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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Family Guy

Jake, Colossus of Clout

05:15 / 26.08.05

Family Guy has, after years in hibernation, apparently become a popular show.

I abhor it, personally. Constant pop culture references with no actual meat behind them. The same joke for every character, in every episode. A pathetic amalgamation of The Simpsons and South Park (nuclear family plus "edgy" material involving whatever is on the CNN ticker this week, plus "daring" toilet humor).

What's your opinion of this pop culture resurgence?

I hope it's not good.

05:50 / 26.08.05

I like the dog and the baby. Makes me laugh.

rabideyemovement

07:11 / 26.08.05

Family guy is hilarious. It's the only show I turn my television on for, and I hate television.

07:37 / 26.08.05

Not always meat, maybe, but definitely some teeth. And there has been some great episodes; the song-and-dance bits with Brian and Stewie stand out among those. Your problem with comparing it to a poor stepchild of the Simpsons is that Family Guy has never claimed or tried to be that. A lot of the pop culture references are spot-on; the recent episode that had the Animal House spoof (the creepy old guy from down the street that lusts after Chris, standing on a ladder outside Chris' window), for one.

14:09 / 27.08.05

Thank God I'm not the only person on earth who hates this show. It's little more than yet another, albeit a wackier, version of the fat-guy-skinny-wife American sitcom, with a few unoriginal twists -- the 'adult' baby (hello, Roger Rabbit), the talking dog (yawwwwwwn). I totally agree that it's just a bunch of nonsequitur jokes hung on a flimsy coat hanger of a situation comedy.

Also, and yes I know this is unfair, but I went to RISD and I just HATE that this is a cartoon created by a RISD student making fun of the funny-talking working class yokels of Rhode Island. It's so fucking snobby, echhhh. At least get the accent right if you're going to pick on them.

15:11 / 27.08.05

i dont recall any particular hate directed towards the people of rhode island, dude.
i mean, he's form there and he's an idiot... is that it?
if not could you cite an example?

i do enjoy it, but have recently become bored of it.
if i hadnt seen it a million times over i would prolly still love it.
its pretty surreal in places and the references are usually spot on... and even though some of the jokes are alomost the same(see quagmire) the lines they deliver to get that same laugh are often dynamite("dont worry lois; i know where this is going, and i'm already semi-there" for one.)

funny is in the laugh of the beholder, i guess.
there is a thread that went through folks favourite bits a while back.
(found via google site search facility)

15:50 / 27.08.05

I too am not a fan, and the dislike is magnified by the fact that people are always referencing stuff that happened on the show, so much like in the case of Napoleon Dynamite, dislike turns into hate because the show keeps coming up.

Anyway, I don't like it because it claims to be so daring and un-PC, yet everything takes place without consequences, so you can throw out a questionable joke and not really deal with it, whereas in something like The Office, the humor comes from having to deal with off color jokes in a realistic social setting. I guess it's just too predictable, and the era of the hyper referential, totally ironic sitcom has passed, at least for me.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

19:43 / 27.08.05

I was at one point completely not interested in the show and recent exposure to the early episodes reminded me why. They are just flat out awful. However, where the third season was an improvement, and actually started to elicit real laughter from me, there is a moment where the fourth season reaches its peak, The Peter-Copter, and sort of floods out over itself, making tons of scenes in that episode and the episodes around it shine with brilliance (the guys slinking away from Joe's crying fit, the Epicack, Brian's "Novel", etc) but the last couple of episodes I saw, starting with the Regatta, show a bit of a downward slide in quality taking place. I've since picked up the third season on DVD and there plenty of brilliant moments, and the show improved in quality tremendously when they realized that Stewie as a conceit was in no way inherently funny and they moved instead to just give him and Brian funny things to say.

So, yeah, at one point I thought the show was complete shit. Somewhere around the "Jake And The Fat Man" bit, I realized I was wrong. A cursory glance at disappointed posts on FG-centric boards about the fourth season made me realize that, wow, are they ever missing the point. "No way, dude. It was funny when Peter talked about his dick, but that Peter-Copter thing went on way too long." Yeah, you're stupid. The show is much better now.

American Dad, now that is just pure garbage.

"Now hold on, Lois. This is not a race."

The Prince of All Lies

23:37 / 27.08.05

Going upstream in this thread: I love Family Guy. I admit that some jokes aren't perfect, but there's always a couple of scenes that are way over the top.
If you haven't done it yet, watch the recently released Family Guy movie. Though it drags at times, I was laughing my ass off more than half of the time.

00:17 / 28.08.05

Oh, the Family Guy movie it out? I had no idea...

Anyway, I think the show rocked hard, but the new season, aside from the brilliant premiere, has been pretty below average, though there are always going to be really great bits stren throughout...

"To the Hindenpeter!"
"WHERE DO YOU GET THE MONEY FOR THESE THINGS!?"

02:30 / 29.08.05

the Family Guy "movie" is really just three episodes strung very loosely together. Don't expect a lot, other than swearing. I only half-like the show. It's constantly hit or miss. Just because you can reference something old doesn't make it funny. But holy shit, can Seth Macfarlane sing. That's a great singing voice.