100 Word Review: The Writer’s Strike cut many seasons for shows short, including “Family Guy” which aired its season finale on Sunday. There was nothing particularly “season finale-like” about the episode - which focused primarily on Chris’ pursuit of a girl named Anna who works at Brian’s Vet’s office. Peter manages to kidnap a parrot and become a pirate for a little while, which was…um…hmm…there, I guess. He also spent a good minute or so trying to pick a dead frog up with a shoebox lid - making me wonder just why in the hell I was watching this. You know?

Have you ever read something from a “news source” that just blew your mind with how completely uninformed it sounded? I did this morning when I read this “by the numbers” post on TVGuide.com.

Here’s what it says about Family Guy:

17 percent — The increase in viewers aged 18 to 49 watching Fox’s Family Guy in the Sunday 9 pm time period. That’s an unheard of bump for a show that’s been on since 1999. But Family Guy finally made it to broadcast syndication this fall, so it’s likely viewers who are discovering it for the first time through nightly repeats are finding new episodes on Fox.

Now, the 17% increase is amazing. If you’re a Family Guy fan, that’s fantastic news. However, the idea that Family Guy has “finally made it into broadcast syndication” being the catalyst for this is just…really stupid. Repeats of Family Guy have been in syndication on Adult Swim FOR YEARS! That’s how the show got UNCANCELED in the first place!

The only people in the 18 to 49 year old graphic who are just not discovering Family Guy for the first time are the kids who just entered the 18 year old demo - and they’ve been watching it for years. Older people who may have been in comas or possibly on secret government missions to the moon might have missed it, but everyone else is well aware of the show.

Now, it’s possible that the people that have watched the show on Adult Swim and TBS over the last few years are just not discovering that the show airs new episodes first on FOX, I suppose, but I seriously doubt that “syndication” suddenly opened the flood gates to viewers on this show.

Just my two cents.

Fox, not willing to let a silly little thing like a writer’s strike get in the way of making television, has decided to air two episodes of “Family Guy” that are unfinished. The creative team behind the show did not complete the episodes, but Fox edited the damn things together anyway in rough draft form.

Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, in his infinite eloquence has referred to this as “a colossal dick move”.

Last night was the first episode of the two, and it was a complete dud. The second “incomplete” episode airs next Sunday.

Showrunners for “Family Guy”, “The Office”, “24″ and others are in the picket lines, and executives are starting to throw out the “Breach of Contract” threats. Most of the shows don’t have enough content to last the month.

Family Guy, for example, is only one episode ahead at this point. So that means that this Sunday’s Family Guy is it. After that, it’s re-runs until the strike is over.

After next Thursday’s episode of The Office, that show is out of the game too.

By the end of November, a large chunk of our television viewing will be in repeats, and it will stay that way until this thing is settled.

Man, this just sucks.

I talked in today’s What to Watch about the Star Wars-themed Family Guy season premiere.  As I was looking around for more info, I stumbled across this poster, which is just too good to pass up.  I must own it.

(Source: StarWarsBlog)

Man, it’s a digital distribution day today.

Fox and Microsoft signed a deal to start sending content to Xbox Live Marketplace.  First up…Family Guy.  Starting September 2, Xbox 360 owners will be able to purchase episodes from the first two seasons for the low, low price of $2 a pop.

Granted, you can get the first seasons on DVD for about $50 a piece, which translates to around $1.75 per episode, but if you want to support digital distribution a bit, and have 160 Microsoft Points sitting around in your account not doing anything, check it out next week.