Family Guy Offers Hyper Animation, in Triplicate

Seth MacFarlane is the voice of Fox comedy, but can his toons transcend their one-liners?

Cleveland from The Cleveland Show , left, and the characters of Family Guy

Correction Appended: Oct. 16, 2009

Fox, never one for verbal restraint, calls its hit Sunday-night cartoon block Animation Domination. And there is one animator who dominates it: Seth MacFarlane , the writer — producer — voice actor who calls the toons on three of the four shows. It's a turnaround for MacFarlane; Fox canceled his Family Guy in 2002, then brought it back after it proved hugely popular on DVD. In 2005, Fox added MacFarlane's American Dad , a war-on-terrorism-era CIA spoof. This fall came The Cleveland Show , TV's unlikeliest spin-off since The Ropers , focused on Family Guy bit character Cleveland Brown....

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