Family Guy episode pulled, too controversial...for fox?

[TummieGaruda]

somewhat related to my OP; tonight's episode had a joke where peter said he would plow chris in the ass later that night. Homosexual incest is fine, Yet abortion is a no-no. Shit's gone down the tubes.

Speaking of tonights episode and off topic, did anyone catch that joke about Peter telling Lois he can fire anyone he wants and she doesn't believe him and then he brings up Lacey Chabert and Lois backs off lol. For those who don't know, Lacey was the original Meg in the series and was mysterious replaced after the first Season.

[Xajii]

episode with Hugh Laurie means it had so much potential, yet it was hardly funny at all =/

[Corrderio]

episode with Hugh Laurie means it had so much potential, yet it was hardly funny at all =/

I wonder if Hugh Laurie was desperate for work or something. Seriously, if I was him and Seth offered me a guest voice appearance on his show I'd either punch him in the face or laugh.

[TummieGaruda]

episode with Hugh Laurie means it had so much potential, yet it was hardly funny at all =/

You know, a lot of people talk about how Family Guy isn't funny anymore. It's not so much that it isn't funny, but more of the fact that times have changed. The show originally relied heavily on pop culture references, but now, it really cannot keep up with them. The show aired I believe in early 2000, and back then, not everyone had the internet. Hell my High School at the time just got a computer lab that had internet access. There was no youtube to post clips, or other forms of media that reached the masses like they do today. So when something happened in the past and they wrote it into the show, a few months down the road when the episode aired, the reference was still fresh. For instance, one of the earlier episodes of Family Guy dealt with Meg obtaining friends who were part of a Heaven's Gate type cult. That episode aired well after the fact and it was funny at the time. Now you fast forward to today, and with meme's being born overnight, when the writers try to put it into an episode, by the time it airs months later, the joke is completely stale. If the writers had put a joke in an episode in reference to the Kanye West incident around the time it happened, it probably would've aired about now, and as you now, that joke is completely dead; in fact it died within about 2 weeks as everyone was using it...even radio stations.

You can tell that the writers have been trying very hard to change the format of the show over the past few seasons. The show is going to be on until I think 2011, so I will still tune in with the hopes that they do find their stride again and have me laughing to the point of tears like they used to.

edit: I will say that the end of tonights episode did catch me off guard when Peter jumped for joy and got stuck in mid air and told Lois to call a scientist. That was pretty amusing.

[Corrderio]

You know, a lot of people talk about how Family Guy isn't funny anymore. It's not so much that it isn't funny, but more of the fact that times have changed. The show originally relied heavily on pop culture references, but now, it really cannot keep up with them. The show aired I believe in early 2000, and back then, not everyone had the internet. Hell my High School at the time just got a computer lab that had internet access. There was no youtube to post clips, or other forms of media that reached the masses like they do today. So when something happened in the past and they wrote it into the show, a few months down the road when the episode aired, the reference was still fresh. For instance, one of the earlier episodes of Family Guy dealt with Meg obtaining friends who were part of a Heaven's Gate type cult. That episode aired well after the fact and it was funny at the time. Now you fast forward to today, and with meme's being born overnight, when the writers try to put it into an episode, by the time it airs months later, the joke is completely stale. If the writers had put a joke in an episode in reference to the Kanye West incident around the time it happened, it probably would've aired about now, and as you now, that joke is completely dead; in fact it died within about 2 weeks as everyone was using it...even radio stations.

You can tell that the writers have been trying very hard to change the format of the show over the past few seasons. The show is going to be on until I think 2011, so I will still tune in with the hopes that they do find their stride again and have me laughing to the point of tears like they used to.

edit: I will say that the end of tonights episode did catch me off guard when Peter jumped for joy and got stuck in mid air and told Lois to call a scientist. That was pretty amusing.

I don't know, maybe it's just me but most of the time it still tries to rely on stuff from the 80s for humor.

[Koul]

new star wars one was meh.

laughed a couple times. rest I was just finishing it to finish it. To me family guy is just one of those shows that if it's on and I'm bored enough I'll watch it.

