My thoughts on Family Guy

[SSJ Jake]

(I couldn't find any thread about the show, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on how I feel about it now.)

Some of you might remember I was on DarthGonzo's bandwagon defending the show and what not, even joining in on his "Family Guy Rules, South Park Sucks" parade. I'll be honest and say while I enjoyed Family Guy up until recently (about to get to that, read on), I never really liked it more than South Park (except for maybe the crummy SP episodes, but sometimes even those have their moments). I mainly joined Gonzo's side because I felt there were too many Anti-Family Guy douchebags like cohenmarioman and TheVileOne who seemed to more or less just fart out of their mouths rather than give a real good explanation as to why they hate it. Though considering Gonzo would prove himself no better (not to mention hypocritical) when he did the same with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I regret siding with him.

But anyway that said, I've enjoyed Family Guy for the most part since the revival. It's not and never was "high brow" entertainment, but I've enjoyed many of it's gags. Granted a lot of the darker ones weren't very funny or weren't funny at all (Peter's Barber Quintet singing to a sick guy in a hospital bed about him having AIDS, shockingly funny, Peter burning down a children's hospital, not funny) and lately the show has been pushing the grimdark jokes to the point in which they don't even seem like jokes anymore, they're needlessly dark and not funny in the least. Some examples I'll leave in spoilers in case anyone wants to actually watch any episode from the new season:

Spoiler

-The whale killing joke in Peter Problems. Peter accidentally kills a beached sperm whale by trying to return it into the ocean using a forklift, stabbing the large mammal. This could have been funny if Peter quickly ran off after realizing he had killed the whale, but instead the creators decided to drag on the joke with Peter not even realizing the whale was already dead and having it grow more disgusting as the joke progresses. Grossness can be funny, but in this case it wasn't at all.
-Meg shown hanging after Peter tells her "Good night" in Grimm Job. Generally I'm okay with the Meg Jokes and I think they can be pretty funny, but the suicide jokes are never funny. Seriously? This character is supposed to be "stronger than the rest of the family" by putting up with the abuse and humiliation from the others but this proves otherwise.
-Peter getting shot in the head by Quagmire in Brian's a Bad Father. I'd like to say right now that I fucking hate Glenn Quagmire. He's the bitchiest character on the show and the fact that they try to make him sympathetic is just wrong. He's a fucking rapist and is damn proud of what he does. He spikes women's drinks so he can have his way with them. He keeps Asian prostitutes locked up in his car. We're supposed to feel for this character? Even Herbert is slightly more forgivable with him being elderly and feeble. But anyway at the beginning of the episode, Peter shoots Quagmire in the arm on a hunting trip. This ruins their friendship leaving Joe stuck between two friends. Peter offers Quagmire to shoot him retribution for him shooting Quagmire to which Quagmire agrees. Peter then states his intention was for Quagmire to not want to shoot him after all, but Quagmire really wants to make Peter bleed. Joe shoots Peter in the arm thinking it will solve everything, but then Quagmire shoots Peter in the head, exposing his inner skull and brain matter (though Peter ends up surviving the ordeal). Yet another example of something that's just needlessly grimdark and not funny, it all sounds like something written in a Lost Episode Creepypasta.
-Brian telling Stewie to kill himself and throwing him a gun in Mom's the Word. This was after Stewie became suicidal because Brian, after showing Stewie (who was concerned about death after his grandmother Thelma Griffin passed away) different after lifes from different faiths, stated he being an atheist means believes nothing happens after death. Brian convinces Stewie that suicide isn't the right way out and that he should live life in the moment. Stewie decides to become a song writer, and before Stewie is about to play a song for Brian, Brian tells him "You know what, just kill yourself" after throwing him a gun. If you all remember, even for those who don't watch the show, there was a big controversy earlier this season in which Brian was killed off in the episode Life of Brian, which turned out to be nothing more than a glorified ratings grab as he would return two episodes later. Everyone who still watches the show was demanding Brian be brought back. If I could ask these people a question, it would be "this is the guy you wanted back? Someone who tells a baby who also happens to be his best friend to kill himself? Good job!". It should also be noted that this episode was supposed to be a farewell to Phyllis Diller, who voiced Thelma Griffin up until her death, so all this darkness is in really, really bad taste, even for Family Guy.
-Peter tries to marry Chris to inherit Carter Pewterschmidt's will in Fresh Heir. Chris inherits all of Carter's will after spending time Carter, who was suffering from an injury. Peter then divorces Lois and becomes engaged with Chris. I don't know what was the worst part, a man trying to marry his teenage son, the sloppy writing (it takes months for a divorce to be finalized, duuuuuuuuuuh), or the fact that it was just boring. It wasn't entertaining in the least. Not single funny thing about this episode.

