Simpsons vs. Family Guy

[ADG]

I had to write an essay in second year on Family Guy and how it was indicative of a postmodernism in today's society. It was fine until it came to writing it.

[Big Red Fury]

I think all the Family Guy stick is justified. That being said, I've really enjoyed this season a lot more and I think it's starting to get back to what worked. The Simpsons have been dead for about 6-7 years, every once in a while it is good, but for the most part it is a horrifying shell of what it was and for that reason only, it's a bigger disappointment to me than Family Guy.

[Sousa]

That being said, I've really enjoyed this season a lot more and I think it's starting to get back to what worked.

Not to pick on you in particular, but... what have they done that's been getting back to what's worked? The first episode of the season was yet another in a long series of "[character] gets significant other but OH LOOK IT DOESN'T WORK OUT" episodes that were okay the first time or two (Chris and Sam in the deep South is still very good) but have since been done to death (how many goddamn girlfriends has Brian had over the course of this show's history?). The second episode marked yet another incident of the "Peter falls and hurts his ankle" gag (or, before that, the "Sideshow Bob steps on rakes" gag) of dragging out an unfunny thing for an ironic amount of time in the hopes that it will be funny. The time-traveling episode was no better. And all three have maintained the recent trend of having the writing pick on those people who disagree with Seth McFarlane either philosophically ("LOL ATHEISTS ARE RITE," "ROFL LOOK @ JESUS IN JAIL") or politically ("HAHA SARAH PALIN AND JOHN MCCAIN ARE NAZIS"). Quite frankly, when the show started getting condescending--I'd wager right around the time the family went to the south for the SECOND time (yes, there have been TWO episodes in which the family moves to hick country in the SIX seasons this show has been on the air)--is the point when I became less interested. McFarlane and I seem to have similar views, but that doesn't change the fact that he's come off as a total prick in his handling of these episodes.

[Hobo]

I had to write an essay in second year on Family Guy and how it was indicative of a postmodernism in today's society. It was fine until it came to writing it.

Funny thing is I can see exactly how it is that. It is a great example of postmodernism. Throwaway self aware parody that constantly engages with pop culture even at the expense of form and character. I had a lecturer who used The Simpsons as an example of PoMo but Family Guy is far better.

[Guest Mr. Pumpkin Head]

I had a professor argue that the Simpsons were actually modernism and South Park postmodernism.

[Bigal]

I had a lecturer who taught me about the Norman Invasion of Britain

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Futurama >>>>>>>>> Simpsons >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> South Park >>>>>>>American Dad >>>Family Guy >> King Of The Hill.

[Katsuya]

Family Guy's new episodes can be funny, but it's the songs that really annoy me. Patriot Games should be awesome for the Brian/Stewie fights alone, but no, it's not, because that fucking Shipoopie song or whatever the fuck it's called ruins it. Because it goes on FOR THREE MINUTES! WHO PUTS A SONG ON FOR THREE MINUTES IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHOW!?!?

[Matt]

Family Guy's new episodes can be funny, but it's the songs that really annoy me. Patriot Games should be awesome for the Brian/Stewie fights alone, but no, it's not, because that fucking Shipoopie song or whatever the fuck it's called ruins it. Because it goes on FOR THREE MINUTES! WHO PUTS A SONG ON FOR THREE MINUTES IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHOW!?!?

I agree, the only good song they've had was the FCC song.

[Baddar]

Family Guy's new episodes can be funny, but it's the songs that really annoy me. Patriot Games should be awesome for the Brian/Stewie fights alone, but no, it's not, because that fucking Shipoopie song or whatever the fuck it's called ruins it. Because it goes on FOR THREE MINUTES! WHO PUTS A SONG ON FOR THREE MINUTES IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHOW!?!?

I saw that episode the other day. Really infuriated me. It just went on...and on...and on. I've never really watched The Simpsons, but South Park is better than Family Guy, which for me relies too much on "This one time.." jokes. It wouldn't be so bad if I was American and properly understood more than 50% of them.

[Katsuya]

PTV is by far the best episode of the recent bunch, along with Barely Legal.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Family Guy all the way.

