History Creator / SethMacFarlane

* TheCastShowoff: ''Family Guy'' and ''AmericanDad'' have often been used as platforms to show off Seth's amazing singing ability. Most of the songs featured on ''FamilyGuy'' and ''AmericanDad'' do remind some viewers of the days when ''TheSimpsons'' had memorable musical numbers.

* ReferenceOverdosed: Without any knowledge of 1980s pop culture quite a few references and parodies will go right over your head.

* AuthorAvatar: Brian was this for Seth on ''Family Guy'', in the first few series. Peter was also one initially, when he used to reflect everything Seth geeks over. Brian's voice is still the closest to Seth's.

* AllAdultAnimationIsSouthPark: [[FamilyGuy His flagship show]] has been accused of being like ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' by TreyParkerAndMattStone (see the "Cartoon Wars" two-parter episode), when people before them have accused the show of being like ''TheSimpsons''.

* TheCastShowoff: ''Family Guy'' has many musical sequences where he displays his singing ability.

** Maybe ''Film/{{Ted}}'' is [[FridgeBrilliance the prequel to such a setting]]?
* VomitIndiscretionShot: ''All'' of his shows have this.

In an odd twist of fate, [=MacFarlane=] was scheduled to fly on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center, but missed his flight due to a hangover and his agent screwing up his flight plan. He decided to wait for another flight, until he saw the news footage of the World Trade Center being destroyed.

Seth Woodbury [=MacFarlane=] (born 1973) is best known as the creator of the animated sitcoms ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''; and the 2012 film ''{{Film/Ted}}''. Seth grew up in New England and went to school for animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. His professor sent a copy of his senior project (''The Life of Larry'') to HannaBarbera, who gave him his first job out of school.

After spending a few years at HB, writing/animating for shows like ''JohnnyBravo'', ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' and ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'', he made a sequel to ''The Life of Larry''. Titled ''Larry and Steve'', it featured a middle-aged guy, Larry, and his intellectual, anthropomorphic dog, Steve (sound familiar?). After Cartoon Network aired the short, {{FOX}} contacted Seth about creating a pilot about the characters, which would later become ''Family Guy''. They gave him a budget of $50,000 and 6 months, and the rest is history. Two [[UnCancelled Uncancellations]] later, ''Family Guy'' is one of FOX's most valuable franchises.

Seth has won a couple of Emmy Awards for Voice-over Work and Musical Composition. Hugely successful (recently became the highest paid writer/producer in TV history), but does have a sizeable number of detractors, including MoralGuardians who find his humor to be disgusting and offensive and dyed-in-the-wool ''Simpsons'' and ''SouthPark'' fans who think he's an untalented hack who wholesale ripped off jokes and stories from those two shows and padded them with [[ManateeGag meaningless jokes that don't go anywhere or have any plot relevance]].

* AllAdultAnimationIsSouthPark: [[FamilyGuy His flagship show]] has been accused of being like ''SouthPark'' by TreyParkerAndMattStone (see the "Cartoon Wars" two-parter episode), when people before them have accused the show of being like ''TheSimpsons''.

Announced in 2010 that he is developing a live-action/CG hybrid feature film which was released summer 2012 named ''[[{{Film/Ted}} Ted]]'' where voiced a talking teddy bear owned by a loser male lead trying to get through life.

* [[StrictlyFormula Strictly MacFormula]]: Stupid husband, closer to earth wife, loser son, whiny daughter, comically sized sadist, talking animal. Now which of his three shows is being described? You can even [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video/5762162/seth-macfarlanes-secret cut and paste to make new MacFarlane-style shows]] and no one will know the difference.

Is going to host [[AcademyAward the 85th Academy Awards]]. [[http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/10/seth-macfarlane-to-host-oscars/ No, really]]

In an odd twist of fate, [=MacFarlane=] was scheduled to fly on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center, but missed his flight and didn't get to board.

