One more casting addition has been made to Seth MacFarlane’s second live-action directorial project, the Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West.  Universal Pictures and Media Rights Capital announced the film’s official release date today, and within the press release is the film’s release date and news that Neil Patrick Harris has joined the cast.  MacFarlane leads the ensemble, which also includes Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Sarah Silverman, and Giovanni Ribisi.  Here’s the official synopsis:

After a cowardly sheep farmer backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man.  When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love.  But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test.

MacFarlane co-wrote the script with his Ted scribes Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, and in addition to starring he will also produce and direct.   A Million Ways to Die in the West opens on May 30, 2014, opposite Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur.

It appears as though Fox has put one of Seth MacFarlane’s brainchildren to bed for good. The network has apparently opted not to order another season of Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, though a formal announcement of cancellation has yet to be made and the show will be allowed to air its remaining fourth-season episodes. The network’s decision isn’t at all surprising considering the show’s modest ratings and the fact that Cleveland’s episode count will hit 88 by the end of this season, which is the typical benchmark for a juicy syndication (i.e. rerun-sellin’) deal.

Debuting in 2009, The Cleveland Show saw Family Guy producer/voice actor Mike Henry reprising his role as Cleveland Brown (a jokey reference to the pro football team that I, oddly enough, just got at this very moment), who moves back to his home town of Stoolbend, Virginia, reuniting with his high school crush (voiced by Sanaa Lathan) and her kids, and getting up to shenanigans involving a new group of pals, one of which is a talking bear. SNL’s Jason Sudeikis and Seth MacFarlane himself rounded out the regular voice cast. Also, Kanye West dropped by sometimes. Hit the jump for more.

Seth MacFarlane got mixed reviews as host of the 2013 Academy Awards.  But the audience grew to 40.3 million viewers over the previous year hosted by Billy Crystal —more importantly, the audience grew younger, with 20% more 18-34 viewers.  This year’s telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will return to oversee the 2014 Oscars and have reportedly asked MacFarlane to host again.  A source tells Just Jared:

“After defending his performance, the producers reached out to Seth and invited him back to host the show again.  He’s not sure if he’s going to do it, but he has to decide within the next couple of weeks.”

MacFarlane has stated he does not want to host again, tweeting “No way” shortly after the ceremony.  If he changes his mind, I would like to see him try again.  MacFarlane was admittedly hit-or-miss his first time around, but I would like for my generation to have a Bob Hope/Billy Crystal type—a go-to host.  The most important step toward that goal is to give a natural talent several chances to refine his approach.  I believe MacFarlane is qualified.  Next year’s Academy Awards are set for March 2, 2014.

Get ready for a double-barrel shot of casting for Seth MacFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West!  Word has it that Liam Neeson (Taken) is in negotiations to play the film’s nefarious outlaw whose wife teaches a cowardly farmer the ways of gun-fighting in order for him to win back his lady love.  Giovanni Ribisi (Gangster Squad) is also on board the comedy Western as the protag’s equally-spineless best friend.  A Million Ways to Die in the West also stars Charlize Theron (Prometheus) and Amanda Seyfried (Les Miserables), making the principal cast just about set.  Hit the jump for more.

Amanda Seyfried (Lovelace) is in talks to join the growing cast of A Million Ways to Die in the West, the new comedy directed by and starring Seth MacFarlane (Ted).  The Western comedy centers on a cowardly farmer who backs out of a gunfight and subsequently loses his girlfriend.  When he later meets the wife of a notorious outlaw who teaches him how to shoot, he gets an opportunity to win his pride back, but must choose between reclaiming an old love or kindling a new one.  The plot thickens when the outlaw returns to claim his woman.  Hit the jump for more on A Million Ways to Die in the West.

If the promos are any indication, we could be in for an entertaining Oscars ceremony with Seth MacFarlane as the show’s host.  This year’s Academy Awards will feature a tribute to James Bond, and a new promo has MacFarlane mocking Bond’s famous and nonsensical drink order.

Hit the jump to check out the promo.  In other Oscars news, a recent press release confirms an earlier story that Mark Wahlberg and Ted will co-present as this year’s ceremony.  “I’m excited to present an Oscar with Mark Wahlberg,” says Ted. “I’m spending the next month learning to pronounce ‘Quvenzhané.’”  The Ted spotlight will be even brighter with Norah Jones singing the Oscar-nominated song from the film, “Everybody Needs a Best Friend.”

Actor/writer/director Seth MacFarlane is roping in some Oscar-caliber talent for his second directorial feature film. Charlize Theron is in talks to star in the western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West, which MacFarlane will both direct and star in.  The story centers on a farmer whose girlfriend leaves him after he chickens out of a gunfight.  “When he meets the wife of a notorious outlaw who offers to teach him how to shoot, the farmer at first sees a chance to win back his love but slowly falls for the woman. Complications ensue when the outlaw returns and reclaims his woman.”  Hit the jump for more details.

When it was first announced that Seth MacFarlane would be hosting the upcoming 85th Academy Awards, most expected that the musically-inclined MacFarlane would include some sort of music element in the show. Indeed, ABC announced today that this year’s Oscars will feature a tribute to movie musicals of the past decade.  Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron revealed that they will showcase three movie musicals from the past ten years during the ceremony: Chicago, Dreamgirls, and this year’s Best Picture nominee Les Miserables.

