General Family Guy opinion among Simpsons fans

[AxelFoley]

I've always wondered what other Simpsons fans think about Family Guy. Do you hate it because it's ripping the idea off, or do you like it?

[Toli]

Don't go there.

http://www.wegotcards.com/cards/friends/sayings/dont.GIF

[Red Hot Homer Simpson]

In my opinion The Simpsons Has Gone Down Since Season 10, but thats around the time family guy came in and that sought of replaced them instead of ripping them off IMO. I still watch the simpsons of course but It aint as Good as what family guy is now.

[Wonderlicious]

From the few episodes that I've seen of Family Guy, it's okay. But it does seem to fall between two stools, trying to be like The Simpsons (using an unusual family as characters to form satire) and South Park (being crude, surreal and shocking to form satire) simultaneously, yet not reaching the satirical gold of those two series.

What also makes it fail is that the relationships within the Griffins seem a bit bland. The Simpsons and Futurama (and although I've not seen much of it, King of the Hill) succeeded as the relations between the main characters and their emotions felt realistic. In that regard, Family Guy ends up seeming a more adult version of The Flinstones. And in animation, too, it feels more like an old Hanna Barbera TV episode from the 60s than a smooth flowing episode of The Simpsons. And I know that this may sound stupid, but the characters all look like fish to me with those eyes.

Overall, I'd watch it if I were bored, but it saddens me when people say that it's better than Futurama and The Simpsons. :(

[TerrorK]

Family Guy is one of the stupidest pieces of crap on television. A horrible show, and, as Lisa said in Lisa's Substitute, proof that you'll never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator. Hmmm... a bit like OFF today, really.

Typical that Futurama stays cancelled, despite being one of the smartest shows in TV history, while Family Guy get ressurrected for being one of the dumbest.

[Simpsons Forever!]

Family Guy is watchable, but it's not half as good as any Simpsons episode and never will be.

[AxelFoley]

From the few episodes that I've seen of Family Guy, it's okay. But it does seem to fall between two stools, trying to be like The Simpsons (using an unusual family as characters to form satire) and South Park (being crude, surreal and shocking to form satire) simultaneously, yet not reaching the satirical gold of those two series.

What also makes it fail is that the relationships within the Griffins seem a bit bland. The Simpsons and Futurama (and although I've not seen much of it, King of the Hill) succeeded as the relations between the main characters and their emotions felt realistic. In that regard, Family Guy ends up seeming a more adult version of The Flinstones. And in animation, too, it feels more like an old Hanna Barbera TV episode from the 60s than a smooth flowing episode of The Simpsons. And I know that this may sound stupid, but the characters all look like fish to me with those eyes.

Overall, I'd watch it if I were bored, but it saddens me when people say that it's better than Futurama and The Simpsons. :(


Talk about a lot of BS on one post. The animation is supposed to be like that, just like the crappy animation on SP. Futurama was a boring show, a piece of crap to be exact. It may not be better than The Simposns (though not that far away) bet it sure as hell beats SP and Futurama, and King of The Hill too fro that matter.

[Toli]

I feel obligated to call you a moron for that Futurama comment.

[Matt B.]

Family Guy right now sucks. Family Guy seasons 1-3 was good.

[Ivan]

Futurama was a boring show, a piece of crap to be exact.

From that quote it looks as if you probably have never even watched Futurama.

Family Guy sucks.

[AxelFoley]

I feel obligated to call you a moron for that Futurama comment.

I've watched it a lot, since I heard the creators of The Simpsons made it, I got my hopes up and it turned out that it SUCKED. I waited for the fun to begin, but it never did. I should call you a moron for liking this piece of crap.

[Nebuchanezzar]

I've watched it a lot, since I heard the creators of The Simpsons made it, I got my hopes up and it turned out that it SUCKED. I waited for the fun to begin, but it never did. I should call you a moron for liking this piece of crap.

You sir, are a moron.

South Park - Hilarious satire of the most important social situations in the USA today. The characters play off each other superbly, it's brilliantly written so that both the storyline and the character dialogue acheive equal levels of hilarity and twist around each other to bring the most animated show together that it could possible be.

The Simpsons - It was the best satire going around, although it dealt with less serious situations then South Park. The characters are superbly developed which allows for a connection with the audience, and gives the opportunity for character driven jokes. The movie and pop culture parodies are linked in with the episode, story and characters to back these features up. There are also many phases of The Simpsons, which means that it's run longer then any other show would have, as it's only just begun to get stale.

Futurama - the ultra nerd show. Lots of sci-fi and intelligensia references that only science nerds would understand. Great and hihgly imaginative stories are linked together with zany characters. The characters are all hugely different (which the future setting allows), and this allows for great character interaction, which brings some of the most emotional moments to TV in living history.

