![]() Steve scripted it with her playing herself and it was so funny. The two of them are inside Stewie’s mind and one of his dreams involves Glenn Close. ![]() Stewie is having nightmares and so Brian goes into Stewie’s subconscious to try and figure out why. ( Laughs.) But Steve wrote this great episode next season that’s a great example. ( Laughs.) Because the pay scales - t hey’re not going to meet their quota on Family Guy. Mostly because schedules don’t work out, but sometimes we’ve had to go through back channels, after going getting told no by agents if someone is on tour or on set and unavailable, through some crazy coincidence we know someone who knows someone and next thing you know, we find out they’re a huge Family Guy fan and would be willing to do it.Īppel: The moral of the story is that agents sometimes lie. Have there been any guest stars you always wanted on the show but haven’t been able to get for any reason?Ĭallaghan: ( Laughs.) Yes is the short answer. She hit it out of the park.Īppel: That was a happy coincidence that the perfect person for the part is a comedy actress who is on TV and is about to be a big movie star. So we wrote the part, and after the episode had been written, we thought, ‘Well, who would be good for the part?’ And the idea of Kate McKinnon came up. We don’t do stunt casting.Ĭallaghan: Another example of that in our upcoming season is Peter’s sister, who he has a chilly relationship with is a professional wrestler. In my recollection, we’ve never written a part for a celebrity who says they want to do the show. When we wrote the part, we thought, ‘Well, who’s out there?’ And we came up with a very, very short list of names and landed on Ed. The character Ed O’Neill plays is Joe Swanson’s father. So he was perfect for this, and we went to him and he agreed, and then we wrote it for him. For Ashton, we do a live-action thing with him that’s a rare thing for Family Guy, and we needed a recognizable celebrity who could be a spokesperson and be handsome, and then of course someone who has a sense of humor about himself. which should play a new character?Īppel: Seth always says that it’s dictated by the bit. How do you decide which guest stars should play themselves vs. It played a big part in their lives.Īshton Kutcher and John Mellencamp are going to guest-star as themselves this season, while Modern Family‘s Ed O’Neill is playing a fictional character. It’s exciting for the older writers to see that it’s more than just a fun job. So some of the younger writers knew this show as a fan first and watched many seasons of it, and that brings a different vibe to the show. Sure, some of the technology has improved, but only for the better.Īppel: I say this as a relative newcomer, but it’s a rare thing for a comedy to be on the air for as long as Family Guy has been. ( Laughs.) But Seth really laid down such a strong pilot that the day-to-day operation of what we do here hasn’t changed. Behind the scenes, some people have come, some people have gone, some people have gone and come back, and throughout it all it’s the same carpet, the same chairs, the same computer monitors. We’ve filled out the town of Quahog and developed a real community of people of supporting characters. How do you think the show has changed both behind-the-scenes and on-screen over the past 14 seasons?Ĭallaghan: On-screen, I think the show has gotten fuller and deeper and richer. ![]() We never have to worry about him aging or turning grey … which he’s not, by the way! You just know you can rely on his talent and still get the same quality all these years later. I feel like the episodes coming up are some of the best we’ve ever done.Īppel: And thank God we have Seth MacFarlane who will always play the majority of the characters on our show. We take each season very seriously and we do try to top what we did the season before and keep the quality the highest it’s ever been. ( Laughs.) So it’s great but this also comes with a responsibility that we don’t take lightly. Steve Callaghan: I’ve worked with these people for most of my adult life. Steve is the perfect example: he started here as a writer’s assistant 15 years ago. So the longer a staff works together, the stronger a show becomes. You don’t want to feel reluctant to throw ideas out. something that is just dumb is very, very thin. The line between something that’s really funny and dumb vs. The longer a show is on the air, the longer staff gets to work together and the more familiar you are with one another, and the less subconscious you are about throwing out ideas. ![]() Rich Appel: It’s an enormous advantage in writing a TV show because it’s embarrassing in the way that the rich get richer in television. ![]()
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