Yeah, so I haven't seen any threads about the show on here, so I was wondering what's the consensus here?

Personally, I enjoyed the show before it was canceled. After it was renewed however, I've seen nothing but befuddling references to celebrities and rehashed jokes from the Internet.

I used to be a adamant Family Guy fan but I guess I've lost interest over the time. Maybe it's because of the reasons you state, I never gave it much thought.

I just think it's funny that Seth McFarlane is now one of the highest-paid people in television. He's a genius. I mean, if he gets paid millions of dollars by making stupid jokes, then we all have a chance.

Since the show came back, I've only actually gotten into American Dad. It gets a lot of crap I know, and it's nothing approaching old Family Guy, but honestly it's the better show right now.

Having the jokes written into the plotline makes for a much better show.

There are several parts of my body that I'd rather hack off and boil than watch Family Guy.

I'm not into 30 minutes of flashbacks that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand and that obnoxious laughing Peter does is almost as bad as Spongebob's.

I've never liked the show though. I always found it to be of poor quality and just generally lacking in intelligent thought.

American Dad and Family Guy are nearly the same series.

Family Guy - bad joke repository, slowly back on the rise but never again to be as good as it once was. It's dug its hole too deep, and it can only climb so far.
American Dad - at least has slightly more design variation and things that actually happen - "plotlines," just about. It borders on a good kind of ridiculous.

It's funny how Family Guy is just a pit of stupid jokes, considering how McFarlane now has a miniseries thing where all he does is minute-long stupid jokes. You'd think he'd get it all out of his system. And they've all gotten way, way predictable. I can't even enjoy them anymore.

I gotta dissagree there I find them both pretty funny hardly the funniest thing on tv but their alright, but American dad is by far supperior to family guy as it has less flashbacks and more story also it has better more interesting characters. Its just generally alot better because it doesnt rely on humor thats not related to the storyline to pull it ahead.

Originally, I didn't like American Dad at all. I just thought it was trying to hard in the first season. But it admittedly grew on me. More story oriented than Family Guy is and by comparison, a bit less random. Stan is still sort of annoying, though.

I enjoy Family Guy, but it's getting into that Simpsons range where the better jokes were back when it first started. Like Homer, Peter somehow became even stupider over time. What I like most about Family Guy is the timing and delivery of the jokes, rather than the random content of them. And yes, it relies too much on running gags and flashbacks. References for the sake of making references is not funny, but I feel a lot of television specifically tries to push humor that way. (Remember when this show/event we ran was funny? Do ya? Huh? Do ya?) I imagine they assume everyone has a low attention span.

Family Guy has the ability to make me laugh sometimes. But I realize that it's sort of like comedy for dumb people, aimed at the lowest common denominator. I apologize to fans of Family Guy... I don't mean to say that you're actually dumb. But when you compare it to Futurama, which had the ability to be incredibly clever and with jokes that could appeal to mathematicians and physicists, there's really a world of difference. I suppose that's why FOX canceled Futurama and brought back Family Guy.

Family Guy has definitely gotten less appealing as it has progressed. It's kind of like they've found their best reactions from non-sequitir and nostalgia and are beginning to focus solely on them. Sometimes at the same time. "Hey look, we remember Thundercats. Do you remember them too? No, it has nothing to do with the plot. We just wanted to give you the cheap thrill of remembering Thundercats." It doesn't help that they'll sometimes blow huge amounts of time on these gags.

American Dad really bugs me. It's the same joke week after week: "Look how stupid and backward conservatives are." It just gets old. For how much longer can Stan Smith be wrong about everything?

King of the Hill does it so much better. It also takes a humorous look at the quirks of conservative people, but the characters come off as more likable and real, while American Dad's cast seem like stereotypes and comedic tools.

There was this one time where I actually started to enjoy a subplot that was happening within American Dad. It involved the lives of some squirrels living outside of the Smiths' house. But I found out later they were just spoofing the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Way to go, McFarlane.

Over the course of the newer seasons, I have seen particular themes of jokes that continue to be made over the course of the series:

Celebrity Anatomy: These jokes usually have to do with some celebrity with some exaggerated feature (Minnie Driver's big head, Renee Zielwieger's scrunched up face, Penelope Cruz's big nose).

Awkward Talking: It's basically Peter talking with someone like someone would do in an awkward situation (both people are talking indifferently and rapidly, sometimes even interrupting each other in the process).

Parody/Mimicking: I find these jokes to be the worst out of all of them. They take at least 30 seconds to get over with and they're not even creative. These include the "Burger King/Do you want an apple pie with that" internet fad, Stewie replacing Jerry the mouse in Anchor's Away!, and of course, this:



Notice instead of actually animating something, they opted for this annoying piece of "TMZ pop-culture" instead.

