Let's discuss Family Guy

[rapidfire187]

Obviously, the show gets talked about around here quite often. I'm mostly wanting to share my opinion on a couple of things, and see what others have to say.

First of all, I don't understand the Seth McFarland hate that seems to be really prominent around here. Are these people just offended by Family Guy and the like? Or is it because they just don't find his shows to be funny? I generally just see people hurl insults his way, without any sort of explanation behind it.

Another thing I want to discuss is the new season of Family Guy. Is it just me, or has this newest season taken a serious hit in the funny department? I want to say that it's because Seth McFarland has three shows now and the jokes have to be shared, but I've realized that the entire style of Family Guy has changed for the worse. For one, they are focusing waaaay too much on showing off. What I mean by that is that there just always seems to be a scene that is trying to show off the awesome CGI animation (which does look great mind you, it's just not funny). They also seem to be showing off musically a lot, which isn't necessarily new to Family Guy it just didn't seem to be so annoying before.

But the biggest problem I'm seeing is that it almost seems like they listened to criticism and made the show rely less on cut-away jokes and more on the story. I may be in the minority here, but the cutaway jokes were usually pretty funny and they were short enough that if there was a miss it just moved on to the next scene without screwing up the episode. I think in the Christmas episode which was an hour long special, there were only 2 or 3 cutaway jokes. There were definitely some funny parts, and the stories are good enough to keep the show watchable, it's just not as laugh out loud funny to me as it used to be.

Anyone else picking up on this?

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

At first I prefered American Dad, but as of late I've leaned more towards FG's later seasons.

I like how Stewie turned from a one-joke character into a much more well-rounded one, and how Brian's ego got bigger to offset his "voice of morality" role.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

It's A Trap is pretty damn funny. Nobody has been talking about it yet, so I've felt alone in my enjoyment

[Orange]

It's one of my favorite shows on TV, I enjoy both it's original run and it's current run. I think a lot of the Seth McFarlane hate (not just here, but all over the internet) stems from how he tends to make his opinions very well known through the characters. I can't say this bugs me in the slightest because it is his show, so it's his choice to do whatever he wants. I agree with you that I love the cut-away scenes, there were a couple that went longer than they should have IMO, but most were pretty funny. Flinstones Cop chase sequence anyone?

[Stu]

I don't think there's any one specific reason for the hate. Unfortunately, it all adds up and has stacked against MacFarlane. Basically, the most common things people have complained about are:

1: A reliance on cutaway gag.

2: Unlikeable characters, including Peter and Brian

3: Too many dick and fart jokes instead of intelligent plots and gags

4: Too many Macfarlane shows, with American Dad and Cleveland Show

That said, I still watch Family Guy and don't take it seriously. I can still enjoy it as long as I shut off my brain.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

I like the show, but the quality is very schizophrenic, going from amazing to awful sometimes week to week. And yeah, Brian is one of the most unlikeable characters in television history. But I'm still a fan. When it's good, it's great. It's just that it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether it'll be good or not on a consistent basis.

[Deleted]

Dec 17, 2010 17:56:55 GMT -5 Spankymac is sick of the swiss said:

I like the show, but the quality is very schizophrenic, going from amazing to awful sometimes week to week. And yeah, Brian is one of the most unlikeable characters in television history. But I'm still a fan. When it's good, it's great. It's just that it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether it'll be good or not on a consistent basis.

Couldn't of said it any better myself.

And to Muskrat, i've also seen It's A Trap! but to me, it's only mildly funny at best. It was hit or miss. I believe the best part was finding out who played what character.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}I just about pissed myself when I saw Rallo as Lando's co-pilot.

[fw91]

it will never be as funny as it was during its orignal run, but it still has its momentsin any episode

[wcw]

I loved the original run of Family Guy back in the late 90's and early 00's it was a show unlike anyother. It had a randomness and a unique brand of funny. But once they came back from being canceled Family Guy has sucked. It has unlikeable characters (Peter is retarted to the point where you even wounder why they would even deal with him and Brian is a D-Bag) and its attempt at humor has become a caricature of its self to the point where it just isn't funny.

I am not a McFarland hater at all the first run of Family Guy was great and I love American Dad but the Cleveland Show and the second run of Family Guy both suck. Its just a bunch of randomness with unfunny and unlikeable characters.

[Pervy Stone Cold]

Dec 17, 2010 17:55:08 GMT -5 Stu said:

I don't think there's any one specific reason for the hate. Unfortunately, it all adds up and has stacked against MacFarlane. Basically, the most common things people have complained about are:

1: A reliance on cutaway gag.

2: Unlikeable characters, including Peter and Brian

3: Too many dick and fart jokes instead of intelligent plots and gags

4: Too many Macfarlane shows, with American Dad and Cleveland Show

That said, I still watch Family Guy and don't take it seriously. I can still enjoy it as long as I shut off my brain.

Also too much Conway Twitty.

[lennon]

Loved the original run and still enjoy it today...but I will agree that newer episodes are very hit or miss.