[Guitarman]

You know, a lot of people talk about how Family Guy isn't funny anymore. It's not so much that it isn't funny, but more of the fact that times have changed. The show originally relied heavily on pop culture references, but now, it really cannot keep up with them. The show aired I believe in early 2000, and back then, not everyone had the internet. Hell my High School at the time just got a computer lab that had internet access. There was no youtube to post clips, or other forms of media that reached the masses like they do today. So when something happened in the past and they wrote it into the show, a few months down the road when the episode aired, the reference was still fresh. For instance, one of the earlier episodes of Family Guy dealt with Meg obtaining friends who were part of a Heaven's Gate type cult. That episode aired well after the fact and it was funny at the time. Now you fast forward to today, and with meme's being born overnight, when the writers try to put it into an episode, by the time it airs months later, the joke is completely stale. If the writers had put a joke in an episode in reference to the Kanye West incident around the time it happened, it probably would've aired about now, and as you now, that joke is completely dead; in fact it died within about 2 weeks as everyone was using it...even radio stations.

You can tell that the writers have been trying very hard to change the format of the show over the past few seasons. The show is going to be on until I think 2011, so I will still tune in with the hopes that they do find their stride again and have me laughing to the point of tears like they used to.

edit: I will say that the end of tonights episode did catch me off guard when Peter jumped for joy and got stuck in mid air and told Lois to call a scientist. That was pretty amusing.

you have a good point, but my main problem, and someone has said this before in this thread, is the characters have changed from the ones we first liked. Stewie was a diabolical madman in the first few seasons, but now he's just one long gay joke. Brian used to be intellectual, but now he's a complete liberal douche. Quagmire is easily one of the best characters in the show, and he gets next to no airtime, and when he does, they don't exploit his horndog-ness like they used to. It just feels like Seth is settling into the easiest way to poop out a new episode every week instead of using the characters to their full potential.

[kuronosan]

There's a chart somewhere that shows characters and how they've changed from the winning formula.

[Xajii]

I don't think your argument makes sense to me. Original FG didn't rely on pop culture references; they were helpful, funny, maybe even more memorable, but the old FG had good plots.

Peter crashes into a dish and ruins TV
Stewie falls in love with a pre schooler
Brian works as a cop and gets into cocaine
Peter tries to take advantage of new handicapped neighbor
Peter & friends go fishing in hopes of $50,000
Peter gets hired by the tobacco company
etc.

And now half the time I don't even know what the fuck the plot is, but it's almost always "Peter decides to take on something crazy". And yes, the characters have changed a lot.

[Tulun]

I don't think your argument makes sense to me. Original FG didn't rely on pop culture references; they were helpful, funny, maybe even more memorable, but the old FG had good plots.

Yeah. I think the writers have gone downhill a bit. I used to watch Family Guy pretty religiously; if I ever watch it it's on DVD at best.

First 3 seasons were gold. But there is the odd good one. The Nuremberg rally redubbing was fucking hilarious.
But compared to South Park... All 3 have unchanging characters (for the most part), but SP is the only one where they've really remained funny consistently. I think the simple animation style likely really helps them; they jumped in on the 2012 thing pretty quickly (and it was god damn awesome). I think the fact South Park has moved from terrible potty humor to poking holes (as they do) at pop culture has been awesome. And FG, when it does the same, just doesn't do it as well anymore.

[Arcana]

Yeah. I think the writers have gone downhill a bit. I used to watch Family Guy pretty religiously; if I ever watch it it's on DVD at best.

First 3 seasons were gold. But there is the odd good one. The Nuremberg rally redubbing was fucking hilarious.
But compared to South Park... All 3 have unchanging characters (for the most part), but SP is the only one where they've really remained funny consistently. I think the simple animation style likely really helps them; they jumped in on the 2012 thing pretty quickly (and it was god damn awesome). I think the fact South Park has moved from terrible potty humor to poking holes (as they do) at pop culture has been awesome. And FG, when it does the same, just doesn't do it as well anymore.

South Park is able to do this because they write their next episode the day after the last one airs, so its easy for SP to make current pop culture references when they are fresh where as family guy does have a long production process to it.

i'll admit that some of FGs more recent episodes are getting a bit more preachy and the gay stewie thing is getting a bit out of hand, i do still enjoy watching family guy now and again, i especially loved watching "Dreaming of Jesus", i laughed so hard at Surfin' Bird that i was in tears.

[TummieGaruda]

I don't think your argument makes sense to me. Original FG didn't rely on pop culture references; they were helpful, funny, maybe even more memorable, but the old FG had good plots.

