‘Family Guy’ creator makes peace with conservative TV watchdog

Seth MacFarlane, creator of the irreverent animated show “Family Guy,” once likened the barrage of blistering attacks on the program — and him — from the Parents Television Council to “getting hate mail from Hitler.”

The conservative nonprofit railed against MacFarlane and his Fox network cartoon for more than a decade. It petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to proclaim episodes indecent and pressured advertisers to steer clear.

In a vitriolic blog post four years ago, a PTC analyst predicted, “Until MacFarlane steps away from his sycophantic audience of frat boys and perverts, and actually stops treating rape and child molestation as jokes, no one will ever respect him.”

Yet, this spring, MacFarlane welcomed an unlikely guest to his stylish offices in Beverly Hills: PTC President Tim Winter. On a Friday evening, the former combatants cracked jokes and engaged in a thoughtful discussion about their beliefs — and friendship.

Tactless TV dad

MacFarlane was a 23-year-old student at the Rhode Island School of Design when he created a hand-drawn animated short about a tactless New England father who connected more with the family dog than his son. The project morphed into “Family Guy,” which launched in 1999.

It was the first of many successes for the Connecticut native, now 45, who also co-created the animated “American Dad,” about a CIA agent, and “The Cleveland Show,” showcasing the African American neighbors from “Family Guy.” He wrote, directed and starred in the popular 2012 R-rated teddy bear buddy comedy, “Ted.”

Fox just renewed for a third season his current pet project, the live-action comedy-drama “The Orville,” which began as an homage to “Star Trek.”

“Family Guy” was canceled after three seasons, but Fox brought it back to life in 2005 after discovering it was a cult hit on college campuses. But the series has long been an irritant to the PTC and its founder, L. Brent Bozell III, who once described MacFarlane as “the guy scribbling graffiti in the bathroom stall.”

Protection for children

Bozell formed the group in 1995 with legendary entertainer Steve Allen to protect children from graphic sex, violence and profanity on TV. The group’s hammer is its ability to pressure advertisers to abandon programs it finds objectionable, prompting criticism from some in Hollywood that PTC’s advocacy borders on censorship.

Under Winter, who became president in 2007, the group expanded its mission to advocate for TV channels to be sold a la carte to give consumers more control over programming. One of the group’s top priorities has been lobbying the FCC to revamp the TV Content Ratings, and it supports legislation to create a safer internet for children.

What brought Winter and MacFarlane together?

After PTC called a 2015 “Family Guy” episode “stupid” and filled with “misogyny … crude references to sex acts and genitalia,” MacFarlane invited Winter or two writers of his choosing “to write an episode of ‘Family Guy’ the way you think ‘Family Guy’ should be written.”

The PTC, MacFarlane recalled recently, might have drafted “an awesome, killer script that was funnier than anything that we could have come up with.” But he figured the group might balk. “Then, we could say: ‘Well, if you don’t want to do the job, then don’t criticize the way we do it.’ ”

Cumulative impact

Winter explained the PTC’s goal wasn’t to dictate content — but to raise awareness about how some subject matter might harm children. He declined the offer. But he pointed to “at least 58 instances” of jokes about sexual violence during a three-year period on “Family Guy.”

“What is the cumulative impact on children who watched those programs?” Winter wrote. “I humbly and respectfully ask you to help change the dialogue.”

“I was properly humbled,” MacFarlane said, “and I figured that I gotta give him a call.”

At their recent meeting, Winter acknowledged being nervous about getting together.

“We had taken some pretty serious potshots,” Winter, said. “I never want to make a beef personal … but we called you out by name in our fundraising pieces.”

“My parents let me watch ‘Animal House,’ ‘Caddyshack,’ ‘Stripes’ … these R-rated comedies when I was 7,” MacFarlane said. “I had a very strong family unit and so there wasn’t much damage that was done from those films. … But when your kid is being raised by TV, it could be a different story.”

Now, he has a greater appreciation for the PTC and its work. “I think it is a healthy, necessary thing for them to exist in the same world as what we are doing,” MacFarlane said.

Channeling change

Since their first meeting, Winter said he’s noticed a change on “Family Guy.”

“There was not one single joke about sexual assault for more than three years — until a couple of weeks ago,” Winter told MacFarlane.

MacFarlane said he wasn’t sure whether his friendship with Winter rubbed off on “Family Guy” because he hasn’t written an episode in eight years. Still, he is trying to move beyond his potty-mouth persona.

And he is channeling the change through “The Orville,” the science-fiction spoof in which MacFarlane plays Capt. Ed Mercer, a kindly 25th-century military man who commands a starship as he tries to mend his broken life.

“The Orville” has “morphed from slapstick, juvenile comedy into a much more thoughtful sci-fi drama,” a PTC analyst wrote in a recent review. The show, she wrote, tackled weighty topics, such as pornography, genocide and social media, with “surprising maturity, sophistication, and with ultimately pro-social messages.”

“If the president of the Parents Television Council and the creator of ‘Family Guy’ can have this kind of a relationship, maybe other folks might be able to try to do the same thing,” Winter said.