Family Guy Millions
Seth MacFarlane is sure sitting pretty.
I have to admit I envy him but I’m not surprised. Family Guy is the most original and funny and well-written cartoon I’ve seen in decades. Although I’m sure the people who write The Simpsons and South Park would faint to hear someone say that.
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More like, the people who wrote Arrested Development would jump off bridges to hear you say that.
"Fine, America: that’s what you want to watch? We quit."
Family Guy was pretty original and funny.
The first time around.
Since MacFarlane got Politics, it’s all been downhill.
Brian: Why? The writing on Arrested Development was very similar as I recall.
Sigivald: The show’s not really all that political. At least, I watch it regularly and I don’t find it so. Yes, when it does stray into politics it looks like typical Hollywood kneejerk lefty stuff, but what else would you expect? Only South Park seems to have managed to avoid that fate, and it’s probably because Parker and Stone aren’t Hollywood types.
I actually find "American Dad" more consistently funny than "Family Guy" these days.
See, now I was thinking about commenting that I found "American Dad" much more political. But then, I don’t watch it regularly because it’s never appealed to me anyway.
Anyway, I love the writing on Family Guy, and admire it. Those manatees are awesome!
Dean is already aware of my thoughts on Family Guy. I’m much more impressed by the writing of South Park or even The Simpsons. What Family Guy does is easy. The narrative (if one exists at all) is only there to serve a series of unrelated quick punchlines. Family Guy’s "random" humor has become predictable. It simply hides it’s predicable nature better than anyone else because it doesn’t try, in most episodes, to tell an actual story.
It’s kinda like tourette syndrome. It’s interesting if you don’t know what it is but once you become familiar with it you feel bad for the people stricken with it.
South Park and The Simpsons try to tell a story in 30 minutes. Family Guy tries to see how many ticks it can get to fire while walking through the mall and calls it humor.
Bravo Family Guy.
I’d take that criticism more seriously if I hadn’t wound up watching so many episodes of the show, Kevin. The show has truly excellent writing that requires a lot of talent. Yes, there is a lot of non-sequitur gag humor. So what? That is an art form in and of itself. The show is certainly not predictable, except that they will–very obviously, unapologetically telegraphed–come up with an implausible situation, say it out loud, then show it. But coming up with really funny and unpredictable gags like that is clearly not easy. The only thing you can "predict" is, "oh, a non-sequitur joke is coming!" So what? They do it that way on purpose, and it is no more formulaic and "predictable" than watching old South Parks and wondering "when are they going to kill Kenny?" Yes, the fact that Kenny’s going to be killed is predictable. When, and what particularly funny way? That’s where the laugh lies.
Having every joke be "integral to the plot" is not the only viable way to do comedy. Watch the classic Warner Bros cartoons from the ’40s and ’50s. Those were very "gag oriented" and often involved plots that meandered and never really got much of anywhere since the point was to show and tell the gags, not write a deep and profound story.
I also must point out that The Simpsons and South Park both often fall prey to having very thin and weak plots, and the ending often has little or nothing to do with the beginning. Indeed, at one point I remember it became obvious the formula for the Simpsons: take two completely unrelated but simple plot ideas, and mesh them. I don’t know how many Simpsons episodes I watched where the first 15 minutes had little or nothing to do with the last 15 minutes, but it was a lot.
Family Guy is brilliant comedy. And it has obviously passed the test of the market: it’s wildly popular with a very large audience.
After getting canceled twice I’d hope they eventually hit something that works.
And billions of people think communism is just swell too. You gonna jump on that bandwagon now?
Just because scores of people approve of a thing doesn’t mean that thing actually has value. You of all people should know mass appeal doesn’t make a compelling argument for a thing. In many circles it’s an indication of something to be avoided at all costs.
"Watch the classic Warner Bros cartoons from the ’40s and ’50s."
That kinda’ reminds me of the time when I was a replacement wig for Elizabeth Taylor. What?! She’s like 50 isn’t she?
Sheesh, Dean, are you writing fanfics for Family Guy now too?
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Kevin: Whether something is popular or not says little or nothing about its moral or philosophical merit. When it comes to questions of artistic merit, however, when millions upon millions of people love a show so much they save it after it’s been cancelled, not once but twice, it’s got to have something going for it.
The show assumes its audience is intelligent and does not pander down to them. The writing is very clever. And, the show got brought back twice because its fan base was so strong.
And by the way, that something is not popular proves nothing at all except that it’s not popular.
Cosmic: No, but I wouldn’t mind writing for them.
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