Talk:Seth MacFarlane

Repeating phrase

I count 13 times "9/11", maybe that is a bit off topic? 83.254.213.190 00:11, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Maybe this is due to 9/11 being a major event for Mr. MacFarlane? He almost was on the plane which hit the Twin Towers. The influence from that incident can be seen with examples from the show. Miranda 10:03, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Maybe it should be tested in the living persons biography guidelines? This isn't blogspot.Coloneldoctor (talk) 21:20, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

It does fit the guidelines of BLP. miranda 23:48, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Don't see how its relevant. Almost *one third* of the article is about 9/11 in Family Guy, not Seth MacFarlane himself. In his own words, the experience "hasn't really affected me as maybe it could have," so I don't think it was a major occurrence for him, or at least not as major as the article seems to make out - something taking up a third of his entire entry! Also, is almost getting on a plane really a bigger life influence than actually being near Ground Zero at the time of the collapse of the towers, as tens of thousands were? While its an interesting anecdote, I think it's worth a sentence at most. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.65.124.250 (talk • contribs)

I agree with the two anonymous users: the long list of examples of 9/11 references to Family Guy are better suited for the Family Guy article, not on a biographical article that is only tangentially related. McFarlane isn't the sole writer of the show (I'm pretty sure), and even if he solely wrote the show, the controversy is again for the Family GUy article. hbdragon88 (talk) 08:21, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I agree with you Hbdragon. I think it should focus on Mr. MacFarlane's experience with 9/11, not FG's influence. Make it short and sweet. Miranda 10:20, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

The section is below. Miranda 16:57, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Examples in Family Guy

Osama bin Laden was featured in an episode of Family Guy, which aired more than a year before the 9/11 attacks. In a later interview for Maxim magazine, MacFarlane said that 9/11 would never be used as material for humor on Family Guy due to the experience. However, in the episode PTV, the episode begins with a mock of Osama bin Laden making a video message to America. In the episode, bin Laden does not mention 9/11, but instead a threat to America which is then mocked with "bloopers" and bin Laden making light of the situation, before being attacked by Stewie. However, the first gag to blatantly reference 9/11 was in the episode Airport '07; Quagmire crash lands a plane and then Mayor West is informed while reading My Pet Goat to school children, an obvious reference to when U.S. President George W. Bush was informed of the 9/11 attacks. Two episodes later, in "No Meals on Wheels", 9/11 was mentioned again when Peter's restaurant couldn't air its "Sixth Sense"-themed commercial because the director was involved with 9/11. Then in the season 5 episode It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One, Lois responds to all the questions she receives on her mayoral campaign by saying, "9/11".

In the Family Guy episode Boys Do Cry, Brian and Stewie (both played by MacFarlane) leave a rural gas station while chuckling and mimicking a Middle-Eastern clerk; Stewie then remarks "If it weren't for 9/11, those guys would be adorable."

In an even more recent episode, Meet The Quagmires, Brian travels back in time to the 1980s. A man challenges Brian to a fight, and 9/11 is mentioned once more when Brian tells the man to meet him for a fight in the World Trade Center at the exact time the attacks occurred (this scene is only shown on the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim airings, not on Fox).

As well as in season five, episode No Chris Left Behind, 9/11 is brought up when Chris Griffin is kidnapped by his grandfather to join the Skull and Bones Society in order to make Chris more popular in his new school. After offering Chris to become a member, his grandfather remarks, “You’ll get your own stock portfolio, a percentage of the 9/11 victims fund and the best medical care on the planet..”

In a season 6 episode, Padre de Familia, Brian and Peter argue about 9/11 and how it changed everything because of 9/11 paranoia. Brian also says that Peter didn't even know what 9/11 was until 2004.

Cleanup and improvement

I cleaned up the article a bit. Sections 2 (2.1-2.3), 3, and 4 need reliable sources per WP:BLP. Miranda 20:56, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I cleaned the whole article up. Miranda 18:34, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Great job. the article looks great. --Dan Leveille^TALK 09:00, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. miranda 12:38, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Extraneous Information

".[3] He said his views were influenced by his gay cousin.[3] A family member had mentioned, "maybe there is a way [his cousin] can be cured". Angered, MacFarlane stated about the situation, "[that it is] fucking horrifying to hear [that] from someone [he] love[s]".[3] This is Wikiganda. Statement about MacFarlane's pro-gay beliefs is enough. Possible acceptance of his cousin's influence, but the rest is either a political or personal statement.

Amended.Coloneldoctor (talk) 17:43, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

GA Review

GA review (see here for criteria)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose): b (MoS):

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

Excellent article! Just a few small concerns and this can earn its GA status.

1. The lead needs to conform to WP:LEAD. Specifically, it much touch upon all major points/headings in the article, which I do not feel that it does adequate justice to for an article of this size. A reader should be able to walk away from the lead with a basic idea of the article, without the specific details and formal flow of an actual article. The lead sort of touches on everything, but not enough for a read who only reads the lead to explain to someone else who Seth MacFarlane is. Obviously this sounds a little silly, since it's not too likely that someone is just going to read the lead, but it does need to be beefed up a bit.

