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I have no idea why but I spent another $30 on yet another Family Guy Season, the latest is season 9 which is actually ,mostly season 8. I realize of course I could very well have saved my money and not bought the DVD but as a fan of the older seasons from 1 to 3 I still for some obscene reason keep hopeful that the show will improve.

Family Guy was never high quality writing or particulary clever but in its early days it was still a reasonably funny show using random, interchangeable humour to make us laugh. Despite the laziness of the writing the show was good for a couple of laughs and the stories were slightly more coherent then the later series.
I wont go into how the disfunctional family thing has been done before by the Simpsons since the Simpsons didnt exactly invent it themselves.
The characters were likeable, Peter was dumb but loveable, Lois was the sensible member who kept the Family together, Meg was actually an acknowledged character who actually contributed to the story line, Chris hasnt really changed a great deal, Stewies original character was quirky but charming and Brian was a liekable character rather then the political puppet he has become.

Now after season 4 or 5, the rebirth of Family Guy the show showed considerably less quality, it was almost as though the team at Family Guy had become so arrogant and cocky about their popularity that they simply didnt feel a need to try.
The show began to rely more heavily on interchangeable jokes which became increasingly hit and miss, they also began to rely on recyalable jokes, jokes from previous episodes brought back again and again and again.
I understand the concept of a nod to the fans but this is a joke sometimes, the 4 minute long Conway Twitty stunts seem more like they're there to tick you off rather then to be funny and I cant be the only one who got sick of Cleveland falling out of the roof from he's bathtub after the twentieth time.
The show has tried to create jokes which actually relate to the plot but they often rely on shock humour or they integrate a recycled joke and try to make it fit with the plot.

The characters themeselves have undergone major setbacks in development much like the Simpsons, they have become more or less caricature's of their former characters or simply devolved into one joke set pieces.

Meg has become nothing more then a prop for senseless and at times needlessly violent towards herself, she's hardly worth having on the show anymore as she rarely has dialogue anymore rather then a couple of words.

Brian has become Seth Macfarlanes political puppet to express Seth's views in a biased, one sided way that it actually comes off as more annoying then inciteful. Seth's political and religous views are he's rite to keep but when he integrates them into the show he sacrifices humour for mud slinging by using stereotypes to make he's mpoint come across.
I dont disagree with many of he's views politically and religously I just feel that he's use of hypotheticals and biased view points actually hurts he's point rather then serves it. Two of the worst episodes the show has done is he's Atheist episode and the legalizing Marijuana episode both of which ahd potential to be both inciteful and thought provoking but instead come off as whiney and forced down your throat.

Lois has become a strange character which resembles an enigma, she is both a loving and terrible mother, she is both stable and out of control and her voice continues to irritate.

Stewie's transformation from evil little baby to gay joke was initally minor and funny but now it has become a one track joke.

Peter is possibly now the most annoying character in the show, he has become what Homer in the Simspons has become, hurtfully thoughtless without the likability. In short he has become a thoughtless jerk who hardly makes you want to feel sorry for the guy or hope that things work out.
Not to mention the constant adding to he's character, he is officially Black, Mexican, Mentally slowed, married to someone with Jewish heritage and the descendant of the apparent founder of Quahog. The last was a shame because the first story was alot funnier. I also felt that the mental retardation aspect of he's character was a little insulting to people who suffer from said condition.
He's humour now entirely focus's on either overdone toilet humour or sporadic violence or of course one of the random uncalled for verbal rants most of the characters have done once or twice.

Well thats all I can think of now, please tell em what you think of Family Guy.

I enjoy the show, but sometimes they push it a little to far.

Brillant and really funny .

Simpsons did it.

You know a show is in trouble when they spin off a minor character for a separate series.

Family Guy used to be funny, but man, do the jokes seem tired now.

I hated Family Guy before it was cool.

Amidoinitrite?

I love Family Guy.

I personally think the show has got better in the later seasons. I have about 100 episodes recorded on Sky+.

Arctik_Firangi wrote:I hated Family Guy before it was cool.

