PASADENA
Two big-name television producers who have worked almost exclusively with 21st Century Fox had very different reactions when the Walt Disney Company came swooping in to buy a big chunk of Rupert Murdoch’s media kingdom.
Ryan Murphy, the hitmaker behind such shows as “Glee,” “American Horror Story” and “Feud: Bette and Joan,” said he was “very emotional” and wondered about his creative future. But Seth MacFarlane, the creator of “Family Guy” and “The Orville” said he was “remarkably unfazed” when when the $52.4 billion deal was announced last month.
Murphy, who was here at the Television Critics Association press tour to promote his latest Fox series, “9-1-1,” said he was concerned because the mostly edgy fare he is known for doesn’t exactly meld with the family-friendly Disney brand.
“Am I going to have to put Mickey Mouse in ‘American Horror Story’?” he wondered.
Murphy talked nostalgically about how he grew up at Fox and was embraced early in his career when he was told by other studios that he was “unemployable” and his material “too niche.”
“Three months ago, I thought I would be literally buried on the Fox lot,” he said.
MacFarlane wasn’t all that troubled by the deal that promises to change the media landscape..
“This kind of stuff happens,” he said after participating in a table read of a “Family Guy” script. He said the deal did not surprise him given “where the value is” at the studio.
“I don’t expect it to change all that much,” MacFarlane said of his working situation. He predicted Disney will treat Fox much like it did Touchtone Films “in the ’80s and let it be its brand.” (Touchtone released films targeted to adult audiences with more mature themes).
Murphy eventually came to that conclusion, as well, after taking a reassuring phone call from Disney chief Robert A. Iger. The producer pointed out that Disney has successfully integrated companies like Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm.
“Iger has taken (other) communities and done a tremendous job of keeping those communities in tact,” Murphy said.
The Fox-Disney deal dominated much of the conversation on the first day of the press tour, a 15-day event devoted to previewing upcoming television programming.
Fox executives who addressed reporters earlier in the day, stressed that there would be a “business as usual” approach for much of the year at both the TV studio and broadcast network.
“We have to operate as if this deal might not go through,” said Gary Newman, co-chairman of the Fox Television group. He, however, does expect it to go through.
