No. I haven't recognized any "touting" The Simpsons as more offensive than Family Guy.

I haven't sifted through all 5 pages, but personally I love this show... One of the best shows to come out of the last few years. IMO

What Mike said. Since buying the DVD sets about three months ago, I've already watched them twice, and will probably be watching them again soon.

And BTW, baracine, it's not "The Family Guy". It's "Family Guy".

If you're gonna knock a show, at least get the name right.

Rob

I think its time I weigh in on this topic...

Family Guy is a very clever show centered around a fat idiot and his dysfunctional family. It takes potshots at societal norms, pop culture, among other topics. Much of the content can be construed as vulgar, offensive, etc. That much I can agree with, but that doesn't mean that its not funny. I enjoy popping in a Family Guy DVD, watching it for 20 minutes, laughing a few times, and then going about my day. Is my life any better because of it? I doubt it. Would I recommend it to anyone? Sure. But I can understand why some would not like the show.

-r

Its a funny show, not my favorite animated comedy but its damn good regardless.

I bought all of the Simpsons, South Park, Futurama, Family Guy and The Critic DVD set and i think they are all great. I have a really wide sense of humor. Im not offended by anything but i can also appreciate good natured silliness such as SpongeBob Squarepants. They are all just different flavors and it depends what im in the mood for at any given time

It reminds me a lot more of Benny Hill then The Family Guy.

FWIW, I'm a big Futurama and Simpsons fan. I only saw a couple of Family Guys when it was on TV and was indifferent, but I fell in love with it on DVD. I don't think that the show really came into its own until after the first season; it didn't feel like a "Simpsons Clone" to me in the second and third seasons. The Family Guy's absurd, extreme humor reminds me of what The Simpsons used to feel like, though.

I cannot stand King of the Hill. I don't think I've ever cracked a smile more than once an episode and the characters bore the piss out of me. An absolutely lifeless show, IMO.

Best show ever.

One of the top cartoon comedies of all time. Probably #3 behind the Simpsons and Futurama. I don't think I've ever laughed out loud as many times in an episode of television that I have with Family Guy, though.

That would make you kind of a loser if you're apalled. Just don't watch.

I love Family Guy. I love Simpsons. I think it's silly to compare them. They both offer different types of humor(sometimes they offer the same type of humor). It's like saying "Star Wars is a ripoff of Lord of the Rings.""But Star Wars is better!!" "Nah uh, Star Wars clearly is blatantly ripping off LOTR." "Nah uh, you just don't get it." "I get it! Stop saying that stupid!" "No. I can say whatever I want." ***** all of you, I like them both.

Family Guy is great! Sure some of the characters have a tendency to be stupid/annoying, but it makes up for it with tons of gut-busting moments.

Family Guy is great! I do believe the show is a cross between Married w/ Children and The Simpsons.

I used to love The Simpsons, but the newer ones just don't do it for me anymore.

Never really got into Futurama... I think I was expecting it to be more like The Simpsons.

Love King of the Hill!

For me, "Family Guy" just is just too over-the-top in its quick, random humor and screams "WATCH ME! I'M BEING FUNNY!" instead of trying to consistantly be funny.

Some of the running gags are the worst .... I groan every time Peter clutches his knee.

Have to say I don't enjoy Family Guy either. Although I like the Simpsons and Futurama.

I never wattched the show on TV but the DVD release made me curious. Loved the first set and bought the second set the day it came out.

I'm also a bit toy collector so from the day I first watched the show I was praying for toys. It seems they are finally becoming a reality.



I was hoping the first series would be the whole family but it seems we'll be getting two Stewies and no Meg....yet. I hope this line sells real well so I can get everyone in the town.

Woah... those toys look cool

I sometimes find "Family Guy" amusing, but I don't think it's a good show at all. Here are some of my problems with it:

1. The writing. References to '80s TV shows and commercialsl, whether you "get" them or not, are not in themselves funny. Many of the FG "parodies" have no actual parodic take on the material; they just expect us to laugh because we recognize the source. I think a lot of FG's novelty comes from the fact that, since MacFarlane was so young, he was referencing stuff that most other TV writers were too old to have grown up with... but a reference does not equal humor. Besides which, the show has a few basic joke structures that are repeated ad nauseam (how many times can I watch a "cutaway" to some historical figure doing something disgusting)?

