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For immediate release – February 8, 2007
'Swiss Family Guy Robinson' Cancelled by Fox
[TORONTO, ONTARIO, Feb. 8, 2007} – ‘Swiss Family Guy Robinson’ has been shut down by the 20th Century Fox legal department. The network contends the one-man comedy stage production, which has played to critical and audience fanfare since premiering in July 2006, violates their intellectual property.
‘Swiss Family Guy Robinson’ stars Toronto comedian Brian Froud, and is produced and co-written by Canadian Comedy Award winning writers/directors The Shehori Brothers. The production has Froud performing a skewered version of the ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ story, using impressions of nearly 30 characters from the popular animated Fox series ‘Family Guy’. Despite use of the ‘Family Guy’ characters in the live show, the producers stress that the jokes, music and storylines are all original.
Chris Alexander, vice president of Media Relations for Fox Television, issued the following statement to the Toronto Star, detailing Fox legal department’s recent decision:
"When we learned that this production had made unauthorized use of the Family Guy characters and material, we asked that the producers cease and desist and they have complied. Protecting our intellectual property and copyrights is something we take very seriously at Twentieth Century Fox Television."
The decision was made despite the fact that a similar production named ‘MacHomer’ has been playing to audiences worldwide for 10 years – all with Fox’s approval. ‘MacHomer’ showcases the talents of Canadian Rick Miller, who tells the story of Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ using voices and characters from Fox’s ‘The Simpsons’. When asked by the Toronto Star why ‘MacHomer’ was given Fox’s blessing, yet ‘Swiss Family Guy Robinson’ received a ‘cease-and-desist’, Chris Alexander refused to comment.
‘Swiss Family Guy Robinson’ co-writer/producer Steven Shehori finds the situation puzzling, noting that, “I can say with certainty that Fox legal doesn’t hate our show, because they haven’t actually seen it. They chose not to request a tape, or to even let ‘Family Guy’ know about it. To the best of my knowledge, ‘Family Guy’ isn’t aware we exist. If Fox would only let them know about us, I think they’d get a kick out of our little show, and would likely be fine with us doing it.”
Brian Froud adds, “With the critical response being so high, we realized early on that ‘Swiss Family Guy Robinson’ was something we’d love to keep doing. We have a lot of respect for Fox, and especially ‘Family Guy’, so we did the professional thing by contacting Fox legal to try and open up a dialogue.”
According to Steven Shehori, this didn’t seem to be much of a priority for the Fox legal department. “For over 2 months, we left friendly e-mails and voicemails, explaining what our show was about. When they finally did get back to us, there was zero interest in trying to work out any kind of arrangement.”
Steven adds, “What’s frustrating is that this cease-and-desist may become a real drag for our image. We’re respected comedians with a lot of our own TV comedy projects we’re trying to get off the ground, and we’d hate to be labelled as some sort of network-fighting pariahs. That’s really not what we’re about.”
Froud and the Shehori Brothers contend ‘Swiss Family Guy Robinson’ isn’t a liability to Fox and ‘Family Guy’, but rather an asset. Says Daniel, “We’ve had so many people e-mail us and say things like, ‘You know, I’d watch ‘Family Guy’ once in a while, but since seeing your show, I’ve become a much bigger fan.’”
Although they have complied with Fox’s ‘cease-and-desist’ order, the Shehori Brothers have set up a petition at SwissFamilyGuy.com, asking Fox legal to reverse its decision. Says Froud, “The fans out there were able to resurrect ‘Family Guy’ after it was cancelled by Fox. So we’re hoping maybe they can do the same for us now that Fox has cancelled our show too.”
Additionally, Froud and the Shehori Brothers say their hope is to bring the show to Los Angeles to perform it for ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlane and his cast and crew. Notes Froud, “That would be a blast. The lawyers could come too, and we could all go out for mojitos afterwards.”
For photographs, video clips, or interviews with Brian Froud and the Shehori Brothers, please contact:
Marco Timpano – Fire Drum Publicity
416-937-5533
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Press Quotes for Swiss Family Guy Robinson: “Bountiful laughs... Impeccable Imitations... Wonderfully lunatic comedy… Highly recommended.” Richard Ouzounian: The Toronto Star “Startlingly close to watching the real show on TV; both writing and performance echo the original program with disarming wit.” Maricha Melnik: CBC Radio “Not just a collection of spot-on Family Guy impressions, but a hilariously-written show that's true to the spirit and attitude of Quahog.” Jim Slotek: The Toronto Sun “The show's script so successfully captures the zany, pop-culturally-charged humour of the series that it could easily be edited into an episode for next season.” Ryan Porter: Eye Weekly “A wicked talent for vocal mimicry. Freakin' sweet!” Alison Broverman: National Post “Brian Froud leaves the audience in fits of hysteria... By flawlessly impersonating every character of the show, he creates a hysterically funny, manic hour of entertainment. A sure-fire hit.” Barry Hertz: Now Magazine ### |
