Someone suggested to me that if I took the time to explain why I think Family Guy is a bad show, I might stand a chance of getting some angry replies from some of that show's many online fans. Since the main reason to do a blog is the hope of getting angry replies and/or denunciations on other blogs, I've decided to give it a shot.
Here are ten reasons why I think Family Guy is a bad show:
10. Stewie, the most popular character, is a double ripoff. His world-domination ambitions and dictatorial rhetoric are ripped off from the Brain of Pinky and the Brain. And his design and personality are ripped off from Jimmy Corrigan, a comic-strip character created by Chris Ware. A Jimmy Corrigan strip from 1996 can be found here.
9. It constantly recycles its own meagre store of gags. It's got about three basic gags -- a cutaway to something that references a work of '70s or '80s pop culture; one of those "stretching out something so long that it's funny" routines (they do this one about five times an episode), and sexual-innuendo jokes that are sort of The Golden Girls for frat-boys. I don't mind that they sometimes use jokes from other shows -- recycling jokes is inevitable in comedy -- but they managed to get through 50 episodes without coming up with a new kind of joke, and that wears thin.
8. The characters are so boring, such a dull collection of sitcom stereotypes from the creator's youthful TV-watching binges, that there is virtually no humor to be gotten from the characters. Good comedy writing gets laughs from the characters; the writers on this show write around the characters. By the last few episodes, Stewie was so tapped-out as a character that he was written out of character in almost every episode (that is, almost every gag featured him taking on a personality other than his own), a sign that the character had nothing to him in the first place except the stuff that was taken from superior characters (like the Brain). About the only actual character on the show is Brian the dog, and even he doesn't have that much to his character.
7. It uses references as a substitute for humor. Talk to the average young Family Guy fan and you'll usually hear that what they like best about the show is that it refers to things they saw when they were growing up, and they're just tickled to find that someone else remembers it -- like the "kid in me/adult in me" commercial. Well, I remember that stuff too, but that's lazy comedy writing: there's no perspective on the stuff Family Guy is referencing, no actual joke beyond the reference itself. A golden rule of bad comedy is that if people recognize the reference, they'll laugh even if the joke's not funny. Family Guy goes beyond that; it doesn't even try to have a joke half the time -- it just assumes that making a pop culture reference is inherently funny. Another Family Guy hater makes a similar point here.
6. Seth MacFarlane's voice acting is quite poor: uninflected, monotonous, recycling the same few vocal tricks over and over the way the show recycles a few gag concepts. Mike Judge, Trey Parker, Matt Stone and others have developed into good vocal actors, but Seth MacFarlane is the best argument against creators voicing their own creations.
5. It's one of those things that presents itself as "cutting-edge" but is actually gutless. Its "offensive" jokes are neatly calculated to make sure they don't actually risk offending their fanbase; instead they make jokes that would be offensive to the kinds of people who don't watch the show -- sexual prudes, for example. Any genuinely cutting-edge comedy will risk offending people who watch it; but how is a penis joke supposed to offend the average college student? The answer is, it's not supposed to offend anybody who watches the show; it's supposed to give college kids a smug sense of superiority in believing that someone else might theoretically be offended by that penis joke. (An animated sitcom that actually dared to be tasteless and offensive was Duckman, which took on actual social and political issues; another animated sitcom that actually dares to challenge its audience is South Park, which takes the things that its youngish viewers have been told on other TV shows -- say, saving the rainforest is good -- and tells them the opposite.)
4. The style of the show, which its fans consider such an innovation, was pretty much familiar to anyone who had been following the Saturday morning and weekday cartoons of the early to mid '90s. Sitcom-style stories that went off into weird directions; a look and feel that parodied sitcoms of the '50s to the '80s; constant jokes about '80s pop culture: this was all characteristic of the funny kids' cartoons of the '90s. Essentially, if you watched enough episodes of the early Johnny Bravo (which Seth MacFarlane worked on) or some episodes of Tiny Toons or various other kids' shows of that era, then Family Guy looks like what it is: a kids' show, with all the things that characterized the kids' shows of the '90s: attempts to be hip, suspicion of big heartfelt moments, and lots of references to the shows the kids watched when they were very little. In other words, Family Guy isn't a sophisticated take on the sitcom; it's a kiddie show with some PG-13 references for older kids.
3. The animation was probably the worst of any animated sitcom ever, maybe neck-and-neck with the animated sitcom version of Dilbert. One veteran artist, who described Family Guy as the worst show he'd ever worked on -- and he'd worked for Hanna-Barbera in the '70s, so he wasn't saying that lightly -- summed it up this way:
When I'd suggest some sort of minor gag... [the director] just looked at me and, deadpan, asked "why"? The designs of the characters were murder to draw, so bland and expressionless, but I was somehow expected to get more "acting" out of them. Believe me, Peter's model sheet poses for "happy" and "depressed" looked practically identical! I was told not to add eyebrows, not to distort eye-shapes, not to draw "cartoony" poses...but still, somehow, creating "acting". Yeah, right.
