Freakin' Sweet! It's the FAMILY GUY thread!

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by spice9, Oct 10, 2007.

  1. spice9

    spice9 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Is this the best and funniest show on TV now or what!! I'm embarrassed to say my 9-year-old son turned me on to it. My wife is forever moaning how she allowed him to watch because he laughed so hard at the obvious jokes and was oblivious to all the sexual stuff, but now he's asking questions...
    I just read the show is blowing The Simpsons away ratings-wise.
    We've bought all the DVD sets and the Stewie Griffin Story movie (fantastic!), and it's family night for Family Guy every Sunday at 9.
    Peter, Brian, Stewie, Quagmire, Cleveland, etc, etc. What a cast!!!
    So who else is blown away by the brilliance? Favorite lines, & characters, etc.
    Share!!
     
    ruben lopez likes this.
  2. GKH

    GKH Senior Member

    Location:
    Somerville, TN
    Oh yeah!!!! I love it! And, just got on the bandwagon a couple of months back!

    I recently bought the Season 1 & 2 DVD set. Great, great show!!!

    Favorite lines? Wow! That's tough! Anytime Stewie and Brian are holding a conversation, I'm usually losing it pretty good! :)

    Funny too, how Stewie's English accent is never questioned. Ha!! Or, has it been, and I just haven't seen that show yet?
     
  3. deem

    deem Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    This show was outrageously funny when it first came out - there was nothing like it on network television. I still remember the first episode I ever saw, there was a scene where everyone is in a courtroom where the judge is handing down a sentence and one after another 3 or 4 people gasp out "Oh no!" Just then the Kool-Aid man bursts through the wall bellowing out "OH YEAH!!" while an electric guitar wails. After a second, the Kool-Aid man realizes that his entrance was over-the-top or inappropriate, and sheepishly backs out the hole he made in the wall.

    The next day several friends and I at school were all abuzz about this new show and its brilliant non sequiturs. We got hooked right away, but I can remember a lot of people didn't get into this show until it hit on DVD. I've heard it said that the reason this show came back on the air after being canceled was that Fox realized their mistake when they saw the DVD sales figures.

    Unfortunately, I think the show jumped the shark after it came back. I still catch an episode here or there, but I've almost completely lost interest at this point. It just seems like the same thing again and again - lazy dependence on pop-culture references for punchlines, over-reliance on cut-away shots, etc.

    The guys from South Park had Family Guy's number, big time.
     
    Veggie Boy likes this.
  4. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    I would disagree---it's still one of the funniest half hours on TV today.


    Evan
     
  5. fjhuerta

    fjhuerta New Member

    Location:
    México City
    If my 9 year old was the one watching it, I'd be seriously worried.Violence (like when Stewie hits Brian with a crowbar and breaks his knees), sex (the nude family, Peter and Lois appearing nude, etc.), zero family values (father hates daughter, son wants to kill mother, etc), disturbing scenes, etc.

    It's a fun show. For people over 18 years old.
     
  6. Phlo

    Phlo Formerly dave-o

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Every episode has some laugh-out-loud moments for me. But yeah, I certainly wouldn't let little ones watch it.
     
  7. spice9

    spice9 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Uh, it's a comedy, not Six Feet Under. You were expecting character development as the seasons progressed? The cut-away scenes are what make the show special. Enjoy South Park.
     
  8. tommy-thewho

    tommy-thewho Senior Member

    Location:
    detroit, mi
    Great show... Love Stewie....
     
  9. spice9

    spice9 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Guilty as charged, but like I say, it's the wife's fault. I do think that goofy cartoon violence is a lot different than the real stuff on TV. And that scene where Stewie is the bookie and beats up Brian is the funniest one in the show's history.
     
  10. mike65!

    mike65! Senior Member

    Location:
    Connecticut
    I hated it when it first came out, but I've since fallen victim to its charms. Who caught the Peter's Two Dads episode, when Stewie realizes he enjoys pain and implores his mom to "...step on my cubes!":laugh:

    In honor of Halloween,
     
  11. deem

    deem Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    No, don't get me wrong. It's a funny show, still very much what it was before, but I guess what I mean is that I feel like I've seen it all before, and it loses some of its humor because of it. You don't need character development in a cartoon comedy, of course, but it helps if the show itself develops some over time.

    You know, sometimes I think British TV shows do it right, pumping out 2 or 3 seasons and then ending while the show is still fresh. Although on the other hand, many series don't really hit their stride until later - IMHO, the first couple seasons of The Simpsons pale in comparison to the middle years. Same for Seinfeld, and in the case of South Park, I never really enjoyed it much until about Season 7!

    In the case of Family Guy, it just seems to me that a lot of the show's initial appeal was that it seemed so fresh and unique; nowadays it no longer seems to be either.
     
  12. fjhuerta

    fjhuerta New Member

    Location:
    México City
    I read "Monty Python speaks". In it, John Cleese says that the best advise anyone ever gave him was "use shock sparingly" - so that people would always want to come back for more.

