“Most of the time these things turn out to be nothing.”)īut the Fox network decided not to show “Partial Terms of Endearment.” The network said in a statement that it fully supported “the producers’ right to make the episode and distribute it in whatever way they want,” and declined to elaborate on its decision.
That installment, in which Peter yearns for his son Chris to become smarter by converting to Judaism, was first shown on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network in 2003, and then on Fox in 2004. He said he believed that the network would eventually run it, as it had an earlier episode called “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein” that it rejected in 2000. MacFarlane presented the concept to Fox, it warned him that the subject matter raised a red flag, but allowed him to produce the episode anyway. When the friend and her husband are killed in a car accident, Lois debates whether she should keep the child, frequently finding herself in opposition to Peter’s wishes. Smith delivered, Lois Griffin, the wife of the titular “Family Guy” lummox, Peter Griffin, agrees to be a surrogate mother for a college friend who cannot conceive. MacFarlane enlisted Danny Smith, a veteran “Family Guy” writer and producer, to draft the episode’s script, assigning him to read a part of Carl Sagan’s book “Billions and Billions” that tries to find common ground between the “absolutist positions” of abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion groups. When the topic of abortion came up in the “Family Guy” writers’ room, he said, “There’s nothing about that issue that should be any different than doing an episode about gay marriage or an episode about the oil spill.”
MacFarlane said he tried to include two to three episodes each season that are issue-oriented. “Times really have changed,” said Seth MacFarlane, the creator of “Family Guy.” “The network is making a decision that is, unfortunately, probably based on people’s current ability to handle and dissect controversial narratives.”Īs a longtime admirer of the comedies of Norman Lear to the point that the “Family Guy” opening credits pay homage to “All in the Family” Mr. When it does, many “Family Guy” fans will get their first look at an unlikely reminder of the television networks’ aversion to the issue of abortion, and a rare boundary encountered by an often rebellious series. However, the home video arm of 20th Century Fox plans to release the episode as a stand-alone DVD in September, in packaging that plays up its polarizing qualities. The Fox network has said it will not broadcast “Partial Terms of Endearment,” which was produced for the 2009-10 season. It is also an episode in which a central character finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy and contemplates an abortion, a subject that is frankly discussed and flagrantly satirized by the cartoon’s cast.
In many ways, the “Family Guy” episode “Partial Terms of Endearment” is typical of that audacious Fox animated comedy, teeming with rapid-fire jokes and willfully offensive non sequiturs about disabled animals, God, Nazis, bodily functions and the sexual habits of “Sesame Street” characters.
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