'Family Guy' creator and Microsoft team up for Win 7 promotion

'Family Guy' creator and Microsoft team up for Win 7 promotion
Microsoft is teaming up with Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane on a new Windows 7 cross-promotion.

The software giant says the promotion was inspired by Milton Berle's variety show Texaco Star Theater and will be a full 30-minute show that will air on Fox November 6th.



The show is commercial-less (all ad time paid by Microsoft) and will "feature unique Windows 7-branded programming that blends seamlessly with show content."

Neither McFarlane or Microsoft would give away any of the skits, but sight gags are expected.

The show is called "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show," and will air at 8:30 PM on November 6th.

The promotion is expected to cost Microsoft over $3 million USD.

An example of recent Microsoft/Family Guy promos:


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 Oct 2009 15:56
Advertisement - News comments available below the ad
  • 20 comments

  • SomeBozo

    Sad to see what MickySlop needs to do in order to get customer to purchase there software. Nuff said.

    14.10.2009 17:58 #1

  • slickwill

    This is just like product placement and hasn't been done before in Fmaily Guy & American Dad. There was that American Dad episode where Francine & Stan try to save the Mr. Pibb soft drink by stealing the Mr. Pibb and driving around the U.S. to promote their cause. The South Park Movie featured Windows 98 with Bill Gates getting killed.

    At least this type of promotion will be better than seeing that little cute, adorable, young, Asian girl using Windows 7 to create an amazing picture slide show.

    Microsoft should have given out Windows 7 for free as an apology for Windows Vista.....LOL.

    14.10.2009 18:32 #2

  • Amak

    Sad to see Family Guy is still on the air...

    What M$ is doing is no different than what many companies have done. Though, I bet if Apple did it then it would be a godsend from his Majesty Jobs himself!

    14.10.2009 18:34 #3

  • xnmalletx

    I love family guy! Its a great show and whats wrong with advertising, jeez. I think it makes the show even better!

    14.10.2009 19:19 #4

  • bobiroc

    Originally posted by Amak: Sad to see Family Guy is still on the air...

    What M$ is doing is no different than what many companies have done. Though, I bet if Apple did it then it would be a godsend from his Majesty Jobs himself!    I still enjoy Family Guy albeit that some episodes are better than others. I just hope the product placement is creative. All shows and movies do it and it all comes down to how they put the product. Some may disagree with me but Transformers had mostly GM cars and was a good promo for the Camaro and they also had Pepsi in there like the Mtn Dew Vending machine getting turned into a Transformer, but they didn't focus on the products. Some sitcoms do it terribly and an episode of Smallville comes to mind sponsored by Stride Gum. I mean the gum got altered by Kryptonite and gave powers and was way over done.

    14.10.2009 20:22 #5

  • ex.sonic

    That looked like a redubbing of that scene where stewie makes a music video for Joe's daughter.

    Or am I just crazy?

    14.10.2009 21:56 #6

  • Morreale

    Originally posted by ex.sonic: That looked like a redubbing of that scene where stewie makes a music video for Joe's daughter.

    Or am I just crazy?    Pretty sure that's a redub...In most parts the mouth movement doesn't match the words like it's supposed to...

    14.10.2009 23:44 #7

  • chris4160

    Lol, i wonder how much they're going to pay out on mac. Hopefully it isn't full of microsoft advertisements like the promo.

    15.10.2009 04:46 #8

  • lduych

    Originally posted by slickwill: ...Microsoft should have given out Windows 7 for free as an apology for Windows Vista...ABSOLUTELY !!!

    15.10.2009 10:42 #9

  • SomeBozo

    Quote:Originally posted by slickwill: ...Microsoft should have given out Windows 7 for free as an apology for Windows Vista...ABSOLUTELY !!!Why? Win 7 is still Vista with an a new name and very little changes?

    15.10.2009 12:20 #10

  • WierdName

    "That only works when I do it."
    Family Guy is funny but they do push it too far quite a bit, especially with philosophical topics. You can also easily detect a heavy political bias using the 'extreme' fallacy (I forget the name but it's taking the opposing view to the extreme then criticizing it). At least this ad isn't another Apple ad though. I'm getting sick of the whole supremacy crap with Apple supposedly being the end all of computers. I have used OSX and other Apple products and they aren't infallible, the people using them are as with any other computer. Meh, politics. *End rant/goes to check blood pressure...

