History ShallowParody / FamilyGuy

* The episode "Emmy-Winning Episode" has the family desperately attempt to win ''Family Guy'' an Emmy, and decide to copy several Emmy-winning shows in an attempt to do so. This is followed by several parodies of said shows, but their resemblance is surface level at best. One sequence is a mixture of ''Series/{{Homeland}}'', ''Series/BreakingBad'', and ''Series/MadMen'', with further references to shows like ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' and ''Series/TheSopranos'', but is utterly incomprehensible beyond some of the characters somewhat resembling characters from the other shows and having the most base-level joke references, like ''Orange is the New Black'' having lesbians, ''The Sopranos'' ending in a SmashToBlack, Walt's son in ''Breaking Bad'' having a physical disability, ''Series/GameOfThrones'' having a dragon and White Walker, and ''Series/BetterCallSaul''[[note]]Which never actually won an Emmy.[[/note]] having [[ShapedLikeItself a guy called Saul who you call]].

* A scene from "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS12E7IntoHarmonysWay In Harmony's Way]]" has the Griffins watch an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Muppet Babies|1984}}'' where Kermit and Miss Piggy are looking over their son Kermie, Jr., a grotesque pig/frog hybrid begging to be put out of his misery. This disregards that ''Muppet Babies'' was about [[SpinoffBabies the Muppets as children]] rather than [[SpinOffspring the Muppets' own children]].

* A number of {{Anime}} jokes and references are absolutely steeped in ignorance about the medium and Japanese culture as a whole. When the joke isn't AllAnimeIsNaughtyTentacles, it's a pretty dated reference to poorly animated (and translated) action shows from the 80s and 90s. Such as the "Anime Peter" cutaway where is drawn is a pseudo-{{Animesque}} style and is announcing his plans to go to the Clam with "noble Quagmire and Wheel-monster Joe" before flying off. On another occasion, in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E1RoadToTheMultiverse Road to the Multiverse]] the entire premise of the Japanese universe is just the family saying funny words in Japanese and that's pretty much the joke.

** First up the episode features a joke about the Cantina band, Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, simply playing only one song over and over again.To be fair it's a joke that isn't unique to ''Family Guy''. Not only can you very clearly hear a change in music from the uproarious Benny Goodman-like "Mad About Me" to a mellower BGM, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cantina_Band_2 the friggin' soundtrack has both Cantina songs!]]

** When Peter enters in ''Blue Harvest'' as Han Solo, he declares that he's the only one who still had a career after the film. To name ''three'', Creator/AlecGuinness had ''already'' had a massively successful career before ''A New Hope''[[note]]Although ''A New Hope'' arguably did ruin his reputation in the sense that [[IAmNotSpock people started identifying him entirely as Obi-Wan and rarely if ever acknowledging his career before that role]], and he ''hated'' that.[[/note]], Creator/MarkHamill went on to a successful voice acting career (most notably defining the voice of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Joker]] for an entire generation), and Creator/CarrieFisher, while her acting career was hit-and-miss, was Hollywood's go-to script doctor for several decades. Never mind that Peter is supposed to be Han Solo, ''not'' Harrison Ford.

* One episode features a ''Series/GameOfThrones'' parody in which Brian muses about how opening a bed and breakfast "couldn't be worse than joining the Night's Watch." the gag itself involves Brian minding his own business before being wacked against the wall by [=WunWun=] the giant before being stabbed to death by several Night's Watch members for no reason. The giant had nothing to do with [[spoiler: Jon Snow's assasination]].

* The Creator/QuentinTarantino portion of "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS16E5ThreeDirectors Three Directors]]" paints Tarantino movies as more ''pointlessly'' violent than they actually are, with a hero that murders random civilians for trivial reasons. Tarantino's movies are incredibly violent, but characters that murder innocent people willy-nilly are usually the ''villains''. For example, the ''{{Film/Kill Bill}}'' parody has Peter wake up from a coma and blind his doctor for no reason (“unnecessary but cool!”), whereas in the film, The Bride wakes up and kills two people for a good reason – an orderly was selling access to her comatose body, and a “customer” was about to rape her - and never kills anyone for no reason, even giving some of her enemies the opportunity to walk away and be spared from her RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

** When Peter enters in ''Blue Harvest'' as Han Solo, he declares that he's the only one who still had a career after the film. To name ''three'', Creator/AlecGuinness had ''already'' had a massively successful career before ''A New Hope''[[note]]Although ''A New Hope'' arguably did ruin his reputation in the sense that [[IAmNotSpock people started identifying him entirely as Obi-Wan and rarely if ever acknowledging his career before then]], and he ''hated'' that.[[/note]], Creator/MarkHamill went on to a successful voice acting career (most notably defining the voice of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Joker]] for an entire generation), and Creator/CarrieFisher, while her acting career was hit-and-miss, was Hollywood's go-to script doctor for several decades. Never mind that Peter is supposed to be Han Solo, ''not'' Harrison Ford.

