Cult following helps bring ‘Family Guy’ back to Fox

New York — Imagine seeing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” if it were about a cartoon family living in suburban Rhode Island, and you’ll have some idea about the obsessive cult following “Family Guy” has achieved.

That loyalty was on wild display at “Family Guy Live,” where cast members did a script reading on stage Friday before the show’s return to network television Sunday night.

Sillier than a “Star Trek” convention, it was a bacchanal on Broadway in which audience members exuberantly recited every word and sang every song right along with the actors. They even laughed in anticipation of jokes they knew were coming — though the frequent ad-libs, most of which were too risque to repeat here, also drew rowdy cheers and applause.

Just hearing the title of the episode they were about to see — “To Love and Die in Dixie,” the one where the Griffin family moves from fictional Quahog, R.I., to the fictional Southern town of Bumblescum as part of the witness protection program — sent fans into a tizzy.

Those fans are the reason the series is getting an unprecedented second chance. After bouncing around various time slots for three seasons, “Family Guy” was canceled by Fox in 2002, only to enjoy renewed popularity through DVD sales and in reruns on Cartoon Network.

Now, the show is back on Fox, after “The Simpsons” and before MacFarlane’s new series, “American Dad.”

When it’s pointed out to MacFarlane that the people are there because they love him and his show MacFarlane says that’s gratifying, but “animation fans, sci-fi fans are very fickle and they have a proprietary feeling … and they feel that ‘Family Guy’ in a lot of ways belongs to them.”

Former first lady urges balance of home, career

Columbia, S.C. — Former first lady Barbara Bush told Columbia College graduates they shouldn’t feel limited to the homemaker lifestyle she chose in the 1950s or the career-at-all-costs track that followed in the 1960s and 1970s.

“There’s a better balance for each of you,” Bush told the 240 graduates of the all-women’s college Saturday. “You have the freedom to be whoever you want because we’re getting better at respecting each others’ choices.”

Bush said she remembered an article in the 1950s that counseled women to have their children quiet and all appliances off when their husbands came home, and not annoy their spouses with tales of their day.

“That didn’t really happen in my house,” she said. George Bush was more likely to hear “Do you know what your son, George W., did today?” she quipped.

Texas lawmakers drop singer’s name for highway

Austin, Texas — Willie Nelson’s name is off the road again.

A state legislator had proposed naming a 49-mile stretch of Texas Highway 130 being built around Austin in honor of the Texas country music singer.

But two Republican senators, Steve Odgen of Bryan and Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio, said they didn’t want Nelson’s name on the road that crosses their districts, citing the musician’s fondness for drinking and smoking, and active campaigning for Democratic candidates.

JonBenet Ramsey’s mother fighting ovarian cancer again

Denver — JonBenet Ramsey’s mother is undergoing outpatient chemotherapy for a fourth occurrence of ovarian cancer, the Rocky Mountain News reported.

The newspaper reported in Saturday’s editions that Patsy Ramsey is staying at the Roswell, Ga., home of her father as she battles the disease.

Linda McLean, who coached Ramsey when she competed as Miss West Virginia in the 1977 Miss America pageant, said Ramsey, 48, is in the most advanced stage of ovarian cancer.

“Now, she’s fought it, and she has beat it back, and she’s done everything a person can do,” McLean said. “But I believe that the stress that she had to go through (in the wake of JonBenet’s murder) took years off her life.”

Six-year-old JonBenet, a child beauty queen, was found beaten and strangled in her parents’ Boulder basement in 1996. There have been no arrests.

Beckhams sue former nanny

London — David and Victoria Beckham are suing their former nanny for claiming in the British press that the couple’s six-year marriage was on the rocks.

The former nanny, Abbie Gibson, was paid $225,000 by the News of the World tabloid for her story about the soccer star and his wife. On Friday, Gibson promised Britain’s High Court that she wouldn’t say anything further about the couple’s marriage or spend the money until the lawsuit is decided.

Justice David Eady said Gibson should not be barred from repeating information already in the public domain.

Beckham, captain of the England soccer team, plays for Real Madrid. His wife is a former pop star and member of the Spice Girls.

The Beckhams had sought a court order preventing the News of the World from publishing Gibson’s allegations.