2. The characters. Whether or not they're ripoffs, they're one-dimensional and bland sitcom stereotypes. There is one exception: Brian the Dog. He actually has some depth of character and some emotions, and that's why I like most of the Brian episodes. (Stewie is a total ripoff of a far superior character from PINKY AND THE BRAIN, so he doesn't count.) It doesn't help that Seth MacFarlane isn't (IMO) much of a vocal actor; he can do a lot of voices, but he doesn't give them the sort of interesting vocal inflections that a really good actor like Dan Castellanetta can create. (I don't mind creators doing the voices -- Mike Judge and Trey Parker and Matt Stone have grown into fine voice actors -- but I don't think MacFarlane was up to the task.)

3. The animation. The characters' faces are expressionless and they almost never "act" with their bodies. On "The Simpsons" there used to be great physical acting within the limitations of a TV budget -- check out the animation of Krusty in some of the season 3 episodes. There's none of that on FG, and an animated show with bad animation is like a live-action show with bad physical acting.

I think a great animated sitcom episode is one like The Simpsons' "Radio Bart" or King of the Hill's "Plastic White Female" (written by the guy who helped develop Family Guy) -- a funny story where you not only laugh a lot, but become caught up in the story and the characters. Because of FG's Hellzapoppin', gag-oriented style, I almost always lose interest after the first act, because the stories and characters are not strong enough to sustain my interest.

For a pop culture-oriented show with more story and character interest than FG, I'll take "The Critic." For an "offensive" show, I'll take "Duckman" (which actually tried to make some satirical points, rather than just doing silly juvenile sex jokes, which is what most of FG's "offensive" jokes amount to). I do like some things about FG: Brian is a good character, Quagmire is a funny character, and I like MacFarlane's obsession with musicals. But the posthumous success and revival of the show just suggests, once again, that poor shows can succeed all out of proportion to their quality. FG is the "Touched By an Angel" of animated sitcoms.

Brilliant analysis, tobiagorrio!

I like to say "Family Guy" is self-deprecating Jewish humour, but without the guilt, the Jewishness or the humour, which can be a very ugly thing.

And I want to remind posters that this thread is a support group for viewers who have been disappointed, stunted, thwarted, bent, frustrated, crushed, cheated, maimed, grossed-out or warped by "Family Guy", not an appreciation group or a friggin' figurine exchange central.

which voice in Family guy is seth green?

Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman.

Funniest cartoon I have ever watched!

I have ALL the seasons (only 3) but I could watch every episode over again and laugh all the time.

Fantastic show.

family guy rocks. much better than simpsons (now there's an overrated show that is past its prime), probably tied with futurama

A typical example of the kind of pointless cultural reference that is so prevalent in FG (chosen at random) is this exchange between the hero and his daughter who comes home after one more rejection from her peers.

Peter: High school can be such a crushing jungle. I remember all too well. [I paraphrase from memory.]

Flashback scene: Cut to a group of male modern jazz dancers doing a scene of the Jets dancing in “West Side Story”. Peter cannot follow because he is fat and out-of-breath.

Principal dancer (in offensive, effeminate, all-dancers-are-gay stereotype voice): Peter, I don’t think this is working out. Maybe you should just stay out of our way and do some stretching or something.

(Cut back to the present)

Now, no matter how you slice this, it is still pointless and unfunny: It is highly unlikely that, as a teen, Peter was part of the cast of “West Side Story” or that the gang-related warfare of his high-school days was perpetrated by gay modern jazz ballet dancers in leg warmers. So either way, it is just a childish and gratuitous “look-at-me-I-remember-West-Side-Story” interruption with troubling homophobic overtones and an equally troubling gay subtext: Is the only reason Peter is straight today, after all, because he was too fat to be a successful [gay] dancer as a teenager? Other possibility: This little skit is meant to justify Peter's present and persistent homophobia. Other troubling fact: Peter, like every character on this show, does not have "normal", human memories of real-life events. All his memories are tied to show-biz, "cultural reference"-type fantasy events. Even in high-school, he was apparently filtering his perceptions through show-biz references. He's that shallow! And so is the show...

On a simpler "human" level, this flashback also serves the purpose to distract from yet another occasion where Peter could be truly mature and supportive of his daughter, which he never really is because everything is always "about him".

This scene lasts a total of 18 seconds. I call this rapid-fire assault on good taste "subliminal brain damage". Now, multiply this truly evil, insensitive soul-crushing Kodak moment by 60 for every 22-minute episode and you might understand why some people don't like "Family Guy" much.

Yup, I love being told what is funny and what is not.