Family Guy - Occasionally humourous for all the wrong reasons. Bizarre, and sparingly created cutaways that have little to do with the episode at hand. Movie and pop culture references that follow the same patterns. Characters that have no development, no dimension and very little connection with the audience leave me dumbfounded as to how it became so popular. The humour is extremely low brow, unintelligent, sporadic and effortlessly created. Complete and utter manure.

[Itchy]

Family Guy is one of the stupidest pieces of crap on television. A horrible show, and, as Lisa said in Lisa's Substitute, proof that you'll never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator. Hmmm... a bit like OFF today, really.

Typical that Futurama stays cancelled, despite being one of the smartest shows in TV history, while Family Guy get ressurrected for being one of the dumbest.

I couldn't have agreed more.
I never liked Family Guy, I like the satircal humor and pop-culture references in The Simpsons but for some reason they just don't work in FG.

[Dr. Frink]

i don't understand why people are so gay for family guy. ssure it has its funny moments, but none of the jokes are about the story, just random jokes that were made up. Family guy was watchable at one time, but since 3 networks run the same 60 or so episodes, u end up watching re-runs like a mofo or like me who bought the dvds, just bored watching the same shit over n over again..

i dunno how u can compare a show that got cancelled in 3 seasons to the long running simpsons show that has proven its greatness time and time again, sure its "going down" but i'm always still down.

Futurama rocks, i think that show is cleverly done with nice animation. i like

[Your_Hero]

i find family guy ammusing, but to say that it is in the same league as Early Simpsons or Futurama is just laughable. Family guy seems like a cheap network version of the simpsons that tries to cash in on what made OFF so popular, yet doing it with none of the wit, subtlty and class that the simpsons once had.

To find Family Guy funny, you probably had to be alive in the 80's

[grissom]

Family Guy is watchable, but it's not half as good as any Simpsons episode and never will be.
That basically sums it all up. Seriously, how many of these threads have we had?

[Wonderlicious]

Talk about a lot of BS on one post. The animation is supposed to be like that, just like the crappy animation on SP. Futurama was a boring show, a piece of crap to be exact. It may not be better than The Simposns (though not that far away) bet it sure as hell beats SP and Futurama, and King of The Hill too fro that matter.

Erm, I found this reply to my post as rude. It's not very enlightening when somebody goes calling one of their posts which I put a bit of effort into as "BS". You can say that you disagree with my points, as I know that everyone isn't going to think exactly how I think, but you could at least be polite with it; using personal opinions as direct attacks made to look like facts on people over fairly small issues (this is a topic about some animated series, not abortion) really annoys me.

[zippy]

Erm, I found this reply to my post as rude. It's not very enlightening when somebody goes calling one of their posts which I put a bit of effort into as "BS". You can say that you disagree with my points, as I know that everyone isn't going to think exactly how I think, but you could at least be polite with it; using personal opinions as direct attacks made to look like facts on people over fairly small issues (this is a topic about some animated series, not abortion) really annoys me.

He just upset. At that age I'm pretty sure tantrums are the norm.

[Semaj]

For me, I don't really care if a show is high-brow or low-brow. What matters is if it entertains.

That would be the case with Family Guy. The random jokes and pop-culture references are done in a way where you just forget that half of the regular episode doesn't make sense, but enjoy it, because of its self-aware simplicity.

I do agree that the show peaked around Season 2. Their biggest problem is with character development, or lack thereof. Only recently have they been making big changes, but when they're not doing anything useful, such as Chris going to high school, or Cleveland living as a bachelor, they'll regress into a lot of pointless filler material, like a conversation that lasts forever, or Meg getting harassed by whomever shes crosses paths with. And I do feel that they tend to overuse Stewie, to the point that some of what happens can reach the point of aggrivation.

In relation to other shows, Family Guy has a needlessly defensive fanbase. Some of the more dedicated fans feel that the show is SO original, that they start to attack even the contemporary programs that came before it. Most of the flashbacks and random celebrity and cartoon cameos have all been done on The Simpsons for years before FG showed up, but some fans will still use "borrowed jokes" as an excuse to bray repeatedly on how tried they are of The Simpsons.

Family Guy is an enjoyable show with its own set of flaws. I rank it below The Simpsons, and probably Futurama, but ahead of King of the Hill.

[Adamm R)))]

Family Guy's characters are all one-dimentional. I suppose it's easier for the Simpsons, being 'The Simpsons' - centering around the family and 'Family Guy' focusing on the 'guy'. Still the characters are bland and one-dimentional. The Simpsons may have stereotypes that appear one-dimentional but they gave them a lot of depth (Apu for example). Stewie is the only character I like, but even he isn't great for this. Family Guy has it's funny jokes, but they aren't funny for more than a couple of viewings. And you can't go back for the plots, because they're razor thin. And as for that Futurama comment, I think it's clearly better than Family Guy (not much below The Simpsons). I must admit, I get a tear in my eye everytime I watch Luck of the Fryrish. Family Guy has no plots that would even engage me slightly as much.

