Lawyers stop Family Guy parody

The Fox network has issued a legal ‘cease and desist’ letter to Brian Froud, who has been touring Swiss Family Guy Robinson across Canada for the past six months.

The show is a version of the classic castaway story, but using impressions of nearly 30 characters from the animated comedy.

Since the broadcasters called in the lawyers to protect their intellectually property, Froud – pictured – has set up an online petition to help save his show.

A Fox spokesman said: ‘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.’

However, Froud complains that the network is inconsistent – taking no action against MacHomer, a one-man version of Macbeth as if performed by The Simpsons characters. Fellow Canadian Rick Miller has performed that show around the world, including a visit to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Swiss Family Guy Robinson producer Steven Shehori said: ‘I can say with certainty that the Fox legal department doesn't hate our show, because they haven't actually seen it. They chose not to request a tape, or to let Family Guy know about it.

‘For over two 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."

‘This cease-and-desist is a real drag for our image. We're respected comedians with several 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 not what we're about.

Froud added: ‘We have a lot of respect for Fox, and especially Family Guy, so late last year, we did the professional thing by contacting Fox legal to try and open up a dialogue.’

However he still hopes to perform the show for Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane In Los Angeles to persuade him to drop the legal action. ‘That would be a blast,’ said Fround. ‘The lawyers could come too, and we could all go out for mojitos afterwards./

The online petition is at SwissFamilyGuy.com.

Published: 14 Feb 2007