A Thought About Family Guy's Cutaways

C

ComedyLiker23

New member
This thought occurred to me recently. People have been complaining about too many cutaways in recent Family Guy episodes, but I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem with Family Guy's cutaways lately is not their overabundance in many episodes, but that many of them don't relate to the story or dialog at all. Let's look at a few examples:

In "The Father, The Son and the Holy Fonz":
Stewie rolls up in his bubble and says "Ugh, you would not BELIEVE the morning I had." Then they cut to a parody of that Sesame Street "Twelve" pinball video. Completely unrelated- just stuck in there to parody something.

In "You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives":
After Jasper's rant, Stewie says "Ugh, this guy will fit in with our family just as well as Peter did with The Proclaimers." Then we cut to Peter singing with The Proclaimers. What? I mean, yeah, it's an analogy so it's not like it doesn't relate at all, but it's still a stretch.

One of the worst offenders, while not really a "cutaway", was in "No Meals on Wheels" when Peter and Lois watched the long opening credits of Maude. While it was mildly amusing with Peter getting annoyed by how long it took, it had no place in the middle of the episode like that and took forever. In fact, after the song is over the characters awkwardly go from watching TV to talking about the restaurant. They could've easily started the scene with talking about the restaurant and there wouldn't have been any difference.

And of course the overused "...like the time when I ______." That could be applied to ANY situation. This sort of thing makes it difficult to place cutaways with specific episodes. The jokes are pretty much interchangeable. It's the ultimate example of a manatee joke.

Compare that to something like "Death Has a Shadow", where Brian says "Lois is gonna wonder where you're going all day." Peter says "Oh yeah..." Then we cut to Lois watching TV while Peter poses as a standing lamp in the background. That joke directly relates to the dialog and plot, is a quick, simple joke, and is so absurd it's funny.

Or in "Brian: Portrait of a Dog", when Diane calls it a "freak heat wave" and Tom says "I don't think you should use the word 'freak'- some people could get offended." Then we cut to Tom and his upside down head son, who laments he's a freak. Again, relates to the dialog.

Or in "The Thin White Line" when the family is talking about taking a cruise, and Stewie says he always imagined a life at sea, to which they cut to a H.M.S. Pinafore parody. I really can't picture that cutaway in any other episode- it fits the dialog and flow of the plot, even if the family pretty much abandoned the cruise idea quickly.

Or in "Mind Over Murder" when Peter is going stir crazy from being stuck in the house due to his house arrest and says that all the TV shows are starting to run together. Then they cut to "Homicide: Life on the Sesame Street", obviously a mix of the two shows. It's a logical transition, and a funny one to boot.

Now I'm not going to pretend that there weren't some "unrelated cutaways" back in the first three seasons but it seems like the quantity was a lot less and they were tied to the dialog and flowed better.

Apologies if this was rambling but I think this is one area the writing staff could fine tune. Don't take out the cutaways, because it's probably one of the reasons Family Guy became a big hit, but craft them better.
 
It's one of several aspects of the show that could use a bit more thought these days. Possibly the main one. With this show's anything-goes nature, I don't mind the fact that they most likely have a storehouse of cutaway gags waiting to be used. But it's a TV show, and it still needs to have a good flow to it. There's a reason that they're cutaways and not just isolated sketches -- the specific way in which they cut away from the story is often what makes them really funny.

Also, here's a good image from Something Awful that relates to this:

PeterGriffinsAlzheimers.jpg
 
Sometimes the cutaways, particularly music ones, do drag a little too long (the arguing caveman couple and the dumpster baby ones come to mind), but for the most part, I love the cutaways and how completely random and unrelated they can be. It really reminds me of how conversations go with one particular friend of mine. We'll be talking about something, and out of nowhere one of us will make some out-of-left-field reference that will briefly lead us into another completely unrelated topic before returning to the original. I think that's why I love Family Guy so much, because it sometimes reminds me of my own sense of humor and the way I talk with my friends.
 
The problem with the cutaways is that it's a very cheap and lazy form of comedy writing, one that doesn't rely on plot (they can be used unaltered in any episode), or character (other than the one-dimensional basics), or situational humor, or even wit. It's the animation equivalent of mugging for the camera or relying on a worn-out catchphrase. This kind of humor doesn't age well, either; twenty years from now, no one watching the reruns will remember what is being referenced.
 
If you think about it though, when done right, you shouldn't need to know what's being referenced. It should be funny on its own. Which is another problem with cut-aways these days, in my opinion. They aren't parodies. They're literally just Peter, Brian, or Stewie stuck into the opening credits of an old TV show or a scene from a movie. There's no parody. It's just "remember this?" Without a parody, when people DON'T remember this anymore, it will quit being funny.
 
I'll have to disagree with this one, I thought that Stewie being in a plastic bubble and bouncing in all directions in a pin-ball-like setting fit perfectly, but other than that I can't say anything that hasn't already been said about the show itself so...
 
It related to him bringing up his bad morning, but my point is, the end of that scene wouldn't have been any different if Stewie's bad morning had never been mentioned. It didn't factor into what was happening at all, either before or what followed. The only thing way it barely related to the plot was that Stewie's bubble resembled a pinball.
 