The animation on "The Simpsons" or "King of the Hill" may not be classic-level, but every character acts with his or her face and body to a certain extent; they have, let's say, at least two expressions. "Family Guy" has the most inexpressive characters I've ever seen, and the only distinctive movement on the whole show is a gag that the supervising director (Peter Shin) invented to make characters fall down really fast... a gag that was then repeated to death for the rest of the series.
2. The scripts are bad. I mean apart from the shoddy recycled gags and characters, most of the scripts are just frankly terrible in terms of story construction, coherent satire, etc. The satire is, again, gutless and timid (taking on such never-before-seen satirical targets as tobacco companies and feminists); the dialogue is sub-According to Jim; the stories tend to feature one plot point per act surrounded by many minutes of filler. I guess you can say that what I call "filler" is really the point of the show. Even if the gags were funny (which they are not), I wouldn't buy this. The show is in the form of a sitcom and it should have good story construction and all the other stuff one expects of a sitcom. Otherwise all you're left with is a big overlong comedy sketch with the same characters every week, not unlike a really bad year of Saturday Night Live.
1. Plenty of other animated shows that went off the air didn't get anywhere near the same kind of following, and certainly didn't get revived. Futurama, of course, was far better; but so was Pinky and the Brain when it was in primetime; so was Duckman, which was the offensive, shocking show that Family Guy never had the guts to be (and Duckman's "Road To" episode was a million times better than Family Guy's). Even The Critic, which had some of the same problems as FG (bad animation, unmemorable characters, over-reliance on pop-culture references as opposed to genuine satire or parody), displayed a higher level of craftsmanship. Essentially Family Guy is a story of poor craftsmanship rewarded. I can't help but resent that.
Now, what do I think of the fact that this show has become so popular among younger viewers, popular enough to make it a huge DVD hit and guarantee a sizeable 18-35 demographic for the new episodes? First of all, I think that the Family Guy cult will look really embarrassing a few decades from now, because the '80s references will no longer be comprehensible, and so the episodes will consist largely of dead spots (since there are no jokes, just the references, which are supposed to be funny just because you "get" them). Second, I think it proves that people of my generation don't have better taste in TV than people of my parents' generation; in other words, how can I make fun of some elderly relative for enjoying some badly-written, badly-made CBS show, when I have younger relatives who enjoy the worse-written, worse-made Family Guy? In other words, I think "geezer TV" has been replaced by a new category... call it "whippersnapper TV": bad TV that succeeds because it appeals to the sensibilities of a particular age-based segment of the audience. All of which is a long way of saying that lots of bad shows become hits. This is another one of them.
Now, to add some fairness and balance: I actually did think that the last season of Family Guy showed some improvement, in the sense that there was some attempt to write coherent stories and give the characters something resembling a personality. It wasn't good, but it was better, and I suppose it's theoretically possible that the new episodes could be better still. There was one episode from the last season that I thought was just plain good: "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows," where Brian the dog meets a reclusive old lady who used to be an opera singer. That episode featured an original song that was quite a good attempt at a pastiche Broadway song, certainly better than anything Joss Whedon came up for for his Buffy musical, so I've got to give Seth MacFarlane credit for that, as well as for proving to college kids that musicals aren't for dorks. (I read that the upcoming Family Guy CD includes a song from Take Me Along by Bob Merrill, so he gets more points for that.)
Also, despite the life-ain't-fair tone of # 1, I'd say that in general, most animated sitcoms have gotten a fair shake; King of the Hill is still on, as is South Park; Futurama and Duckman got 70 episodes apiece; the animated sitcoms that outright bombed are mostly the ones that deserved to. So Family Guy's success doesn't actually take anything away from more deserving shows. It's just another mediocre-to-poor show on the air. The TV universe will survive that.
430 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1 – 200 of 430 Newer› Newest»Family Guy is one of the best shows on televison right now. Just FYI.
Man, this article is old. The episode you mentioned was made in season 3, That was almost 5 years ago. Jesus Christ. Perhaps Time has given you a love of Family Guy, or maybe not.
10. First of all, the idea of a small being of some sort having inhibitions (sp?) to take over the world is not in itself original, as it can be argued that bart simpson rips of a british cartoon called 'Dennis the menace' (Not the american counterpart though). Seth Macfarlane has stated that Rex Harrisson inspired stewies woice, and the 'football shaped' head that is the only real thing that a could see as actually being 'Ripped off' from that cartoon you linked, as the joke of a baby being articulate and coherent is in no way new, and was especially not created by that cartoon.
9. What you mentioned are not actual jokes, but themes. For example, using the actual same joke twice would justify your argument, but, bar some minor running jokes, I have yet to see the exact same joke being reused, therefore nullifying your argument.
