The Point Radio: Behind The Scenes At ‘COUGARTOWN’ and ‘FAMILY GUY’
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Transcript
Hello, it's Mike Raub. Welcome to The Point, where all parts of pop culture come together. Today we sit down with the minds behind two of the most successful comedy franchises on television, Sam Lee Guy and Scrubs, and how they each moved on to their own new projects. And DC's digging back in the past again, get ready for Legacies and Earth One.
It's Friday, December 11, 2009. We get to The Point right now. This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio. Fox's successful animation comedy block on Sundays depends pretty much on one guy, and that is Seth MacFarlane. It started with Family Guy and then from there American Dad and now The Cleveland Show,
the spin-off from Family Guy that began this season. So of all the characters on Family Guy, why choose this one for a spin-off? Of the non-family characters, he was the most multi-dimensional. He was the most layered. He was the one guy who you kind of could see being at the center of yet another kind of bizarre animated world.
And it's also, you know, I've known Mike since college, and Mike is one of the funniest people I've ever met, and in such a unique way. I mean, none of his characters are in any way. He's a kind of a field derivative of anything else you've ever seen, and that's kind of a rare thing. A lot of it also had to do with the fact that he was somebody who just kind of made sense to have a show revolve around him.
He just sort of has that ability to kind of tap into a comedic tone that, you know, that no one else has tapped into before. Along with Seth MacFarlane, the success of the Cleveland show also gives credit to Mike Henry, a longtime friend of MacFarlane's who's come along in animation for quite a few years. Timing was great for me, actually, because I got to, you know, kind of do a lot of different things with more family guys as far as stand-up or sketch or, you know, directed shorts and commercials and all this kind of stuff.
And I really got to learn this whole new world, you know, through the process of watching Seth, you know, just sit down in the writers' room and pitch stuff out as Dewey and Bryan and Peter and whoever else. So I love being able to sit in the Cleveland room and start ripping on something, knowing what needs to be accomplished and making sure that gets accomplished from whatever's going on, but kind of just getting to be crazy. So I learned how to be crazy from Seth.
Seth MacFarlane's responsibility on the Cleveland show differs a lot from that on Family Guy. On that show, he pretty much handles everything from virtually three quarters of the voices right down to every particular musical number. But to do the same for the Cleveland show well would just be impossible. Producing one animated show on a weekly basis is next to impossible, yet somehow it gets done. Producing any more than that, two or three, you just can't do it.
So what you have to do is find people who can run these things. And my method has sort of been to co-create with other writers, and then they would go off and run the shows themselves. And that's what Mike and Rich run that show, run the Cleveland show on a daily basis. And I think that also helps to make the show's all feel a little bit different. I don't think it would be a good thing if everything felt like Family Guy.
If you had three Family Guys on the air, I think that would be overkill. And it seems to have worked really well. You see in the Cleveland show a tone that's completely different from the other two shows, and yet at the same time is true to the universe in which they all live. There's no question animation on television is hot, especially for Fox.
Not only are Seth's shows doing well, but look at The Simpsons well over two decades on the air. And right now television executives are scrambling to try and find the next big animated hit. But more importantly, why are these things hot for us? I don't know. I don't know if there's one answer to why these animated shows, I mean why did game shows suddenly become mutually successful?
I mean the animated shows are all hopefully funny, and if something is, you know, there isn't a lot of comedy right now on TV that is actually laugh out loud, funny in the way that like Seinfeld was. Just in case you've been living under a rock and managed to avoid all of Seth's animated shows so far, you probably need to know that these aren't your kids cartoons.
As Mike Henry explains, Cleveland has a pretty active life. She and Cleveland do have a lot of sex, and we actually draw on that a lot. I mean at the end of the day it's a crazy, you know, you have a lot of crazy family stories, you know, like we would have in a half hour comedy, but then, you know, a big part of their relationship is they're very satisfied by each other.
Basically I get to have sex with Sinan, draw on more. Cleveland show an important piece of the animation block that includes The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad beginning at eight o'clock every Sunday on Fox. It's Friday, December 11, 2009. Here's what's going on in pop culture.
What's next on tap after Blackest Night? It looks like DC's next big move for 2010 will be War of the Superman, beginning just like Blackest Night did with a one-shot special, War of the Superman that kicks off during free comic book day in May. This next new DC project will encompass mostly Superman titles.