    I like Family Guy, but I think that it abused shock from day one. Peter Griffin, for example - we may think of him as dimwitted, but it was shown he was retarded. Maximum shock value there - for one episode. Anything he did later on wasn't as shocking; it was to be expected that he'd behave like that.

    One case they did handle better was Stewie - it's *implied* he's homosexual, but it's never made clear. Sometimes he gets excited by girls, sometimes he'll get excited while dressing like a transvestite. There's always a chance to be shocked by Stewie's behavior.

    Still, even though I do like the show, sometimes after watching it I feel a bit guilty about laughing at some of their jokes. They just don't feel right after a while (what a prude I am!n :angel: )
     
  13. spice9

    spice9 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Agree on all points. Though I've seen all the episodes at this point I didn't start on it til about 6 months ago. Then I just plowed through it. I've never actually seen South Park, so I'll check it out on your recommend.
     
  14. spice9

    spice9 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New York, NY
    And in my final post to my own thread, how about the quickie scene where the retarded kid pets Brian too hard?
    "Ow...Ow...Too Hard.....Too Hard....Gonna Bite....Gonna Bite....." BITES

    Where the hell else would you ever see something so totally un-PC, and so incredibly funny?
     
  15. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

    I still think it's funny, but the shows done before the cancellation were better written. I don't know if they lost a writer, or several, but the things that South Park later criticized are not nearly as evident in the first 3 seasons. So, I don't think entire episodes are as strong, overall, as they once were, but there are still some very funny moments per episode. Same could be said of my favorite show, The Simpsons. Just happened sooner to Family Guy.
     
  16. Ryan

    Ryan That would be telling

    Location:
    New England
    Never seen it.
     
  17. deem

    deem Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    :laugh: Reminds me of when I was downloading a Beatles torrent not too long ago, and one of the comments left was by someone with a John Lennon avatar. Something along the lines of "Hey I heard these guys are pretty good, think I'll check them out." :p
     

  18. Here it is in gif form.
    I watched Family Guy this past Sunday and couldn't stop laughing at the scene where Joe beat up Peter and friends.
     

    Attached Files:

  19. pocofan

    pocofan Senior Member

    Location:
    Alabama
    I've just gotten into this show a few months ago. Not one for the kiddies, but I generally enjoy it. Some of it is kind of stupid, but overall, very good. Still love the Simpsons and have also started watching American Dad. WOW, 53 years old and I'm watching cartoons.
     
  20. cooper16

    cooper16 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I think it's brilliant. The obscure pop culture references are what do it for me. The other night I was laughing my **** off at Stewie doing Shatner's infamous 1978 Science Fiction movie awards Rocket Man performance. My wife thought I was nuts.
     
  21. rubbersounds

    rubbersounds Forum Resident

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    The recent Star Wars episode was a laugh riot.
     
  22. His Masters Vice

    His Masters Vice W.C. Fields Forever

    No, the first episode of the current season of Family Guy beat The Simpsons, but the second episode of FG rated lower than The Simpsons.

    Beating The Simpsons once is hardly "blowing it away". Also, the first episode of the current season of FG was a one hour special parodying Star Wars, something that might be expected to rate better than usual.

    I think that one might do well to reflect that Family Guy was cancelled. Twice.

    FG can be very amusing but ... the constant strem of non-sequitur jokes is only funny if the jokes themselves are funny; often they are more odd than funny. The "Stewie as William Shatner doing Rocket Man" sequence is a case in point: I get the reference and it's somewhat amusing at first, but it's not so funny that it needs to be stretched out for 2 or 3 minutes. It's a cheap laugh anyway ... Shatner's performance is inherently funny, so anybody could get a laugh by parodying it.

    There's been a few episodes where the formula has clicked and the laughs have been consistently gut-busting. When it's on-form it is about as funny as TV gets.
     
  23. Big Al

    Big Al Active Member

    Location:
    DFW, Texas
    I know I'm in the minority about this, but I don't care: I absolutely, unequivocally, without reservation, 100% despise this show. To me, Stewie's schtick stopped being funny in the first season. Peter is a brainless, clueless, inconsiderate dolt, and I see nothing funny about how his long-suffering wife puts up with him.

    Just my 2 cents.
     
  24. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    I liked the first 3 seasons but since it was brought back I find it is trying a little too hard to push the envelope.
     
  25. Lazlo Nibble

    Lazlo Nibble Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, Colorado
    When it started I saw an episode or two and blew it off, but I got into it when [adult swim] started running it. They do seem to be starting to coast lately, but I still laugh a lot harder at it than I do at The Simpsons. (I can't even watch Simpsons episodes more than once anymore, but FG still holds up to repeat viewings. Just not those really early ones...)

    For what it's worth, I like Family Guy for all the stuff it usually gets criticized for, particularly the nonstop cutaways (oh no! not a comedy that neglects plot in favor of jokes!) and the fact that they're willing to ride the most trivial, throwaway gag as hard as they can until it collapses to the ground gasping and foaming at the mouth. And the way McFarlane will use any excuse to throw in a musical number.
     
    T'mershi Duween likes this.

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