Anyone else tired of Family Guy reusing jokes?

I think pretty much everyone is sick of Family Guy's reuse of jokes at this point. Seriously, Seth and co. cannot keep this show funny when they keep reusing jokes and causing them to lose their humor.



If they make fun of the economy, they'll say that Bush started it's problems. If they make fun of Obama, Brian will no doubt defend him saying that he's saving America. Those are my predictions.
 
You speak like this is a proven fact. So people on the internet are sick of reused Family Guy jokes and no longer think the show is funny. I never really thought the internet was a good indication of the mainstream's opinion of something. There are lots of people out there who still find this show funny: lots of people who don't and won't analyze it the same way animation fans on a message board will. As Homer himself once said, "It's just a bunch of drawings that give you a cheap laugh." That's Family Guy.

And saying everyone is not exactly true. As a few of us do think some of this is still funny.

There's no way to counter this without going further into politics, which we're not supposed to do.
 
Yeah, I totally agree. Even though they're using recycled jokes that doesn't mean it's not funny (not totally at least). And maybe if we keep watching Family Guy they might turn around and start something new that makes us laugh and stop or not totally stop using recycled jokes and material. But right now it's all in the dumpster.
 
It is not a 100% accurate indication of those who watch Family Guy but it IS a good one. Look at how many different people visit this board. People from across the WORLD. Also the internet is wonderful because almost anyone can use it. If people do not like something they can make themselves known.

This message board has how many thousands of users? That is a pretty good sized random sample of people.
 
It's been mentioned a few times here already.

Are you saying that you're sick of it, or are you asking if others are sick of it, or are you just mentioning it?
 
But I think that's reason why people are complaining about the show here and now. Family Guy is beginning to (if it hasn't already) run out of material. While the whole stand-up/sketch comedy approach as ingenious at first, the routine has now become old, and makes the show feel like a bland sketch comedy show or the opening monologue of a run-of-the-mill latenight talk show.

Seriously, to me, there have been numerous occasions where recent episodes of Family Guy have felt like some tired Carlos Mencia stand-up. This is never a good thing for an animated series.

The only way I can see Family Guy staying fresh is if the show makes an attempt to reinvent itself. Unfortunately, this would require actual writing and plot development, which would only make the show feel awkward. Another good solution would be if execs decide to pull the plug (again) before the show enters the Simpsons level of purgatory. And to be perfectly honest, I would be satisfied if the show ends soon because it has already been resurrected with a triumphant return, and has had a good run because of it. I am still enjoying American Dad and I am pretty sure that the Cleveland Show will do well. However, Family Guy is beginning to overstay its novelty, and I really can't see it lasting for the long haul like the Simpsons, King of the Hill or even American Dad (shows that have displayed a sort of substance which Family Guy lacks).

Now, I'm not trying to knock Seth MacFarlane. He is a very creative man with a brilliant singing voice. I think that he is making up all the wrong things he's doing with Family with every excellent episode of American Dad.

I want Family Guy to succeed much like everyone else, but it's rather frustrating to see no real effort is being put from its staff anymore.
 
I look at it like this. While some running gags may be amusing, it takes little effort to write them. You can almost see the writers opening up a big book of jokes FG has used before and saying, "Hmmm, what can we use again?" I value effort in my comedy writing, so to see the show just rehash jokes that were funny the first time smacks of laziness.

The stand-up comedy analogy doesn't really work, no offense. I always hated it when watching Comedy Central and I saw the same comedian on different specials, and he did roughly the same routine each time. You can't just reuse your act and expect to get anywhere. To stay fresh in the comedy business, you have to make new material, constantly. And surprisingly enough, there were even some upset with the fan-pleasing jokes at the start of season 4 (like Matt Wilson, who gave a bad review to "Blind Ambition" because we got a second chicken fight).
 

I haven't watched it in a long while, despite how I don't consider myself a hater of the show, I mean I have the Season 3 DVD. But I certainly am not too keen on the newer stuff that much, although if I really am curious, I'll watch it online if anything. But yeah, I haven't watched any of the newest episodes, but I don't think they're an improvement from what I last saw. I could be wrong, but I digress.



QFT. It has been stated several times that FG's style of comedy is incredibly easy to write, thus why rehashing jokes come off as 'lazy'. Now normally when a comedian reuses the same joke, it's funny, but somehow FG just executes it wrong and it ends up coming off as annoying.



And it's not just joke wise, either. The plots seem like random suggestions as if they ran out of things to do. This is unfortunately one of the issues with the flashback jokes, it leaves out opportunities to possibly use that joke in a situation that could be made into another episode idea.


But I think Seth can do so much better, but BECAUSE he's juggling so many shows at once, it's difficult. He's a talented voice actor and singer, but apparently not so much of a multi-tasker. Which then leaves me wondering why on Earth he felt the need to make The Cleveland Show. I mean, as if he wasn't busy enough.
 
No one pointed this out throughout the whole thread so I thought I should address it.

The joke was that Tom and Diane were talking about a litteral electric company that was giving Quahog their power, which led into the joke about the TV show, and then afterwords, they said "Contrary to those upbeat lyrics, the electric company will not be giving you the power" and the power goes off. Thats the joke. It wasnt just a no-substance joke, it was actually a clever one and became relevant to the plot.
 
Um, I didn't need to have the joke explained to me. I got it. But the fact of the matter is that the joke about Quahog losing it's power could have been told just as easily without referencing the old PBS TV show. Diane and Tom mentioning the TV show was not in the least bit relevant to the story's plot. It was just referencing another show from the writers' childhoods just for the sake of doing so.
 
We had another Stewie mispronouncing words joke last night. Stewie kept on saying wHill Wheaton.

Come on!

Yes Seth is really busy right now, but he is still the Executive Producer, and correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that higher then Director and writer? He is the ultimate boss. He should have a lot of say in what goes in each episode and read each script.
 
Well, I never said that TZ was an accurate depiction of what the population thinks of FG. I was simply correcting the assesment about the regulars at TZ. I have access to much more detailed stats and trust me when I say the amount of regulars is quite notable. Definitely a lot higher than "a hundred".
 
What I meant was that you rarely see more than a 100 members at the same time not that there's only 100 active members.
 
In another thread you listed ideas for many other Cleveland bathtub jokes?

make up your mind whether you like them or not........
 
I never really mind Family Guy re-using old jokes. It just depends on how it's presented. In the last season I felt a lot of the jokes they re-used were kind of forced and it was a tad annoying as a result. The Meg bashing is getting a little tiresome now and the Conway Twitty is pretty annoying.
 
You are right, but there are a good deal of people willing to defend the show as well, to the point that is about an even split. Obviously thats not much of an indication on current Family Guy episodes quality, except for proving the obvious fact that some people still ike it while some people don't.
 
Back
Top