8. Have you ever thought that this show could have been satirising these sitcom stereotypes with their characters? I have never seen any examples of writers 'Writing around' characters, and in fact, all characters have, to an extent, changed and evolved as the show goes on, for example the Stewie becoming more than a one dimensional 'evil genuis' figure. then, when these characters do anything outside the one dimension of them that you've based your opinions on, you call this writing 'out of character', so, in effect, you say that stewie is ripping off another character, and everything he does that makes him different from the character you claim he rips off must be 'out of character' for him. Is it not one of the signs of good writing to have characters that have multiple facets to them, any of which can be called upon at any time to deliver a joke?
7. I disagree, as the references are used as part of the comedy. If you took a reference and made it purely a reference, with no diolog or action, just the pop culture icon being present, THEN you'd have a point.
6. This point has no substance to it whatsoever. not only can he talk in a variety of tones for each voice, he can actually sing in all of them as well, in key and everything. This does not constitute 'monotone'
5. Here, you're taking a stereotype and assumoing it's an entire demographic, so i'm not even going to dignify this one with a response
4. I'm a fan. I don't consider it an innovation. many of my feinds are fans. they don't consider it a variation. most fans that I know like it because it is a spin on the saturday morning cartoon theme.
3. You're right about this one. except the falling down part.
2. This point seems like most of your other ones hashed together into one to make it come up to 10 reasons, so I don't need to retype anything here.
1. Well, someone must be buying it.
And finally, do not cpint me as one of those stupid internet people who spends all their time doing stuff like this, or count this as me getting angry. that was your opinion. this is mine.
family guy sucks.
Ha! Classic! I knew there was something wrong with that show, and you nailed it. I still watch it though. It has that "car crash" quality that you can't look away from. If you like it, fine, but it is garbage. Don't try and tell me otherwise, I can smell it from here. Still, you've got to admire Seth Macfarlane. He won't be signing up for unemployment anytime soon.
THANK YOU! I have never understood why so many people worshipped "Family Guy." It's a terrible, horribly unfunny show, but I could never quite articulate why I despised it so. This well-written article has given me plenty of ammunition for the future.
"Family Guy" SUCKS!
You look into family guy way to much, just enjoy it and don't compare it to other shows.
i agreed with about 97% of that. nice rant. i used to hate FG but now im just neutral because its not worth arguing with so many idiots. i dont even watch tv at all anymore.
great article...I must confess that I used to enjoy FG when it first came on. Then when I went back to watch them when it came back on the air...I realized that it's actually really lame...This article and the recent Southpark episodes definitely nailed what I was thinking!
family guy is the most fucking retarded show i have ever seen and my friends quote it all the time :S
Family guy has hade some original moments. For example: Stewie's mocking of Brian for an unfinished novel. This type of humor was unlike anything I've seen before. Family guy is a fantastic "Nothing Else is On" show. The problem with it is that it gets compared to 'South Park' or the hey day of 'The Simpsons'. It is no where near close to either of these shows. Although the current episodes of the Simpsons are almost unwatchable.
We all have are opinions on that show, but I like it. ^_^
You're a jewbag.
Family Guy is a piece of shit and a waste of airtime. It annoys the hell out of me,
Shut up you fucking kikejew. I'm gonna gas you with Zyklon B and put you in an oven.
The Jews own all the Zyklon B in the world because they had the money to buy it. I'm pretty sure they'll gas you, you anti-semetic trailer park, buck-toothed redneck.
I'm glad it's not just me that sees Family Guy as a poor show.
"7. I disagree, as the references are used as part of the comedy. If you took a reference and made it purely a reference, with no diolog or action, just the pop culture icon being present, THEN you'd have a point."
First of all, it's dialogue. Moving on, you can reference something and have dialogue and action, but it's still a reference. Having Gary Coleman walk on (movement=action) and say,"Whatchu talkin about Willis?" (dialogue!!) is a reference with dialogue and action, but it doesn't make it necessarily funny. What counts is the way in which the reference is made. South Park "referenced" R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet series, but they had Tom Cruise in the closet after Stan told him he was "okay' at acting. There is a well-thought reference.
I have to say other shows like The Simpsons and The Critic make references similar to Family Guy, but the writing is good.
Also, I'd like to state that the references of The Critic were mostly from film (tying into the fact that he's a film critic). It just made sense that these pop culture references were being made as he was one who was on the outside of it all as a critic. As for the characters, I recommend you watch the DVDs, because Eleanor, Duke, Jay and Franklin are genuinely hilarious with some wonderful jokes, I think.
All in all, Family Guy sucks and I love The Critic. Oh, and people need to learn how to spell dialogue before they're going to pretend they have some concept at what creative writing is.
I have to say, Family Guy was(WAS!!!) an okay show. As a 7th grader I stuck through the show till it got cancelled, but once it came back it lost that original touch, it became bland and stupid. They re-use the same crap and joke techniques from previous seasons and have dumb episode plots. The whole random joke thing was funny during the first few seasons, but after awhile it got REAL old, and the newer seasons still can't stop doing it! I'm glad Southpark stuck it to family Guy and exploited it as the overrated show that it is!
this just seems so ridiculous. your just bitching about a show YOU dont like. easy solution = dont watch it.
oh dear. sorry, i do love family guy, but i do have to point out one flaw here. the show actualy got less of a plot come season 4, so i just think you threw that in there to sound nice or something.