^^This

Hate is strong word...more like impartial. What I didn't like was the "Holy ROFLcopter funniest show eveh!!"....I think that put me off abit....so I never really got into it. But, from what I have seen is Peter has gotten less and less likeable as the OP said....and the baby has gotten abit more obvious in on the gay side...as OP stated....actually I pretty much agree with everything he's said. That's my view I guess, lol.

Robot chicken did it first...

I quite like Family Guy, I don't get to watch it very often due to lack of access to the TV at 11pm, but when I can watch it, I find it quite amusing.

Besides, Everybody has heard that the bird is the word.

I like the show. It makes me laugh. But I do agree that sometimes they go a little too far with pushing things. And yea Brians character is so annoying to me (SUPER duper Liberal? no thanks) but that doesnt make the show suck to me.

Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's not; just depends on the episode. I'll watch it if there's nothing else on purely because there's a chance I will laugh, and comedy is hard to come across after around 9-10pm here, with the occasional Dave and Comedy Central re-runs.

In short.

I love it.

For the most part I find it to be fairly funny,but the recycled jokes do become boring after a bit.

...it reminds me of the time when i heard random referances and spontaneous scene-skipping for no particular reason and at first thought it was a witty and refreshing take on pop culture only to become tired and overdone take on pop culture.... meeeheeheheeehhheeehhh heeh.... hey lois.... you remember the tiime when....


the stewie thing still gets me laughing though. him and brian's exchanges still keep me curious, but the rest of it gets pretty tiresome and obvious. i like it the way i like 'space ghost coast to coast' and 'sealab 2021' type absurdist stuff, but it can, unlike those shows, go on too long to be fresh any more. stewie needs to branch off and do his own show. call it 'freasure' or something.

I give it one big "meh" out of five stars. The non sequitur parts always seem forced, the pop culture references bore me, it just seems like a lazy attempt at satire. Simpsons, in general, have much better writing.

American Dad is better. Though that may not be saying much.



Viva La Venture Brothers!

I stopped watching tv many a moon ago, because of shows like family guy.

I dislike the majority of the later series of South Park and the Simpsons because they have become far too satirical and more about mocking current events than the things which actually made me laugh (like crucifying cartman to give kenny's dad an (res)erection or Homer sabotaging the works of Thomas Edison with a motorised hammer). Family Guy has pretty much always been this way however. Never liked it.

whatwhat wrote:I dislike the majority of the later series of South Park and the Simpsons because they have become far too satirical and more about mocking current events than the things which actually made me laugh (like crucifying cartman to give kenny's dad an (res)erection or Homer sabotaging the works of Thomas Edison with a motorised hammer). Family Guy has pretty much always been this way however. Never liked it.

I must agree to an extent on South Park, as a major fan of the series it saddens me that the show has become less focussed on the boys and their weird life in South Park to a more world crisis or heavy government involved plot, there are very few episodes now where the government doesnt get majorly involved in something.
Its also a bit of a shame how the plots are now entirely focussed on satire, rather then an actual original story. However some particulary good writing and clever jokes can really make an episode, while others are a bit bland or satire a topic noone really cares about.

Im still a big fan though and Ive found that the evolution of the shows humour throughout different periods gives me an option of what kind of show I want to watch, if I feel like watching some classic South Park I will watch seasons 1 through to 4, if I feel like watching when the satire hits a new level and the show begins to grow in scope I will watch seasons 5 to 8 but if I feel like watching South Park with lots of satire, explosions and some wacked out plots which still provide plenty of great episodes Ill watch season 9 and onward.

South Park is the only one out of the big three cartoons which i feel has survived through its years, the Simpsons granted has many more episodes but the characters are no longer entertaining as with Family Guy, South Park on the otherhand has kept its characters solid while adding to them in slow and steady processes. I think making Randy heavy episodes has proven to be a sucess if not just for the abdurdity of the plots and of course Mr/Miss Garrison episodes are always hilarious.

The only really bad move I can think of that SOuth Park has made is episodes which focus on Towelie, Million Little Fibres and Summer Sucks are two of the worst episodes the show has done, Towelies intial introduction into the show though funny was kind've pointless and could have been scrapped completely with little affect tot he show at all.