Peter crashes into a dish and ruins TV
Stewie falls in love with a pre schooler
Brian works as a cop and gets into cocaine
Peter tries to take advantage of new handicapped neighbor
Peter & friends go fishing in hopes of $50,000
Peter gets hired by the tobacco company
etc.

And now half the time I don't even know what the fuck the plot is, but it's almost always "Peter decides to take on something crazy". And yes, the characters have changed a lot.

It's not the plot that had the pop culture references, but rather the jokes contained in those episodes. Off the top of my head, I can remember the one where Peter knocks out the cable. They make references to Fox and how they'd always have some crazy "Worlds scariest" type show, but it was "Fast Predators, Slow children" not to mention the William Shatner stuff at the end, since at that time people were making fun of William Shatner for a reason I can't really remember. Then there were Klondike bars which were often joked about on various media outlets...you know "What would you do for a Klondike bar?"

Back then, the plots were cohesive and pretty easy to follow. But now, as you can somewhat see somewhere after Season 4 or 5, they started doing stories that start with one plot that leads them into some other totally unrelated plot halfway through the episode. Also, Quagmire is definitely one of the more funnier characters in the show alongside Herbert the Pervert. I think the reason why Quagmire doesn't get much airtime is because in the first few seasons, the writers wanted to simply establish just how much of a perv he was. Unfortunately it seems the writers don't feel the need to do this anymore. It's always Quagmire with his tied up girls in the basement. I miss the old days though... I'll always remember him driving with Chris in his car, and they hit a light pole and the airbags were blow up dolls, and their faces ended up planted between the dolls legs due to the impact, with Glen giving his infamous "Hehe...All Right"

[Kaylia]

I never gave a damn about the plot in Family Guy, all I want is random/absurd/unexpected joke. Every time they attempt telling a story, they end up being too preachy and it sucks.

And fuck Brian, they need to get ride of his character. Actually, they should rename it the Peter's show and show us peter for 20 minutes.

[Corrderio]

It's not the plot that had the pop culture references, but rather the jokes contained in those episodes. Off the top of my head, I can remember the one where Peter knocks out the cable. They make references to Fox and how they'd always have some crazy "Worlds scariest" type show, but it was "Fast Predators, Slow children" not to mention the William Shatner stuff at the end, since at that time people were making fun of William Shatner for a reason I can't really remember. Then there were Klondike bars which were often joked about on various media outlets...you know "What would you do for a Klondike bar?"

Back then, the plots were cohesive and pretty easy to follow. But now, as you can somewhat see somewhere after Season 4 or 5, they started doing stories that start with one plot that leads them into some other totally unrelated plot halfway through the episode. Also, Quagmire is definitely one of the more funnier characters in the show alongside Herbert the Pervert. I think the reason why Quagmire doesn't get much airtime is because in the first few seasons, the writers wanted to simply establish just how much of a perv he was. Unfortunately it seems the writers don't feel the need to do this anymore. It's always Quagmire with his tied up girls in the basement. I miss the old days though... I'll always remember him driving with Chris in his car, and they hit a light pole and the airbags were blow up dolls, and their faces ended up planted between the dolls legs due to the impact, with Glen giving his infamous "Hehe...All Right"

This I agree with, back then the humor just seemed to flow, but now it's like they force it upon you then have to give you a very obvious hint you were supposed to laugh.

Honestly the only good episode lately to me was when Brian and Stewie ventured through alternate universes, the Disney universe was actually funny.

[Souj]

You know, I saw the 1st episode for the 1st time in like 5 years the other day. They used 0 manatee jokes.

[fishstix]

Anyone catch this Sunday's episode? Hugh Laurie guest star as House.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbh...guy_shortfilms
great scene :D

[Faris]

the only episode of family guy that offended me the most was when they made that "blooper" about bin laden's video. that was pretty offensive

[kuronosan]

Your beard offends me.

[Xno Kappa]

The House episode was kind of lame in my opinion.

I think the problem with Family Guy is that its formula is just stale at this point. The show depends heavily on the completely random but never really had clever writing to back it up. South Park hit the nail on the head. Even worse for Family Guy, their originally random gags have been overused to death like the evil monkey or Ernie the giant chicken to name a few. Everything is just too repetitive and expected at this point.

[kuronosan]

Family Guy's first three seasons were chock full of clever references. I would say Family Guy started out like Airplane and has wound up like "___ Movie".

There are tons of hit and miss jokes in every episode but none of them are very memorable compared to the first season.