Yes, finally someone who sees the patheticness that is Family Guy. Yes, Brian and Stewie may be funny from time to time, but they're so dead in comparison to the characters in The Simpsons, which is definetly a classic compared to Family Guy. Peter is a direct copy of Homer, just much more irritating, but generally the same guy. I hate Peter, I hate Family Guy, and I hate anyone who thinks it is even close to topping The Simpsons. The reason why The Simpsons bagged Family Guy out in the Halloween Episode *when one of the Homer clones was Peter* was a joke, and the fact that they were able to make this joke proved that they knew that family guy was nowhere near them, and still unable to topple them off their throne.
You are an IDIOT!! enough said...
now go vote bush while you're at it.
family guy is always funny wheras south park is sometimes dry and desperate for laughs p.s Quagmire is the man!!!
Family Guy has just plan stupid jokes. 90% of the time they are so stupid to the point of being un funny.The jokes are often stolen the scripts are weak, the stories never led anywhere. Some main charcters Chris & Meg have very little screen time and are almost never funny.
Why do they use those stupid random jokes that don't fit the plot.The jokes are pretty much always stupid.The same jokes are used over and over again.The show is very monotonous . It is really starting to suck hard!!
Who cares? I mean, are we supposed to stop watching it now because you posted something in your blog? Oh, we're really embarassed.
Very well thought out commentary.
I do laugh pretty hard occasionally at FG, but as a whole the show is relatively forgettable. South Park and The Simpsons however will both go down in history.
You make good points that I mostly agree with, especially because new family guy sucks a ton. Besides South Park stomps FG's ass beit new or old episodes.
I like Family Guy, but I prefer South Park cuz of the way it targets current events... oh, and it has a talking poo.
Family Guy is about as funny as Jimmy Kimmel.
To take a soda pop analogy, Family Guy is just Diet Simpsons or better yet Simpsons Zero (as in it seems to be the same but you can't help noticing that metallic aftertaste). Diet Soda is popular too.
Thank you! Family Guy is quite pathetic. I can't believe they brought this back and not Futurama. Shame on anybody who supports this unoriginal crap.
i don't understand how Seth McFaggot can get paid big bucks for the crap he pulls out of his butt and i have to pay the city for my sewage. the only time there was ever anything funny on family guy is when it was parodied on soth park and it wasn't really family guy. something worse than death to the creaters of family guy
I think the worst part about Family Guy is having friends quote it back to me like it's funny in any other context.
I don't catch alot of South Park, but the show is genius. If it's too dry for you, it's probably because you don't get it. The plots are incredibly well constructed, the charaters have motivations, and it's political and zany at the same time.
Although, I still get jackasses quoting Cartman to me.
r u watching the same show as i am cause your reasons sucks u might say other shows sucks but not family guy " man poeple these days don't know a SHIT " by the way i was talking about u.
i have conducted theoretical scientific phychological research and found that family guy is benificial to over all health.
you all are reasonablew stupid. stick to yuor boring 60 minutes shows and watching the new unhit show: "extreme snail racing to the max!!" just because family guy reminds you of your own disfunctunal family dont take it out on the viewers
It's simple. Futurama went off the air because it was smart, and family guy is still on because the frats of the world need to watch t.v.
The jokes have absolutely no reasoning, nor do they move the plot forward.
Sure, I remember old commercials, too. Is this enough to rest a series on, though? Hell, can I have a show, because at least once a day I bring up the Fonz or Mr. T?
Guess I'm a cartoon writer, too!
There is an upside: It's better than American Dad. But so is Joey.
Here here!
family guy represents everything thats wrong with american youth.
I think what has not been considered is that the whole concept of using constant references throughout is what makes the show origional.this gives the show a change of pace, so it is not dull and monotomous. the characters are an obvious satire, so annoyingly funny that they are almost love-able.i would not call making a joke of of terminally ill children inoffensive to veiwers (season 4).There will always be critics-but if you do not like it, why are you watching it?
Well said! Family Guy is a ball-sucking abortion of a show. No wonder it has already been cancelled twice. Hopefully it gets cancelled again for good once Family Guy fans pull their heads out of their asses and the craze dies down. You want a much better, wittier show? Watch South Park. Fuck Family Guy!
I think the key point that has been neglected in your reasons is the very nature of "reference" that family guy makes. To write of all references as the same is to neglect the strain of art that builds on its past.
But further than that, the show acknowledges and incorporates the shear amount of "worthless" information we all have coursing through our heads, and give it an outlet. We cite punky brewster instead of borges, even if we've read borges, b/c punky brewster is part of a collective experience many young americans share, regardless of class, race, or many other cultural barriers.