The Simpson's is without a doubt a classic and I can sit down and watch it, yet I honestly don't find it half as funny as Family Guy. Not to mention they're both aimed at different audiences. Family Guy just comes across as more funny, has me in stitches at times. I cant really knock The Simpson's, and while it deserves the majority of credit it gets, I still don't rate it half as highly as some people do. Just personal prefereance really, because I can sit and watch both but I'd get bored within a short amount of time of watching The Simpson's, whereas I wouldn't with Family Guy, because it just appeals more to me. And I cant stand the more newish style of Simpson's where they changed the style of drawings etc, it felt horrendous IMO.

American Dad is awesome as well.

[thatblindgeye]

Family Guy's new episodes can be funny, but it's the songs that really annoy me. Patriot Games should be awesome for the Brian/Stewie fights alone, but no, it's not, because that fucking Shipoopie song or whatever the fuck it's called ruins it. Because it goes on FOR THREE MINUTES! WHO PUTS A SONG ON FOR THREE MINUTES IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHOW!?!?

I saw that episode the other day. Really infuriated me. It just went on...and on...and on. I've never really watched The Simpsons, but South Park is better than Family Guy, which for me relies too much on "This one time.." jokes. It wouldn't be so bad if I was American and properly understood more than 50% of them.

No. It really wouldn't help out if you were. Even if you lived in America you'd probably still just sit there going "what the fuck?" While people are entitled to their opinion. I just cant see how people can honestly like Family Guy so much these days.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

It's all a moot point anyway.

There's only room for one greatest cartoon series:

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

It's all a moot point anyway.

There's only room for one greatest cartoon series:

Classic, although not as good as Cow and Chicken

[hugobomb]

I've always liked American Dad over Family Guy, but The Simpsons is more consistant that both of them. American Dad may be finnier at times, but you know you're always in for a laugh with The Simpsons, so it goes:

1.The Simpsons

2. American Dad

3. Futurama

4. Family Guy

[Mick]

Without a shadow of a doubt, The Simpson's has had an incredible run, and many episodes are full of classics. However, it is a (very) aged show that has run it's course.

Family Guy on the other hand, well, just appeals a lot more to me since it has a lot more edge than The Simpsons. The Simpson's makes (horrid) spoofs of certain pop culture events/people by creating a totally fictional yet obviously inspired character to take the fall. Family Guy on the other hand doesn't seem to have a problem getting an actual celebrity in to make fun of.

That and Family Guy has the sheer randomness factor. I hate it when I hear Family Guy called a complete ripoff of The Simpsons since, God forbid, you can NEVER have a family that happens to have an infant and two older children, one male, one female, and a dog. Nope, we can't have that, can we?

People just get so anal about the fact that a TV show has a similar setting/premise as something else. Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica...what do these all have in common? Hmmm Let's not forget that The Flintstone's was basically an animated stone-age version of The Honeymooners.

So, that little rant aside, I prefer Family Guy. The Simpsons is just too dry for me, and I have no problem at all skipping the show.

[thatblindgeye]

Without a shadow of a doubt, The Simpson's has had an incredible run, and many episodes are full of classics. However, it is a (very) aged show that has run it's course.

Family Guy on the other hand, well, just appeals a lot more to me since it has a lot more edge than The Simpsons. The Simpson's makes (horrid) spoofs of certain pop culture events/people by creating a totally fictional yet obviously inspired character to take the fall. Family Guy on the other hand doesn't seem to have a problem getting an actual celebrity in to make fun of.

That and Family Guy has the sheer randomness factor. I hate it when I hear Family Guy called a complete ripoff of The Simpsons since, God forbid, you can NEVER have a family that happens to have an infant and two older children, one male, one female, and a dog. Nope, we can't have that, can we?

People just get so anal about the fact that a TV show has a similar setting/premise as something else. Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica...what do these all have in common? Hmmm Let's not forget that The Flintstone's was basically an animated stone-age version of The Honeymooners.

So, that little rant aside, I prefer Family Guy. The Simpsons is just too dry for me, and I have no problem at all skipping the show.

Yeah, but how is that any worse than what Family Guy does? How many times do we see a character in Family Guy make the lame "Not like that one time/remember that time/just like../etc etc" segue way, followed by a Family Guy character taking the role of someone in real life? Stewie Cruise? Quagmire as Bill Clinton with an over use of Quagmires catchphrases? I'd rather The Simpsons create a fictional character. Though to be fair, The Simpsons DO get plenty of celebrities to come onto the show. The fact that not all of them are playing themselves really isnt a problem.

