Let's begin from the top: "Family Guy" used to be hilarious. Hell, it's the first show to have ever been un-cancelled. Seasons 1-3 were excellent, and the first returning season was okay. However, it seems as though Seth MacFarlane started to get a bit full of himself, and in doing so, the writing started to turn to shit. It's a damn shame.
The first thing that clearly played a role in this downturn was MacFarlane caring too much about what his fans liked. Sounds fucked up, doesn't it? To most people, this would be a GOOD thing. But when you're putting together a show, it has adverse effects. For one, he started giving one-time characters more air-time than they deserved (ex. greased-up deaf guy). Yes, they are funny at first, but only at first. There is nothing worse than a joke that's beaten into the ground. Not only does it make its recurrence dreaded, but it makes the original joke unfunny.
Next up, Seth MacFarlane became political. I could not care less what anyone does outside of a syndicated show, but when you build your original fan-base because you're NOT force-feeding your agenda down their throat, it certainly isn't cool to do an about-face and change course. Shows, like "South Park", have been able to do this successfully. Why? Because they don't discriminate in who they bash and actually make political references FUNNY. Figure that. If we wanted to hear about national news, we'd tune into CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. The last thing we need is a cartoonist keeping us up-to-date. Again, you can go around the country and stump for whichever candidate you please, but when you mix your personal life with business, you're going to piss people off. Not necessarily because they hold opposing views, but because they don't want to hear about it in a cartoon.
Oh, and how about Seth MacFarlane loving the sound of his own voice? Yes, we all know you can sing. Yes, we know your song "You've Got a Lot To See" was nominated for an Emmy. And now you're letting us all know that you jerk off to the sound of your own voice. Instead of singing, try focusing your energy on writing better material.
As this blog continues, I will be giving an analysis of each episode and examples on why said episode sucks. Seeing as I have a life, I may not get around to updating as soon as an episode airs. That's why I pay for Tivo. There may even be discrepancies in the dates in which episodes have aired, but if you have a problem with that then feel free to eat my arse. Arse.
Questions or comments? Email me: daniel at
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21 comments for this post
I have looked all across the internet to find someone who realized just what a self-serving dick Seth Macjackass is. By the grace of heaven, I found this blog. I look forward to all future posts, and I especially can not wait for multi verse blog.
I liked MacFarlane better when he was just a silly nerd. He is now so full of himself that I can't stand to watch/read any interviews with him. Most of the episodes from the last 3 seasons are shit because he stopped trying to be clever when Fox started kissing his ass.
Agreed.
What's truly awesome is how Seth MacFarlane let Microsoft buy an entire episode so Family Guy could advertise Windows 7 throughout the show. Wow, what a whore.
Haha, have you seen this page?
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DarthWiki/DethroningMomentOfSuck
This is a page about the terrible writing that has plagues many form of media. There is an entire SECTION devoted to Family Guy. Don't worry, you are totally not alone. Lots of people agree this show blows.
I applaud you sir for having the balls to stand up to the slobbering, witless devotees of FG in its present form and for voicing what many of us who were previously fans of the show are feeling. Before there was a discernible plot line and characterization, and now the episodes flow more like "obvious political statement, random joke/obscure reference, and ridiculous unfunny crap". Seth has become a self serving jackass and needs to get a clue.
Thank you sir! I too once enjoyed the first 3 seasons. I knew the show had gone too far when I started accurately predicting jokes in episodes I had never seen before.
Not only does Family Guy suck ass and is horribly unfunny, it shamelessly plagiarizes too!
http://familyguysteals.blogspot.com/
>.> Watch MacFarlane make an army of these brain dead zombies that believe whatever MacFarlane thinks is the divine law. You just can't get through to these kinds of people.
Ok so..i totally understand where you're coming from. the show really has degraded. a lot. i still enjoy it-i just grit my teeth through the shit.
but hate mongering such as this is so unbelievably unnecessary.