The show revels in what our parents could not understand even if they experienced it. It's an acknowledgment of the past couple of generation's genuine and serious engagement with television throughout our childhood. I wasn't a baseball player, my brother wasn't in a band, my best friend wasn't pakistani. All of us are educated, but we haven't read the same books. I loved infinite jest, but have never read rings of saturn. I've seen Annie hall, but not manhattan. But family guy's "references" acknowledge the vast sea of commaniltiy coarsing through our blood.
Further, the show recognizes and lays bare inborn stereotypes that this distinctive collective experience has left us. Look at Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa. The show rarely makes fun of her as having an accent, or not being able to drive. Her character paralells the experience of Connie Chung. Though level headed an abled, she was frankly treated shabbily by all of the networks, and though many of haven't followed her career, her presence, than absence, than altered presence, has lead to a certain representation of her plight in our head.
So in a 15 second joke about Tricia takanawa, the show addresses the plight of foreign born immigrant's. The "blackie" weather report with Ollie Williams is more obvious about this move. It acknowledges our shared stereotype of the "angry" black man (or perhaps, our collective acknowledgment that many blacks in america have good reason to be angry) and then shows the paradox of making him the weather man, delivering the news about the effect of god, rather than man. President Bush can fuck a life up, but can be held accountable. Nobody can blame the weather. So let's take away his power for righteous indignation by letting him discuss only that which nobody can be blamed for.
None of this mentions the shows keen sense of the abuse of tone that is inherent in our media culture. The news goes from murder to squirell snowboarder. Our sitcoms warn us of child molestation.
One things the family guy fans have to admit....is the new season that's been airing since Feb. 2006 is sucking REALLY BAD!!!!!.....and I'm one of those guys that's been watching the old Family Guy episodes on Adult Swim every night for the past 3 years, so you can't call me a hater. I know when a show has jumped the shark, and it wouldn't surprise me if Family Guy is buried again after another season or two if things don't shape up around there. The episode I saw last night, (Brian's gay cousin wants to marry in the Griffin house, but Adam West tries to outlaw gay marriage to drag attention away from the fact that he spent the city's entire budget on a gold statue of Dig 'em, the Smacks cereal mascot.), was god-awful to say the least....not to mention it was so forgetful that I had to think for a minute of what it actually was about. I think it's sad that the new Family Guy is possibly the highest rated show on TV right now...*loses another shred of respect for the general public*....I guess it's all some people got for the cable-less masses.
Trey Parker and his sidekick Matt Stone have been listening to the adoration of their fans for too long. I honestly feel they think their on some kind of sacred mission to save American pop culture from itself. "South Park" is a funny show, but I think they have an over-inflated view of its impact in the scheme of things. That's one great thing about "The Family Guy." It's not trying to be anything but a funny show.
I think Trey & Matt's crusade against "The Family Guy" is nothing more than a pathetic ego defense. And my chief criticism of "South Park" can be summarized by quoting "Calvin & Hobbes": "Provoking a reaction isn't the same thing as saying something meaningful." Shock value, which "South Park" relies so heavily upon, is a very cheap ploy.
P.S. Whoever is posting anti-Semitic comments NEEDS TO GET A LIFE. If you're going to be a bigot, at least try to be creative. Making some dumbfuck reference to the Holocaust is worse than sad.
family guy is so fucking gay because they always go oh remeber when this happened they do that every fucking second all my friends say did you watch family guy?
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, I MEAN I RESPECT HONEST OPINION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ALL THAT, BUT THAT WAS JUST FUCKING STUPID, I MEAN GODDAMMIT YOU HAVE FUCKING MENTAL PROBLEMS, SETH MCFARLANE HAS A VERY HIGH TALENTED VOCAL, AND IF YOUR SO FUCKING GOOD THEN WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU IN A FAMOUS MULTI MILLION DOLLAR SHOE HUH YOU FUCKING COCK SUCKER.
sencirely, Seth Mcfarlane
Interesting...I appreciate the ideology of South Park, but I am almost completely against the ideology of Calvin and Hobbes. (I would say that Bill Watterson is a stark-raving ideologist who's only satisfied if he achieves his anti-commercialist utopia, but that's another subject, and I agree with some of Watterson's views.) Personally, if anything, it's Seth MacFarlane whose ego is too inflated. In the blog that links to this one (or some other one I found but can't find anymore), there are firsthand accounts from animators and character designers working on the show who complain that MacFarlane is being too pushy and picky about his show, that it has to be exactly as he imagines it, or off to the cutting room floor.
Parker and Stone probably made "Cartoon Wars" because they've reached their breaking point with the success of Family Guy. Family Guy and South Park are approached completely different in terms of story writing, so it's reasonable to see a deep conflict between the two shows. I'll except FG to extensively lampoon SP in the near future. Knowing them, they'll probably just non-sequitur it instead of making a real satire. I'm actually surprised no one has mentioned "Cartoon Wars" here yet.
