Simpsons vs. Family Guy

[Summers]

Futurama > Simpsons > Family Guy

Winner.

[Kyle_]

All hail South Park.

[Mick]

I generally hate the idea that Family Guy is a Simpson's ripoff, on the basis the if you say that, then every animated TV show about a family with a not-so-bright father is a ripoff of the other, the exception being The Flintstones, which in itself was an animated ripoff of The Honeymooner's set in prehistoric times.

I prefer Family Guy over The Simpsons. Yes, it's getting old, but goddamn, the jokes that Family Guy come up with are hysterical, I don't care how many times it's beating a dead horse. The Simpson's on the other hand, at least in my view, looks like they're trying to convey some kind of moral message, followed up with a side story of somebody's zany adventure.

And also, to the people saying that the Griffins are a ripoff of The Simpsons, let's examine the family members:

Homer vs Peter: Both are idiots. Both are drunks. Peter embraces his male neighbors, Homer hates his. Peter is a prodigy when it comes to 80's pop trivia, while Homer just fucks it up somehow.

Marge vs Lois: Lois is incredibly adventurous, promiscious, and open minded, while Marge just sees something she doesn't like and does that "mmmmhhhhhhhhh".

Bart vs Chris: One's 10, the other's 14/15. Chris stays out of trouble, Bart worships it.

Lisa vs Meg. Lisa is a genius, Meg is obbsessed with her social life (or lack thereof). Lisa eventually has sex as implied by future episodes (...Milhouse....Ralph ), while Meg becomes a transgendered.

Maggie vs Stewie. Ok, both are infants. One just sucks a pacifer, the other is psychotic and brilliant. Yes, ripoff indeed.

Santa's Little Helper vs Brian. .....nothing should be said.

So then, must The Simpson's have the absolute monopoly on being an animated TV show where the starring roles is a family? No, it shouldn't. Despite ER still running, I have yet to hear how House rips off of it.

If you like one and not the other, fuck it. They don't rip off of eachother, just let it be. And you're going to cry ripoff, let's remind ourselves that how many themes in literature are constantly recycled off another one? Exactly.

[apsham]

The Simpsons on its worst day (and I still don't get the whole Simpsons downhill thing) beats Family Guy on its best day, cut and print, end of story, from someone who campaigned FOX to bring back that show. And I now regret it.... ugh.

[thuganomic]

I generally hate the idea that Family Guy is a Simpson's ripoff, on the basis the if you say that, then every animated TV show about a family with a not-so-bright father is a ripoff of the other, the exception being The Flintstones, which in itself was an animated ripoff of The Honeymooner's set in prehistoric times.

I prefer Family Guy over The Simpsons. Yes, it's getting old, but goddamn, the jokes that Family Guy come up with are hysterical, I don't care how many times it's beating a dead horse. The Simpson's on the other hand, at least in my view, looks like they're trying to convey some kind of moral message, followed up with a side story of somebody's zany adventure.

And also, to the people saying that the Griffins are a ripoff of The Simpsons, let's examine the family members:

Homer vs Peter: Both are idiots. Both are drunks. Peter embraces his male neighbors, Homer hates his. Peter is a prodigy when it comes to 80's pop trivia, while Homer just fucks it up somehow.

Marge vs Lois: Lois is incredibly adventurous, promiscious, and open minded, while Marge just sees something she doesn't like and does that "mmmmhhhhhhhhh".

Bart vs Chris: One's 10, the other's 14/15. Chris stays out of trouble, Bart worships it.

Lisa vs Meg. Lisa is a genius, Meg is obbsessed with her social life (or lack thereof). Lisa eventually has sex as implied by future episodes (...Milhouse....Ralph ), while Meg becomes a transgendered.

Maggie vs Stewie. Ok, both are infants. One just sucks a pacifer, the other is psychotic and brilliant. Yes, ripoff indeed.

Santa's Little Helper vs Brian. .....nothing should be said.

So then, must The Simpson's have the absolute monopoly on being an animated TV show where the starring roles is a family? No, it shouldn't. Despite ER still running, I have yet to hear how House rips off of it.

If you like one and not the other, fuck it. They don't rip off of eachother, just let it be. And you're going to cry ripoff, let's remind ourselves that how many themes in literature are constantly recycled off another one? Exactly.