The things I liked about the first 3 seasons were the stuff that had to do with jokes and character interaction in relation to the plot, the cutaways were not so much the focus. Something they started doing more of in season 3, which is why it's the only season of Family Guy I can sit down and just watch.

When they came back it's like they remembered to bring the manatee jokes, but forgot about the story and character quirks (And I don't mean Herbert)...
 
I've been talking about this with a friend. Both of us used to love Family Guy, but he's now basically dropped it. It's definetly made a big switch. In the early days it was clearly parodying wholesome sitcoms, with the idea of what if one of those families had surreal things happen to them. It's gone from that to the Griffin's instigating the surrealism and random violence. Go on YouTube and you'll see clips of just about every random Family Guy moment, with people saying how great it is.

For me, I think the cutaways work best when you're not expecting them. The fact that they have so many and now mostly spell out what's gonna happen doesn't really make that possible. One of the scenes that got me into the show was Stewie playing with his Sesame Street phone ("I think it's a bit hard for a deaf woman to hear an assasin sneaking up on her..."). That was a funny little bit of pop culture humour, primarily because at the time I was suprised a show was making so many direct references to entertainment. Now you just expect it and when there's no suspense in comedy it doesn't really work. Family Guy now pretty much just says "Here's something from your childhood being twisted. Find it funny".
 
Let's not forget about the intro to PTV.

The entire beginning litterally takes 4 minutes out of a 22 minute episode. It shows Osama Bin Laden trying to give America yet another video message about their destruction to their country, but it becomes a blooper festival involving sunglasses and a rubber chicken. Then Stewie comes out of nowhere, kicking him and his band's asses. As soon as Stewie rides his magnificent tricycle, it becomes a parody of The Naked Gun (as of what the video is all about). That "parody" becomes yet another festival featuring Star Wars, The Shining, Wizard of Oz, Sound Of Music; Doom; and The Simpsons.

It's the longest intro that Family Guy has made, and it also the most wasted part of the episode.
 
While that intro has grown on me (I initially hated it), I agree it really doesn't fit the rest of the episode. It could be tacked onto the beginning of any episode with a short running time and the result would be the same.

Now, suppose that same intro was worked into an episode where the Griffins go to the Middle East or something. Even if it was used as a cutaway and didn't factor into the main plot, it would at least fit into the context of their location. Of course, you'd have to nix the part of the bike riding sequence where Stewie comes home and runs over Homer, but... oh well. It's not like that's a particularly groundbreaking gag anyway, what with Homer being ran over in Treehouse of Horror IX.
 
That's pretty well thought out, Speedy Boris. I think there are a handful of reasons why Family Guy returning was a bit of a disappointment, and you just hit the nail on the head when it comes to cutaways.





One of the things that I really dislike about the show now is the randomness of the jokes take you away from the plot. They're not exactly forced, because this is Family Guy we're talking about, but because they could basically be in any episode, sometimes I'm just wondering if it's worth it, especially in the episodes where more time should've been devoted to plot.
 
As for Speedy Borris's other reasons, Family Guy these days should inturn be a Variety show with its 70's and 80's pop-culture party. In fact, if it was a piece of variety, then it would Fox's answer to Robot Chicken.
 
Another type of cutaway I dislike are the direct reference spoofs that either have a gag tacked on or no gag at all, for example the Opposites Attract video, The Great Space Coaster, the A-Team intro and Stewie’s dance with Gene Kelley.
 
Yeah, that too. Another one I had a problem with was Peter's recreation of Liar, Liar. Exact same dialog, and IIRC, even some of the same movements. There's no creative twist to that, and takes little to no effort to write.
 
I liked the A-Team intro because it actually did involve the plot and the "Peter hurts his knee" gag making a return was funny.

The Great Space Coaster is a prime example of my problem with the cut-aways. The gag at the end was obviously just put in to salvage what was otherwise just them doing the opening of that show but with Peter.

Stewie's dance with Gene Kelly was a pointless time waster and I hate it. One of the lowest points of the series.
 
Sort of, though the creators didn't really refrence Family Guy ever declining, just talking like it's always been that way. Then again Matt and Trey have gone on to admitt they really haven't watched too much television recently (not even seeing a lot of the Simpsons until probably planning out "Simpsons Already Did It") so I doubt they even saw that much Family Guy. Probably even after "Cartoon Wars" was over they probably saw at most a few (probably new episodes).

Speedy Boris is right though: I've noticed that the general writing (espically of pre-cutaway lines) is a lot weaker, and it's not just the abundunce of long drawn out scenes that's declining the show. It's the fact that they aren't even really trying to write for the characters themselves anymore: they're just trying to write enough exposition and twists to make an actual episode (while padding it out with a lot of jokes and conversations that seem funny to them) and seldom give real characterization to anyone in it (espically anyone outside of the Griffin Family). I mean really there hasn't been a really good cutawayish line since early season 4. Sometimes they try and sort of cleverly incoprerate the gag back into the show (like Jane falling to her death in "Meet The Quagmires") but that isn't a strength of the actual writing of the original joke. Just them trying to seem "funnier" by repeating themselves. (Seriously the FG staff must really go with the "If they Love It Once they'll love it twice rule". Nearly every epsiode since at least "Peter and Ted's Bogus Journey" has tried to use nearly the same joke twice in one episode. Where's the fun in that?).
 
Back
Top