DC promises it will be a stand-alone series, meaning all you have to do is read the issues of War of the Superman to get the gist of it. However, it very well could cross over into other DC titles as well. And according to Dan DeTio, that choice is left up to the individual editors of those books. War of Superman number zero, as we said, will be a free comic book day event.
Every comic book day for next year is on May 1, 2010. A couple of quick TV notes and good news as Glee ended their fall run with an all-time ratings high. Just a hair, maybe less than a tenth of a point or so away from being the number one show on Wednesday night. Glee, of course, returns with new episodes in April on Fox. In the meantime, some sad news over from HBO.
It looks like there will not be a third season of Flight of the Conchords. HBO was willing to do more. However, the folks behind the show realized it was just too big an undertaking to do a third season of the Emmy-nominated comedy. Along with the material that Boom Studios is doing, there's some cool kid-friendly comics on the way to stores.
It also includes Shrek and the Penguins of Madagascar. You may not have heard this, but Ape Entertainment has licensed both those properties for new series to begin in 2010. First issues of those will be out with a sample during free comic book day, the 1st of May next year. In the meantime, RK Entertainment is also doing Fraggle Rock in a new series in 2010. And for free comic book day, they've got a flip book that includes not only Fraggle Rock, but Mouse Card as well.
More of these on the way will let you know when the actual first issues of any of those series are scheduled, hopefully sometime by the summer of next year. Along with War of the Supermen, DC has announced another project for 2010. That'll take up a fair amount of shelf space. That is going to be Legacies. It's a 10-issue series written by Len Wein, and it explores the very beginnings of superheroes in the DC universe,
and how over the decades those heroes changed and grew along with the times. It begins with the very first DC superhero, Crimson Avenger, and goes on from there through the Justice Society, and on into the years of the Justice League as well. Andy and Joe Kuberter doing the art on the very first issue, by the way, of Legacies, and in addition to the 10 issues. There'll also be some other Legacy projects involved as well, hopefully including a new version of DC's Who's Who.
Right now, Legacy is set to begin from DC in May. The other shoe has dropped, at least in the world of Iron Man posters. We've had, of course, the hero version with Iron Man now. You get whiplash and a good look at Mickey Rourke, in fact, probably the best look so far, as images that have been leaked from the movie.
The official villain poster for Iron Man 2 with Mickey is out there. You can see it this weekend right now on our website, GetThePointRadio.com. And don't forget, our exclusive look at the film begins in just a few weeks, as we sit down with Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johansson, and Robert Downey Jr. too, to look at exactly what we can expect from Iron Man 2.
There seems to be some talk again this week about the possibility of a Men in Black 3, and one of the names, it seems to be circling around that rumor, is Josh Brolin. No word on exactly what character he would play, be it a replacement for Tommy Lee Jones, another version of Tommy's Agent K character, or something entirely different. Right now, scheduling of Will Smith is what the issues are by getting this thing going,
and then there's that nasty rumor out there about a possible Hancock 2 as well. That could throw some problems into the scheduling. Right now, the script is being done by Ethan Cohen, of course, who did Tropic Thunder, and there's still some question about Barry Sonerfeld's involvement. If you expected it to be like the original, well, you're going to be disappointed,
at least with what we've seen so far. Sorcerer's Apprentice, the Jerry Bruckheimer, Nicholas Cage, reimagining of that section so famous for Walt Disney's Fantasia, is out in trailer form. You can check it right now at our website, getthepointradio.com.
Not exactly like the cartoon, or lighthearted in any particular way, but again, that could just be the fact that that's the way they cut trailers these days. Again, take a look and give us your own opinion right now. You can see it on the website, getthepointradio.com. It was never a question of if, only a question of when Bruce Wayne would return as Batman.
This week, USA Today launched a special interview with Grant Morrison that revealed that DC Comics will be bringing back Bruce Wayne. In a miniseries called Batman, The Return of Bruce Wayne, six issues that will begin in April from DC. Morrison said that each issue will be done by a different artist,
but a lot of the concept sketches were done by Andy Kubert as well. Chris Sprouse will be doing the artwork on the first issue, no announcement yet on who will be doing the other five. And again, in a quote from the interview, Morrison said that the status quo of the Batman universe will be changed forever after this miniseries.