* AllAdultAnimationIsSouthPark: [[FamilyGuy His flagship show]] is probably the most successful of this type.
* AuthorAppeal: A lot of things that Seth likes make it into his shows (music from the RatPack era, 70's-80's pop culture references, musicals/showtunes, ''StarWars'', ''Franchise/StarTrek'', sci-fi, etc).

** Maybe ''Film/{{Ted}}'' is [[FridgeBrilliance the prequel to such a setting]]?...

Is going to host {{The Oscars}}. [[http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/10/seth-macfarlane-to-host-oscars/ No, really]]

** Maybe ''Film/Ted'' is [[FridgeBrilliance the prequel to such a setting]]?...

* TheAce: [[LoveItOrHateIt Whether you love him (and his comedy) or hate him (and his comedy)]], Seth brought himself up to be a tailor-made, ideal fit for show business. He can act in a slew of character voices in one show without a hitch, can sing in any of them because he was trained by legendary musicians growing up, releases his own albums, directed a successful movie, is a great show host, is highly sharp and intellectual, became the richest writer in Hollywood, and survived two cancellations resulting in two additional shows!
* TheAlcoholic: Well, a bit. He does enjoy drinking, especially when speaking in public ("or privately speaking, or turning on a lamp," as pointed out [[DeadpanSnarker by Bill Maher]]) mirrored in the character of Brian (Brian's drink of choice switched when Seth's did). He once overslept because he was hungover and missed his flight (though, he was also given an incorrect flight time), which turned out to be [[BecauseDestinySaysSo ridiculously lucky]], as that flight later crashed into the World Trade Center.

* [[BornInTheWrongCentury Born In The Wrong Decade]]: Seems he would have fit in quite well hanging out with Sinatra and crew back in the 50's. He's got an amazing singing voice that seems tailor-made for rat pack-style songs. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5btTUCZA0_M&feature=related True friggin' story.]]
** Since so many of his show references 1980s pop culture you get the feeling that, if time travel were indeed possible, then Seth would just go there and never come back.
* BornLucky: It took some good-timing DVD sales to get ''Family Guy'' uncancelled twice. And if you overlooked what was mentioned earlier, he was supposed to be on the plane that crashed into the World Trade Center -- he overslept and missed it.

* {{Irony}}: He uses his actual speaking voice for a character that's not even human (Brian the dog on ''Family Guy'').

* MrFanservice
* NWordPrivileges: He gets more leeway in terms of 9/11 jokes due to almost being one of its victims. To his credit, he never tries to [[CrossesTheLineTwice cross the line twice]] with one unless he's attempting to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] DudeNotFunny

* SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX: Pretty much the only reason why fewer people call Seth out on his unending portrayal of gay people as CampGay is that he has a relative that's gay.
** It also helps that he's a Gay Rights Activist and you know most of his shows have had GayAesops while misguided at times show the heart is in the right place.
** Also vocally uses this trope when discussing the episode "Once Upon A Weinstein" which makes fun of Jews, saying he has Jewish friends.

* WritersStrike: Very vocal and active in the 2007 WGA strike. Made a few headlines for his very candid response to {{Fox}}, when they announced they might finish creating in-production episodes of ''Family Guy'', without his sign-off: "That would just be a colossal dick move if they did that." Episodes for one whole season were delayed a year because Seth was busy with the strike.

** The second ''Family Guy'' Christmas episode - he had no problem with the jokes he had to say, and even burped and farted on-cue.

* TheAce: [[LoveItOrHateIt Whether you love him (and his comedy) or hate him (and his comedy)]], Seth brought himself up to be a tailor-made, ideal fit for show business. He can act in a slew of character voices in one show without a hitch, can sing in any of them because he was trained by legendary musicians growing up, releases his own albums, is a great show host, is highly sharp and intellectual, became the richest writer in Hollywood, and survived two cancellations resulting in two additional shows!