    15.10.2009 16:01 #11

  • teamrawfl

    McFarlane is really milking this franchise dry. And I won't even start with the obligatory Microsoft bash.

    Gods help us if the Nov. 6th airing is as awful as the promo shown in this article.

    15.10.2009 16:15 #12

  • WhatUp

    Inter Core 2 Quad Asus P5QL-EM Motherboard 4GB ram, no problems what so ever with the SP2, Win 7 is better yes but going 64 bits pro with MS and I am not disgrunted with Vista, I remeber XP prior to SP1, Vista was better then XP prior to SP1 and SP1 made a huge stide, Yes UAC is there but it is just a clic for me, with Win 7 truth you clic yes then in Vista.

    It uses all the drivers of Vista if none offered by manufacturer, their Windows Update has been improved so much that if not in hurry I could start in XP with only providing the Nix drivers and after that, all the driver were founds in generic or MS Flavor drivers, even found my Logitech Quic Cam Fusion in XP and work better then before with Logitech drivers, go figure, Vista same, and Win 7 32 bits did not work very well for me on the RC release because of a bug, they released with no access to the Root drive "C" drive, even after the patch it did not work very well for me, this lead me to try the 64 bits and glad I did, all my games are working with update and Punkbuster are working also and the update from punkbuster is working flawlessly on Win 7 64 bits, wow I mean no compatibility mode no clic no tuning outsde of open browse disc clic setup and voila I am on business.

    I am using a triple boot from Win XP Home 32 bits SP3, Vista 32 bits SP1-SP2, and Win 7 RC 64 bits, all work great with one exception of Win 7 32 bits with that bug of the root drive even once patched it id not work the way it should but glad it did happen as it lead me to try the 64 bits and I will no go back to 32 bits even if my Vista 32 bits is now working flawlessly now.

    Vista had force the wole manufacturing process to upgrade and change their practice and at first they voted with their hills with, altought I understand at first in the corporate world they were not ready to fulfill the new hardware requrement, now it is not even a problems and with the streaming that have been done in Win 7 I even heard that my organisation will start to think in order of 64 bits soon or just leave the Win 7 64 bits if their testing of legacy is concluant, Some of my IT friends told me it is now just a problems of red tape as they have already try in labs all our software in Win 7 32 bits and no problems have occured with what we have and trust me we have a lot of commercial software and dedicated software.

    I could see some panic on some other chat board regarding that OS.

    It is so easy to use Win 7 and think I have been able to run everything I wanted on the 64 bits without telling please go in compatible mode other then pointing to the setup as the autorun are sometime not compatible with Win 7 64 bits.

    Was even to install a old Data Sync 4.1 Palm for a old Sony Palm OS reader, not even a problem also on my Vista SP2 on that one it was a just and clic and finish.

    Trust me people MS has made their class and this will give us the consumer competition if you have a good hardware i.e Asus Motherboard or other that are not generic Motherboard at first, you are now in business.

    My tought.

    15.10.2009 16:36 #13

  • WierdName

    Originally posted by WhatUp: Inter Core 2 Quad Asus P5QL-EM Motherboard 4GB ram, no problems what so ever with the SP2, Win 7 is better yes but going 64 bits pro with MS and I am not disgrunted with Vista, I remeber XP prior to SP1, Vista was better then XP prior to SP1 and SP1 made a huge stide, Yes UAC is there but it is just a clic for me, with Win 7 truth you clic yes then in Vista.

    It uses all the drivers of Vista if none offered by manufacturer, their Windows Update has been improved so much that if not in hurry I could start in XP with only providing the Nix drivers and after that, all the driver were founds in generic or MS Flavor drivers, even found my Logitech Quic Cam Fusion in XP and work better then before with Logitech drivers, go figure, Vista same, and Win 7 32 bits did not work very well for me on the RC release because of a bug, they released with no access to the Root drive "C" drive, even after the patch it did not work very well for me, this lead me to try the 64 bits and glad I did, all my games are working with update and Punkbuster are working also and the update from punkbuster is working flawlessly on Win 7 64 bits, wow I mean no compatibility mode no clic no tuning outsde of open browse disc clic setup and voila I am on business.

    I am using a triple boot from Win XP Home 32 bits SP3, Vista 32 bits SP1-SP2, and Win 7 RC 64 bits, all work great with one exception of Win 7 32 bits with that bug of the root drive even once patched it id not work the way it should but glad it did happen as it lead me to try the 64 bits and I will no go back to 32 bits even if my Vista 32 bits is now working flawlessly now.