** When Peter enters in ''Blue Harvest'' as Han Solo, he declares that he's the only one who still had a career after the film. To name ''three'', Creator/AlecGuinness had ''already'' had a massively successful career before ''A New Hope''[[note]]Although it arguably did ruin him in the sense that [[IAmNotSpock people started identifying him entirely as Obi-Wan and rarely if ever acknowledging his career before then]], and he ''hated'' that.[[/note]], Creator/MarkHamill went on to a successful voice acting career (most notably defining the voice of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Joker]] for an entire generation), and Creator/CarrieFisher, while her acting career was hit-and-miss, was Hollywood's go-to script doctor for several decades. Never mind that Peter is supposed to be Han Solo, ''not'' Harrison Ford.

** When Peter enters in ''Blue Harvest'' as Han Solo, he declares that he's the only one who still had a career after the film. To name ''three'', Creator/AlecGuinness had ''already'' had a massively successful career before ''A New Hope''[[note]]Although it arguably did ruin him in the sense that [[IAmNotSpockand people started identifying him entirely as Obi-Wan and rarely if ever acknowledging his career before then]], and he ''hated'' that.[[/note]], Creator/MarkHamill went on to a successful voice acting career (most notably defining the voice of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Joker]] for an entire generation), and Creator/CarrieFisher, while her acting career was hit-and-miss, was Hollywood's go-to script doctor for several decades. Never mind that Peter is supposed to be Han Solo, ''not'' Harrison Ford.

** Also, in spite of the joke about how they'll have to continue the movie with Music/DannyElfman after Music/JohnWilliams kicks it, Elfman doesn't conduct his scores.
** When Peter enters in ''Blue Harvest'' as Han Solo, he declares that he's the only one who still had a career after the film. To name ''three'', Creator/AlecGuinness had ''already'' had a massively successful career before ''A New Hope'', Creator/MarkHamill went on to a successful voice acting career (most notably defining the voice of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Joker]] for an entire generation), and Creator/CarrieFisher, while her acting career was hit-and-miss, was Hollywood's go-to script doctor for several decades. Never mind that Peter is supposed to be Han Solo, ''not'' Harrison Ford.

* The episode "[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuyPresentsLaughItUpFuzzball Blue Harvest]]" parodying ''Franchise/StarWars Episode IV: Film/ANewHope'' features a joke about the Cantina band, Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, simply playing only one song over and over again.To be fair it's a joke that isn't unique to ''Family Guy''. Not only can you very clearly hear a change in music from the uproarious Benny Goodman-like "Mad About Me" to a mellower BGM, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cantina_Band_2 the friggin' soundtrack has both Cantina songs!]]
* Also, in spite of the joke about how they'll have to continue the movie with Music/DannyElfman after Music/JohnWilliams kicks it, Elfman doesn't conduct his scores.
* When Peter enters in ''Blue Harvest'' as Han Solo, he declares that he's the only one who still had a career after the film. To name ''three'', Creator/AlecGuinness had ''already'' had a massively successful career before ''A New Hope'', Creator/MarkHamill went on to a successful voice acting career (most notably defining the voice of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the Joker]] for an entire generation), and Creator/CarrieFisher, while her acting career was hit-and-miss, was Hollywood's go-to script doctor for several decades. Never mind that Peter is supposed to be Han Solo, ''not'' Harrison Ford.

* The show parodied Creator/{{Disney}}'s run of {{Sequelitis}} in the 2000s in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E4And5StewieKillsLoisAndLoisKillsStewie Lois Kills Stewie]]" and "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E17ForeignAffairs Foreign Affairs]]" with a fourth ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' film about Jafar going to an eye doctor and a fifth about him taking a census. Jafar [[spoiler: was KilledOffForReal]] in ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar''.

