Family Guy - It's a shame

[It's...Baylariat!]

How are the first episodes of Family Guy remotely entertaining? Stewie wants to take over the world, Peter is annoying, so is Lois, Brian's too smart for everyone, and Chris and Meg were terrible also.

Now in the latter seasons, Everyone seems to be on an even playing field. The shows are more witty, entertaining, and awesome. And seriously, if you find Family Guy offensive, then South Park would make you evaporate into ash. LULZ>

 

[Dave]

How are the first episodes of Family Guy remotely entertaining? Stewie wants to take over the world, Peter is annoying, so is Lois, Brian's too smart for everyone, and Chris and Meg were terrible also.

Now in the latter seasons, Everyone seems to be on an even playing field. The shows are more witty, entertaining, and awesome. And seriously, if you find Family Guy offensive, then South Park would make you evaporate into ash. LULZ>

This.

The thing about Family Guy is that it is immensely difficult to ask people to remember back 6 months when a joke is made. As KB said, South Park have an exclusive studio and can knock out a brand new episode in about a week. Family Guy have to send all the episodes away to Korea for 6 months for them to animated. Hence, South Park jokes are topical and relevant where as Family Guy jokes do not have the same effect. Family Guy is still a very enjoyable show though I still love it.

As for it being racist, I guess there is some truth in that. I watched a random episode last night and it was full of what could be called racist jokes. Like, instead of calling an Indian kid his real name, Tom Tucker calls him Omar North-Tower. It's funny because it shows a complete ignorance from the character but it does give fuel to the argument. The Family Guy writing staff also has a lot of Asians on board. I think Family Guy is put out there to offend and if you can't laugh at some of the jokes then you need to lighten up.

 

[Blade]

There are so many stereotypical African-American jokes on that show (ranging from the loud, black weatherman to the judge who has a subscription to grape soda quarterly). I thought it was all right at first, seeing as how I thought Cleveland was voiced by an African-American (I'm fine with people making fun of their own cultures), but then I find out that he's actually white (he may or may not be a writer on the show). As I have already alluded to, I think racial, religious, and cultural humor should be solely reserved for members of the race/religion/culture that is actually being made fun of.

They could be quite possibly doing that on purpose, as in making fun of stupid stereotypes. That's what South Park uses Cartman for.
But I may be wrong...

 

[justinsayne]

So people are claiming the old episodes are better, yet if they were so much better then would Fox had canceled the show?, I mean think about it this is the same shit hardcore fans always do they love something until it becomes hugely popular and then they turn their backs on it and say it's turn to shit, or sold out or some stupid bullshit like that, the fact of the matter is that Family Guy must be doing something right because it's one of the most popular shows on all of TV right now, and had it not change somewhat it probably wouldn't have been able to last this long since Fox has brought it back, instead we would be stuck watching the same few seasons on Adult Swim every night at 1 am

As far as people claiming it's racist or some bullshit, STFU, seriously you could watch any fucking show on TV and pull out something "racist" from it, it's a fucking cartoon, if you let a fucking cartoon offend you then you seriously need to reevaluate shit, cause as X said, that's just sad

 

[HBK-aholic]

Justin.

Anyway, Family Guy is awesome. I really don't get the South Park thing, it's just not that funny. Racist? Meh, I laughed at that. I laugh at the stereotypes too. I laugh at the Asian reporter being known as 'Asian reporter...". It's supposed to be funny. It's not real, get over it.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

There's a big, big difference between South Park and Family Guy. There is only one minority that is ever consistently made fun of on that show (the Jewish), and the one person who makes fun of them, Cartman, always gets his ass kicked by Kyle. There was the one episode where Stan's father was on a Wheel of Fortune-like game show and he guessed that the word on the board was a certain racial epithet, but he was shamed for it big time afterwards. Sure, he teamed up with the likes of Michael Richards and Mark Fuhrman to get Congress to recognize ******-guy as an offensive word, but that was just meant to highlight the absurdness of the situation. So, yeah, I don't see how these shows are alike in any respect, save for that they are animated. It's as if Family Guy's writers think that they have the right to tell certain taboo jokes because of how liberal and progressive they are in their political beliefs.

 

[Slyfox696]

So people are claiming the old episodes are better, yet if they were so much better then would Fox had canceled the show?,

This has nothing to do with quality.

For example, one of my favorite shows, Boston Legal, got canceled, not because it wasn't good, or people weren't watching it, but because they couldn't charge as much money as they wanted to for advertisements.

There are a lot of reasons shows get canceled. In my opinion, Family Guy got canceled because the majority of the Fox audience wasn't intelligent enough to keep up with it. In this country, we have a TERRIBLE reputation of not watching comedy TV shows anymore unless they're crude and consist of mindless humor. Which is why Family Guy got canceled, and now goes the route of crude and mindless humor.

I mean think about it this is the same shit hardcore fans always do they love something until it becomes hugely popular and then they turn their backs on it and say it's turn to shit, or sold out or some stupid bullshit like that

This doesn't apply to me at all. I didn't even begin watching Family Guy until after they were canceled, and right before they were being brought back. And there is a VERY marked difference in quality as the show progresses, even through the first three seasons.

The first four episodes of Season 1 are the best. The subtlety and nuances of the show are just amazing. After the first four, you go through the last few episodes of Season 1 and about half of Season 2, and you still get quite a bit of the subtle and intelligent humor, with some mindless slapstick sprinkled in. I've noticed when they substituted Mila Kunis for the old Meg, in the other half of Season 2 and through Season 3, the writing gets to be a little lazier, and not as intelligently funny. If you watch Family Guy enough, you'll notice a difference in Season 2 episodes with Mila Kunis as Meg.

The third Season has it's moments (such as To Love and Die in Dixie), but overall, it just doesn't match the second season, much less the first. Season 4 continued the downward path, but still had its moments. But, by Season 5, the show just became a mockery of itself.

This has nothing to do with the "Underground Bandwagon Theory", as I like to call it, where people latch onto something small to make themselves feel good, and then curse it when it becomes huge. There is a very definite difference in the way the show is written now, compared to when it first was introduced.

the fact of the matter is that Family Guy must be doing something right because it's one of the most popular shows on all of TV right now, and had it not change somewhat it probably wouldn't have been able to last this long since Fox has brought it back, instead we would be stuck watching the same few seasons on Adult Swim every night at 1 am

There is no doubt that it is more popular, I never argued that. However, my point is that the direction it has gone is disappointing. Instead of being a show that exists through unique humor, it sold it's soul to stay on the air. And while there's nothing wrong with that, it's sad to see what COULD have been a great show degenerate into mindless crude humor.

As far as people claiming it's racist or some bullshit, STFU, seriously you could watch any fucking show on TV and pull out something "racist" from it, it's a fucking cartoon, if you let a fucking cartoon offend you then you seriously need to reevaluate shit, cause as X said, that's just sad

I'm not sure who called it racist but...duh? It's racist, sexist, it offends religion...basically it offends anyone it can.

Like I said, it takes the cheap way out to get laughs.

 

[Leeds Guy]

Family Guy's been awful since it returned. Series 1-3 were awesome