MS Cancels Family Guy: 'Not Fit for Windows Brand'

Despite attempts to make itself 'cool' again alongside tacky launch parties for the new Win7 operating system, Microsoft is looking a bit silly this morning after it announced it would cancel a joint television project with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.

Family Guy is an animated tongue-in-cheek comedy that is known for saying the things some of us think to ourselves but rarely have the courage to say. It insults just about any ethnic, racial, gender, or nationalist group on a week-by-week basis.

Microsoft: Show Too Controversial

That's part of the reason it's so popular, which is obviously why Microsoft wanted to join forces with creator MacFarlane in order to boost the software company's new operating system, Windows 7.

Microsoft had offered to sponsor a special variety show featuring live-action characters called Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show. Scheduled to broadcast on November 8th, Variety reports that the show features all kinds of nasty jokes typical of the animated program, including jabs at deaf people, the Holocaust, and even incest.

These early rehearsals apparently sent Microsoft reeling. "We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of 'Family Guy,' but after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand," the company said in a recent statement. (Source: pcmag.com)

Analysts: Cancellation Best Case Scenario

Some analysts feel this mess is actually the best outcome possible. That's because many critics of the show and Microsoft's sponsoring it felt the deal was a devilish pact -- it made MacFarlane look as if he'd 'sold out', and it made Microsoft look very desperate to get the name of its new operating system out to the public. (Source: pcworld.com)

The fact that MacFarlane neglected to change his show's 'edginess' will likely be seen by fans as a noble move. Meanwhile, Microsoft can take solace in the fact that it cancelled the deal prior to the show's broadcast, upon which time it could have faced a backlash from sensitive viewers.