* Done intentionally in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS17E16YouCantHandleTheBooth You Can't Handle the Booth! / New Phone, Who Dis?]]" with the sequence where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MLzts9iBzo Peter sings "Halfway Down the Stairs"]] from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', with the gag being that [[AntiHumor the entire song was played completely straight]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZQCcIyMMdw According to]] [[InCharacterCommentaries the characters' commentary]], the song was only included [[WagTheDirector out of protest from Peter himself]]. Lois of course critizes this scene, telling him that a reference on its own does not count as a joke.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" punchline, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. However, the clearest demonstration that the writers don't known anything about Aquaman past PopCulturalOsmosis is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a [[ClarkKenting stereotypical]] SecretIdentity as "Arthur Curry", where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact that his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" punchline, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. However, the clearest example that the writers don't known anything about Aquaman past PopCulturalOsmosis is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a [[ClarkKenting stereotypical]] SecretIdentity as "Arthur Curry", where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact that his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" stereotype, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. However, the clearest example that the writers don't known anything about Aquaman past PopCulturalOsmosis is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent-esque]] SecretIdentity as "Arthur Curry", where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact that his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" stereotype, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. However, the clearest example that the writers don't known anything about Aquaman past PopCulturalOsmosis is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a SecretIdentity as [[ClarkKenting "Arthur Curry"]], where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact that his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" gag, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. However, the clearest example that the writers don't known anything about Aquaman past PopCulturalOsmosis is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a stereotypical SecretIdentity as [[ClarkKenting "Arthur Curry"]], where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact that his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" gag, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. The most extreme example of this is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a stereotypical SecretIdentity as [[ClarkKenting "Arthur Curry"]], where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact that his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" gag, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. The most extreme example of this is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a stereotypical SecretIdentity as "Arthur Curry", where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact that his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" gag, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. The most extreme example of this is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a stereotypical SecretIdentity as "Arthur Curry", where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact thet his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* A few cutaway gags use the old "ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is useless" gag, for example depicting him not saving a woman from being raped and simply standing a few feet away in the ocean and chucking a starfish at the attacker. The most extreme example of this is a cutaway gag where Aquaman is shown having a stereotypical SecretIdentity as "Arthur Curry", where he ducks under water for a second and emerges wearing a suit, with everyone telling him he just missed seeing Aquaman. Apart from a brief period in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComics the Colden Age]], where he was a [[EarlyInstallmentWierdness very different character]] than he is today, Aquaman has ''never'' had a secret identity, and the fact thet his real name is Arthur Curry is common knowledge around the DCU.

* The episode "[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuyPresentsLaughItUpFuzzball Blue Harvest]]" parodying ''Franchise/StarWars Episode IV: Film/ANewHope'' features a joke about the Cantina band, Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, simply playing only one song over and over again. It's a joke that isn't even unique to ''Family Guy'' and is just plain nonsense [[OutsideJoke if you ever watched the movie in question.]] Not only can you very clearly hear a change in music from the uproarious Benny Goodman-like "Mad About Me" to a mellower BGM, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cantina_Band_2 the friggin' soundtrack has both Cantina songs!]]

* Another example is showing an episode of ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' that depicts Archie Bunker joining the Klan and burning a cross. This is in spite of the fact that a focal point of the series was that Archie's prejudice is not malicious in the least but rather he was a product of his time and upbringing, that his "bigotry" was more born of general misanthropy rather than hate of specific races and groups, and that he actually ''opposes'' violence and mistreatment of others. Despite his vitreolic mouth he was [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold a noble good man at heart]]: his treatment of Lionel Jefferson was ignorant and insensitive, but well-intentioned and the two shared a genuine mutual friendship in spite of it, and one of the most famous episodes had Archie denounce the Klan and ''prevent'' a cross burning, after being ''[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified]]'' to discover that he had accidentally joined such an organization.
* One episode features a ''Series/GameOfThrones'' parody in which Brian muses about how opening a bed and breakfast "couldn't be worse than joining the Night's Watch." Ignoring the flimsy pretext for the reference, the gag itself involves Brian minding his own business before being wacked against the wall by [=WunWun=] the giant before being stabbed to death by several Night's Watch members for no reason. The giant had nothing to do with [[spoiler: Jon Snow's assasination]], and the lack of any context for the stabbing, even within a short cutaway gag, makes this a completely jokeless sketch, leaving the viewer unclear what the purpose of the "parody" even was.

* A scene from "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS12E7IntoHarmonysWay In Harmony's Way]]" has the Griffins watch an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Muppet Babies|1984}}'' where Kermit and Miss Piggy are looking over their son Kermie, Jr., a grotesque pig/frog hybrid begging to be put out of his misery. This disregards that ''Muppet Babies'' was about [[SpinoffBabies the Muppets as children]] rather than [[SpinOffspring the Muppets' own children]]. (It's also a RedundantParody, since official Muppets media have also joked about how weird their kids would theoretically look.)

* One cutaway had the show spoofing Creator/WillSmith for his apparent goody two-shoes rap style. Fair enough, but considering how the animators (or whomever) believe that [[CriticalResearchFailure all Black people are the exact same skin tone]], the lighter-skinned Smith instead resembles Cleveland's complexion and overall looks ''nothing'' like him, making the already generic joke even more inaccurate. Additionally, his more sanitized lyrics were lampshaded later in his career, yet the portrayal of him is more indicative from [[AnachronismStew the early 90s]] as evidenced by the box haircut and the bright clothing.