The New York Times has a new article on Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy and American Dad, here.

I will freely admit that I think Family Guy has been one of the worst shows of its era, but I do think Family Guy was improving in its last season (the characters started to have some semblance of a personality), which I suppose bodes well for the new episodes and for American Dad, which sounds like an attempt to make Family Guy for grown-ups.

(Edited by poster to remove some of the more controversial stuff, 'cause even though it's my thread, I shouldn't be threadcrapping)

Wow. I actually saw a couple of episodes of the Family Guy (on DVD) over the weekend and loved it. Absolutely hilarious stuff that pushes the envelope similar to South Park (although not quite as graphically).

I enjoyed the episodes I saw and was actually spurred into wanting to see more of the show.

I read the article earlier this morning and it's good to see fan power (well, lots of $$$$ really) preventing the demise of a tv show that a lot of people didn't want to see go away.

Not quite sure what to make of American Dad, but I guess I'll have to reserve judgement until it comes out.

can you post the article so we dont have to sign up?

I think this link works without registration...

?? A Family Guy for grownups? If Family Guy was aimed at kids, it sure did have a whole lotta penis jokes. Guess that's what the kids like.

did you just say kids like penis........

......

jokes?

I think family guy was funny and aimed at adults. Hence the evening time slot. Can't a guy like simpsons, futurama, south park and faimly guy?

Well, yeah. That is what the kids like.

Family Guy may have raunchy jokes, but it's basically a kids show -- simple plots, little dimension or depth to the characters, and the kind of simple jokes that are aimed at kids (fart jokes; jokes about commercials that kids watched when they were little). It's like "Eurotrip" is a kids' movie, not for little kids but high school and college kids -- and, indeed, it's high school and college kids who have been Family Guy's biggest audience.

Similarly, I think South Park was basically a kids' show at the beginning, though in recent years it's started to do more grown-up stories (with subtler jokes, more interesting plots, grown-up issues, etc). Family Guy was always basically a TV-14 rated version of the cartoons Seth MacFarlane worked on at Hanna-Barbera, like the original "Johnny Bravo," which had a similar sensibility.

Before this turns into another Family Guy argument thread, I'll just state my opinion that it's most certainly not a "kids show" and leave. And neither is (or ever was) South Park.

das

BTW, exactly what does Seth look like?

I wouldn't say the references were anything that "kids" would have gotten on a consistent basis. Unless you are referring to 30 and older kids. Many of the references come from Seth's youth, as you can hear on the commentaries, so I would say it was aimed at his age group with many of the references.

I believe his head is shaped somewhat like a football.

Just because it is a cartoon doesn't mean that it gets labeled a children's show. It is an adult comedy. Period.

I'm not labelling it a kids' show because it's a cartoon. (I think The A-Team was basically a kids' show, and that's not animated.) I think it's a kids' show because of the style, because of the deliberately juvenile humor, because such a large amount of its audience is kids (high school and college). To call something a kids' show is not to say it's bad, or that adults can't like it. Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain and Rocky and Bullwinkle and many others appeal to adults, but are essentially kids' shows. Now, MacFarlane is not as good as the people who created the above shows -- particularly Pinky and the Brain, since Stewie is an inferior copy of The Brain -- and he includes more scatological jokes, but that's the sort of thing kids find funny too.

It's like John Kricfalusi, when he included gross-out jokes in Ren and Stimpy, justified it by saying that "it's a kids show, and that's what kids like." In other words, the fact that something includes gross or scatological or sexual humor doesn't mean it's not aimed at kids; it's probably a sign that it is for kids.

Well, that's a teen show then, not a kids show.

Anyway, I think Family Guy is really targeted at children of the 70's and 80's. Many of the references are from that era (Star Wars, Star Trek, Kool Aid Man, etc.) are from that era and few of today's children would understand that aspect of the show.

Why doesn't that article mention that When You Wish... was aired on Cartoon Network?


"Let's build two Denny's so we can say 'Let's not go to that one, let's go to the good one' "

One of my favorite lines ever.

I dont see how anyone could label Family Guy as a kids show. I think the humor would go over a lot of kids heads. Just like it does with so many adults.

Like this:
(All that talent, and he's gorgeous too) :sigh:

BTW, Family Guy is most definitely NOT a kids' show.

Rob

Concur! As a 42 year old, I laughed my ass off while my 2 sons (11 & 8) occasionally smiled but most of the jokes went right over their heads!

Rip

Seth's introducing his favorite episodes all week on Adult Swim. When You Wish Upon a Weinstein just started and will be repeated in 3 hours.

How old are you 60? Because only 60 year olds call teenagers and people in college "kids".