From: Barry Margolin 

In article 
,
 Seapig  wrote:

> On Jan 11, 1:45 pm, David  wrote:
> > http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/was-simpsons-episode-edi...
> >
> > Was ŒSimpsons¹ Episode Edited to Spare Seth MacFarlane¹s Feelings?
> > By DAVE ITZKOFF
> >
> > Someone get Chief Wiggum on the case! A special 20th anniversary
> > episode of ³The Simpsons² ended with a thank-you message from the
> > show¹s producers to viewers, but appeared to omit a joke at the
> > expense of their Fox colleague and sometime-rival Seth MacFarlane.
> >
> > The episode, which was broadcast on Sunday, ended with an on-screen
> > display that read, ³Thanks for 20 wonderful years. The best is yet to
> > come.² But in a version of the show that was sent in advance to
> > critics, the message read slightly differently: as Alessandra Stanley
> > noted in her review of the episode, it said, ³Thanks for 20 wonderful
> > years. Now stay tuned for three Seth MacFarlane shows.²
> >
> > Mr. MacFarlane, the producer of the Fox animated series ³Family Guy,²
> > ³The Cleveland Show² and ³American Dad,² has occasionally been the
> > target of jokes on ³The Simpsons,² whose writers have skewered him for
> > creating programs similar to theirs. Mr. MacFarlane has often said
> > that ³The Simpsons² helped inspire him to create ³Family Guy,² and was
> > one of many celebrities who offered testimonials to ³The Simpsons² in
> > a documentary that followed the anniversary episode on Sunday night.
> >
> > A Fox spokeswoman said that the ³Simpsons² episode given to reporters
> > and critics was a rough cut and that show elements are often added and
> > taken out before broadcast.
> 
> How exactly is it considered an insult to MacFarlane to point out that
> the guy has three shows on the air?  If anybody was being insulted, it
> was FOX, for not having the imagination to put anything else in those
> slots.

I think it was supposed to be sarcastic; reading between the lines, 
there's an implied "three *lame* Seth MacFarlane shows".

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar{at}alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***

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