Seth MacFarlane criticises TV shows, ‘so dystopian and so pessimistic’

Seth MacFarlane thinks Hollywood could use a little more light.

The Family Guy creator recently spoke on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast about how television and film have become saturated with heavy, bleak storytelling. 

He believes audiences are overdue for more shows and movies that “give people hope.”

“That’s why I did ‘The Orville’… because when I was a kid, Hollywood was providing that voice in various forms,” MacFarlane explained. 

“There was a lot of hope, and some of the blame lies right here in this town. The dishes that we are serving up are so dystopian and so pessimistic. 

And yeah, there’s a lot to be pessimistic about, but it’s so one-sided. There’s nothing we’re doing that’s providing anyone an image of hope.”

He used The Handmaid’s Tale as an example, calling it “beautifully written” and “beautifully directed,” but noted that darker narratives like it are far more common now than uplifting ones such as those found in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the stories of Captain Picard.

MacFarlane also pointed to The Sopranos as a turning point, saying that since its success, Hollywood has been fixated on antiheroes. 

While those stories can be compelling, he feels the industry has leaned too heavily into them at the expense of optimism.

For MacFarlane, the solution is clear, “[Telling hopeful stories is] the only thing really that Hollywood can do that’s worthwhile because as we all learned from this election, nobody gives a fuck what celebrities think. 

We can tweet, we can talk. Like, people don’t care. They don’t care. What we do do well is tell stories. And we’re not doing the best job right now of telling those stories in a way that gives people hope.”