Family Guy and American Dad only keep the myth alive that television is an intelligence-sucking activity. All the efforts of The Simpsons has failed. I'm talking about its entire history: Bring up the episode "Bart vs. Australia," and you're far more likely to encounter a quote of Homer calling Uruguay "U-R-Gay" than someone to comment about the episode's messages of cultural tolerance and ecological fragility, two traits of "the ugly American."
It's pretty plain: Americans don't like to think. That's why an intellectually stagnant show like Family Guy can continue to get great ratings well past its prime while a show that's truly deep, Futurama, is shoved aside. Or maybe it's because the show is too liberal for Rupert Murdoch and his cronies.
I wouldn't be surprised one bit if someone is going to attack my thoughts, something like "omg go back 2 nerdville ur gay." If it does, then this just proves me right: Americans don't like to think. (Unless it's from someone living outside America, which is unlikely, since FG doesn't lend itself well to internationalization.) It's a sad point in time we live in when anti-intellectualism is waved high with pride.
for all the idiots that say FG sucks, FYI u dont have to watch it
also u talk about how it rips off other shows, just wondering why are u watching the episodes if u hate it so much
It is amazing how eloquently bashing something from our era(all trash anyway...but i love it) can rally people together as if a Hitler speech! Please list for me 10 ANYTHING media that is not trash of our era...and give an explanation...becasue you probably can't! Don't waste time bashing just one show.
family guys the shit everything else sucks. family guy came up with the flashbacks which are funny as hell.other shows say something happened but dont show it. how old is u 40?
The guy above me is a fucking faggot.
I completely agree. family guy is a lame show. pop-cult references do not make a joke. there needs to be an angle, some kind of bite. the show is flat and seems to avoid developing any interesting ideas.
nice to know some people here can take a valid debate of opinion, and counter with stupid "jew" and "fag" comments. The auther points valid arugments, and those of you who stoop to names are just arrogant. Your lack of intelligence and respect is athunderous, and it is clear you have no debate skills.
Bravo old boy! Your riposte was splendiferous!
On a serious note, I don't like when FG T-balls all their jokes by setting them up as flashbacks-if I guess what is going to happen in the next skit, its not funny, say sorry.
How amusing...you actually took the time to write a big hate rant when you knew that thousands of family guy fans would be at your throat. And how comical...I actually took the time to comment on this pointless dribble.
You think too much...
I think you have many points but think - Why watch it? If you dont like something, dont watch it. It's very simple. Of coarse Family Guy has flaws. Then again, so does 'South Park' and so does Simpsons and every other TV show. Saying "people who like this are 'name'" are stupid themselevs and have no intelligance. They cannot comprehend the fact that people like something they do not. We all have to have tolerance for something someone else watches.
I think your entry is spot-on correct. I agree with pretty much every point. It is gratifying to see that I am not the only one.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Finally, not only is someone able to say why they hate Family Guy, but explain themselves as well. I tried to watch the show twice...two times too many. None of the jokes were funny outside one or two, I hate Stewie and all the other characters, the cut-aways are pointless and not funny, etc., etc. I am sick and tired of hearing about everyone saying its the greatest show or such...oh, and also, good props for Futurama...now I wish that wasn't cancelled.
FAMILY GUY DOES SUCK.
Hello,
Although I completely respect your opinion (You have done a great job of defining it in this article) I do however disagree with you because I personally love the show, The jokes may not be orignial but I still find them hilarious everytime.
I do ask one question for those on this forum who have posted and agreed with you "How did you come across a Family Guy Blog if you don't like the show?" Just a thought I had :)
Take Care
Jesse J Burton
Hello and i do agree family guy can be pretty stupid but i dont watch a lot of it so i wouldnt know for sure but i must say FUTURAMA is the best show ever even better then family guy and all other shows
Great post. I pity the sheep that watch FG. Almost all of them complain that it's gotten terrible(though in reality it sucked from the get-go), yet they keep watching in hopes that the next episode won't suck. LOL at Family Guy fans.
Wow, you really changed my mind about this show. I used to be addicted to it, but ever since reading this article, I just don't enjoy it anymore. I feel like you've really done us all a favor - my tastes in comedy have matured because of this blog post as I'm sure have tens of thousands of your other readers. I really do appreciate writers like you who make a difference in people's lives on the issues that really define who we are as Americans. Thank you and God Bless America.
who wastes their time analizing every little imperfection about the show? A LOSER LiKE U...LOSER!
It's simple. If you don't like it, you don't watch. But to have all these opinions (that is what they are) about a show you hate means that you've spent a lot of time watching it, analyzing it. So, we're the pathetic ones who like the show, but you spend your spare time watching something you don't like?
Figure that out.
I don't like South Park. I don't watch it. I certainly don't sit around watching it, making fun of all the "idiots" who are also watching it at the same time.
So, while everyone is applauding this person for his supposed brilliance, let's take a moment to think about how pathetic the writer truly is.