Though I’m admittedly a big fan of movie musicals, I find it odd that the program has restricted the field to films from the past ten years.  There’s so much great matieral to be mined from the 30s, 40s, and 50s that MacFarlane could knock out of the park.  Nevertheless, We don’t know if MacFarlane will be handling the tribute alone, with some help, or if another party altogether will run the showcase.  Could we be in for a Seth/Stewie “They Both Reached for the Gun” rendition?  We’ll find out on February 24th.  Hit the jump to check out trailers for all three films followed by the press release.

Pilot season is in full swing, but Fox is making a pretty bold commitment to a new series from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.  The network has decided to go straight-to-series with Dads, a multi-camera live-action comedy written and produced by Ted scribes Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, with MacFarlane onboard as executive producer.  Fox has ordered six episodes of the new show based solely on a pilot script, so Sulkin, Wild, and MacFarlane must have knocked it out of the park.  Per THR, the series centers on “two successful guys in their 30s who have their lives turned upside down when their nightmare dads unexpectedly move in with them.”  The show should premiere this coming fall.

Sulkin and Wild have been longtime Family Guy writers and currently serve as executive producers on the hit animated comedy.  The two also co-wrote MacFarlane’s directorial debut Ted and are penning a live-action western comedy feature film that MacFarlane will star in and direct called A Million Ways to Die in the West.

Since Seth MacFarlane is hosting this year’s Oscars, it’s not much of a surprise that his Ted co-star Mark Wahlberg will be making an appearance alongside the foul-mouthed teddy bear.  Ted was one of the biggest hits of 2012, and it would almost be a letdown to not see the duo show up in some capacity.  Wahlberg confirmed the appearance on the talk show Anderson Live, and I’m curious to see if they’ll be presenting an award, or if it will just be a comic bit.  Either way, this year’s ceremony is shaping up to be pretty entertaining with MacFarlane as the host.

Wahlberg also confirmed that writing is underway on the script for Ted 2.  In a recent interview with Steve, Wahlberg says he plans to shoot Transformers 4 and then move on to Ted 2.  Hit the jump for Wahlberg’s appearance on Anderson Live.

Now that the nominations have been announced, the fact that Seth MacFarlane is hosting the 85^th Annual Academy Awards on February 24^th has become that much more real for the funnyman.  The creative force behind the animated series Family Guy and co-creator of American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, MacFarlane made his feature directorial debut last summer with Ted, which he also co-wrote, produced and voiced the title character for, and that went on to be one of the highest-grossing films of the year.

While talking to TCA members after the nominations were announced, MacFarlane said that they can get more specific in their jokes, now that they know who the nominees are, how he never thought he’d be offered the hosting gig, that he hopes to talk to former host Billy Crystal before showtime, that he figures there will be some singing involved, and even shared his own past Oscar memories.  He also said that, although a sequel hasn’t officially been signed off on yet, a sequel to Ted looks promising and that everyone involved wants to do it.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

When we announced that Seth MacFarlane would be hosting the 85th Annual Academy Awards back in October, we were cautiously optimistic that he had plans to do something wildly inappropriate on such a big stage.  Now, a few Oscars promos featuring MacFarlane have been released and they’re far tamer than I would have expected.  Has MacFarlane been neutered into submission already?  Maybe it’s all a smokescreen and he’s just playing along until he exhausts the live feed’s censorship buffer. If you missed them early this morning, check out the list of nominations for this year’s Oscars.  The 85th Annual Academy Awards will be held February 24.  Hit the jump to watch MacFarlane’s Oscars promos.

Someone needs to explain Seth MacFarlane to me, because whatever he’s got, I’m not buying it. (I say this out of the gate because I know he has legions of fans, who may now disregard this review as they will.) Every now and then, I heed the “comic genius” labels and tune in to Family Guy or American Dad. Every time, I come away disappointed. MacFarlane carries the air of a bullied child who decides it’s his turn, looking for easy targets and claiming the “outrageous” label to disguise plain, old-fashioned cruelty. In our post-truth pop culture stew, anything that garners attention is acceptable. The release of Ted on Blu-ray can’t even justify that. Hit the jump for the full review.

It appears that Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has plotted his feature film follow-up to Ted.  MacFarlane made his feature directorial debut with the live-action/CG comedy Ted this summer to wildly successful results, with the film grossing a little over $500 million in its theatrical run.  MacFarlane now has a bit of clout in choosing his next project, and it appears that he’s going an original Western comedy that he co-wrote with Ted/Family Guy writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild called A Million Ways to Die in the West.  Hit the jump for more. 

I applaud Seth MacFarlane for deciding to not make a Family Guy movie his first feature even though I’m sure 20th Century Fox would have leaped at recreating the success they had with The Simpsons Movie.  However, a Family Guy movie is on the mind of the host of next year’s Oscars.  Speaking to a group of UCLA students to kick off “The Oscar Experience College Search” (which looks for college kids interested in pursuing film careers, and will also let them be the ones to hand off the Oscars at the ceremony), McFarlane was asked about his plans for a Family Guy movie.

Hit the jump to check out what he had to say as well as his thoughts on previous Oscar hosts.