[Quom]

I prefer the best episodes of Family Guy to the best episodes of The Simpsons. I will readily pop in an early season DVD of Family Guy and watch the same episodes I've seen 40 times and still find something amusing in them. Having said that Family Guy seems to have run out of steam, season 4 was shit, season 5 was marginally better but in all honesty couldn't have gone in any other direction.

So if you are going for an overall it's probably the Simpsons (which sucks because to me it's something I watch because nothing else is on rather than actively enjoying it), whereas I find Family Guy to be funnier. South Park in recent years has been much more intelligent than either (it feels somewhat hard to equate SP with intelligence) but in all honesty I struggle watching SP repeats.

[ACCBiggz]

Only argument you need:

Simpsons is not funny, Family Guy is.

[Original_Prankster]

Simpsons is way better than Family Guy....Family Guy is an overated peice of junk that doesnt make me laugh in one episode.

[Skummy]

Family Guy gets old quickly, and it's difficult to emphasise with any of the characters, and the last two series have been dreadful; The Simpsons still has plenty of strong characters that aren't just vehicles for jokes, and even on its worst days is still pretty consistently funny.

Essentially, Futurama > The Simpsons > King Of The Hill > Family Guy.

[ACCBiggz]

Futurama > The Simpsons > King Of The Hill > Family Guy.

[therockbox]

Biggz has no sense of humour whatsoever.

[Hewey]

I like Futurama, but I wouldn't rank it higher than The Simpsons or South Park. I mean, they do have two outstanding episodes that I would rank with some of The Simpsons/South Park's best stuff. (the one with the Fry's brother and the one with his dog) But other than that, they have other good stuff, but nothing like the classic Simpsons episodes.

As for Family Guy, up to season 3 I love it. The rest, it's pretty much hit or miss. King Of The Hill is good too imo, but I can't remember a single episode that I'd rank as a classic.

[VerbalPuke]

Personally, I go Simpsons over Family Guy, due to the charm of older episodes the Simpsons had.

I got sick of Family Guy quick, as most of my friends were constantly playing it on DVD. And I do mean constantly, to a point where it was seemingly on at every social function. It got to a point that I didn't even want to be in the room of which Family Guy was playing. Fuck Family Guy.

Personally, I'm going Beavis and Butthead over everything. Southpark was never funny, Futurama was decent, and King of the Hill is funnier than I thought. We watch King of the Hill during break at work, and the show has surprised me in that it's created characters worth caring about with some funny lines and situations thrown in.

But still, Beavis and Butthead is my all-time favorite animated show. It was incredibly stupid at times, and absolutely witty at others. Plus, looking back at the show as an evolved music fan, they've had some pretty god damn good choices for the videos they played.

[Lowerdeck]

My rankings

1. South Park

2. The Simpsons ... It's best is better than South Park's best, but South Park is pretty consistent.

3. Family Guy ... Had a few good years, has mostly sucked ever since the return. A few more sub-par manatee loaded seasons and Futurama could pass it.

4. Futurama ... A solid show, but nothing has ever really stood out to me.

5. King of The Hill ... Never was a fan, don't find it funny or as good as Futurama.

Then the question comes: what do you do with stuff like American Dad, The Boondocks, ATHF, or even older (short-lived) stuff like The Critic or Dilbert?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Bah. The best Futurama episode was the one where Bender got shot off into space and became god to a new species who started to grow on his stomach.

That was truly tremendous and in those 20 minutes DEMOLISHED anything Simpsons or Family Guy could do.

Not to mention the episode where Bender becomes a wrester pimp character and has to turn heel as "Gender Bender". Genius.

Edited August 5, 2007 by ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster

[Rashid]

In 74 episodes, Futurama might have had 2 or 3 poor ones at most. The episodes "Godfellas" (the one CSAMH just mentioned above), "The Farnsworth Parabox", "Roswell That Ends Well", "The Spanish Fry", and "Jurassic Bark" alone make Futurama the greatest animated comedy series.

And Beavis and Butthead is pretty good. Much better than King of the Hill.