I agree with you 100%. Family Guy is garbage. I'll admit that it has a good joke every now-and-then but it's so painful to watch it try (and fail) over-and-over again in between. "Remember that time..."
Also, I've always been bothered by the notion of having a talking baby and a talking dog. And no one can hear the baby, except the dog- who everyone can hear? I love cartoon logic but... what?
I love you for this. I really do. I love futurama, and I hope it comes back soon, like this crappy show did.
first to the idiot who said futurama is coming back, its been axed never coming back (it was pretty lame anyway only got like one laugh out the whole show)to the main post this is exaclty why i like famiy guy, it is made to anouy people like you(up yourself people) because the producers dont care what anybody thinks they dont care if they take the joke for too long they do it because they think its funny and maybe the audience does too.and charaters stewie is a character he is not ripped off from pinky and the brain thats a childrens cartoon, what ever it is its funny, and family guy isnt mainstreem humor it has other stuff in it that u wouldnt get from anything else. You want to find family guy funny? then simply stop caring, stop analyzing the show that much and enjoy tv, then it would be hialarious to you and im sure you will enjoy life much more.
Yeah Family Guy sucks! I mean come on, I never ever seen more booooooooring characters, and what's so funny about that Stewie anyway?? Kill him and monotone-Cleveland off (oh and Chris who makes my ears bleed) and the show might be watchable fr a few minutes. Also, how about an actual plot? Family Guy is all random and one of the worst things ever. And not only TV-show.
It's the worst.
You must not have actually watched the show. It's probably the best show that Cartoon Network's got right now!
YOU SUCK!! And everybody who agrees with you SUCKS!! FAMILY GUY FOREVER!
It's funny I just started reading Jimmy Corrigan. Anyway if Jimmy was written in 1996, I'm not sure but I think that Family guy was created in college by Seth and I'm pretty sure that it was before Jimmy Corrigan. And The Brain? Come on the spin off show was the same crap over and over again. And the Brain was voiced after Orson Welles. Unicron. I mean you are ranting about it not being innovated and making it personal by saying the voice acting sucks. I mean you are an idiot. anyway have a good day.
You sir, are a god and nothing less. Ive felt the exactly same way about family guy and people always say "whats wrong with you, your crazy" so finaly i googled familguy sucks and BAM your blog pops up. Thankyou for saying all the things I've had inside my head for so long.
Get a life, you don't like? Don't watch it and shut up!
Family Guy has to be the worst and most unfunny shows ever to be shown on TV. Good call's there.
I think most of you guys are looking into the show way too much. Sure, alot of unintellegent people watch the show to see Peter fall down and Quagmire make a sex joke, but it is full of intellectually rich humor as well. However, this humor is very very dry and sometimes unnoticeable unless you are paying close attention.
It is actually very simillar to Monty Python's in many way. You can take it for some of the cheap jokes, or for some of the suttle intellectual jokes as well. It all depends on perspective. An example I can think of off of the top my head would be in "Breaking Out Is Hard To Do" where Peter discusses "doing the thing [Lois] used to do every Thurday night", and he is stanging in the room trying to bend over and then falls down the stairs. Alot... probably most people would laugh at the fact he fell down the stairs, and the other group would go, "oh its a sex joke... ok"
Not to say it is high class humor, but it is a perfect example of how people can view humor. Alot of the South Park fans will go on about how the show is so current, and the jokes are better. Seth Green was exactly right when he mentioned the fact that South Park has a one week turnaround. This means if something happened on friday, next friday they can make a joke about it. A show like Family Guy (and most other cartoons) have a much longer turnaround time, so by the time it would have come out, the current event joke would be... not so current.
Sure there are alot of "old timer jokes", but from the begining the people behind Family Guy have stated that was ment for adults... hence the reason you are more likely to find adults watching Family Guy and not most other cartoons.
ALSO, everyone complains that the gags have gotten old... this may be true, but it also been defined as their style. The joke is not in the fact that it is a flash back, but what the flashback is about. Although, I do agree they use way too many of these in this last season especially.
Apperently Eric Cartman calling Kyle a "stupid jew" is not repetitive whatsoever.
Don't look so deeply into CARTOON SHOWS. If you like them, watch them. If you don't... then don't watch them. Putting someone down for liking a show is ignorant.
I bet most of you don't realize that Trey and Matt are Republicans.
Oh and another thing, if the show is so god-awful and Americans know nothing about telivision and quality then why is it such a big show, and why is South Park such a big show? Most people who watch one show, watch the other. To call all viwers of one show stupid or whatever it may be, you are most likely isnulting people who enjoy the same shows as you do.
Once again, do not look so deeply into a cartoon.
Oh yea, and American Dad is not that great.... not great at all...
Look at some of the television "greats" like The Flintstones and The Jetsons... it is almost like they just recycled the same thing over and over.
Amen
You seen the simpsons episode where homers looking at a book of crimes and sees peter Griffen under Plagerysm.