[shadowangel]

Family Guy sucks, it's a cheap Simpsons Rip-off copying the simpsons in their unfunyn run (after the 10th season)
They suck, suck suck so much. It's even worse than South Park

[the5thhorseman]

Dec 17, 2010 18:12:47 GMT -5 fw91 said:

it will never be as funny as it was during its orignal run, but it still has its momentsin any episode

[justinpoole]

It will make me laugh once or twice per episode but they rely way too much on the same bs over and over. If there is anything else at all on tv I wont watch it.

[-Lithium-]

I think people saying that everything after the original 99-02/3 run are just generalizing. People like to have a good start and stop point. When it came back in 05, for a little while, it was just as good if not better then before...

[Mister Pigwell]

*clears throat*

The "original run" episodes are unwatchable and terrible to me. I much prefer the episodes after the return.

[Threadkiller [Classic]]

I still enjoy Family Guy when they aren't being grotesque and offensive just for the sake of being grotesquely offensive.

I will say that my biggest problem with Family Guy, and I don't know how many will agree, has been their treatment of Meg. I know the character isn't a real person, but I can't get behind anybody who would treat another person, fictional or otherwise, like the Griffins treat Meg. And I know they've tried to make up for it in recent episodes, but the bad taste is still there. I know it's a silly thing to be bothered about, but it genuinely does bother me.

In fact, the funniest thing about this whole ordeal is that, as an Oscar whore, I'm rooting for Mila Kunis to get nominated for supporting actress for Black Swan simply because she voices Meg. And with each awards group that announces, it seems more and more like a possibility. I just think it'd be hilarious that she'd be the first and only member of that cast to have an Academy Award nomination, and I have no doubt that MacFarlane would probably poke bitterly at her character for it. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into things.

But yeah, enough with the Meg bashing.

[Orange]

Dec 17, 2010 19:36:30 GMT -5 Mister Pigwell said:

*clears throat*

The "original run" episodes are unwatchable and terrible to me. I much prefer the episodes after the return.

Duck and run now Cornfed!! ;D

I prefer the episodes after the return as well, I mean, I don't find the originals unwatchable by any degree, but they're more enjoyable now IMO.

[The Ichi]

Dec 17, 2010 19:41:22 GMT -5 Threadkiller [Classic] said:

I still enjoy Family Guy when they aren't being grotesque and offensive just for the sake of being grotesquely offensive.

I will say that my biggest problem with Family Guy, and I don't know how many will agree, has been their treatment of Meg. I know the character isn't a real person, but I can't get behind anybody who would treat another person, fictional or otherwise, like the Griffins treat Meg. And I know they've tried to make up for it in recent episodes, but the bad taste is still there. I know it's a silly thing to be bothered about, but it genuinely does bother me.

In fact, the funniest thing about this whole ordeal is that, as an Oscar whore, I'm rooting for Mila Kunis to get nominated for supporting actress for Black Swan simply because she voices Meg. And with each awards group that announces, it seems more and more like a possibility. I just think it'd be hilarious that she'd be the first and only member of that cast to have an Academy Award nomination, and I have no doubt that MacFarlane would probably poke bitterly at her character for it. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into things.

But yeah, enough with the Meg bashing.

I know this will be unpopular, but the Meg jokes are usually my favourite. I just find the idea of this poor girl that can't catch a break hilarious, but I have a pretty dark sense of humour. Plus I kind of get the idea it's an inside joke by the writers in a way since the voice actress is the very beautiful and most succesful of them all Mila Kunis.

[rapidfire187]

Dec 17, 2010 18:27:58 GMT -5 @wcw said:

I loved the original run of Family Guy back in the late 90's and early 00's it was a show unlike anyother. It had a randomness and a unique brand of funny. But once they came back from being canceled Family Guy has sucked. It has unlikeable characters (Peter is retarted to the point where you even wounder why they would even deal with him and Brian is a D-Bag) and its attempt at humor has become a caricature of its self to the point where it just isn't funny.

I am not a McFarland hater at all the first run of Family Guy was great and I love American Dad but the Cleveland Show and the second run of Family Guy both suck. Its just a bunch of randomness with unfunny and unlikeable characters.

I've heard this before, perhaps from you even but I really don't know. I didn't notice a change in the show's quality after they came back from being canceled, if anything it was funnier. I didn't notice the show getting less funny until maybe season 6. This latest season is damn near completely unfunny though. Again, it has it's moments they're just few and far between. That said, I laughed way too hard at the part in the Christmas special where Stewey beat the man to death with the bat. That's good old fashioned comedy there.

I think American Dad is a really awesome show. I didn't like it at first because I expected something similar to FG, but I've been watching it on Netflix lately and it is really really underrated. I absolutely love it and it seems like others think of it more positively than Family Guy. Which is odd because it has the same issues of having unlikeable characters. Seriously, everybody in that show besides Francine is a complete jerk. Still, it's a joke based cartoon, the characters don't really have to be likable.