Okay, so there’s been this big thing about “Family Guy” versus Sarah Palin over the last couple days, and I’ve tried to avoid it because nothing sucks the funny out of TV news quite like politics. But, if you’ve missed it, here’s the rundown: Sunday’s “Family Guy” featured a character with Down syndrome who said, “My dad’s an accountant, and my mom’s the former governor of Alaska.” (Watch the scene here.) Naturally, Palin got all pissy about someone talking about her retard baby Trig, because being sensitive about Down syndrome is the hot-button issue here in the year 1989.

The story finally stopped being boring when Andrea Fay Friedman, the actress with Down syndrome who delivered the line in question, wrote an email to several different news outlets addressing the controversy:

I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line “I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska” was very funny. I think the word is “sarcasm.”

In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes. [via Gawker]

Oh, SNAP. Someone get to Western Union and send Sarah Palin a burn notice, because that retarded girl just OWNED Palin and her mongoloid loaf of bread.

This is the trailer for the second installment of “Family Guy’s” retelling of the Star Wars franchise, a spoof of The Empire Strikes Back called “Something Something Something Dark Side.” You probably remember “Blue Harvest,” the Episode IV spoof that kicked off Season 6 of “Family Guy” two years ago. And if you don’t, meh, you didn’t miss all that much — a couple funny gags that will appeal to people who grew up on Star Wars.

That’s my early assessment of this one, too. A Star Wars spoof is neither timely nor necessary, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad. Once again, I simply have no strong feelings either way for Seth MacFarlane. He’s just a hustler making millions of dollars, and I’d do the exact same thing if I could paste throwaway gags about pop culture into mimeographs of the same show. Haters to the left, y’all.

It’s odd: I don’t like “American Dad,” I’m never going to watch “The Cleveland Show,” and it’s been years since I’ve cared about “Family Guy,” yet I don’t really mind Seth MacFarlane. He can go ahead and get wealthier than the Mormon church off of bad TV shows, but he’ll never get my bile pumping like Leno or reality TV.

That said, this College Humor video really nails how lazy he’s been with creating new shows. The believability of the talking animals here is especially on point, from French cat to Nazi hamster to right-wing anteater to hip-hop pterodactyl and beyond. Saaaaaayyyy… hip-hop pterodactyl? That reminds me of this. If you don’t think bear-o-dactyl’s awesome, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

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“It looks like you’re writing an abortion joke. Can I help?”

“Family Guy” creator/star Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein (who voices Lois Griffin) were supposed to do a special on Fox called “Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show” sponsored entirely by Microsoft’s Windows 7, but the computer giant has backed out due to the racy content of MacFarlane’s and Borstein’s jokes.

“Almost Live Comedy Show” was announced earlier this month as part of a major marketing partnership Microsoft had sealed with a wide range of News Corp. properties to promote the launch of the computer giant’s Windows 7 operating system. As part of the deal, “Almost Live Comedy Show” was set to run commercial-free, with Microsoft marketing messages built into the special instead.

But that was before Microsoft execs attended the special’s taping Oct. 16… For most of the special, MacFarlane and Borstein made typical “Family Guy”-style jokes, including riffs on deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest. [Variety]

What a surprise! Who could have expected that the writers for “Family Guy” would write the exact kind of jokes they always write? Couldn’t they have told some more Macintosh jokes?

Oh, corporate executives, don’t ever change. “What do the kids like? We need to look hip and edgy! … WHOA! That’s hip and edgy! There’s no way we could do that. We might get letters from Christians.”

I just wrote 200 words about “Family Guy” doing a commercial-free episode sponsored by Microsoft Windows 7, but my Internet connection failed and I lost the work. And now I don’t have the heart or desire to re-write what I wrote before, but that kind of makes my point: “Family Guy’s” sponsored episode isn’t really worth the time or effort it takes to discuss it.

[The Live Feed]