Hey - did you there's a Family Guy pinball machine!?!?!? Well now you do! We were approached by Stern Pinball, the only pinball company in the world, about doing a Family Guy pinball. I was extremely excited about this, as I love arcade and pinball machines.

http://www.sternpinball.com/FamilyGuy.shtml

The designer of the game is the great Pat Lawlor. If you played pinball throughout the 90's, you've probably played his games - Addam's Family, Funhouse, Red & Ted's Roadshow, Whirlwind, Earthshaker, No Good Gofers, and Twilight Zone. Since his games are often loaded w/ a storytelling type flow and humor, he was the perfect guy to design Famiily Guy! We helped out at the studio w/ the cabinet artwork (I drew the sides and backglass)...but the magic of the game was done in Chicago by Pat's company PLD and Stern.

What a great game it turned out to be...I could be all boring and explain why it's so cool...but here, check out this video review by Chris Bucci:

So now I'm sure you're wondering - "WHERE CAN I PLAY THIS NOOOOW!?!?!?!" ....well, there are still some arcades out there, but not as many as the 80's and 90's obviously. Lots of bowling alleys still have pinballs...I'm sure there are some bars as well. In the Los Angeles area, PINZ in Studio City has it (along with some other Stern pinballs like Sopranos, Simpsons, Pirates, and Spider-Man) and Family Amusement Center in L.A.

If you see one on location, post a reply to let people know where to play!

Or - if you're the type of person w/ disposable income and always wanted a pinball machine, check out www.pinballsales.com ...Jack will hook you up!

Pinball is truly a great American artform....a wonder combination of creativity and technical design ...and now it's slathered in vomit and farts thanks to Family Guy. Horray!!! :)

Yeah, this thing's been dead for a while, eh?

OK well I'm gonna do my best to keep this blog going w/ updates and stories from the animation studio here at Family Guy.

We had our regular blog groupies, but just in case you're checking this out for the first time - my name is Greg Colton, and I'm a director on the show. My next episode is actually airing this Sunday - LOIS KILLS STEWIE...bwahahaha!

It's been sooooo long since I started work on this episode ...I almost can't remember...July '06, I think? It's like old news to me - but a brand new fresh episode for you!

Being a fan of the show since episode one, I was really excited to direct an episode that well, pretty much has it all! Stewie takes over the world, has an ultimate showdown fight with Lois, and has a big song sequence! Family Guy generally follows a standard sitcom style of visual storytelling, so to get an episode w/ so much variety was very refreshing and fun to do.

Unfortunately, the song sequence (Stewie's version of the "Little List" song from The Mikado) had to be cut for TV airtime....but that just means you'll get a DVD version w/ over 3 more minutes of footage. It's quite different than the song numbers you're used to seeing on Family Guy...it's very dry and has lots of carnage!!! :)

Enjoy!

Hello faithful bloggers! Wanted to make sure you all know that the long anticipated "Blue Harvest" is our Season Premiere this weekend. It's a 1 hour special "Star Wars: A New Hope" homage episode. This episode has been over a year in the making, and I know that all the crew's hard work will be evident when you see it on Sunday night. I think some of the funniest moments are the more obscure references to the original film, and I'm looking forward to hearing which are your favorites. The attention to detail from the writers, artists, and production crew make this episode one of the finest we've ever produced.

This episode has more CG animation than we've ever had before, but also tons of great traditional character animation. Dom Polcino (director) and crew did a fantastic job with not only getting the action sequences true to original, but also lots of subtle character acting. Our overseas studio really outdid themselves with some just fantastic animation. You'll see tones and shadow on just about every shot - not something we usually do. The post department also outdid themselves with the sound and music. Lucas let us use the original score and SFX, really adding to the richness of the episode.

It's been a pretty spectacular experience working on this episode, and it culminated this weekend with a special trip to Lucasfilm to show the crew up there in San Francisco the episode. A small crew of us travelled up to Lucasfilm for the screening of over 500 crew members. We were given VIP treatment and a truly warm reception. Our entire group are hard core Star Wars fans, so this event was a dream come true for all of us. We got to watch our episode projected on a huge screen in a theatre at the Lucasfilm facility and again later at (gasp) the Skywalker Ranch with none other than George Lucas himself! Needless to say we are all still walking on clouds! Thanks to everyone at Lucasfilms for being so great!