    Vista had force the wole manufacturing process to upgrade and change their practice and at first they voted with their hills with, altought I understand at first in the corporate world they were not ready to fulfill the new hardware requrement, now it is not even a problems and with the streaming that have been done in Win 7 I even heard that my organisation will start to think in order of 64 bits soon or just leave the Win 7 64 bits if their testing of legacy is concluant, Some of my IT friends told me it is now just a problems of red tape as they have already try in labs all our software in Win 7 32 bits and no problems have occured with what we have and trust me we have a lot of commercial software and dedicated software.

    I could see some panic on some other chat board regarding that OS.

    It is so easy to use Win 7 and think I have been able to run everything I wanted on the 64 bits without telling please go in compatible mode other then pointing to the setup as the autorun are sometime not compatible with Win 7 64 bits.

    Was even to install a old Data Sync 4.1 Palm for a old Sony Palm OS reader, not even a problem also on my Vista SP2 on that one it was a just and clic and finish.

    Trust me people MS has made their class and this will give us the consumer competition if you have a good hardware i.e Asus Motherboard or other that are not generic Motherboard at first, you are now in business.

    My tought.    I must say I haven't really had much/any problems with Vista that I didn't instigate. I'm on a Sony Vaio VGN-AR730E with Home Premium and it works great. I have it dual booting the primary Vista, Windows 7 and Leopard iAtkos 7 just fine with XP in a virtual machine in Vista. After turning off UAC and installing ZoneAlarm with AVG free, I don't recall any problems I didn't cause. And this is going on just a couple months shy of 3 years without any recovery/reinstallation.

    15.10.2009 17:13 #14

  • WhatUp

    Quote:Originally posted by WhatUp: Inter Core 2 Quad Asus P5QL-EM Motherboard 4GB ram, no problems what so ever with the SP2, Win 7 is better yes but going 64 bits pro with MS and I am not disgrunted with Vista, I remeber XP prior to SP1, Vista was better then XP prior to SP1 and SP1 made a huge stide, Yes UAC is there but it is just a clic for me, with Win 7 truth you clic yes then in Vista.

    It uses all the drivers of Vista if none offered by manufacturer, their Windows Update has been improved so much that if not in hurry I could start in XP with only providing the Nix drivers and after that, all the driver were founds in generic or MS Flavor drivers, even found my Logitech Quic Cam Fusion in XP and work better then before with Logitech drivers, go figure, Vista same, and Win 7 32 bits did not work very well for me on the RC release because of a bug, they released with no access to the Root drive "C" drive, even after the patch it did not work very well for me, this lead me to try the 64 bits and glad I did, all my games are working with update and Punkbuster are working also and the update from punkbuster is working flawlessly on Win 7 64 bits, wow I mean no compatibility mode no clic no tuning outsde of open browse disc clic setup and voila I am on business.

    I am using a triple boot from Win XP Home 32 bits SP3, Vista 32 bits SP1-SP2, and Win 7 RC 64 bits, all work great with one exception of Win 7 32 bits with that bug of the root drive even once patched it id not work the way it should but glad it did happen as it lead me to try the 64 bits and I will no go back to 32 bits even if my Vista 32 bits is now working flawlessly now.

    Vista had force the wole manufacturing process to upgrade and change their practice and at first they voted with their hills with, altought I understand at first in the corporate world they were not ready to fulfill the new hardware requrement, now it is not even a problems and with the streaming that have been done in Win 7 I even heard that my organisation will start to think in order of 64 bits soon or just leave the Win 7 64 bits if their testing of legacy is concluant, Some of my IT friends told me it is now just a problems of red tape as they have already try in labs all our software in Win 7 32 bits and no problems have occured with what we have and trust me we have a lot of commercial software and dedicated software.

    I could see some panic on some other chat board regarding that OS.

    It is so easy to use Win 7 and think I have been able to run everything I wanted on the 64 bits without telling please go in compatible mode other then pointing to the setup as the autorun are sometime not compatible with Win 7 64 bits.

    Was even to install a old Data Sync 4.1 Palm for a old Sony Palm OS reader, not even a problem also on my Vista SP2 on that one it was a just and clic and finish.

    Trust me people MS has made their class and this will give us the consumer competition if you have a good hardware i.e Asus Motherboard or other that are not generic Motherboard at first, you are now in business.