IDW has released their first digital comic, one that's exclusive to the internet. And oddly enough, it ties into possibly one of the big movie successes of the year. Paranormal Activity, the search for Katie, is now available from IDW on iTunes. Scott Lubdel and Mark Badger do the story that continues, where Paranormal Activity left off, that cult hit film, by the way,
that's grossed well over $100 million so far. The story picks up when a demonologist begins searching for Katie, one of the lead characters from the film. IDW has Paranormal Activity, the search for Katie up on iTunes right now. In the meantime, you can get the DVD release of the movie on December the 29th.
Top Cows made the announcement they're going digital with some of their recent books that have sold out, now available in digital form beginning this week. The company plans to release the comics eventually in five formats, including Comixology, Iverse, Wow.io, Amazon, and Longbox, providing Longbox ever gets launched. Right now, Comixology has Darkness Pit number one.
In the meantime, and soon ago digital will be Witchblade 1, wanted number one, and the first issue of The Darkness, volume one, number one. Every week we give you a list of what we like to call the hard stuff, those variant issues, and second printings that sometimes are hard to get, but are fun to collect, and here's one you can add to your future list.
Archie Comix is doing their first ever variant comic. That's coming up with Jughead number 200, which just happens to be the very first one, written by robot chicken writer producer Tom Root. The story involves Jughead super metabolism, the one that allows him to eat as much as he wants and not gain weight. Well, that seems to stop working, and you can imagine where things go from there.
Jughead number 200 will be available in comic stores as well as the variant. Coming up in March of next year, check with your retailers soon. Orders are going to be placed quickly, and if you want to get that variant, you probably should talk to them now. The point, baby, huh?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Weird scenes inside the gold mine. Two is four, I know that four two is six, if you're just trying to tease me baby. This is Mike Gold. Continuing our occasional reviews of cool stuff for the holidays,
I was going to cover Robert Crumb's The Book of Genesis, but then something happened. My old pal Richard Packter reviewed it last Sunday for the Miami Herald, and he came up with a line that was far better than anything I could create. So, of course, I'll swipe it. Rich noted Crumb's draftmanship and composition are superlative, but, and I quote,
the material is, frankly, weak, hackneyed, and disjointed. Unless readers allow their own transcendent faith and suspension of disbelief to make it more than what it is, Crumb's visual tour de forces for naught. Wow, Packter's got balls of steel. My friend, nothing ever lose a pen to my hat.
I get home before daylight, just like it's it tonight. Seriously, Crumb? Good art. The word of God, bad writing. Even a brick drawer like me doesn't have that much guts. The guy behind Angel Food McSpade and Fritz the Cat does better work than the guy behind the creation of the universe.
Damn, Rich is absolutely right, and since Crumb draws his adaptation in his usual style, you might want to be careful who you gift this to. For example, Eve's protrusions for an aft are typical Crumb anatomy, and since Adam and Eve are naked in the Bible, it's a plot point. They're naked in this book.
And there's plenty of sex and violence, kids. This is Mike Gold, reviewing a review on the Pop Culture Channel. Get the point. Radio.com. The point, the point. From Spin City to Scrubs, Bill Lawrence has brought us some of the brightest moments
on television situation comedy, and this season he's recapturing that magic one more time with Cougar Town on ABC. Cougar Town is a comedy that well appeals to a demographic that usually isn't catered to on network television. So where did the concept come from? To create a show that wasn't aimed at the MTV crowd. I worked for ABC, and I had two basic feelings.
One is, you know, their strength recently has been really kind of with women, with a women viewing audience. And you combine that with my personal belief that, you know, as a guy that's been married for a decade, that in most relationships, you know, the female of the house controls the remote, you know, which has kind of happened for me.
And so for me, this, you know, my wife not only decides what I'm going to watch on television and what movies I'm going to see, but I can honestly tell you I'm currently not wearing a piece of clothing that I picked out or purchased myself. And so my wife and I were always talking about, you know, what the brilliance of that show Sex and the City was. And I think it was, it was a show that appealed to women.