[zippy]

Family Guy's characters are all one-dimentional. I suppose it's easier for the Simpsons, being 'The Simpsons' - centering around the family and 'Family Guy' focusing on the 'guy'. Still the characters are bland and one-dimentional. The Simpsons may have stereotypes that appear one-dimentional but they gave them a lot of depth (Apu for example). Stewie is the only character I like, but even he isn't great for this. Family Guy has it's funny jokes, but they aren't funny for more than a couple of viewings. And you can't go back for the plots, because they're razor thin. And as for that Futurama comment, I think it's clearly better than Family Guy (not much below The Simpsons). I must admit, I get a tear in my eye everytime I watch Luck of the Fryrish. Family Guy has no plots that would even engage me slightly as much.

quite comprehensive, BUT you forgot to mention how terrible the title music is. To have a great show you also need a half decent theme tune.

[Kiyosuki]

I'm really neutral with it. Its like how Trey and Matt insinuated it in SP...even if you hate it...it shouldn't be taken off the air or anything because it gives more options for us, more variety.

My personal opinion on it is...I'm not its biggest fan but I can see its draw. I think its awsome that the show was brought back by sheer fan demand (and DVD sales of course.).

Its comical style is very in your face, and to the point now it distinctifies itself away from the Simpsons, South Park and other animated comedies. One of my two gripes though, is that a lot of people use the excuse "it packs in three times (or however much you wish to put in) as many jokes into it as your average Simpsons episode" as a way of saying why its the biggest thing now. So the more jokes you stuff into an episode the better it is? Thats kind of absurd to me....now I know its a minor thing to gripe about...really being a gripe with FG's fanbase (which I could say more about) than the show itself, and usually I wouldn't, but it relates to this next one.

I think FG is starting to wane really quickly, not because it has to but because of the writing team itself. FG up until this past season (the new seasons in other words) I feel used the pop-culture references in moderation, and usually in the remote context of the episode's overall premise or story. This allowed Peter, Stewie and the rest to shine on their own merit a bit more and in the end...get a more balanced routine.

I noticed though, ever since syndication the pop-culture has become all over the place...specifically with this season. They don't feel like they're there to get a gag across or help the episode, but to take center stage as if they were showcasing as many pop-culture references as they could to get a reaction out of people. I think in the end...that makes the episode not much better than a clip-show with inbetween scenes. No matter how random anything is, if it has characters you need to give at least a little bit of a damn about them or what they're doing or else it just falls apart. I don't think the show has to start a decline yet...it still has a lot of fuel in it. But no matter how popular a trait the use of pop-culture is for the show, in the end its a tool for the writers to use...not a joke in itself. I do agree with everyone here that the FG characters are incredibly 1-dimensional. Even SP's characters have more of a human third dimension to them than FG's do...but even so each one has a distinct personality that has to be used or else the viewer gets bored. If you want nothing but pop-culture you could just watch Robot Chicken.

Many FG fans I know agree a bit that the show's main thing right now is the pop-culture humor feels very forced. I have a feeling its a way to distinctify itself against American Dad...but thats another topic.

I do like it a little bit, or at least its better parts. The recent episode where Peter had this fat-fetish with Lois was pretty witty, and it used its pop-culture a bit to help the overall episode but mostly relied on the family's antics. I think thats a far better usage. I will always prefer a level of depth and human intimacy in my humor though, so the Simpsons and Futurama tend to be my thing. Each character in the Simpsons in particular is so multi-faceted, they all feel extremely human even after the turbulent years of season 11-15. It allows you to percieve a character in more interesting ways other than their primary "thing". Like Chief Wiggum for instance, is an incompetent cop but he has stuff going on inside that..knowing the real character...go far beyond just that one trait. Even if its all just hinted and implied, I like human comedy like that better than random-humor any day.

But FG is still a perfectly viable form of comedy I think is worthy of being judged on its own merits.

[Adamm R)))]

quite comprehensive, BUT you forgot to mention how terrible the title music is. To have a great show you also need a half decent theme tune.
I like the theme tune. Theme tunes should have all the characters singing. It's better than the Simpsons' theme. But another thing that bugs me is the lack of music cues in the episode.

[Kiyosuki]

Mmmm I don't know...the Simpsons theme has an easilly memorized tune compared to FG's title theme. Even when the show was new, I remembered the song instantly...its very effective.

[Channel Surfer]

I admire the fact that some people have tried to make something intelligent out of this topic. But there's just a little too much childishness here for this thread to have a good future, much like nearly every other "Simpsons" and "Family Guy" discussion. So I'm going to close it.

And AxelFoley, don't get so easily worked up regarding other people's opinions in the future, OK.