    Done I think we have a proper lede now. / edg ☺ ☭ 08:53, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

2. The first paragraph of "Science fiction and political donations" is very choppy, perhaps because it reads like a list of unassociated facts with little flow, or perhaps because his last name is used three times in as many sentences without a pronoun. In any case, the flow of that paragraph needs a little improvement.

    Done miranda 03:22, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

3. Because the last paragraph of "Speaking engagements" is only two sentences long, I can't tell if the end is too sudden or if the two sentence paragraph chops it up. I don't feel that it connects well with anything; it's rather stranded there in its current state and reads very awkwardly... I'm not sure if I could even tell you what to do with it though, so I won't hold it against you, but it's something to think about if you're going for FA.

   This can make featured? Hmm...miranda 08:18, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

   Well eventually if enough work was put into it. What I meant is that the subject of the article has the potential to make it. Cheers, CP 19:09, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

4. Ref #9 and #56 are broken

    Done miranda 03:22, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

5. I'm not certain that Ref #29 can be used as a reference, not because it's not reliable, but more because of copyright issues with the video per WP:YOUTUBE? Same with Ref #31.

    Done I replaced the refs. miranda 07:30, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

6. Ref #43 doesn't appear to be formatted correctly

    Done miranda 03:22, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Otherwise, this is one of the best articles I've reviewed! I am putting the article on hold for a period of up to seven days, after which it may be failed without further notice. Thank you for your work thus far. Cheers, CP 02:25, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Fixed concerns #2, #4, #6. Someone should test the audiolinks from archived Planet Family Guy.[1] I'm on dialup and can only confirm stuff starts downloading. / edg ☺ ☭ 03:12, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

The Annie Award link works. miranda 03:22, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Oops, my mistake. The Planet Family Guy archive link is this one.[2] / edg ☺ ☭ 03:29, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it works. Use this for the interview (Real Player). miranda 03:32, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

For #3, I merged the sentences (one to the early life and the other to the personal life). Also, I fixed the lead a little, for #1. miranda 04:31, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Ending

One way to make the ending less choppy would be to move Speaking engagements to above Personal life. This might mean crowding the images, since the Star Wars convention pic looks too weirdly somber to hang next to the 9/11 story. Bad idea or okay idea? Are there other plans for this section? / edg ☺ ☭ 09:02, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

I kind of like the article's layout right now. Because, I like the pics not crowding each other (this would be an issue if the section were moved). Also, the "Personal Life" section opens the doors to what MacFarlane does when he's not at work. Plus, CP said that this was not an issue. miranda 09:08, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Okay. I think I'm done. / edg ☺ ☭ 09:22, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Nice and fast work - and I even liked the ending more than I did the first time around. Anyhow, I shall now pass this as a Good Article. Congratulations, and thank you for your hard work! Cheers, CP 19:09, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

What a nice start to the New Year! miranda 20:13, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Automatic Bot Review and evaluation

Seth MacFarlane

The following suggestions were generated by a semi-automatic javascript program, and might not be applicable for the article in question.

• Please expand the lead to conform with guidelines at Wikipedia:Lead. The article should have an appropriate number of paragraphs as is shown on WP:LEAD, and should adequately summarize the article.^[?] I think 2 paragraphs are enough. The lead is ~32k. So, the lead fits 2-3 para. requirement.  Done miranda 02:51, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

• Consider removing links that add little to the article or that have been repeated in close proximity to other links to the same article, as per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links) and WP:CONTEXT. Guides recommend having greater than 3% words in links, but be sure not to overlink words just to add more links.^[?]

• If this article is about a person, please add {{persondata|PLEASE SEE [[WP:PDATA]]!}} along with the required parameters to the article - see Wikipedia:Persondata for more information.^[?] Done

• Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (numbers), there should be a non-breaking space -   between a number and the unit of measurement. For example, instead of 3MM, use 3 MM, which when you are editing the page, should look like: 3 MM.^[?]

I don't see a unit of measurement? miranda 02:51, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

• Per Wikipedia:Context and Wikipedia:Build the web, years with full dates should be linked; for example, if January 15, 2006 appeared in the article, link it as January 15, 2006.^[?]

Already  Done miranda 02:51, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

• The script has spotted the following contractions: isn't, if these are outside of quotations, they should be expanded.

Not an issue. This is in the references section. miranda 02:51, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

• Please ensure that the article has gone through a thorough copyediting so that it exemplifies some of Wikipedia's best work. See also User:Tony1/How to satisfy Criterion 1a.^[?]

You may wish to browse through User:AndyZ/Suggestions for further ideas. Thanks, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 01:19, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Athiesm

While MacFarlane may or may not be an atheist, we need a reliable source, not a "gossip magazine" claiming that he is an atheist. miranda 18:21, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

 Done Provided source. miranda 17:27, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Political donations?