Comparing Family guy to a classic like monty python is Insaane
Great Article... South Park rules, waaaaay more edgy, risky, etc. Family Guy is torture to watch since it was seems to be written for kids so DUMB, JEEEZ! Takes no risks, only easy shots at satire... no WAY you could consider it satirical
FAMILY GUY ROCKS!!!
I AGREE WITH THAT DUDE!!!
I AGREE WITH BOTH OR THOSE GUYS!!!
I MEAN OF!!!
ITS THE SAME GUY IF YOU HAVEN"T NOTICED!!!
Everything is repetition in some respect. It's almost impossible to come up with something new, just contexts that change.
For example, the flintstones were a rip-off of The Honeymooners.
That being said, not every cartoon needs to be edgy risque. Sometimes it's nice to have a cartoon that is comical and satirical, yet brushes the edge delicately for the adults.
Then you have the others, like South Park which push the envelope.
It was interesting reading the comments here, and the article... makes me realize just why I watch these cartoons. Because no one else "gets it".
Family Guy Fucking Rox and you guys need to suck dick cause Family Guy is the best show and this blog is so gay that when i get older i will personally come over and kick you stupid Faggoty asses myself Bitches!!! Oh and Finally if you hate family guy why talk about it!!!!! ASSHOLES you PUNK ASS MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!
Personly i think that the first three sessons of Family Guy were briliant. There had been much more effort in writing a plot, and the refferences didn't dominate the whole episode as they do in the newest episodes.
You say that the show dosen't challenge you, because it does not provoke you in the same way that South
Park does. But still you say that Futurama is superior? I'm not saying Futurama isn't a great show, but it certainly does not provoke. Family Guy was never mend to do so either, but just be intertaining.
In a way i agree with you, because after the show went back on it became crap, but it defantly had its
moments in the first three sesons. For example when Brian gets adicted to cokain, Peter becomes Death and the family guy chrismas special where we get introduced to the show "KISS saves chrismas".
However i respect your opinions.
don't think about it so much
you just need ta lay back and have a good time
If you stop thinking so highly of yourself
maybe u could just enjoy everything more
love ya...
Im not going to try to argue, but all of this article is pointless. If people like Family Guy, They are going to like Family, If they like South Park, they like South Park. This article of steriotyping and Myths about Family Guy only make the ones who like it, like it better, and hate South Park more, and the same the opposite, some people even like both. This Article is completely pointless.
I fucking love FAMILY GUY and not only that but I want to fuck Seth Mcfarlane he is sooo hottttt!!!! He is fucking talented as hell, he makes all his voices unique and I never even knew it was him doing all of those voices. He is amazing as hell and so is the CAST. You are just a jealous stupid fuck and yes I am wasting my time writing on this thing but you know what it is because I love SETH and FAMILY GUY!!! OH and Seths real voice is to die for...yummmmmmmmmm
Just to say I am with you on EVERY point. How can someone say that continous sex jokes are funny? it just really rong. Good work .
I was here before saying how this thread was completely pointless, something you said really pissed me off. "The animation was probably the worst of any animated sitcom ever" Dude, the animation is great moron, South Park is better at animation? psshht, Its fucking started with cardboard paper fucktard.
who the hell did this website, there are no dates on the comments from other users. And what a joke someone cleverly put 10 simple quips about how they hate family guy... get a job. Manamana
Wow. For someone who hates FG they sure know a hell of a lot about it. Here's an idea: Pick up that crude device called the remote, change the channel, and leave the show to the true fans like myself.
Um. Dude, I think YOU are the pathetic one. You spent all that time thinking up reasons that the show sucks.. the fact that the show is so popular and has everyone I know in stitches whenever they watch it means that you are WRONG! and i don't get that ALL of the references are actually rerference until a friend points it out later. and i STILL think they're hilarious. and your
'something old, nothing new' comment is even dumber than you claim the show to be. haven't you ever heard of a basic principle called mimesis? creative reptitions of popular culture and imitation etc. it's called mimesis, fucker. it's something you cannot avoid. don't you know the basic aristotilean principle of mimesis that governs all spheres of western art?
god, do you have to take everything at face value? dig a little deeper. the humor in family guy is dry, sarcastic, penetrating and intelligent. but then again i guess stupid people like you don't get the underlying humor. how DUMB are you? dumber than the show and that's a fact..let me see YOU doing something as successful. you're just a washed up imposter, man. and seth mcfarlane is anything but monotone..he is incredibly talented and even won an award for his voice talents. you asshole
you are too serious.family guy is great if u have a sense of humour!!!
Wow, everything the original poster ever said is nullified by the fact that he compares it to South Park. South Park is by far the shittiest most unfunny horribly animated horrible voice acted shit shows out there. I can't believe you called Seth MacFarlane a bad voice actor when comparing to the lame ass same in every god damn episode shit filth that are the creators of south park. South Park blows. Nuff said.