    My tought.    I must say I haven't really had much/any problems with Vista that I didn't instigate. I'm on a Sony Vaio VGN-AR730E with Home Premium and it works great. I have it dual booting the primary Vista, Windows 7 and Leopard iAtkos 7 just fine with XP in a virtual machine in Vista. After turning off UAC and installing ZoneAlarm with AVG free, I don't recall any problems I didn't cause. And this is going on just a couple months shy of 3 years without any recovery/reinstallation.    I know I wasn't alone, too much sheep around not enough that want to speak out and tell the truth, Vista is running great now, great that Win 7 is here but to tell you the truth I am glad that the IT world have and hardware manufacturer have scream about it because now it is finally a very viable option for the Corporate world and to be honest if you have a good hardware and your Vista is running well there is no need to update, Win 7 is largely a response to the UAC and a way better management for networking mostly and like the latest release of Apple they have stream line the OS mostly and fixed what should have been fixed and they would have probably done it in Vista but it was a lost cause so they chose to fix Vista with SP2 and released Win 7 with the fix of Vista SP2 and streamlined at the same time like Apple did with Snow Leopard, Microsoft could have call it Vista SE but with all the negative comment from mostly the IT and Corporate it was a lost cause from the get go so and that is why they Call it now Win 7.

    15.10.2009 18:26 #15

  • Mr-Movies

    Originally posted by Amak: Sad to see Family Guy is still on the air...

    What M$ is doing is no different than what many companies have done. Though, I bet if Apple did it then it would be a godsend from his Majesty Jobs himself!    How true but dumb is in obviously. Windows 7 is soooo much better then Vista they have really cleaned up the code, too much in some places, and it installs/runs much faster. I've installed it on an old socket 462 system and it runs better then XP did on that machine with only 512MB RAM. There are some screwy things about 7 and as usual MS has gone backwards in some areas but overall it is much better then Vista.

    Job’s has been advertising to juveniles for decades now so I suppose it is Microsoft's turn to go after that market, it makes sense from a market share stance.

    15.10.2009 18:32 #16

  • LissenUp

    Originally posted by SomeBozo: Sad to see what MickySlop needs to do in order to get customer to purchase there software. Nuff said.
    If you don't ad it then those who aren't familiar won't know about it..............so PIPE DOWN and kwitcherbichin!

    Your ignorant for thinking it's an act of desperation. It's creative, it's cooky and fun...........especially for Family Guy fans. NEVER EVER go into business for yourself.............entrepreneurs and close-mindedness don't go hand in hand.

    16.10.2009 02:13 #17

  • rvinkebob

    Originally posted by LissenUp: NEVER EVER go into business for yourself.............entrepreneurs and close-mindedness don't go hand in hand.So I guess you shouldn't judge someone's opinion in such a way.

    They don't need to do this to attract people to Windows 7, and I highly doubt people who watch Family Guy would actually be interested in upgrading to Windows 7.


    16.10.2009 17:40 #18

  • bobiroc

    Originally posted by rvinkebob: They don't need to do this to attract people to Windows 7, and I highly doubt people who watch Family Guy would actually be interested in upgrading to Windows 7.I think you are wrong there. Plenty of people who watch family guy enjoy computing and new technology. I am one and I already got my free copy of Windows 7 as part of a Launch Party. I am just waiting to build a new computer to put it on since my home desktop is going on 5 years old. I am running Windows 7 RC on it now which is good until April 2010ish.

    AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+, 2GB Ram, 400GB's of HDD Space, GeForce 6600, DVD-ROM, 16X DL DVD±RW
    Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit

    16.10.2009 18:07 #19

  • rvinkebob

    Originally posted by bobiroc: I think you are wrong there. Plenty of people who watch family guy enjoy computing and new technology. I am one and I already got my free copy of Windows 7 as part of a Launch Party. I am just waiting to build a new computer to put it on since my home desktop is going on 5 years old. I am running Windows 7 RC on it now which is good until April 2010ish.Well it comes from my personal experience, as almost everyone I know watches Family Guy, though they seem that they couldn't care less about Windows 7. I'm also running Windows 7 RC1 on my old Athlon 64 2800+ PC as well as my new PC, but I don't see myself actually buying Win7 until the license ends. I signed up for the party thing too (as silly as it may have sounded on the e-mail), but I got no luck.


    17.10.2009 09:52 #20

© 2024 AfterDawn Oy

Hosted by
Powered by UpCloud