Is it a mark of progress that our national ads can now feature characters that are far more foul-mouthed and offensive to white bread America than in times past? I'm inclined to say yes. The Times considers the rise of Family Guy characters as beloved ad icons, even for wholesome brands like Coke and Subway. But hey, sometimes they say things on that show that are funny! Times are changing, you see, and these cartoon characters are just acceptable enough to squeeze into the mainstream under the rubric of "edgy." Since this is a hugely popular TV show on the Fox Network that is just the next in a long line of "edgy" cultural moments, you could correctly call this an antiquated discussion (even for the olds). The real question is: will Americans stand for a fat, ignorant cartoon father telling them how to eat their meat?

The folks at Adult Swim have compiled another one of their handy little collections. This time, it's the news, as it exists in the twisted cartoon universe of Family Guy. Of course, they won't let me embed them, so you can watch them here. Meanwhile, perfect excuse to post a Family Guy clip of my own! After the jump.

·Family Guy figured out a way around the Emmy policy that has always forced them to identify their show as either an animated or comedy series: They've classified their hour-long Star Wars parody episode as a "special," allowing them to now lose in both categories. [Variety]
· Overblown U.S. summer movie product continues to dominate the planet, as Indy 4 and SATC pull in $71.5 million and $39.2 million, respectively, and European boys and girls start showing up to school emulating Greaser LaBeouf and oversexed, 40-something fashion-whores. Oops—never mind. They always dressed like that. [Variety]
· Rob Marshall bid adieu to ICM, and headed directly into CAA's jazz-hand-shaking embrace, a deal consummated over a delicious babies, lox, and cream cheese brunch. [Variety]
· The Simpsons' cast met Fox half-way, accepting $400,000 per episode for the next four seasons. We'd like to take this moment to remind you that money doesn't always buy happiness, however, as evidenced by the unmistakable sadness behind Dan Castellaneta's eyes. [THR]
· Bryce Dallas Howard is close to signing on as John Connor's wife in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, a role vacated by Charlotte Gainsbourg due to a "scheduling conflict"—a loose translation of a French idiom literally meaning "to wake up to the stench of a money-lined outhouse and finally come to your senses." [THR]

It was less than six months ago that Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane was picketing along with his fellow WGA members, saying of Fox's plans to air Guy episodes that had not yet been completed: "It would just be a colossal dick move if they did that." At the time, MacFarlane had the luxury of knowing his deal with the studio—two years in the making, and reportedly astronomical—had yet to be finalized, putting him "in breach of nothing" during the work stoppage. Well, the dotted-lines have at last been signed, the fences, apparently mended: 20th Century Fox TV will make MacFarlane the highest-paid writer/producer/gay-baby-voicer in television.

From tonight's episode, here's Fox's Family Guy roasting actor Matthew McConaughey to a crisp. The character Stewie tells the perpetually shirtless McConaughey he hasn't made anything worthwhile since Dazed And Confused and "you need to go away." McConaughey takes this as a compliment on his ability to make lots of money on "terrible films." It goes from there. (Thanks to Gawker video wizard Richard Blakeley for the late-night find.)

The Advocate cornered Seth MacFarlane, the multi-talented creator of venerable envelope-nudging Fox animated hit The Family Guy, for an off-the-velvet-cuff conversation about how homosexuality figures into his own brand of flashback-reliant comedy. Despite an affection for musical numbers that would suggest otherwise, MacFarlane is straight. Still, he's had the opportunity to explore his same-sex-loving side through his voicing of Family favorite Stewie, who's evolved in recent seasons from a nefarious infant hellbent on world domination, into perhaps the only TV diaper-pooper grappling with his own sexual identity. Some highlights from the highly entertaining exchange follow, including a graphic proposition for frequently outraged Family-monitors, The Parents Television Council:

The internet is so dead that— HOW DEAD IS IT? It's SO DEAD that Dwight Garner is now posting "Family Guy" clips from YouTube on the New York Times book blog. ONE OF US, ONE OF US. [Papercuts]

It's been a busy week for Defamer PartyWatcher Ann: Having barely recovered from Saturday night's Guitar Hero III launch festivities in which she got a little carried away and set her controller ablaze in a Hendrix-channeling moment, she managed to pull it together in time to check out Monday night's celebrations in honor of the 100th episode of Family Guy. Accompanied by photographer Maggie Serrano, the two were warmly welcomed by the various Seths in attendance. Her report, and another one of those fun photo galleries, follow after the jump.