'oh man, i dont like someones work. lets make a hate site!' do you see the leap in logic there?
but you know, do what you'd like- just letting you know that at least one person out there thinks your an ass. and that you have really awful communication skills..reading over that site was kind of painful.
and by constantly insulting Seth personally makes it really hard for me to take you seriously.
this is pretty unrelated but i want to voice this: why oh why do 16 year olds watch that show? theres no way most kids understand half those jokes. theres waaay to many references to 70's-80's sitcoms. im pretty certain i was the only person i knew growing up that watched nick at night and tvland in loo of mtv and vh1. i was shocked to hear that people actually had to be told that the opening theme was a reference to All in the Family..
so..if you're one of those "tl;dr" morons: you know..when family guy comes on, you're allowed to turn it.
You summed up the problems with Family Guy perfectly. I LOVED the show when it first aired and watch the repeats religiously on Adult Swim. When word got out that it was coming back because of superb DVD sales, you better believe I was parked in front of my TV excited to see it come back.
Unfortunately, I was HUGELY disappointed. With each episode the show got gradually worse until I just stopped watching. It's so sad that the show will never be able to reclaim the great comedic genius it once had.
The nicest thing I can say about Family Guy is that I would prefer to watch it rather than smelling my mother's c*nt. Not by much though. I used to be a fan, watched every episode whenever it came on TV. Now? I can't change the channel fast enough. I don't wanna subject my remaining brain cells to Seth MacFarlane's ass-cum.
Seriously, this show fucking sucks balls. The actual good episodes (seasons 1-3) are now unfunny to me because of the later episodes. Peter is such a moron. And whatever this douchebag a few below this post said about understanding the references, oh my god please go fuck yourself. I understand all of the references and that still doesnt make them funny. Referencing something doesn't make you clever or original. In fact, its quite the opposite of original. Anyone could write this show. Seriously, anyone could write a flashback where something crazy and random happens in it. And to do it 30 times an episode?? Fuck I fucking hate this show!! I cannot believe there are people that think this show is better or funnier than South Park! FUCK!!!
I agree, the first three seasons were pretty good, and I liked it then. After its resurrection, it completely devolved and I'm officially in the "I hate Family Guy" camp. (As an aside: now that Futurama - a show I'm a big fan of - has also been resurrected, I'm crossing my fingers in the hope it won't follow the same downward spiral as Family Guy.)
Count me in as one of those who really enjoyed the first three seasons but now pretty much despises the show. I have found SOME things humorous about the show occasionally, the few times I stumble upon a newer episode, which is very rare. However, most of the time I spend watching the show involves either eye rolling or actual cringing at how bad it is. Which usually leads to changing the channel altogether, often in the first five minutes. I totally agree with your assessment.
Because of the fact that you haven't made a post since August 14th, I guess you finally grew some balls and got a life?
hey i totallly agree. Family sucks sucks and it's humor is dry. the jokes are interchangeable and are completely unrelated to the plot.
As annoying as he is, I kind of feel sorry for whoever created this website. I mean, don't you have better things to do than bitch about a genius show, just because it's not your humor?
Come on man. You're better than that.
Genius show? You think family guy is a genius show? Just because some people like slapstick or "that's what she said" jokes doesn't make them genius. Humor preference is irrelevant.
Family Guy is just another one of the many popular network shows (two and a half men, big bang theory, that seventies show, etc...) where rather than writing something funny the creators just write SOMETHING and it's on a popular show the "joke" becomes what people with low intelligence consider to be funny. I'd be lying if I said I didn't own the first three seasons on dvd but I remember vividly the day family guy was put back on television, we all gathered to watch it's triumphant return only to find that there was nothing there, just a desperate cry for attention using shock factor and jokes that they'd already done before. I say we have a right to decide what we think is funny and what is worth watching, and sadly my once favourite show is simply not worth yours or my own time. Family Guy should have stayed cancelled.
PS-Thank you for this blog, it's about time.