Never really liked the show.
Rated it as 10% funny, 30% insulting and 60% just not funny.
Every show usually has some time killing sequence like they couldn't figure what to put in 2-3 more minutes. Like Peter getting hurt and spending a minute or so going "oooo..sss. ooo....sss.....ooooo".

As I read once: Someday Seth whatshisname's deal with Satan will expire and we'll never have to see his crap again.

Also saw the Cleveland Show and it was just lame.

I like Adult swim its the only good thing on cartoon network D:

ColdFire wrote:The only really bad move I can think of that SOuth Park has made is episodes which focus on Towelie, Million Little Fibres and Summer Sucks are two of the worst episodes the show has done, Towelies intial introduction into the show though funny was kind've pointless and could have been scrapped completely with little affect tot he show at all.

I would add tweak to that list. What was funny about him exactly?

I hope this doesn't sound pretentious, but I don't watch much TV at all anymore.

Other than Adult Swim, Hell's Kitchen and sports I usually have other things to do.

My problem with Family Guy ( and the Simpsons and South Park.) is there is no story to it. "Let's see what the <insert name here> Family did this week" gets old quick. And the characters never seemed to progress. Sure Peter is Mentally slowed, Black, and Mexican. Other than the episode when you learn he is Black/Mexican/Mentally slowed, has it effected him anywhere else in the series? Has it made him act any differently? No. They just needed to fill about 11 minutes with something other than jokes not quite slowed enough to put on Robot Chicken.

I like Family Guy. It shows at 10 o'clock here so if I want a couple of mindless laughs before going to bed, it's a good option. Honestly, putting any more thought into it than that would be missing the point.

I mean, seriously, people are complaining about a lack of character development in Family Guy?

It's OK. I usually have a bit of a chuckle at it, although I occasionally think they cross the line on the whole 'ironic' racist/anti-semitic/anti-Irish/anti-British jibes. There's affectionately poking fun, and then there's just flat out insulting whole groups of people in a really unwarranted way - like implying that all Irishmen are drunken wife-beaters etc.

Which is not the end of the world, obviously. But it's worth remembering that a lot of American teens watch the show, and they're not exactly known for being well-versed in world culture - if they're getting their images of outside cultural groups from shows like South Park and Family Guy (and let's face it, many of them are) then that's a worry.

I can take it or leave it. If it's on, and I happening to be watching TV, and it's a choice between it and like the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, I'll watch it. But there are so many better cartoons for adults out there. The Venture Bros., Metalocalypse, Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, South Park, etc.

Like Monster Rain, I don't watch a lot of TV. I might watch 3 hours a week on the computer of streams, but that's it. Whatever TV is sellin', I ain't buyin'.

Family Guy... well... I will watch it every so often (my housemate at university had seasons 1-3 on DVD which is where I was introduced to it - thought they were on the whole reasonable seasons). What I see on the TV of later seasons is just a load of meaningless cringeworthy rubbish with the occasional funny bit stuck in almost by accident.

I'd rather watch American Dad, but again it suffers from many of the same failings as Family Guy and gets worn out even earlier than Family Guy.

Monster Rain wrote:I hope this doesn't sound pretentious... Hell's Kitchen

I don't think you can sound pretentious when you admit that one of your few shows is basically a bunch of idiots arguing with each other and Gordon Ramsey yelling at them. It started off sort of like Top Chef with insults and swearing instead of the 'sniff and sneer,' but now the intro pictures seem more like a line of mug shots and and turned the angry up to 11.

It's really weird if you watch some of his UK shows, he's like a completely different person.

BearersOfSalvation wrote:

Monster Rain wrote:I hope this doesn't sound pretentious... Hell's Kitchen

I don't think you can sound pretentious when you admit that one of your few shows is basically a bunch of idiots arguing with each other and Gordon Ramsey yelling at them. It started off sort of like Top Chef with insults and swearing instead of the 'sniff and sneer,' but now the intro pictures seem more like a line of mug shots and and turned the angry up to 11.

It's really weird if you watch some of his UK shows, he's like a completely different person.

I was referring more the the "I don't watch TV" thing that I usually hate hearing from other people.

Gordon Ramsay kicks ass, btw. He's my hero.