Why Does Seth MacFarlane Seem Frightened By ‘Family Guy’s Mega-Renewal?

Yesterday, Fox secured massive renewal contracts with all of their beloved animated comedies in one fell swoop that has cartoon fans rejoicing — and Seth MacFarlane sweating.

Despite the network’s storied history of supporting the top adult animated comedies on television, up until yesterday, this ongoing Fox schedule majorly concerned fans of Family Guy, The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers alike as all three animated monoliths faced the end of their contracts with Fox following the conclusion of their current seasons. With Disney ramping up their Simpsons activity with streaming-exclusive specials while cable television itself looks like it’s on life support, some cartoon fans worried that the bigwigs at Fox wouldn’t be able to justify continuing to carry all three expensive legacy franchises to its shareholders. 

Thankfully for us comedy-watchers, Fox proved the doubters wrong with a mega-deal that will lock in the future of all three shows for four more years. The deal will also bring MacFarlane’s other beloved series, American Dad!, back to Fox for the first time in over a decade.

So why, then, is MacFarlane shaking in his stilettos? Following Fox’s announcement, MacFarlane took to Twitter to “celebrate” the dual contracts with a clip from the classic, cross-dressing 1982 romantic comedy Tootsie that has us wondering whether Lois will stop Family Guy dead in its tracks when she exposes herself as Louis.  

Now, the non-concerning explanation for the above GIF is that MacFarlane, who we all know loves a classic, slightly campy and drag-focused film, simply loves this scene from Tootsie when Dustin Hoffman’s character Michael, undercover as a strong female TV actress named Dorothy, learns that the network is extending Dorothy's contract on the soap opera for another year, forcing him to either continue his charade or make a dramatic exit. The news of the Family Guy renewal may have just sparked a word-association in MacFarlane’s brain that he thought would get a LOL from his Twitter following.

Or, alternatively, we can massively overreact to Hoffman’s conveniently concealed Adam’s apple elevating in a theatrical gulp and infer that MacFarlane is trapped in these four-year contracts against his own wishes, and that the legendary TV creator will happily tank both Family Guy and American Dad! to get away from his heft obligations to Fox. After all, you don’t see Matt Groening out here playfully implying any anxiety over the securing of yet another renewal, and it’s not very often that MacFarlane cracks a joke like this unless The Simpsons does it first.