Fox gives Seth MacFarlane whatever he wants nowadays. He practically owns half of Fox’s Sunday night block of programming. Why not? His track record is more than impressive.

MacFarlane is known for creating such shows as “Family Guy,” “American Dad,” and “The Cleveland Show.” On Sunday night MacFarlane took Fox by the horns, showcasing his own version of a variety show that was so “Cleveland,” funny.
“Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show” was like a variety show done “Family Guy” style, showcasing Borstein and MacFarlane’s other talents, typically keep from the live studio audience. 

Apparently Alex Borstein (voice of Lois Griffin) and Seth MacFarlane (voice of Peter Griffin and other “Family Guy” characters) make a good duet when performing musical renditions together, opening their latest creation by singing the “Family Guy” theme song melodically.
Fox has some big “Cleveland,” to let MacFarlane and Borstein to get away with some of the jokes they told during their half hour special; having the typical television censorship bleeps replaced with the word “Cleveland,” (voiced by former “Family Guy” and now “Cleveland Show” star Mike Henry) for one segment of the show.

The edgy comedy MacFarlane is known for was on full display during this half hour comedy special. From race to religion, MacFarlane isn’t known to be lenient on any comedic material. 

This lack of leniency was rather ironic within the show as one segment relied heavily upon Jewish jokes and Borstein is Jewish.

Don’t worry, they also made fun of the deaf by Borstein impersonating deaf actor Marlee Matlin, which “Family Guy” has done before. Though, not many times can the person subject to criticism show up and return the favor, which Matlin did. She reputably shut down Borstein‘s performance and well, belittled “Cleveland,” as much as possible.
I don’t know how Borstein and MacFarlane’s relationship came to fruition, but it’s clear that they are great together and they don’t let anything get between them. 

Some people consider much of MacFarlane’s comedy in bad taste, while if you ask others he’s simply hilarious. To be fair, let’s call it a little bit of both. MacFarlane’s constant abuse of the Jewish religion is completely shocking, but when you get past the insensitive nature of the jokes, it is kind of funny.

Overall, the show did what it was it was expected to do: entertain you for just long enough, then leave when the time is right. So with this, I’m wondering what Fox will give MacFarlane next. Maybe a reality show where they worship “Family Guy” and MacFarlane’s other “comedic” devices?

Perhaps they’ll just branch off Quagmire into a brand new show (they’re already allowed that once.)

Regardless of what’s in store next for MacFarlane, “Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show”, though most likely  never seeing an actual series, it was  a good and entertaining reason to stay up after football on Sunday.
 

1 comments

Dave

Sun Nov 15 2009 01:44

It's not that MacFarlane abuses "the Jewish religion", it's that he keeps putting up almost absurdly-vicious stereotypes of Jews (the people, not the faith), and introducing them to a new generation that probably hasn't heard of most of them (most notably in the episode "Family Goy").

Does anyone really make fun of Judaism, the religion? I can hardly think of any examples. It's mostly just caricatured versions of Jewish people, which have nothing to do with the faith.

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