I actually prefer American dad now, i HATED american dad when it first came out- but the jokes are actually funny and even clever now.

I stopped watching FG and southpark a year ago, FG since it never had new episodes and south park since...well it's not really funny anymore. It's just 'author interjection of their beliefs and instead of a poop joke a long somber silence'.

Wow, I am surprised and pleased at all the American Dad love (or at least not hate) in this thread.

I thought I was going to get slammed...

humorman
Notice instead of actually animating something, they opted for this annoying piece of "TMZ pop-culture" instead.

That's actually kind of cute, but totally not worth being on TV, let alone called "animation".

Guh, I didn't know they were making new FGs right now.

Hawk
Family Guy has the ability to make me laugh sometimes. But I realize that it's sort of like comedy for dumb people, aimed at the lowest common denominator. I apologize to fans of Family Guy... I don't mean to say that you're actually dumb. But when you compare it to Futurama, which had the ability to be incredibly clever and with jokes that could appeal to mathematicians and physicists, there's really a world of difference.

I agree--the slapstick, dumbed-down humor is really apparent in Family Guy. But I think that's the whole point and why the jokes are even lamer now--because McFarlane knows he can get away with it. He knows he can get away with a time filler such as the Christian Bale joke previously mentioned, and he'll get paid millions.

I gotta admit I enjoyed Stewies music video in the latest episode though it was just so damn over the top.

PS: skip about 30 seconds in everything before there is just a rehashing of an old joke.

YouTube
This video in no longer available due to copyright claim by FOX.

Well that didn't last long.

Product Placement

YouTube
This video in no longer available due to copyright claim by FOX.

Well that didn't last long.

yeah, FOX has a way of taking down those clips with a quickness

I have to say that I actually enjoy Family Guy...The humor is dumb, is a hideous combination of fart jokes and dead babies comedy, is highly offensive sometimes (or must of the times, it depends on your level of (in)tolerance)...But still, I cant help but found it very funny...

I think the current season of Family Guy is the final season. In case you didn't already know, there's a spin off in the works, The Cleavland Show, following Cleavland and his new wife and kids. Think about it, Bonnie finally had her baby and Cleavland and Loretta divorced.

there was a reason it was cancelled in the first place. it SUCKED.

but thanks to the stoners up late at night watching adult swim and making internet petitions, its back. and for the worse.

fuck family guy.

I laugh at Family Guy sometimes. Sometimes I laugh alot. Other times I can sense the extreme awkwardness around me, like "is this supposed to be funny?". It has many uncomfortable scenes which drag on way too long and it's just uncomfortable. Family Guy has progressively got worse and is now getting to the stage where it needs to be either disgusting or completely outrageous to get a response.

It's even following the Simpsons in that it has to bring a celebrity into the program constantly. Although of course at least Family Guy is bashing them in random shorts rather than having them like they do in the Simpsons with "oh look, it's Bono, what are you doing here?".

God I hate the Simpsons, at least Family Guy can produce laughs, but I have definetly gone off the show a lot. At least it is still watchable. (Although I haven't seen the 7th series and dread it.)

I've tried watching Family Guy a few times, but I just don't find it funny. It's almost as if I'm supposed to laugh at the jokes just because they're made in bad taste, whether they're actually funny or not.
I think a lot of the things that I am supposed to find funny, like someone having a nasally voice or a weird laugh, I just find extremely annoying.

The characters got typecast (I hope that's the right word) after a while, and that was annoying, because they all used to be pretty cool.

Now it's

Peter, incredibly stupid
Lois, uhh... annoying and very high nasally voice now for some reason
Brian, drinker, has bad taste despite trying
Stewie, closet homosexual
Meg, the ugly one (wtf)

etc. etc.

The longer it goes on, the more they ruin aspects of the show and characters that were cool and clever. Such it is.

I hate Brian the most. He's like the Lisa Simpson of Family Guy. He was totally fine at first, but he gradually gets more and more stuck up and pretentious.

I'm not one to deeply analyze stuff.

I'll watch it if I'm in the same room that has a TV with it on. I usually laugh too so I guess that means I like it.

Now, after years, this replaced Billy's "Destroy us all!!!" as my ringtone...

I can't belive somebody just said Family guy is better than the simpsons thats just revolting.

Eddie Jensen
I can't belive somebody just said Family guy is better than the simpsons thats just revolting.

You obviously haven't watched the newer simpsons episodes.

I definitely have to disagree with American Dad being better than family guy. Although, I do understand that family guy is just one of those shows that you either love or hate, the thing I enjoy most about it is the severe amount of both new and old pop culture references in there.

To me, that's actually what makes the show a success because everyone will be able to find a reference in there that relates to their generation. Whether they find it funny or not is a completely different thing. But that's why I enjoy the show.