Production and Development
First announced by series creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane in an interview on August 13, 2009, the episode was written by series regular Patrick Meighan, and directed by series regular John Holmquist shortly after the conclusion of the production of the eighth season. In the interview, with The Hollywood Reporter, MacFarlane conceded that "Family Guy tends to be very liberal because "it's written by liberals." In choosing the conservatives who would be featured in the episode, MacFarlane stated, "we put it out there to a lot of Republicans — 'we're doing this show, who wants in?' — and we got some bites." Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising director, with Andrew Goldberg, Alex Carter, Elaine Ko and Spencer Porter serving as staff writers for the episode. Composer Walter Murphy, who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for "Excellence in Broadcasting". It is the first episode to feature a high-definition opening credit sequence.
On The Rush Limbaugh Show on September 27, 2010, Limbaugh explained that he agreed to do the episode based on his continuing friendly relationship with Family Guy creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane, commenting, "Seth appreciates and has a great affection for professionals, and we're all professionals here." Limbaugh went on to reveal that he was in the studio's sound booth for "three or four days at four hours at a time," while recording his lines for the episode, as well as for the accompanying musical number, which Limbaugh admitted to being something of a challenge. Later on his radio show, Limbaugh went on to criticize 20th Century Fox's public relations department, following a comment by author and commentator Andrew Breitbart, accusing the Fox Broadcasting Company of "burying" the episode. Limbaugh also admitted, however, that "there was nothing in the script that would want them to edit out."
"Excellence in Broadcasting", along with the two other episodes from Family Guy's ninth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on December 13, 2011. The sets include brief audio commentaries by various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes and animatics, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "And Then There Were Fewer", a mini-feature entitled "The Comical Adventures of Family Guy - Brian & Stewie: The Lost Phone Call", and footage of the Family Guy panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
In addition to the regular cast and Limbaugh, actor Gary Cole, actress Christine Lakin, voice actor Phil LaMarr, actress Shelley Long, actress Nana Visitor and actor Rainn Wilson guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Chris Cox, actor Ralph Garman, and writers Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, John Viener and Wellesley Wild also made minor appearances.
Read more about this topic: Excellence In Broadcasting
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