What does the strike have to do with the Political Donations heading?! 68.84.224.36 (talk) 23:00, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

 Done Changed to political beliefs. miranda 23:02, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Er, it's a contract dispute, not a political question at all. 68.84.224.36 (talk) 01:01, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Politics play a good role in disputes. miranda 01:12, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

In contract negotiations, politics may indeed play a part. One might not contract with someone who can bring a great deal of profit because one disagrees with that man's politics. In the "Writers' Strike" mess, politics was really not a major factor across the board. Some people were unhappy with the terms of their then-existing contract. They decided to take drastic measures to force the other party to agree to a more favorable contract. Life goes on. 68.84.224.36 (talk) 07:40, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Name?

The article says his name is Seth Woodbury McFarlane, but the caption under his name says Seth Dinglebury McFarlane. Am I missing something? SexyIrishLeprechaun (talk) 10:59, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism happens. miranda 05:50, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Dating Eliza Dushku

wondering if we should put this in the article, per WP:BLP? miranda 02:36, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

I say go ahead, why not, it adds to his love life Ctjf83Talk 02:45, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Natural Voice

Does anybody know what his natural voice is? I know that he sounded like his character Brian on the Family Guy 100th Anniversary Special. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Art10 (talk • contribs) 03:29, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

He sounds like Brian, IRL. You can find videos on YouTube confirming this. miranda 03:41, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

link

Why TF does Griffin Family link to pornography? Vandalism!--69.112.229.71 (talk) 22:46, 25 March 2008 (UTC)Greenday21

No idea what link you are referring to, or why you are reporting it here. / edg ☺ ☭ 23:28, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Down Syndrome

There is a mention of MacFarlane having Down Syndrome. Looks like vandalism, but the edit window doesn't have the text. Is this hacking? Can it be removed? 68.188.82.251 (talk) 01:53, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it's vandalism. No, it's not hacking. IPs can edit wikipedia. I removed the vandalism quickly because it is a violation of BLP. If you see such unsourced material in the future, I suggest you remove the text. miranda 01:57, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Featured Article/Expansion of FG section

I am working on getting this to be featured. All needed is for the FG section to be expanded. (i.e. Family Guy Live, criticsm, etc.). More can be found in my sandbox. miranda 05:15, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

 Done miranda 17:28, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

FAC candadiacy

This article has been been withdrawn as a featured article candidacy at the nominator's request. Please leave the {{FAC}} template in place as it needed by the FAC bot to close the process properly. --ROGER DAVIES ^talk 19:22, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Objectivity

I cleaned up some gratuitous parts:

Being a popular college speaker....

At Hanna-Barbera, MacFarlane a "self-proclaimed genius"..."

MacFarlane is a popular guest to college campuses.

Politically, MacFarlane is a devoted Democrat.

Coloneldoctor (talk) 21:13, 22 June 2008 (UTC)ColonelDoctor

"Two-time Emmy Award Winning..."

Reduced it to "Emmy Award winning..." in opening paragraph due to clumsiness of front-loaded information which is picked up in awards section. Coloneldoctor (talk) 21:18, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Redundancy

Listing every character he voices in opening frontloads an already bulky article. I had amended this, but it was reverted.Coloneldoctor (talk) 02:17, 23 June 2008 (UTC)ColonelDoctor

I reamended it.Coloneldoctor (talk) 02:41, 23 June 2008 (UTC)ColonelDoctor

Personal Info Cleaned Up

Split the second paragraph between the two items relating to dating and MacFarlane's unmarried status, and his atheism, which was stuck between them.Coloneldoctor (talk) 17:53, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Appreciate your work, however, I don't agree with your positioning of his atheism as a one sentence paragraph, which goes against MOS. miranda 17:57, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Moved MacFarlane's statements about his personal beliefs on gay rights and gay marriage as they do not fit the model of political work (they are personal comments, and were not made as part of dedicated political activism). Plus, they harmonise much better with the difficult issue of his atheism, which was out of place in the preceding paragraph, which is essentially dedicated to dating information and marital status. This aids the fact flow immensely.

In future please do not extend "appreciation," as this can be construed as sounding careerist, and defeats spirit of developing community-generated knowledge base vis a vis Khruschev's comments from memoirs. Thank you.Coloneldoctor (talk) 05:41, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

No one owns this article. As long as the article fits with BLP, should be fine, regardless. miranda 18:37, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Look up "carreerist" vis a vis Khruchev before talking about ownership. Foundation in Divine Right of Kings might help. Google "megalomania" if still stuck, "narcissism" if none of this makes any sense.Coloneldoctor (talk) 14:34, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Activism and the Writers' Strike

Took elements of Writers' Strike not directly relevant to Family Guy and placed them in their own category in Personal Info. This prioritises the information and aids fact-flow about MacFarlane's personal life.Coloneldoctor (talk) 05:25, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

"Bankable"

"Bankable" is a Hollywood term, but has no proper representation on Wikipedia. Therefore I changed it to "established." Coloneldoctor (talk) 14:09, 7 July 2008 (UTC)