I really wouldnt say Family Guy has any randomness factor either. It's easier than counting to ten to call out what Family Guy is going to do. All you have to expect is some sort of plot that takes up 10 or so minutes of the shows timeslot, then expect the rest of the time devoted to useless and irrelevant cutscenes. The Simpsons I feel can be more subtle with things, whereas with Family Guy I feel like they're just going "HEY! LOOK! SOMETHING FUNNY! FUNNY! LOOK! RIGHT THERE! IT'S COMING! RIIIIIIIIIGHT..... NO! NOT YET! OKAY NOW!" I mean, Simpsons seems to actually have a good formula of carrying out with a plot and actually coming up with comedy that way instead of relying on cutscenes of popular culture 20 times per episode.

I dunno... I know it's personal opinion and all... But I can't understand, for the life of me, how people love Family Guy so much, even when they explain it. It's just a horrible cutscene show with horrible parodies, it seems like the episodes have a formula of 'think up cutscenes first, then try and work a plot around them later', they tend to take one thing that was humorous the first time and then try and use it again until it becomes tiresome (those two guys that randomly sing out of nowhere and go "play me outta here!" after they take up more time than they should have), the fact that every 5 seconds is a pointless cutscene that isnt even funny one ounce yet they try to stretch the fucker out to take up 5 minutes (more in the case of the god awful singing sequences. seriously. why the fuck do I need to watch Brian and Stewie do some singing number for an ENTIRE song? am I supposed to laugh midway through and go "hahahaha OMG they is singing! A dog and a baby is SINGING! Hahahahaha ROFL ROFL ROFL!"?), and... that's probably it. This is a bit of a rant, but for some reason I just feel the need to bash the fuck out of Family Guy just because it isn't even a good show anymore and it hasn't been since it came back to FOX. Granted, The Simpsons isn't coming out with fresh episodes every week or anything, but at least they can strike with SOMETHING good a few times every season, whereas Family Guy is lucky to pinch out one or two actually good episodes, and not just episodes that have a couple laughs (which in itself is a rare thing). Really, the only redeeming quality of Family Guy I can think of is the fact that they DO tend to keep up with past episodes, i.e. Lois' brother about to kill Peter and Brian throwing a rock at Peter, saying it was for rolling the window up in the General Lee. But the bad FAR outweighs the good of the show.

Now, that's not to say that some episodes of Family Guy aren't enjoyable. Some are, as far as the new ones go. The newest one this week wasn't that bad. It was probably okay as far as the 'house' scenes and the opening goes, with the rest being meh; I also found this years Treehouse of Horror to be meh as well. I DO quite enjoy Brian and Stewie in episodes together (Last weeks episode where they go to Germany was pretty good. i actually laughed out loud at the "How many polocks does it take to fix a time machine? yeah let's find out" line). As I said the fact that they keep up with past episodes and tend to mention littles things in newer ones. I have to ask though. How many Back to the Future references has the show made in the past few weeks? I saw one in the new episode (not that great) and last weeks (actually decent) and was wondering if it's a new theme for them

[apsham]

The Simpsons, still to this day.

Everything about Family Guy pisses me off. It's the same case of shit every time, something becomes popular and it's fucking done to death and the only thing I can think of that was done like that in The Simpsons would have been the Crazy Cat Lady, and even that wasn't whored out to the extent that one-shot Family Guy characters were whored out. It's all a matter of Seth McFarlane to be honest... I can't stand the guy. Hearing him talking, looking at him, watching anything else he does... just pisses me off. American Dad is far worse than Family Guy even, I can't even remember one part from that show that I've ever enjoyed. All in all, I just wish Family Guy would have stayed dead when it did at the end of the day so we all could've just said "Oh, well Fox fucked up again." and by now, we would've all forgotten about it... but ugh, just can't stand the show myself.

Even what the Simpsons has become today is far better, I mean people always hark back to the old days but don't really understand that you can't do that in todays world. The Simpsons ran their course and now it's the time for them to put out something different, the characters within had become too much to stay as serious as the show originally was, so it ballooned into what we have today. The Simpsons can make references to itself and still be hilarious... that's why I find it amazing.