[close]

I didn't even bother watching the new episode as I found Secondhand Spoke to be mind numbingly boring (though surprisingly not as offensive as the others, unless you're a smoker maybe...which I am occasionally but eh) and, well, I think I'm done with Family Guy. I might watch the episode in which Cleveland returns full time and the crossover with The Simpsons but otherwise it has gotten worse as seasons progressed and this is probably where the show has reached rock bottom, at least for me. I know for a lot of you it stopped being funny ten years ago, and while I disagree I respect your opinion. I'll go as far as say even the recently canceled Cleveland Show wasn't this bad, and we all know how bad Cleveland really was. Fox made the wrong decision canceling American Dad!, MacFarlane's only good show left, one which he barely has any involvement in anymore, and seeing how low FG has sunk that's probably for the best.

tl;dr Family Guy sucks, fuck you Seth MacFarlane.

[Avaitor]

I don't think I've watched the show since I graduated high school, and I don't really miss it.

Not to say anything against those who do enjoy the show, though.

[Daxdiv]

Remember the episode "Scream of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q" You know, the episode where they played the issue of domestic abuse straight and it wasn't played for laughs? That was a fucked up episode.

[Avaitor]

Horton Hears Domestic Abuse?

That was messed up. And wasn't that the same episode with "Laura Bush killed a guy", too?

[Daxdiv]

Horton Hears Domestic Abuse?

That was messed up. And wasn't that the same episode with "Laura Bush killed a guy", too?

Nah, it was the episode that started with Quagmire erotic asphyxiation himself to clown porn, then his sister comes to town with her abusive boyfriend, then everything went south from there. It even had some truths in there like the police stepping in before it's too late and how people like Brenda make excuses for their abusers, which like I said, are problems with domestic abuse. I remember there being some news outlets raging about that.

Laura Bush killed a guy was some costume party and Brian hooking up with some atheist like him, then blowing the chance to bang her.

[gunswordfist]

I don't think I've watched the show since I graduated high school, and I don't really miss it.

Not to say anything against those who do enjoy the show, though.

I can't remember when I last saw but I think it was around the time when Brian and Stewie went to Iraq (it had nothing to do with that episode, in fact I barely watched it, I just remember that being possible the newest episode at that point) I can't remember what was the final full episode I've seen or the exact reason I stopped watching besides the fact that I lost all interest.

Also, I thought this topic was old which is why I kept ignoring it in the topic updates.

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

I actually haven't watched the Fox Sunday block in months because I work Sunday nights. But I do remember that domestic abuse episode, as well as the Brian dying one. It seems odd that FG suddenly wanted to take itself seriously while still pushing out necrophilia, pedophilia and suicide jokes.

It's definitely far past its prime at this point. Even McFarlane seems to want it dead.

[King Hippo]

Wow, good to see you Jake.

Yeah, I only stream and sometimes download Bob's Burgers episodes anymore. i haven't even glanced in Family Guy's direction in years.

[Avaitor]

I'm really growing to love Bob's Burgers myself. Such a fun little show.

I understand that even AD hasn't been as solid as it used to be. That was always the better MacFarlane show to me, but I never felt the need to keep up with it. I stopped watching the whole block regularly after KOTH ended, although I stopped watching The Simpsons a little beforehand.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, American Dad has been a bit hit or miss lately. While there's been some damn funny episodes this season, the majority are more average and some are actually pretty meh. It hasn't become as bad as Simpsons became, yet, but I do think it's starting to lose steam like later Futurama did, and I wouldn't mind it ending after the 11th season, myself.

AD and Bob's Burgers are the only shows on the lineup I watch. I don't watch Simpsons anymore, not because I hate the new episodes or anything, but because it's just too tiresome now to wait through all the average or bad ones to get to the occasional gem (though, season 24 had quite a few good ones, honestly).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I didn't think later Futurama was that bad. It was just hit or miss. Some episodes from the later seasons were great, IMO, but there were some shitty ones to put up with as well. I'd still argue that there were more good than bad episodes, though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I don't hate all of the later Futurama or anything, in fact, I love quite a few episodes from those seasons, but the worst in them were really bad, imo. But I guess I shouldn't compare it to Simpsons level bad, now that I think about it. I'll edit it out of my earlier post.

[gunswordfist]

I've seen very little of Futurama's last season but I saw no reason for people to say they wouldn't mind the show having it be it's final season...but then again, I believe I've only seen the end of the episode with Farnsworth's parents which was on par with a lot of the touching scenes in early seasons and the final episode so who am I to say this?

[Avaitor]

What the fuck is this.

[gunswordfist]

...I am glad I didn't click any of those videos.