* StrictlyFormula: Stupid husband, closer to earth wife, loser son, whiny daughter, comically sized sadist, talking animal. Now which of his three shows is being described? You can even [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video/5762162/seth-macfarlanes-secret cut and paste to make new MacFarlane-style shows]] and no one will know the difference.

Seth Woodbury [=MacFarlane=] (born 1973) is best known as the creator of the animated sitcoms ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''; and the upcoming film ''{{Film/Ted}}''. Seth grew up in New England and went to school for animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. His professor sent a copy of his senior project (''The Life of Larry'') to HannaBarbera, who gave him his first job out of school.

Seth [=MacFarlane=] (born 1973) is best known as the creator of the animated sitcoms ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''; and the upcoming film ''{{Film/Ted}}''. Seth grew up in New England and went to school for animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. His professor sent a copy of his senior project (''The Life of Larry'') to HannaBarbera, who gave him his first job out of school.

Announced in 2010 that he is developing a live-action/CG hybrid feature film which will be released summer 2012 named ''[[{{Film/Ted}} Ted]]'' where he will voice a talking teddy bear owned by a loser male lead trying to get through life.

** Since so many of his show references 1980s pop culture you get the feeling he would rather be stuck in TheEighties than any other time period.

Seth is also a talented voice actor, providing the voices of four main characters on ''Family Guy'' (Peter, Brian, Stewie and Quagmire), two on ''American Dad'' (Stan and Roger), one on ''The Cleveland Show'' (Tim) and many additional voices. He also voiced several characters in ''RobotChicken'', a sketch comedy show created by his ''Family Guy'' castmate SethGreen. He made a short foray into feature-length film when he voiced Johann Krauss in ''[[Film/{{Hellboy}} Hellboy 2:The Golden Army]]''. He's also had some bit parts on live-action television, appearing in ''StarTrekEnterprise'', ''GilmoreGirls'' and most recently ''[[FlashForward2009 FlashForward]]''. But he always returns to animation and comedy. He's also a musician, singer and composer, whose work often appears on his shows.

* AuthorAppeal: A lot of things that Seth likes make it into his shows (music from the RatPack era, 70's-80's pop culture references, musicals/showtunes, ''StarWars'', ''StarTrek'', sci-fi, etc).

Seth is also a talented voice actor, providing the voices of four main characters on ''Family Guy'' (Peter, Brian, Stewie and Quagmire), two on ''American Dad'' (Stan and Roger), one on ''The Cleveland Show'' (Tim) and many additional voices. He also voiced several characters in ''RobotChicken'', a sketch comedy show created by his ''Family Guy'' castmate SethGreen. He made a short foray into feature-length film when he voiced Johann Krauss in ''[[{{Hellboy}} Hellboy 2:The Golden Army]]''. He's also had some bit parts on live-action television, appearing in ''StarTrekEnterprise'', ''GilmoreGirls'' and most recently ''[[FlashForward2009 FlashForward]]''. But he always returns to animation and comedy. He's also a musician, singer and composer, whose work often appears on his shows.

Announced in 2010 that he is developing a live-action/CG hybrid feature film which will be released summer 2012 named ''Ted'' where he will voice a talking teddy bear owned by a loser male lead trying to get through life.

* TheAlcoholic: Well, a bit. He does enjoy drinking, especially when speaking in public ("or privately speaking, or turning on a lamp," as pointed out [[DeadpanSnarker by Bill Maher]]) mirrored in the character of Brian (Brian's drink of choice switched when Seth's did). He once overslept because he was hungover and missed his flight, which turned out to be [[BecauseDestinySaysSo ridiculously lucky]], as that flight later crashed into the World Trade Center.

** In a manner of speaking, [[LaserGuidedKarma fate has ultimately pulled a cruel prank on him.]] ''[[{{Irony}} Right after]]'' many jokes about touchy subjects, he actually lost his mother to cancer.