at a time I could never freaking find when it was on to watch it.


kaid

Wonderfalls isn't just coming out soon. It comes out tomorrow.

If a show, especially on Fox, gets pre-empted more than once, you can bet somebody at the network wants the show dead. And Fox is just famous for stupid shit. Hell, they haven't learned anything in what, 10 years?

They put the X-Files on Friday nights, thinking it was such a weird show, no one would watch it. BAM, it's a fucking hit, so after about 2 more good seasons, they moved it to Sunday night. Then, they thought that sci-fi/fantasy type fans will watch anything sci-fi on Friday nights. So they start a musical chairs that involves anything they can create sci-fi, almost guaranteeing that any sci-fi show on Fox will eventually end up on Friday nights. Strangely enough, other shows don't catch on, or don't catch on enough, and get pre-empted for "World's Deadliest Police Chases" and other tomfoolery. Nothing succeeds, but hey, the fans DO buy the shit on DVD (see Firefly, Millenium, Family Guy, hell even Harsh Realm).

I'm beginning to believe that the most profitable format for sci-fi shows is DVD. What the TV networks should do is air the shows, then release them the next week on DVD.

I thought Harsh Realm would be a robot jesus given the premise. It turned out to be WWIIOL. Who knew?

FOX continues to be formulaic and pandering. They play to the LCD of human need for entertainment. That is why we get shows with more boobies per half hour than on any other network. Mostly, the sci-fi/fantasy genre scares network execs because its really "out there" to them. They don't get it and they are afraid that because it could be construed as a niche show, that the general public isn't going to support it. So, when they jerk it around on the timeslots they can confirm their fears and write it off. Kind of like how those women who bitch about not having a man sabatoge every date they get a chance to go on.

Haemish is correct though, television needs to move to a more DVD style format. Can you imagine how cool it would be to get full seasons of a show all at once? It would make the market stronger in my view to have those episodes released ASAP.

I liked Harsh Realm, at least the first 3 episodes I saw. But it was about 20 times better than Tru Calling, which seems to be the height of "sci-fi" shows Fox can produce now.

Since this has already moved to a discussion about Fox, I'll just post this here. Maybe it'll make someone happy.

'Firefly' lands in film afterlife (http://hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1969026)

Calling Firefly "cult" is a bit of a stretch. I don't know a single person, besides myself, who didn't think it was the next robot jesus.

I have a buddy who LOVED Buffy, but couldn't stand Firefly. So there goes a segment of 1.

I agree with the Robot Jesus part myself.

I believe Robot Jesus was built, and that he was a very well programmed robot, but he wasn't our messiah.

Bruce

Did Fox ever put out a Brimstone DvD?  I'd buy it- John Glover was masterful as ol' Scratch.

I like sci-fi plenty, but I've never heard of "Firefly" before I started to lurk around here...

/shrug

Yes, but have you watched it yet? That's all that really matters.

I tried watching it when it first aired, but then Fox did that thing they do...

Dear Fox Execs,

Clearly, you do not enjoy success.  As a result, I can only assume that you dislike money.  If you enjoyed money, you would enjoy success and would stop treating excellent shows as poorly as you do.  Because of my ultimately forgiving nature, I wish to help you.  Send your money, which you clearly hate, to me.  In return, I will make sure that it never gets back to you in any way.  I'll even go so far as to pirate DVDs and send the appropriate share of money directly to the show's creators, entirely bypassing the need for you to see a single red cent.

Eager to assist,

-L

I think Fox just has the wrong idea about how to use demographics. Fox seems to design shows based purely around what demographics they want to capture.

