Regarding kids and Family Guy, a five-year-old I know has watched a few episodes (he doesn't understand the sex jokes obviously) but he was taken by the black and white clip of Peter and Brian in the "1930s cartoon" Fixing A Shed. From the intro to the 30-second sequence, it seems to be take off of Tom and Jerry — not the cat and mouse team, but two humans. They also bob up and down in the intro to their cartoons. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7uuvQn1GpI
The real sad part is, this show, South Park, and, to a lesser extent, "King of the Hill" have taken different parts of what made "The Simpsons" great, and, in turn, it seems like "The Simpsons" are trying to distance themselves fromthe things they USED to do, BECAUSE of these shows. (Family conflict, cultural refrences, controversy) Simpsons seem rudder-less now, and it saddens me.
Yeah, pretty insane. The show kills one or two persons every now and then, has racism against blacks and mexicans, humilliates women, etc., and people are mad about some jokes about George and John? LOL.
I read it... it's similar to most jokes regarding, say, Abraham Lincoln, Mel Gibson, etc.... this show is about tastelessness... so it should be expected it has something to bother everyone!
As much as I've laughed at some episodes, I hated the George Harrison gag. I thought it was in horribly poor taste.
I laugh at this show. The one where Brian owed Stewie money and didn't pay on time cracked me up. I also like that dirty old man that wants to smell Chris all the time. These guys make fun of everybody, don't take it personal. I had a hard time with South Park and the Mr. Winky thing, that, to me, was a little too sick. A turd that acts like Gumby...yuck
It's Mr. Hankey - and a gag about a talking turd is in bad taste but mocking violent attacks on real people is A-OK?
Too be honest, yes. In the Stewie beating up Brian episode I laughed out loud, however, the handicapped fight scene in south park was not funny, it was hard to watch. I don't want to watch kids play with do-do or eat boo gars, it's gross.
We all have our lines, nothing wrong with that. I thought the retard fight was funny, as it was, to the best of my recollection, a take off of, of all things, They Live. Or am I confusing it with something else? Ah well, I thought it was funny. If you must know my line, I didn't need to see Mrs. Garrison's sex change operation footage. I love that show.
To each his own. Mr. Hankey is a good parody of Christmas specials and goofy related concepts. The George Harrison "gag" was a misguided attempt at being edgy that instead was crass beyond belief. I'm kind of astonished anyone could defend it...
"South Park" certainly isn't without its tasteless moments or bad choices. I just don't think it's ever crossed lines as badly as "Family Guy" and done anything as witless and cruel. The "South Park" parodies usually have a point; I don't think "FG" can make the same claim, at least not most of the time...
I can think of a FG moment that's much worse (actually, there are many - it's the first thing that I thought of). Charles Lindbergh and his wife are potty training their son. He's sitting on the edge of the toilet seat. Lindbergh says his son is ready for this - then, his son falls (to his death, obviously), and is flushed away. Lindbergh tells his wife they'll say his son was kidnapped. His wife says "OMG, what do we do about Amelia? Amelia Earnhardt is standing next to them. It's implied Lindbergh kills her after this. So, there you have it. Lindbergh kills his son, lies about it, and then kills Amelia Earnhardt. It's a lot worse than whatever they did or said about the Beatles, don't you think? The show is based on shock, and its designed to offend everyone.... that's its basic premise. That's the reason I feel kinda guilty about liking it, though - it's just too much over the top all the time.
So a babybeating the living daylights out of an animal (may I add, with MUCH more blood and gore) is more tolerable than two handicapped kids beating the snot out of each other in a clearly defined parody? This is why things that offend should not be censored except personally by the one who's offend. Everything's funny to different people for different reasons. I laughed at the George gag in an "ohmygod hahahaha" kind of way. Not their funniest moment, but hey, it's comedy. Worse in content, not in humor. hehehehehehe EDIT: Of course, I also laughed at the very ending of this little clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs Maybe I am a terrible person!
And that's the problem. It doesn't actually attempt HUMOR - it lives on shock value. Oh, and recognition humor - that's where you get a reaction to a joke because someone gets the reference. There's no cleverness in the reference but people say "hey, that's a scene from 'Star Wars'" or whatever and they laugh just because they get the connection. Modern parody movies are built on recognition humor. See crap like "Date Movie" or "Epic Movie" for prime examples - they do little more than recreate scenes from other flicks and pretend that this is clever. Even I'LL admit that "Family Guy" has more to it than that, but I think it relies way too much on those randomly chosen pop references and shock humor. I guess that's good enough for a lot of people...
So there's never been a single funny joke on Family Guy ever? I guess if you get hung up on the offense of some of the jokes I can see that, but still. Nothing? It happens. The writing staff has even admitted that the show is sometimes written around the gags, rather than the other way around. Sure is - not everything funny has to be intelligent.
No, as much as I dislike the series, I won't claim it's never done ANYTHING funny. It throws enough against the wall that occasionally something sticks, and as I mentioned, it's a definite step up from the bland idiocy of stuff like "Epic Movie". I just think the bad greatly outweighs the good. For every moderately funny gag there are 10 stinkers... And that's a bad choice IMO. It comes across that they're more interested in showing their pop culture knowledge than creating a funny, coherent show. It's non sequitor TV all the time... :thumbsdn:
See, as far as I'm concerned, non sequitur is frequently more funny than not. YMMV, of course. Maybe it's an age group thing?
Family Guy is one of the few shows along with Monty Python's Flying Circus, Seinfeld, South Park etc. that I can watch endlessly as repeats. Each episode cracks me up!
