Not everyone let Seth MacFarlane’s offensive humor roll off their shoulder last night. Apparently the Anti-Defamation League is pissed at the Oscar host for suggesting that Jewish people rule Hollywood in a segment he did with Mark Wahlberg in the form of a CGI teddy bear from the hit movie Ted. The footage follows for those who missed it, but it was along the lines of “I was born Theodore Shapiro and I would like to donate to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever.” It is a pretty funny line, but let’s be honest. No Jews work in Hollywood…Hit the jump for the footage and the statement made from the ADL. Continue Reading
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All in all, there does exist a takeaway from all this. There is a ton more mileage that can be drawn from this Seth MacFarlane-voiced CGI teddy bear, making a sequel almost assuredly a good idea. Unfortunately, that will have to wait a while as the director (MacFarlane) has just signed up for a live-action western comedy while Mark Wahlberg has climbed aboard the Transformers franchise for Michael Bay.
To date, Ted has grossed $281.4 million from foreign markets and $218.7 million domestically. While the former bests the original Hangover, the latter does not. Todd Phillips’ Wolf Pack-led feature managed a stagger $277 million in domestic coin back in 2009 and its follow-up performed almost as well, putting Ted firmly in the three spot in the record books for adult-rated comedies. The two Hangover films managed to gross $467.5 million and $581.4 million globally in that order, thus the title of this post. Continue Reading
This news is not exactly shocking by any means as the long-running sketch series has often been seen as a launching pad for prospective hosts. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin each headed the program and for a time last year, it was believed that former cast member Eddie Murphy would get the gig at center stage before a behind-the-scenes producer shift. Furthermore, MacFarlane’s often edgy, liberal appeal is exactly what the ceremony attracts thus why some believed that MacFarlane was an implicit frontrunner should he be up for the task.
The Amazing Spider-Man continues to exceed expectations with another $20.7 million on Friday bringing its total domestic haul to a whopping $95.7 million in its first four days of release. Continue Reading
Ted has been described by many as an episode of Family Guy done in live-action, so if that is true one could expect some huge ratings in replays on par with what TBS and Cartoon Network finds with the comedy’s repeats. Family Guy regularly beats the late night circuit in the 18-49 demo which makes it one of the most lucrative properties currently on television and a good get for FX. This latest deal with the network may be a great one, but it only serves to highlight a question being asked of them as to whether or not they might devolve in regards to scripted programming. While such series have done tremendous for FX over the years, they have often come with a certain degree of risk taking which often costs a lot of money. With the jury still out on whether Sheen’s new comedy will maintain hit status in the coming weeks, there is this idea being thrown about that maybe there is ultimately a profit-taking agenda at the cable network that may inhibit the future development of edgy, original content.
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It has been made official. Mark Wahlberg and Ted will present together at the Academy Awards later this month. ABC sent out the press release today to confirm the news which validates what Marky Mark revealed on the press circuit last month for Broken City, so really this is more of a reminder than anything else. Of course, this all follows an appearance back in December of 
Seth MacFarlane is continuing his press tour for the physical media release of his mega-hit comedy Ted. This time, he brought his CGI teddy bear along with him to the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live and hilarity ensued. Yes, the cartoon producer did lend his voice, but it was a really short appearance which makes us believe that the whole thing might have been a dry run for the 2013 Academy Awards. We will find out in February.
Seth MacFarlane visited Conan last night to do a little more promotion for Ted which is just hitting Blu-Ray and DVD. The movie already racked up over $500 million in global box office receipts, becoming the second R-rated comedy to do just that which makes a sequel inevitable. Any such second effort will have to wait though as the director is already signed up for the 
Ted is going to hit store shelves about a week from now, so the Blu-Ray extras are making their way online to promote the retail release. Apparently, those include previously unseen outtakes which include a jab at Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage’s height. It is pretty funny, but few would argue with the choice to cut that one. The Yogi funeral joke though might have been a keeper.
At the beginning of this summer, it was hard to imagine that Ted would become one of the highest grossing R-rated comedies of all-time. This was a unique concept from a rookie film director in Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and even Mark Wahlberg did not think the film would work at times. Perhaps it is only suiting that a film of this nature would spur on the unbelievable. With Ted, MacFarlane not only showed that the brand of humor responsible for making him one of television’s highest paid producers can translate to the big screen, but he did it in record-breaking fashion. 
FX is continuing on their path of big theatrical acquisitions for basic cable play as today it was announced that Ted would be arriving on the network a few year’s from now. The news follows a slew of other pickups from 2012 which includes The Avengers, Men in Black III, and Snow White and the Huntsman. As said last time though, do not expect this to be the end of the pickups as this particular channel has been heavy on such rights purchases for a while now.