Lazy, beer-swilling NASCAR redneck = America's Scariest Police Chases
Horny, teenagers with disposable income = The OC
White suburban teenagers who wish they were black or latino, and thus cool = Johnny Zero
Tweener girls who used to like The Backstreet Boys but have moved on to Nick and Jessica = American Idol
Desperate, overspending geeks still living in their parent's basement and masturbating to fake Photoshops of Buffy and writing Willow/Angel/furry fan fiction = Tru Calling

And so on. When their corporate collective hive mind misfires randomly and actually decides to buy a good show that isn't designed to a forumla, it then disregards all current demographical information about timeline and just sticks the show wherever it can find a good open slot. Sometimes, it sticks it in and out repeatedly, like some form of wet dream nervous twitching, constantly poking for what it thinks is the right slot.

Thus, we have Firefly and Family Guy.

I disagree with your synopsis of the Tru Calling demographic. I honestly can't think of anyone who would find that show entertaining.

My wife and her sister.  Buffy fans that have a tollerance for crappy television.  The show is just BAD.  I can't stand watching more than about 10 minutes of it before I have to pickup a book or leave the room.

 
Quantum Leap fans, perhaps?

The chick is pretty hot at least.

I like Tru Calling.  Since what you described about Tru Calling is the exact way I feel about Family Guy, perhaps the demographic is the opposite (and no, I don't like Buffy or Angel).  

Only shows I ever bother to TiVo are Tru Calling, Carnivale, Charmed, Penn & Teller's Bullshit, and Mythbusters.

Oddly enough my wife is somewhat similar.  She can stand maybe 2 episodes of Family Guy in a row before she gets tired of it.  I, however, can just sit through the entire DVDs at once.  Maybe she's just humoring me by watching even 2 (she seems to like it though).

The more I look at comedy the more I find that your average woman doesn't enjoy random comedy. I've also found that they have a very high tolerance for the same rehashed story if it involves women finding love after a long search for "The One." The fact that women as a whole seem to not prefer Family Guy is less than shocking.

Tru Calling is a show built around tits, which makes it pretty similar to most FOX programs. That show fails without Eliza on it, and it ain't because of her acting prowess. To me, that makes a show suck on any level. The most important thing on a show isn't the actors, its the writers. The actors on Friends weren't good actors. They were no-names who got a shot at a show with phenomenal comedic writing. That is why star vehicle sitcoms are failing left and write. It's the cart before the horse.

A true test to see if your loved one can handle random comedy is to make them watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force.   The reactions can be priceless.

Probably similar to me watching Lex - I really don't get it.

I forgot to add Cold Case and the new show Medium to my list.  I don't see those shows being about boobs, more of a story to me.  Closer to Pretender or Twin Peaks, where differing storylines are going on at the same time.

Lexx... now there was a show that was pure tits. Absolute shit. Sadly, I could see Sci-Fi Channel's last two or three years as being 24-hour Lexx-like shows and movies stacked end to end.

I never could get myself to watch an episode of Tru Calling. The previews looked really shitty, and after they cancelled both Firefly and John Doe, they weren't getting me interested in another sci-fi show that I was sure wasn't making it past one season.

You make it sound like it was a bad thing.

Jeff

It is when they don't actually SHOW you the tits. Tittilation only goes so far.

Wierd, I haven't found that to be the case at all.  I was introduced to ATHF by an ex.  Though she was completely insane, so that might blow the sample a bit.  My current gf really likes sealab, though, so I haven't really noticed it appealing less to women in general than men in general.  I don't think any random guy off the street would instantly pick up familly guy or athf either, I think it's just that often our friends are more like us than our significant other, so the sample is skewed.

For all the Family Guy fanbois.

Just what we all want, a Family Guy video game and a bunch of other Family Guy items.  *note the sarcasm*   At least the game won't be out until 2006 (even without delays)!

Family Guy Video Game and Other Licenced Stuff (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050203005465&newsLang=en)

Not sure I can live without the following *more sarcasm*

I hate marketing people.

Good to see Family Guy back, it's one of thoose few shows I really enjoy.

Note to writers: More death please, that character really made me fall in love with the series. ( The same goes for Discworld )