OK, I was wrong. Seth MacFarlane is a funny guy.
Not that his TV shows are funny. "Family Guy," "American Dad" and "The Cleveland Show" remain uninspired, unfunny, badly written and generally moronic.
But MacFarlane thinks that "Family Guy" is a show that requires critical thinking. And he accuses American viewers of being dumb.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Sorry. Just a bit of uncontrollable laughter there.
All this relates to an episode of "Family Guy" that both Fox and the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim have refused to air.
Which is pretty astonishing all by itself, given the content of "Family Guy." This is a series that regularly spews racial, ethnic and religious bigotry and passes it off as jokes.
A show that intentionally offends because being offensive is easier than being funny.
Hey, even "South Park" mocked "Family Guy" for being unoriginal — suggesting that the scripts were put together by manatees randomly choosing words.
So, the fact that Fox and Cartoon Network rejected an episode certainly tells us something.
They didn't reject the episode, titled "Partial Terms of Endearment," because of the typical "Family Guy" content. No, the flatulence and sex jokes were not what troubled the networks. Even the sex jokes that involved the Holocaust and a "Sesame Street" character.
Neither the racial and ethnic stereotyping nor the homophobia were a problem for Fox and the Cartoon Network. And the jokes about rape, incest, the Special Olympics and the handicapped were OK by them.
But "Partial Terms of Endearment" revolves around abortion. So, no, it's not surprising that it pushed buttons at both networks.
And MacFarlane & Co. treated the subject with their normal ham-handedness. In the episode, Lois Griffin agrees to be the surrogate mother for an old friend. When that friend and her husband are killed in an accident, Lois has to decide whether to keep the baby.
Peter Griffin makes his feelings clear. He buys an Acme Miscarriage Kit and tries to punch Lois in the stomach. He suggests she drink bleach. He says, "Abort the thing."
Wow. That's supposed to be funny?
In an interview with the New York Times, MacFarlane compares the episode of "Family Guy" to a two-part episode of "Maude" that aired in 1972.
In that episode, the title character, who was pushing 50, found out she was pregnant. And agonized over what to do.
Yes, Maude ended up having an abortion. And that created no small degree of controversy at the time.
But Maude's husband wasn't trying to punch her in the stomach or make her drink bleach.
"Times really have changed," MacFarlane told the Times. "The network is making a decision that is, unfortunately, probably based on people's current ability to handle and dissect controversial narratives."
If that doesn't make it clear that MacFarlane thinks American viewers are dumb, he spells it out even more clearly later in the interview.
"People in America, they're getting dumber," he said. "They're getting less and less able to analyze something and think critically, and pick apart the underlying elements — and more and more ready to make a snap judgment regarding something at face value, which is too bad."
Let's be clear here. Peter suggests the child will be aborted in a variety of gross ways that can't be repeated in a family newspaper.
The episode not only mocks those who oppose abortion, it mocks religion.
And MacFarlane claims it requires critical thinking?
OK, that's not funny. It's sad.
What we've learned here is that MacFarlane is an elitist who is drowning in his own ego. Rather than assuming any responsibility for how his handling of the abortion issue played into the decisions made by Fox and Cartoon Network programmers, he, instead, blames viewers.
He rejects any responsibility and, instead, blames it on the abortion issue itself. And dumb viewers.
However, there is clear and convincing evidence right now that MacFarlane is wrong. Because NBC is currently airing a series that includes abortion as an ongoing story line.
As a matter of fact, "Friday Night Lights" is in the middle of that story line right now.
Two teenage characters on "FNL" had a one-night stand that resulted in the pregnancy, and the girl decided to have an abortion. But it didn't end there.
The continuing story involves the passions the issue provokes. Including how religion plays into it.
It even deals with how passionate feelings can get out of control.
No, "Friday Night Lights" is not pro-abortion. It deals with the consequences and serves as a cautionary tale for real teenagers — both in terms of the what a mistake it was for the two teenage characters to have sex and what it means to both the boy and the girl when she has an abortion.
There isn't an Acme Miscarriage Kit anywhere in sight.
Don't worry about MacFarlane & Co. or Fox. Nobody will lose any money because the episode didn't air on TV.
Fox Home Entertainment will release "Partial Terms of Endearment" on DVD in September. Not as part of the 2009-10 season of "Family Guy," but as a single episode.
And, predictably, the DVD cover boldly proclaims, "Banned from TV!"
Because that will, no doubt, help sell it.
And MacFarlane will continue to think that he's smarter than you are. That you're dumb.
Quite a guy, that Seth MacFarlane.
e-mail: pierce@desnews.com