Tonight's Family Guy Should Have Stayed Unaired

[Praetor]

The Star Wars special.

Even that was almost ruined by the old pedo as Obi-Wan. Dude is so annoying.

Agreed. I think Carter Pewterschmidt would have been a better Obi-Wan. He's shown some fondness for Chris (and his other grandchildren), plus all the scenes between he and Han/Peter would have been gold.

But no, they wasted him on Uncle Owen.

You know, for some reason I could not think of a better candidate for Obi-Wan than Herbert - Carter just did not occur to me. But you're right, that switch would have vastly improved it.

Herbert seems to be their usual go-to for shock now for some reason. It's not funny, and I don't think most people find it shocking - just repulsive.

I can't believe that people actually think American Dad is the superior show. I only watched maybe half of the first season, and then an occasional episode since then, and that thing just never showed any signs of life.

That's why. I gave up on AD season one because it just didn't seem funny but came back for season two and three and started watching regularly and it really got great. What's nice about AD compared to FG is that AD, via benefit of its more linear writing style, actually tends to have a logical but still interesting plot, and their running jokes tend to be more subtle, IMO. They also have a better character continuity that makes you like the characters more.

Tonight's Family Guy Should Have Stayed Unaired

Some would say that about the entire series.

Some.

If I'd have known we'd have ended up where we are now, then call me 'some.' To me FG has not been the same since it was uncancelled this last time.

 

[Mr Light]

American Dad has definitely gotten better since it's first year or so. It's no Family Guy, but it's amusing. And for those of you who despise FG's lack of plot and character or their constant cut-away jokes, AmDad is the exact opposite.

 

[Praetor]

I could stand FG more if they maintained more character consistency like they used to. It served to anchor the non sequitors, IMO. Now it's just a mess. But Mr. Light is right - if AD has left a bad taste in your mouth before, I'd strongly urge you to revisit it.

 

[Sephiroth]

AD is still realy hit or miss with me because of Rodger, last nights episode was great, Hailey playing along with Rodger's dress-up game was funny, Last weeks episode with Rodger taking over the HOA board and destroying the neighborhood because Stan doesn't care for Rodger's particular type of booze was crap

 

[Sephiroth]

I could stand FG more if they maintained more character consistency like they used to. It served to anchor the non sequitors, IMO. Now it's just a mess. But Mr. Light is right - if AD has left a bad taste in your mouth before, I'd strongly urge you to revisit it.

I have noticed a smidge of charater consistency lately, they have embraced Peter's retardation, and you have Lois working with him a bit on it now

 

[Praetor]

AD is still realy hit or miss with me because of Rodger, last nights episode was great, Hailey playing along with Rodger's dress-up game was funny, Last weeks episode with Rodger taking over the HOA board and destroying the neighborhood because Stan doesn't care for Rodger's particular type of booze was crap

So you like Rodger, or have issues with how he is written sometimes?

I could stand FG more if they maintained more character consistency like they used to. It served to anchor the non sequitors, IMO. Now it's just a mess. But Mr. Light is right - if AD has left a bad taste in your mouth before, I'd strongly urge you to revisit it.

I have noticed a smidge of charater consistency lately, they have embraced Peter's retardation, and you have Lois working with him a bit on it now

That's true. They may have realized their mistake. I'd chalk it up to getting caught up in doing the shock thing. Maybe they read message boards.

 

[Sephiroth]

^Rodger's good in small doses, but he's too over the top for an "A" plot

 

[Mr Nighttime]

It was excrutiatingly bad. When the Conway Shitty clip is the best part of the episode, it is time to hang it up.

 

[Praetor]

^Rodger's good in small doses, but he's too over the top for an "A" plot

The episode with his split-identity was a bit much for me.

 

[Sephiroth]

^yes it was, like i said, he's better as a "B" plot charater, like last nights episode for example

 

[Praetor]

Agreed.

 

[tharpdevenport]

"American Dad" isn't superior, it's just been more interesting and funny as of late. It's changed from what it was in it's first season, that's for sure. Seems like they've made some changes to how they go about certain characters, and have found pairings that work (Dad/Steve, Hailey/Roger, so forth) and have been running with those. But even now, with better wirting and actually honest to goodness good laughs, it's still just a time waster; watching it because you really want to watch something, and you keep hoping this will morph into what you want it to be so you can enjoy it fully.


Used to be a day where I could turn on "Family Guy" and really enjoy it; the first Death episode is a classic! Now it's so full of "That's worse than that time I had _____ with _____" and cutting to some shitty, often painfully unfunny skit with a famous actor or TV character.
People sit there and say it's funnier than ever and more edgy and politically biting. No, it's not! Pushing the envelope on AIDS, serial killers, and pedophiles does not make you "edgy" and making jokes about George Bush and the war does not make you politically biting. You want to see "edgy" and "politically biting", check out random episodes of "South Park", who in their 13th season are still fucking funny as hell; in fact the characters in SP and the plots and ideas are grown and become even better in some instances then years ago. Shit, SP had it right when they had the episode about "Family Guy". You can go to YouTube and Google deleted FG scenes and find a cut musical number by Stewie from "Stewie Kills Lois", about what he would do as president, and there is one scene where he says he'd kill people who still laugh at "the Simpsons" and won't admit it's not funny anymore, well ... I think the FG writers and Seth need to take a hard look at that joke as it applies to them.

