Which Bandwagon Are You On?

I’m not going to follow the masses of “smart” nerds on the internet and whine about how the show is horrible and isn’t watchable anymore.  Yes, I do have a lot of negative things to say about Family Guy, but let me state up front that I think that overall, Family Guy is one of the funniest shows, animated or not, to come out during my lifetime, and I think that time will show it to be one of the most influential shows of this generation.

The truth is that when Family Guy found it’s niche and started to climb in the ratings, no other show has ever approached humor in the same way that Family Guy did.  In this way, the show was truly unique and unlike any other show that was on.  I mean, the show must have done something remarkable, because it was the first show to be completely rescued from cancellation due to DVD sales and online grassroots work.

Just Like A Yo-Yo…

With that said, Family Guy has seen it’s share of ups, and likewise it has seen it’s share of lows.  And when I say lows, I mean the show has gotten really horrible at some times.  So bad that sometimes I wonder if the people who produce the show are actually TRYING to kill the show with bad ratings.  More on that later.

A lot of people feel that Family Guy hasn’t been the same since it got canceled and brought back.  I agree with them, but as they feel that the show has gone downhill, I feel that the show has improved since then.  It seems that the stylish thing to do is to complain about how much better the show was before it got cacelled and about how the show has been horrible ever since it came back.  Well, I disagree.

Departure From Beginnings

Family Guy started off as a generic sitcom with very little to show in the way of originality.  Peter Griffin was the stupid yet well meaning father/husband.  Lois was the stifled wife who is a bitch to Peter even though it was her choice to marry him.  Meg and Chris both had their coming of age difficulties just like any other sitcom.  All of this has been done to death in sitcoms.  The only original character was Brian, as a talking, alcoholic dog.  As the show evolved into something that was more about nostalgia and obscure references, it became more of an original show.

Of course, a lot of people are fans of cookie cutter sitcoms, and preferred the old cliched Family Guy and don’t find anything funny or entertaining about the new Family Guy.  That’s fine.  People can like what they want.  And those episodes are all on DVD for the viewer who doesn’t want to see the newer episodes.  Humor, is subjective though.  Different people enjoy different things.  While I consider Family Guy to have many low points, I considered the entire first two seasons to be one of it’s low points.

And speaking of low points, in recent years, Family Guy has gotten really bad about reusing their jokes and their animation.  It’s become very obvious over the years that this is done to cut down on the time that it takes to animate and write each episode.  Of course, the creator, Seth McFarlane also works on two other shows, American Dad and The Cleveland Show which is probably why the repetitive jokes have increased in the last few years.

Not So Annoying Gags

The first example is the Evil Monkey gag, which has been with the show since the very beginning.  Chris Griffin is tortured by an evil monkey that lives in his closet.  Even though this gag has been used in sixteen episodes, it’s not that bad considering that each appearance only lasts a few seconds.

Next is the Peter vs Giant Chicken gag, which involves Peter engaged in massive, epic battles with a giant chicken.  The humor of this gag is that these battles would occur out of nowhere and would get more and more unbelievable.  The giant chicken has appeared in five episodes, and since each appearance would build upon the previous one, this gag has yet to become too annoying.

Annoying Gags

An example of an annoying gag, however, is the Cleveland bathtub gag in which Cleveland’s house gets destroyed and he is sitting in his bathtub on the second floor until the floor buckles and he falls out into the front yard.  This gag has been done six times, not counting once on the Cleveland Show.  And what’s worse, the first appearance of this gag was only three years ago!  This makes the gag seem even more annoying due to the frequency of it.

The absolute worst offender though is the “Conway Twitty” gags.  It started as a parody of “Hee-Haw” when a character would make a lame joke and would follow up with say “Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty” and would cut to a few seconds of a Conway Twitty performance.  The first time they did it, it was effective as a short distraction from the rest of the show, but by the third time they did this gag, they used an entire song, which was obviously nothing more than a way to kill time.

Left Wing Propaganda

Another thing that bothers me about Family Guy is how the show is basically being used as left wing propaganda.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against Democrats or their beliefs, I just don’t like being preached to while I’m trying to enjoy a cartoon.  A little bit of political satire is fine, but Family Guy takes it way too far in my opinion.

It’s not any one joke that goes too far, though.  A lot of people point to the episode where John McCain and Sarah Palin are portrayed as Nazis, but to me, any one joke doesn’t make a satirical cartoon biased.  However, between that, the constant digs at George and Laura Bush, the soapbox that Brian Griffin is constantly on about Fox News and Republicans, and the fact that the show’s creator, Seth McFarlane is noted as being a huge Democrat, it’s obvious that he’s just abusing his influence on young people and cares less about making an entertaining show.

Overall, I think the show has had a nice run but it needs to end.  It’s obvious that the writers have run out of steam and just don’t care as much as they used to.  It’s a shame too, because a lot of people want to like Family Guy, including me.  It didn’t die off from lack of interest, it died off due to the neglect and gross incopetence of the people who produce the show.  The show has caused a lot of laughter and joy, and if the show would end soon, it could still leave on something of a high note before everyone realizes how awful that it is becoming.