We all feel really privileged to have worked on this episode, and we really hope you enjoy it! Tune in and let us know what you think.

Table reads for production season 6: We had show #613 Table read 2 weeks ago. A hilarious offering from Seth's own assistant, Andrew (his 2nd FG script. Also author of: Brian's Guide to Booze, Broads, and the Lost Art of Being a Man). Writers are currently breaking stories for the last 1/2 of Season 6, so we have a little break from table reads in order to catch up on some animation stuff. We're using this time to get Seth in the booth to record a LOT of lines, lock him in his office to make notes on storyboards, and for us to build some GREAT animatics and ship our first few episodes to our studios in Korea where the animation is done.

Design Department: Has been working really hard on updating our main model pack. When we were "uncanceled" and starting up Season 4, we were unable to find the originals of the Main Model Pack (all the drawings of the main characters, their turnaround sheets, expressions, mouthcharts, etc.). We reassembled the pack from copies that Seth had in his garage and directors had stored. This season our talented designers redrew all the designs, making slight adjustments (don't think viewers will notice, but will hopefully be helpful to our overseas animators). The background designers have also been updating our stock locations to clean up the line and improve perspective, etc. Looking good!

Softball Team: After last seasons admirable performance in the finals of the Television softball league, we have been playing pickup games. Next weekend we take on our friends over at King of the Hill.

Star Wars Convention: Seth, David G., Kara, Alec and Dom P. did a panel and showed a 10 minute preview of our upcoming Season Premiere of "Blue Harvest" for 2 filled auditoriums a few weeks ago at the Los Angeles Star Wars Celebration IV. It was really exciting to see the crowds positive reaction to all the hard work that's gone into that episode. We rarely get crowd reaction to the show, and I think all the crew there really enjoyed hearing the roars of laughter and applause. At the second show, Seth gave away an unopened, Dagobah playset he had bought from a dealer at the convention. The winner walked away with the plastic enclosed case after correctly answering (with a little help) "What is future Meg's male name in 'Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story'?" I'm sure YOU all know.

Hope everyone out there is doing well, and I plan on recruiting more crew voices to get more behind the scenes tales up here.

We cut in the last shots for this episode late last night, so the comedy should be real fresh. I want to thank all the crew who helped get this show looking so great over the past few weeks: Kim, Karin, Mike, Tania, Sarah, Debbie, James, and Peter. You all rock.

Enjoy Dan's last (for now....) episode of "Family Guy". I hope you'll agree it's a classic! We miss you Dan!

Freaked at a blank page again! So sorry. I saw some comments of appreciation for last weeks chicken fight.....Been saving that surprise for a while. Pete Michels and crew have been working on that for almost a year! Biggest one yet. Steve storyboarded this one too, and I think he and everyone else did an amazing job.

Did you like our puppet scene? We have the set in our front lobby, along with a few of the puppets. Eileen did a great job on that scene. It was a lot of fun to watch it shoot!

Two more episodes to air this season: "It Takes a Village Idiot (And I Married One)" and "Meet the Quagmires".

More to come.....

4/29 - "Boys Do Cry" (director Brian Iles, written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong)
5/6 - "No Chris Left Behind" (director Pete Michels, written by Patrick Meighan)
5/13 - "It Takes a Village Idiot (And I Married One)" (director Zac Moncreif, written by a. bo)
5/20 - "Meet the Quagmires" (director Dan Povenmire, written by Mark Hentemann)

... then back in September!

New Episode this Sunday "No Meals On Wheels", directed by the fabulous Greg Colton and written by Mike Henry (aka Cleveland, Herbert, Performance Artist,......). This is a Joe episode for you Patrick Warburton fans.

Production on Season 6 is under way. We've had 6 table reads already, and John Holmquist has started turning in the first storyboard of the season. Act 1 was sent home with Seth for the weekend to do his pass of notes. Yikes, that means we'll start having animatic screenings again soon! The writers have been turning out some great scripts this season. Everyone's pretty excited about these episodes here at the office! I know the artists are enjoying working on them!

For Season 5, we're getting episode #515 back next week. Actually that one is a Joe episode too, but you'll have to wait for the fall for that episode to premiere. Right now we are working on 510, 511, 512 and 513 to wrap up this air season. I'm writing from home and can't remember the air schedule off the top of my head, but will try to post that next week, so you can plan accordingly.....

