My Life In Technicolor

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What Happened To Family Guy? Back in 2005, there wasn’t many things I was looking forward to then the return of Family Guy.  I had been watching it since its premiere in January of ‘99, and was very disappointed when it was cancelled because I thought it was hitting its stride like The Simpsons did starting in its 3rd season. The return brought us a few episodes that were definitely up there with almost any other comedies on TV. Episodes like Petarded, Brian Goes Back To College, and Brian The Bachelor. That first season back was a welcome return to TV by Seth McFarlene, who would soon become one of the most powerful and richest men in television. And this is where I think it started to go down hill. Success killed this show, mostly because the charm of it was of being the underdog show that had a loyal, but small following.  However, that following soon ballooned to include anyone from 5th graders to college kids, and everyone in between. And in trying to appease this wide audience, it became a part of pop culture, instead of something satirizing it. It’s not the only problem though.  The stories have gotten progressively more unrealistic or boring, a problem The Simpsons has faced for a couple of seasons, but they are in season 20, not 7.  Add in that their plots only take up 7 or 8 minutes of running time anyway, and this really sticks out. They have to realize who the real interesting characters are. Peter is only funny when he makes fun of Meg, Chris is only funny when being oddly intelligent, and Lois is never funny. The heart of the show is the relationship between Stewie and Brian.  It started as an Odd Couple who hated each other and turned into an Odd Couple that love to hate each other, but one of them might have a weird homosexual/bestial crush on the other. Skew the stories around these two, and dial down the amount of tangential gags and jokes, and keep it story driven. Hell, take a hint from your other show, American Dad, which is using this formula to much better results. Anyway, that has been bothering me.

What Happened To Family Guy?

Back in 2005, there wasn’t many things I was looking forward to then the return of Family Guy.  I had been watching it since its premiere in January of ‘99, and was very disappointed when it was cancelled because I thought it was hitting its stride like The Simpsons did starting in its 3rd season.

The return brought us a few episodes that were definitely up there with almost any other comedies on TV. Episodes like Petarded, Brian Goes Back To College, and Brian The Bachelor.

That first season back was a welcome return to TV by Seth McFarlene, who would soon become one of the most powerful and richest men in television.

And this is where I think it started to go down hill. Success killed this show, mostly because the charm of it was of being the underdog show that had a loyal, but small following.  However, that following soon ballooned to include anyone from 5th graders to college kids, and everyone in between. And in trying to appease this wide audience, it became a part of pop culture, instead of something satirizing it.

It’s not the only problem though.  The stories have gotten progressively more unrealistic or boring, a problem The Simpsons has faced for a couple of seasons, but they are in season 20, not 7.  Add in that their plots only take up 7 or 8 minutes of running time anyway, and this really sticks out.

They have to realize who the real interesting characters are. Peter is only funny when he makes fun of Meg, Chris is only funny when being oddly intelligent, and Lois is never funny.

The heart of the show is the relationship between Stewie and Brian.  It started as an Odd Couple who hated each other and turned into an Odd Couple that love to hate each other, but one of them might have a weird homosexual/bestial crush on the other.

Skew the stories around these two, and dial down the amount of tangential gags and jokes, and keep it story driven. Hell, take a hint from your other show, American Dad, which is using this formula to much better results.

Anyway, that has been bothering me.


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