As you might already expect, this only applies to Seth MacFarlane's shows, even though FOX is calling it an AD event.
What's the crossover, you ask?
Originally posted by FOX, via The Futon CriticSunday, May 1 In an unprecedented ANIMATION DOMINATION crossover event, a storm hits the towns of Stoolbend, Quahog and Langley Falls.
THE CLEVELAND SHOW (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT) - "The Hurricane" - Crossover Event FAMILY GUY (9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT) - "Seahorse Seashell Party" - Crossover Event AMERICAN DAD (9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) - "Hurricane!" - Crossover Event
The FOX May Sweeps press release (thefutoncritic.com) contains episode descriptions, as well as descriptions of every new FOX show airing during May.
Strangely enough, the episode of Bob's Burgers airing two weeks later deals with a storm that cancels the town's annual Lobsterfest.
Originally posted by PaulKTFTranslation- we're running out of plot ideas for the individual shows, so we'll turn that desperation into a gimmicky crossover "event".
Originally posted by PaulKTFTranslation- we're running out of plot ideas for the individual shows, so we'll turn that desperation into a gimmicky crossover "event".
I disagree with your assessment.
Which part? That they're desperate, or that it's a gimmick?
Family Guy in particular has outright recycled plots, and concepts from previous episodes. That's never a good sign for the future of a series.
The Cleveland Show is really nothing more than a badly watered-down Family Guy to begin with. Cleveland and his supporting cast just aren't funny or interesting enough to support their own show, in my opinion.
Of the three, American Dad is the only one that's been of a consistently high quality (for the most part) and even they've had a few duds over the last two seasons.
I'm not saying the end results won't have their moments and maybe each show can bring something interesting and funny to the table with this, but I hate when they try to tie three shows together that are supposed to all be unique and in their own "worlds".
You just know they're going to do forced crossover cameo gags on all these shows and those never stem from anything creative or funny.
It just smacks of desperation on somebody's part- maybe Seth's. Maybe the network's. All three shows are so popular and get such great ratings; that I don't know why they're resorting to this.
Originally posted by FOX, via The Futon CriticSunday, May 1 In an unprecedented ANIMATION DOMINATION crossover event, a storm hits the towns of Stoolbend, Quahog and Langley Falls.
THE CLEVELAND SHOW (8:30-9:00 PM ET/PT) - "The Hurricane" - Crossover Event FAMILY GUY (9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT) - "Seahorse Seashell Party" - Crossover Event AMERICAN DAD (9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) - "Hurricane!" - Crossover Event
Nothing will beat the massive storm that hit Empty Nest, The Golden Girls, and Nurses in the same night.
Originally posted by PaulKTFWhich part? That they're desperate, or that it's a gimmick?
The part where you know anything about television.
It doesn't require 200 words to say "Sweeps Stunt" when everybody already knows it's a sweeps stunt...especially Mr Shh, who already made that point in post #1. It's not desperation; it's part of the business. It happens during EVERY sweeps.
Originally posted by ZeruelNothing will beat the massive storm that hit Empty Nest, The Golden Girls, and Nurses in the same night.
I'll definitely be surprised if there isn't at least one reference to this (and/or David Leisure guest voice) on this night.
Originally posted by PaulKTFWhich part? That they're desperate, or that it's a gimmick?
The part where you know anything about television.
It doesn't require 200 words to say "Sweeps Stunt" when everybody already knows it's a sweeps stunt...especially Mr Shh, who already made that point in post #1. It's not desperation; it's part of the business. It happens during EVERY sweeps.
That doesn't change the fact that it results in sub-par episodes cobbled together based on a gimmick instead of three strong individual episodes that might have a chance at being good on their own merits.
It might make for a great marketing gimmick, but the end results will probably be some of the weakest episodes of all three series in recent history.
Nous ne nous pouvons pas sortir. Seth is an old school TV guy at heart and this is an old school sweeps stunt. None of the shows I watch have done this since Angel/Buffy I think.
I'm looking forward to this trying to top the Family Matters/Step By Step crossover. But will there ever be a greater meeting of the minds than Waldo Faldo and the Code Man?
I am a fan of crossovers, so I have problems with this since they already crossover at times anyway. Even in the Family Guy Jedi, Stewie commented they must of run out of their characters when he saw Rodger in the second Death Star scene.
I think the title Hurricane is the dead giveaway they are stealing that from the Golden Girls, Empty Nest and Nurse event from back in the day. Nice call back, because I completely forgot about that and it had my favorite Nurse scene with the male nurse squaring off against a Hannibal Lector type character in a broken elevator that resulted in the Lector running out of the elevator.
I'm pretty sure there are no characters crossing over, just a storm (that will somehow travel from Virginia to Rhode Island, then back to Virginia). That's why I put crossover in " ". The way the descriptions read, these seem to essentially be self-contained eps. If anything, the *gimmick* is weak.
(edited by Mr Shh on 22.4.11 0913) You askew my mirror. I askew yours. Behold, my plunger. Anagrams posted to http://twitter.com/paragonSMASH
Originally posted by Mr ShhI'm pretty sure there are no characters crossing over, just a storm (that will somehow travel from Virginia to Rhode Island, then back to Virginia). That's why I put crossover in " ". The way the descriptions read, these seem to essentially be self-contained eps. If anything, the *gimmick* is weak.
I disagree with this. A character crossover would represent more of an emptiness in creativity than a plot device like a storm. I actually think a plot device extending through three different shows is actually pretty neat, because a storm could represent more of a DEVICE than an actual plot in itself. You could construct three different plots around the storm without making the storm itself a plot.
If the storm itself is the plot for all three shows, then I'll agree that it's weak. Powerful weak.