So watch Sunday and enjoy the fruits of Greg and crew's hard work!

Thanks for reading and watching!

Watch Fox for all the promos they're running this week. We helped out with a few of them - look for animated Stewie interviewing a live action Rob Corddry. Seth, Ricky and Rob have been doing a lot of promos: you may have heard Seth and Ricky on Adam Carolla's radio show this morning, and look for Seth on Craig Ferguson (he's taping it right now, probably for broadcast tonight - sorry for late notice). ALSO, a live video webcast with Seth, Rob and Ricky on Sunday 9:30 PM-1:00 AM ET. Fire up your webcams!

More info on the Winner:
http://www.fox.com/winner/

But back to "Family Guy"......This weekend airs "Airport '07", (directed by John Holmquist and written by Mark Hentemann). We just got the last shot of this episode approved today....a little down to the wire, but I think it was worth it. The show is really funny. There's a short musical number for you musical cutaway fans. No matter how you feel about it, the tune's gonna stick in your head! I've been humming it all week.

Don't miss the special credit sequence at the end - John spent a lot of time on that shot, it was pretty tricky animation. We had the Korean Studio send the animation back here so John and Young could fix the actual animation drawings at our end. It's also an opportunity to see the names of all the talented artists and crew go by at a (slightly) slower rate, instead of squashed at the bottom!

Upcoming new episodes:

3/11 - "Bill and Peter's Bogus Adventure"
3/25 - "No Meals On Wheels"

....then back in April with new ones.

Thanks for reading and watching!

While here on Family Guy, I've had the luxury of meeting so many talented people and producing some amazing products. From the Art shows that allowed our artists to further express their creative sides and bring 2 sides of a production closer together (Writers and Artsits), to Directing Episodes that pushed these artists and the show's style to create episodes that I will be proud to have on my Resume.

"Untitled Griffen Family History" (My first SOLO Directing debut) had so much support from my new found friends here at the studio. So many of these artists I had worked with for the first time, and they all did what they could to help me shine. From Steve Fonti, supporting me throughout the beginning stages of this episode (great Horse Demolition sequence, too)- to the brilliant work done by both Storyboard Artists Chris and Colin. Also, the color department and BG department helped me to push Seth a little away from the traditional FLATTER styled shots and make this show a little more dynamic. And, as always, a wonderful design crew, helping me push my roughs to that next level.

"Barely Legal" One of my Favorite Family Guy episodes EVER- Mila Kunis' voice, probably the best record we've had from her to date. The script... c'mon "Cool H-WHip"??? How ya gonna beat that? Plus the story line alone was freakin great! Way to go Kirker, thanks for letting me add to that funny-assed story. This was also the first hook up with my AD Jeff Stewart- Thanks for helping me focus that piece along.

"Peter's Daughter" My last EP here at Family Guy. BOY- WHAT AN AWESOME SCRIPT TO LEAVE ON! Great A and B story... Plus I was able to contribute some funny assed dance moves for Peter's cop dance (just you wait). The Pie fight in this one has almost ruined me (seriously... I think it has been the thorn in my side on this one), but.. if it makes it to the finals, you'll hopefully have no idea what it really took to get it there.. so to ALL of you that helped on that part of this EP (especially the Revisionists)... I Seriously thank you.

Although that's not all I did here at this studio, those are 3 of my favorites that come to mind.

Ok... so now it's time for me to tell you all where I'm going.

Well... I'm sure you all remember Dan Povenmire, right? Well, he has sold a show called Phineas & Ferb to that house of mouse and they LOVE IT! So much so that they have extended his original pick-up and he's swamped. I had the great fortune of being asked to come join him and help him get through this HUGE order. I gotta tell ya, although I loved being part of this series here for Fox, I AM SOOO EXCITED TO GO WORK on this new one.

First off, it's a premise driven show. Therfore, I will have more say creatively on how story and dial flows for multiple episodes. Ask any of my students from Calarts and they'll tell you that it's what I do best. You see, these artists will be given a story outline that they will then (at the same time) storyboard and write. My job, will be to step in to look over and help suggest ways for the episode to stay on target. From shots, to dial, and even actual story points. I then will get to be in front of the executives to pitch the episode (when Dan's not available). There's nothing I like more than having to SELL a storyboard. I will then see the storyboard through design and timing, and I believe even post.

