ABSTRACT
Television comedies, stage musicals, and movie musicals all have a long history of borrowing from and influencing each other. Television shows that have made use of both kinds of musicals-especially Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons, and its several imitators including South Park and Family Guy reflect some of the complex alliances and hostilities that connect television, stage, and film. The biggest difference between Family Guy and other shows is that its creator is younger, which raises some doubts and perhaps the period of heavy conflict between musicals and television is historically specific at both ends, and it is already fading away in the early twenty-first century. The stage transformations that have become not only necessary but also dangerously expensive for the megamusical are often just mechanical attempts at imitating gestures which are absurdly easy for film or television.
