I find it strange when people say this show was good but sucks now. I love it. I've had tears of laughter many times from the current season alone. Yes, there are drawn-out jokes, and I'd like to see the chicken fight return sometimes, and a lot of episodes can be either hit or miss (as can be the jokes), but I still love it. In fact, I find the first couple seasons boring.
Mileage varies considerably.
^ Yes, mileages DO vary. I agree with the reviewer 100%. As far as I'm concerned, this show ended with "Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie".
I also agree with the reviewer to an extent. I think the overall style of the show is just going stale. It happens to every show.
I just dislike the show's recent descent from comedy into drama. I didn't agree with Quagmire's rant against Brian's character, yes, Brian isn't perfect but no one in that story has any real right to pass judgment on others, in my opinion, and Quagmire was arguably one of the lowest of the low. The episode with Stewie and Brian locked in a bank vault was disturbing and I had no idea why I was watching that scene, because I don't care about these characters as people, I just want to hear more humorous one-liners in the background while I'm reading or doing something else. If I wanted to watch a serious show with intense drama and "friendships being tested", I wouldn't flip on a show I've known for years as slapstick. They're going in a new direction with this show, and I hate it.
Also, after the bank vault scene, it's clear the writers of the show had no fucking idea what they were going to do from there... Hence the stupid clip show or whatever they used to fill out the half hour...
Eh. The new series is very much hit and miss, but when it misses, it misses rather badly.
Out of sight... out of mind... out of hope, and out of time...
In my opinion, the show peaked in seasons 3-4 (seasons 1-2 were good but nothing special). After that the series as a whole started going downhill. Season 5 was alright. Season 6 didn't have anything I found to be particularly good except for Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie. Season 7 basically sucked save for "Three Kings". Season 8 is an improvement over the last 2 seasons but still not up to the quality of the older episodes. Overall, the show is still capable of making me laugh, but it's clearly past it's prime. At this point, I find American Dad to be the better show.
The reason I stopped watching was the needless gore in several episodes. And the fact that Peter often acts like a Complete Monster for a few seconds, then brushes it off with a Just Joking Justification. I asked myself "Was that really necessary?" several times while watching an hour of Family Guy.
This show used to be really good. Then every goddamn joke was about Brian or Stewie having sex. No thanks.
"Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight, but Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right." - Hillaire Belloc, The Pacifist
No, that's the 70% of the Family Guy fanfiction
The reason FG sucks now is because of all the Left-Wing Dogma it shoves down our throats.
Hey writers, Wanna know Why people love South Park? Because they make fun of BOTH SIDES!!
While I think the show's quality saw an insane downturn after the uncancellation, I really think the show still has its moments. My sister and I still enjoy it.
Of course, American Dad is way, way better.
Yeah, I agree with takashi0. I am a liberal atheist, but even so I don't take myself so damn seriously that I can't handle a show making fun of people like me once in a while. FG's political Comedy needs to be more balanced. I for one, though an atheist, really adored the futuristic space otters episode of South Park that made fun of atheism and Richard Dawkins being a dick to religious people. American Dad is good in that it nearly equally makes fun of Haley, the liberal teenage daughter, and her neo-conservative father. They both seem ridiculous in their extremism and hipocracy.
"I'm of the opinion that Family Guy didn't always suck"
Yes, it did. I hope that clears up the confusion.
"If I wanted to watch a serious show with intense drama and "friendships being tested", I wouldn't flip on a show I've known for years as slapstick."
Concur...I am totally baffled by people who complain that a show like Family Guy lacks character development and plot continuity.
I (shoot me for this) think that every uncancellation has improved the show. The manatee gags and reliance upon them is what makes it funny for me. It beats Homsar and Senor Cardgage to the title of Non-Sequitur Champion. And for that I applaud it.
The fact that I haven't followed it from the start might mean something though.
It seems to be the cool thing these days to hate anything that's changed or is new.
You've clearly never watched American Dad if you consider it to be a knock-off. AD is character and plot driven. There are always solid A-plots and B-plots (and sometimes even C-plots). There aren't any cutaways (other than the pilot). Your complaint about AD sounds suspiciously like Complaining About Shows You Dont Watch.
For what it's worth, I'm still a Family Guy fan. And while FG is kinder to the left, they aren't completely exempt from ridicule (ie. jokes aboput the Clintons and Kennedys, depicting Nancy Pelosi as a crackhead).
frankly I think the show is still good, though they were going a little overboard with the right wing, religion bashing, the Fox News episode could had been a lot funnier if it wasn't for Brian's Author Avatar moments.
takashi0: "Hey writers, Wanna know Why people love South Park? Because they make fun of BOTH SIDES!!"
Not exactly the same.
South Park takes an obvious Libertarian stance when discussing different issues. It only seems to make fun of "both sides" if you're dumb enough to believe there are only two sides in the first place.
When did I become such a bleeding-heart? I'm the one who shouldn't be caring!
I dunno, I find most of the Season 4 pretty enjoyable and for the most part the characters retain their earlier personas (with the exception of Meg who did become The Chew Toy around that time) I agree it Jumped The Shark but I think it happened a fair while after the uncancellation.
Leave a Comment:
What Happened To This Show?!
I'm of the opinion that Family Guy didn't always suck. At least for the few seasons before it got canceled and then uncanceled.
But, in its defense, there were a few things that this show had that really hit the nail on the head:
The voice actors. Patrick Warburton and Adam West were fantastic semi-regulars. They had a solid line-up of guest voices too, who definitely added color to their roles. Contrast this with South Park, whose characters all have various pitches of whiny and who purposefully neglected the use of guest stars.
The fight scenes. Very nicely choreographed, especially whenever Peter fights the guy in the chicken costume. They used the environment creatively, much like a Chinese martial arts film.
The songs. They've had a lot less of these recently, but most cartoons are pretty good with original songs. Family Guy had a few solid song parodies that worked ("Road to Rhode Island", "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein"). Recently they haven't done as many original works and instead opted to make lazier cuts to other songs (Conway Twitty).
The lines. There are some earlier quotes that made me laugh. They were witty, brief, and didn't lead to random cutaway gags or jokes painfully drawn out. For example...
Now, I'm just waiting for this show to eventually abort itself. I don't even feel like yelling about the obvious knock-offs, American Dad or The Cleveland Show.