Second, this brings me closer to home. The drive for most of us at Family Guy isn't a fun one. It's approx 45 minutes to and from, and it's a tiring one at that. This job at Disney is 5 minutes from my house and allows me to be closer to my family, and actualy make it easier to put in more hours at the office.

Lastly, I do my best work when I'm trying to prove myself. There will be new people that I've never worked for and I know they're looking to me to come through for them. This puts me in my best working conditions. Plus, this show is going to be a hit. Ok.. ok... It's not going to have the kind of audience (age demo) that FG has, but I believe you will all know about this show within the next year or so.. I can feel it... and ya know, it will be great to be a part of it's success.

So once again. I'm not sure how many more blogs I'll be allowed to write up here, plus, there won't be much more for me to say. I'll post at least one more goodbye, but I just want to say this -

Thanks Seth MacFarlane for creating such a wondeful show and allowing me to be part of it's History:)

Zac

I am also currently finishing the final Lock on the last Ep for this current order. It is written by Chris Sheriden and I LOVE IT!. It's funny, it's has a great "B" story with Brian and Stewie flipping a house (making money), and it's a "Meg" Episode. The Title is "Peter's Daughter". In this one, Meg is admitted to the Hospital due to a severe accident. Peter then vowes to treat her better than he ever has before and will "make sure that nothing will ever happen to her again". hmmm. any guesses if that stays true? I know.. boring explanation, but I really don't want to give away too much. Maybe David will come on here and spread some more about it, but, I'm so afraid of giving away too much story and getting in trouble.

There is a giant "fight" sequence (no... not a Chicken Fight) that's kicking my ass in this one, but I am sure it will be well worth it when all is said and done. Oh, and I'm happy to say that there's a Peter dance in here that I enjoyed working out (I'll be glad to do the dance for any of you) that I think you all will love. I see YOUTUBE in it's future:)

Speaking of youtube- here's an awesome little bit that I threw up on youtube tonight after doing a little quick edit. It's my youngest Daughter's first steps- she just did them last night - check it out (it's only a songs length long). Make sure you watch past the "End" card:)
Here's the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO9kjd3f_vs

or try and watch it below

One more Thang!

I bumped in to Dan P. the other morning in Burbank. He couldn't be happier and his project is going GREAT! Unfortunately I don't see him coming back EVER. Ok, maybe in the future he'll make some time to handle another Brian and Stewie Road show. Hey- that reminds me- His Ep is coming on this Sunday- DON'T Miss it. There's a great Dance number that Stewie does with Gene Kelly. (Dan talked about it at Comicon and on the Walmart Dvd extra disc). It looks amazing!

ok

really

that's all for now:)

I think you can look forward to some more interesting updates in the near future; my only offering now is our line up for January & February. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for the end of this month for new episodes (trust me, we're using the time to get the new ones looking extra good!)......

1/7 - "Saving Private Brian" & "Hell Comes to Quahog"
1/21 - "Mother Tucker" & "You May Now Kiss the Guy"
1/28 - ***NEW*** "The Road to Rupert"
2/11 - ***NEW*** "Peter's Two Dads"
2/18 - ***NEW*** "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou"

These new episodes airing have some great stuff to look forward to. For you musical number fans, there are a couple great ones coming up. "Road to Rupert" is one of our "classic" Brian and Stewie road show episodes, directed by Dan Povenmire. "Peter's Two Dads" has some shocking information about Peter's family tree, directed by Cyndi Tang. And "The Tan Aquatic...." has some CLASSIC Brian and Stewie moments, directed by Julius Wu.

I hope everyone had a great New Years. We had a holiday break at the studio, and I think we've all come back refreshed and ready for another great year. Hope everyone out there is ready too! We appreciate your support and promise to work hard at making the funny.

Thanks for reading, sorry kind of boring. Hopefully someone will put up something with some more wit soon!

p.s. Did anyone put up any info about our softball teams awesome performance in the playoffs? If not, we'll remedy that

Thanks again to everyone involved with this event, and I hope you bloggers like seeing some of the work.

Jeff Stewart (my A.D.) created the awesome Stewie piece...
(BTW, The ninja one was my FAVORITE, but I can't afford it.. I gotz Kidz tuh feed)

Later- ZAc

I will try to post some pictures of some pieces next week.