If you worship at the Church of Family Guy, you're undoubtedly familiar with the ditty "I Need a Jew," sung at the precise moment of episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" when Griffin patriarch Peter realizes he's helpless to manage his finances without the aid of an arithmetically-astute Member of the Tribe. A full four years after the episode first aired, the copyright owner of Pinocchio classic "When You Wish Upon a Star" is now suing "Fox Broadcasting Co., the Cartoon Network and others" for infringement. A Fox spokesperson had "no comment," and its suspected their lawyers are currently mapping their strategy: They've already eliminated playing the "fair Jew-use" card, as the song-parody managed to be penned by the single goyische comedy-writer named Seth currently working in Hollywood.

· Hollywood Out of Ideas, Unoriginality Is Easy As 1-2-3 Edition: Denzel Washington will star in director Tony Scott's sure-to-be incomprehensible remake of The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3, assuming a role originally played by Walter Matthau and not-so-memorably reprised by Edward James Olmos in a 1998 made-for-TV version. [Variety]
· NBC throws money at big-name screenwriters for its Heroes: Origins spinoff, signing up X2/Superman Returns co-writer Michael Dougherty and Hostel's Eli Roth to script episodes tackling the backstory issues of the hit series' characters, such as why Ali Larter's evil reflection is so angry all the time. [THR]
· Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac will star in the Dimension comedy Soul Men, a project that regrettably is in no way related to the classic, similarly titled C. Thomas Howell/Rae Dawn Chong self-tanning farce of 1986. [Variety]
· The Family Guy's Very Special Star Wars-Themed Episode posts a "strong" performance in its ultimately doomed Nielsen attack against NBC's Sunday Night Football. [THR]
· Kevin Spacey will return to TV (well, sort of) after a 16-year hiatus, starring in HBO's Recount as the Gore campaign chief of staff who challenged the disputed balloting in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. [Variety]

· The Venice Film Festival opening film—a WWII drama starring Keira Knightley called Atonement—was screened to mostly positive word of mouth, a triumph capped by fest organizers allowing star James McAvoy to have full access to the controls of the Ceremonial Wrecking Ball. [Variety]
· Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. are circling Chilled in Miami, a romcom about "a Miami businesswoman who's transferred to the sticks of Minnesota." Why do we have a feeling we'll be forced to watch this on a five-inch screen trapped in American Airlines rat-class? [Variety]
· We honestly thought Singing Bee's title as absolute worst show on TV was safe, but now we're not so sure: Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann is a go as an ABC midseason replacement, hosted by Nick Lachey's twinkle-toed brother, Drew. [Variety]
· BermanBraun, the petri dish result of combining toppled Paramount tyrant Gail Berman with former Yahoo-square-peg Lloyd Braun into a production company that sounds like a hand-blender, has hired a Yahoo exec to join them on their march to total media domination. [THR]
· Rejoice, Xbox Live subscribers: Family Guy episodes are merely a click away, with the added feature of being able to vaporize the annoying Griffin family with a variety of Gears of War weaponry at the end of every episode. [THR]

A Hollywood conversation that has dominated much of this decade—regarding the sorry state of affairs for sitcom writers being edged out by more popular and cheaper-to-produce reality programming—continues with an LAT piece that revisits the familiar topic in light of NBC's recent towel-tossing concession of their 8 p.m. timeslot to an almost entirely briefcases-and-yelling-based programming schedule. The debate still falls mainly into two categories: the steadfastly optimistic camp that insists we are just in the midst of an extended audience taste cycle, and the somewhat more pragmatic, "OK, we're pretty much fucked" school of thought: