Seth MacFarlane admitted that he has received ‘pushback’ over jokes in the past – and that his new TV series, Ted, is a ‘roll of the dice’.
He has been behind some of the biggest comedies in recent years, including Family Guy, American Dad!, The Cleveland Show and the Orville.
One of his wildest characters, Ted, is getting his very own TV show – with the teddy bear, voiced by the 50-year-old, appearing in a prequel to the 2012 flick, with Alanna Ubach, Scott Grimes, Max Burkholder and Giorgia Whigham also starring.
Ted is premiering on Peacock in the US on January 11, before being released in the UK later in the year.
Seth is no stranger to controversy, with some of his jokes in both Family Guy and Ted sparking backlash over the years – a recent episode included a swipe at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which didn’t go down well with some viewers.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk ahead of the release of his latest venture, he was asked whether anyone had ever pushed back on the quips.
Seth MacFarlane spoke of getting ‘pushback’ for Family Guy jokes (Picture: WireImage)
‘No… Occasionally, every once in a while,’ he told us. ‘But on a network with a show like Family Guy, there is a broadcast standards department that says, “No, you cannot do this.” And that’s the end of it, there’s no negotiation.
‘With streaming, with a place like Peacock or Hulu or Netflix, it’s a little bit more of a grey area – so you do have that occasional pushback, but at the end of the day, the responsibility – to a certain extent – does rest with the the executive producer.
‘The few things that I did get pushback on, I had to do a little soul searching and think, “Alright, is this funny enough? And is this justifiable enough to keep in the show?” So I suppose anything that’s in there that’s over the line, I’m the one to blame.’
There have been some controversial Family Guy scenes over the years (Picture: Rex)
‘For the most part, Peacock and Universal held true to their promise that they wanted this to be like the movies, they didn’t want this to be watered down,’ he continued.
‘Ted was successful for a reason, they wanted the same bear, they wanted the same tone. They never really wavered from that. There wasn’t really any strife, in that regard.’
We were first introduced to Ted in the raucous big screen adventure in 2012, alongside Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Joel McHale.
Ted is returning to our screens with his very own show (Picture: Peacock)
Seth reprised his role as the bear for the 2015 follow-up, and will be returning for the TV series, surrounded by an all-new cast for the prequel.
Shedding light on the excitement fans have for Ted’s latest adventure, he continued: ‘I think it helps with animation when a character does not age. The fact that Ted looks the same, he sounds – for the most part – the same, that’s thanks to the miracle of CGI.
‘It’s always a bit of a crapshoot when you do a sequel for which a substantial amount of time has passed since the original. The original Ted was in 2012, the second one was 2015, so it’s been almost a decade since people have seen Ted. That’s always a roll of the dice.
Ted will be premiering on Peacock on January 11 – and airing in the UK later this year (Picture: Peacock)
‘It still remains to be seen whether people are are hungry for more Ted or whether too much time has passed. I think, based on the way the shows have turned out, if I’m any judge of things, I think it’s going to be the former.
‘I think people are going to be excited and it’s going to fill a comedic hole that I think is has been has been left open for a while.
‘There isn’t a lot out there right now that’s just out to be hysterically funny, and that’s really all we’re doing.’
Bring it on!
Ted will be premiering on Peacock in the US on January 11, and on Sky in the UK later in the year.
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One of his biggest characters is back.