I remember being so excited when FG came back, but part of me was crushed I think during the premiere episode (Was it?) where Peter makes horrible "jokes" about raping Lois while they are in bed. Deeply unfunny. I had to mute the TV. FG went on to do funny stuff on occassion, but then they went down hill (even taking Stewie with them! Damn them all!). I have more fun watching re-runs of "King of the Hill":

Bill: "Why does everything I love hurt me?"
Hank: "'cause you keep hugging everything you dang idiot."


If FG doesn't shape up, I am going to drop it, and with it probably AD too.


(And "Buffy the Vamprie Slayer" was on equel playing ground with "Angel", "Angel" just decided to drive home pain and sadness more frequently)

 

[Daneel]

You know, I've never been a huge fan of Family Guy (but I will admit that the Star Wars episode was pretty hilarious), but at least there used to be moments of it that I could find funny... not so much anymore. I agree with many of the complaints about last night's episode: first of all, O.J. Simpson? That seemed so outdated, especially with his recent conviction. And no, that Conway Twitty "joke" wasn't funny the first time, and it's especially not funny now.

What has become very apparent is that the main plot of each episode could easily be done in about ten minutes. About half the show is just pointless, unrelated cutaway jokes, most of which aren't even that amusing. It's even worse when they go on for minutes at a time -- last night's Conway Twitty gag is one example, but there was also an episode from a couple of weeks ago that needlessly inserted Christian Bale's audio rant from the Terminator set, and had Stewie performing his own full-length music video of a Bryan Adams song. After a few seconds, I was bored with each of them, and the rest of the episode wasn't much better. Sure, the writers have all but admitted that the show is just random joke after random joke, with each one crude simply for the sake of being crude, but admitting that your show stinks doesn't make it stink any less.

Why do I still watch? I don't know, I've got nothing better to do on a Sunday night, and I suppose it kills time until American Dad starts. Now there's a show that, while perhaps not brilliant, is genuinely funny and entertaining most of the time, and thankfully its humour stems from the actual story and characters of an episode. Honestly, it's probably the best animated series that Fox has right now, and yet it's terribly under-appreciated. Almost all my friends, and people in my age group, seem to love Family Guy, and think it's the best thing ever, yet no one ever seems to mention American Dad (or South Park, which I also love). It's kind of infuriating; I mean, they have no problem pointing out that The Simpsons isn't that funny anymore (and it isn't), so why can they see that the same is true --even moreso-- about Family Guy?

Hmmm... maybe I just need to get some new friends.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Looks like I'm officially the only person online that LOVED last night's episode.

The longer the song went on, the harder I laughed at the absurdity of what I was watching. It really worked for me, right up my alley, humour wise.

Oh well. I was entertained, and I continue to be. That's all I can ask from such a silly show.

 

[Praetor]

Maybe AD is only superior in execution compared to FG. I think Tharpdevenport and Daneel both make very good points.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

^Rodger's good in small doses, but he's too over the top for an "A" plot

His vocals pattern seem to be modeled after Paul Lynde, which I find annoying!!

edit: ..

The voice for the character Roger from American Dad! was also based on Lynde's.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Capn Flukie]

^ definitely sounds like him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-3LIxtrtag&feature=related

 

[Chess Piece Face]

I liked the Conway Twitty thing. The longer it went on, the more I liked it.

I watch American Dad but it really doesn't do anything for me.

Also, I LIKE the "that's worse than the time ____ did _____". I'd like to see an entire episode that is just a string of those.

 

[Daneel]

Also, I LIKE the "that's worse than the time ____ did _____". I'd like to see an entire episode that is just a string of those.

The way this show is going, I don't doubt that such an episode is very far off.

FWIW, if Family Guy-gag style humour is your thing, then more power to you. Heck, I'll admit that a number of their past gags have been laugh-out-loud funny, but I find those moments are few and far between these days.

Also, just to clarify, I don't think American Dad is the greatest show ever (it has nothing on The Simpsons in its prime), but I do think it is a good show, and usually pretty funny to boot. It just seems to me that the writers put more thought and effort into that show, which is one of the main reasons I prefer it to FG.

Just my $0.02.

 

[LutherSloan]

I really think they need to change the staff writers on Family Guy and bring in some new blood. Maybe send some of the American Dad guys over to FG and give that a shot.

One of the FG writers clearly LOVES those jokes that just go on for too long, like Stewie asking Brian about his novel, Peter spending 2 minutes groaning over a scraped knee, the repeated Conway Twitty thing (which isn't even a joke, they're just playing a video that isn't theirs), and a few others. I don't necessarily put the 'Chicken fight' into this, because usually the timing on that is alright and it's pretty funny. They've also spread those out over a long period so that they don't become dull. I think there have only been 4 appearances or so.

I have my fingers crossed that next week will be an improvement. According to my DVR, Lois gets a job at FOX News. I doubt they can screw that up.