But when I would come in and my wife was watching it, even though I would pretend that I didn't want to see it and act like it was torture, I saw more episodes that, you know, I stayed in the room. And I saw more episodes of that show than a lot of TV shows I claimed to love a lot more than it. So for me, I was saying maybe, you know, if I luck out, since, you know, I'm lucky enough that Courtney Cox wants to maybe do a TV show again, if I can luck out in a show that appeals to women and yet men, you know, there's something in there for men to find funny that they can hook into,
I might really luck out here. So that's what we were kind of trying to do. Bringing Courtney Cox back to series television has certainly been a coup for Cougar Town and one that Bill was happy to be a part of. You know what? Courtney and I, we've known each other for a long time. And I heard, you know, I heard that she might want to do a comedy and she's, you know, I just like working with Cougar with nice talented people. And she's somebody that has the ability to laugh at herself. It was a pleasure to be around, you know,
and after getting to work with Mike Fox and then the cast of Scrubs, you know, I try to keep that pattern going. And when I, what we did, we talked about maybe doing a TV show together and then we used Scrubs as kind of a tryout, not for her. Just she came on the show and did a bunch of three episodes just to see if we really liked working together. And since we did, then we kind of handcrafted this for her. We'll talk more to Bill about Cougar Town and the return of Scrubs to television as well. Coming up in a few days right here.
Double up under the time blanket here as we head back. 1985. The U.S. weighed the consequences of engaging the Soviet Union and Cuba over missile sites in Nicaragua. Actor David Soule was arrested for disorderly conduct during a protest at a Pennsylvania church over the plight of steelworkers in the area. Singer Deanna Warwick was finally awarded her star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame on her 45th birthday.
If you're taking it into the movie, you could get you in to see Rocky IV, Santa Claus the movie, or more Holiday Fair with One Magic Christmas. Back to the Future was still on the big screen and there was Gregory Hines and White Nights. With a great song from Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin on the soundtrack. TV Tonight had episodes of Give Me a Break, some holiday stuff with Little Rascal's Christmas Special, and better than that, the Grinch for another show English year. There was an episode of Fame, a tribute to the late John Lennon, and on solid gold performances by a whole bunch of folks, including Wang Chong.
Time Machine! On radio, a band that began as a left-wing inspired post-punk British rock group. That was a little too much for everybody to take, so eventually they morphed into a mainstream pop act. They had a couple albums, but this was their biggest one, one called Cupid and Psyche 85. And their one trip to the top was this song, Perfect Way, here's Spritty Pumitty.
All right, are you ready for round two? Here we go back to… Representatives of Allied Forces and the Vietnam government were said to be starting peace talks in just a few days once they worked out the seating arrangements. Sixty-six year old South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond announced his engagement to 22 year old Nancy Janice Moore, who was serving as Miss South Carolina in the Miss America pageant. Aids Zoo U.S. President Richard Nixon sent out some 66,000 letters signed by Nixon, inviting people to possibly become potential office holders in the new administration. Among those who received one was Elvis Presley.
In the movies, there was I Love You, Alice B. Tocqueville's, the re-release of Gone with the Wind on the big screen, Heart is the Lonely Hunter, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Paper Tiger. TV Tonight had episodes of Carol Burnett, Family Affair, more comedy with Jackie Gleason and My Three Sons and Petticoat Junction, and at the end of the night, there was Manic. On the radio, an English pop group that was way back in 1962 when they were known as the Sabers. A name change and a few minor hits got them this far.
On the charts now, here's Magic Landers and Shame Chain. Who was to my name? I want you to know from mine, But you, that's who you are for tonight. Shame Chain
You'll only break your own and leave it standing out of the way. Shame Chain I'm so full of hate. That puts a wrap on our week. We will be back though in a few days, but in the meantime, there's lots more. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on GetThePointRadio.com.
Pop culture updates, great programs, and a lot of fun music too. And you can listen free right now on any computer or on your mobile device, including blackberries and iPhones at GetThePointRadio.com. This podcast is produced twice every week by Malcontent Media and heard on great websites like ComicMix.com, MichaelDavisWorld.com, ZZ Comics.com, and Ravenswolfstudios.com. And we're in the podcast directory at iTunes as well. Just look under the point radio.
Getting in touch with us couldn't be easier. A couple of clicks and you're there at listen and get to pointradio.com. Have a great weekend. See you here on Monday. Get to pointradio.com