[Skummy]

I shouldn't have to explain why Futurama is amazing, it just is. It's intelligent, but irreverent at the same time, chock-full of geek comedy, with strong characters, and so on and so forth...some of The Simpsons' better moments may be better than Futurama, but Futurama is consistently better, helped along by its shorter lifespan, admittedly.

South Park was terrible for years, when it was essentially half an hour of "haha, swearing's funny", then got funny for a short while, got even worse for a long time, and now it's probably the best it's ever been.

Family Guy I've already explained.

King Of The Hill I never really used to "get" when it was really popular, but now, I love it, the characterisation is just superb, and the humour's built that way rather than through obvious jokes or one-liners or gags, which is ultimately much more rewarding; I'd liken it more to Curb Your Enthusiasm than to The Simpsons, in some ways,

[thatblindgeye]

King of the Hill I love. I like how it seems like real life, but cartoonized. You dont have someone getting a nail gun shoot nails through your ears or a talking dog or anything. Not that Im dissing Simpsons or Family Guy, but a cartoon that doesnt involve those kinds of things and can still deliver funny moments I love. The show revolves so much around real things that can/do happen and it's just great. Hank I love, especially the sound he makes when he is shocked upon seeing something. Dale I love because he's just a scrawny dumbass and has plenty of funny moments. Cotton is good because it's like he likes everyone BUT his son. Boomhauer with the way he talks. I still try to see if I can understand what he says. Overall the show is great.

Futurama I love. It sucks it was taken off the air, but I dont think there is one episode that I would look at and go "eh. Dont feel like this one tonight". The one where Bender becomes God is genius, as was mentioned. Loved him giving life and killing it all in that 20 minutes. There were many other good episodes, like the one with Fry's brother, Fry's dog, the ones with the 'What if' machine, upon others.

Simpsons I went through a phase where I was like "I dont like this show", after having watched it constantly. I was young though. Overall the show is good but there are some episodes where if I've seen it a few times already and/or dont feel like watching that episode, Ill flip to something else.

Family Guy was great at the beginning, but yes now it really is nothing but pop culture referances and gags that run on too long. It's like the flashbacks/cut scenes are the bulk of episodes and there's no real plot anymore.

Overall I wouldnt go on a show and say "Simpsons are better than Family Guy and here is why." There is no fact that states it as so. It's all opinion. I'd try to find someone who likes both shows so that they could go over the pros and cons of both shows over the years of their running. That way it isnt just "Simpsons rules! Family Guy sucks!" or vice versa.

Edited August 5, 2007 by Vitamin E

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I also enjoyed the Futurama episode that just seemed a little more high concept - when Fry is stabbed by the giant bee and dies/goes into a coma, so Leila starts eating royal jelly which makes her hallucinate as she goes into deep mounring. Then weird stuff starts happening then it turns out that it's actually HER in a coma as the sting went right through Fry and the poison got stabbed into her behind him.

Very smart, very clever.

But then I loved the Simpsons episode where Homer eats the chilli and goes off on his trippy adventure.

[SeanDMan]

I agree with Biggz. King of The Hill is just dirth. In terms of what is funnier between Simpsons and Family Guy, the Simpsons dates a lot worse then Family guy since they try and set themselves up as being harsh on pop culture of today, where as Family Guy ribs on Star Trek and FDR. Come on, FDR. They're both good as half hours where you can just tune out, check the brain at the door, and so on. In terms of preachiness, South park can be really, really bad for it, but sometimes has a decent concept show. The vast majority of their humor is just crap... specifically when it's about crap. It doesn't make sense because you see both guys talk and they seem smart, and then they write shows about talking shit teaching people about the meaning of Christmas. Futurama is pretty good... probably the only show I've seen the entire run of, and only because it's right before The Daily Show.

Overall I'm not really a cartoon guy. In terms of making me laugh, I think Family Guy and American Dad can be very random and very hit and miss, but they make me laugh. I think the Simpsons characters are mostly just annoying and I don't think the jokes are all that good. The only part of the trailer for the film that I laughed at was when he whipped the dogs while shouting "Rest! Rest!", and when given the option to see the flick, was kind of indifferent and ended up not going. The Simpsons used to be funny when I was growing up, but whether I just developed taste or they just stopped writing well, I can't say, but I haven't found it funny for quite some time.