Can Seth MacFarlane and crew really not write for girls?

L

lightningpaw

New member
I know he openly admitted this back in the day in regards to Meg, but it seems to have carried on pretty blatant in the other two shows as well, with both Roberta and Hayley sometimes only getting one line an ep. or just being completely absent from an ep. I know each show has at least like three chicks on the writing/directing staff, but it just seemed weird to me.
 
Well Seth McFarlane hasn't written an episode since Season 4...

But for the other writers, not all of them but some of them haven't written for much other than Family Guy. So most of them haven't worked on female-centric shows and feel comfortable writing for a guy themed television show.
 
Not that I want to stick up for Seth MacFarlane, but he's simply writing as a product of our society. Very few male writers write thoughtfully about females. Heck, I'm not even sure many female writers write thoughtfully about females these days.
 
I think it's simply because they supposed to be seen as hot moms (or MILFs to be more blunt).

I find it funny how everyone goes on about how Meg is so ugly, yet if you imagine Lois with glasses, brown hair and a pink cap she looks exactly like Meg. :p
 
Yes, the writing for women is awful in most shows.
Because all we know is they are devastated if their popularity is threatened.

Last year I thought Lois improved a bit, because the started writing her as Peter.
I thought part of the joke of Meg was how bad shows write for girls.

Did they even want Meg on the show?
Almost seems to be a character half forced on them to round out the standard TV family formula.

Here's a quick one.
lois-meg.gif


No, still hotter.

Note: I'm only going to keep this up for a limited time.
 
You're asking why a male centric show has trouble writing for female characters? Maybe they need to keep writing the way they do to keep their audience.

South Park is the same way.
 
There are a lot of unfortunate implications in the MacFarlane cartoons when it comes to women. Not just neglected the daughter for the other characters in the show, but look at the lack of the supporting female characters on American Dad (Steve has three recurring male friends, Hayley has zero recurring female friends, I don't recall Stan having any female co-workers, and they even have a gay male couple for neighbors).

Plus, they killed off Loretta, Muriel, and Diane. That's a good percentage of the adult women supporting characters on Family Guy (okay, Loretta wasn't killed until the Cleveland Show, but still). Bonnie had better watch out.
 
Have you seen Lois in the newer episodes? She's been so out of character its not even funny. She doesn't even seem to care about Meg these days, but hey whatever floats her boat :p Now every once in a while it will seem like Seth and his crew can write girls ok, Meg these days have turned into a cooler girl at least that's my opinion.
 
Maybe a better question. Do they need to?

CBS et al have enough "wife shows up the fat and/or stupid husband" comedies that they really don't need to bother with it if they don't want to.
 
True, but they could conceivably do a different take on the concept if they wanted to. Besides, doesn't Seth MacFarlane have another series in the works with a woman as the protagonist?
 
It's unfortunate that I know this, but CBS doesn't have any of those anymore. The closest is Rules of Engagement, but the married couple in that is more like locked in an eternal childish struggle than one being completely dominant. Patrick Warburton's husband character is actually smart and crafty. Again, sad that I know this, I really need to get cable. :)



Most depressing show ever.
 
Hey, that's my line!

Would I like to see more strong female characters on Seth's shows? Of course I would. Hayley on "American Dad" was definitely an example of that in the early run of the show, but now she's just kind of there. I think it's just not a priority for the writers - which is a shame, as more likeable female characters in animation is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of ideas out there for characters like Meg and Hayley, if only the writers would bother to try and make them work.
 
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