What am I missing? (Family Guy)

L

Lindsey F

New member
I need a sense of something I'm lost on guys...

I guess I'll be blunt. I really don't like Family Guy. I think the fact that it's a lot of random, unlinked pop culture references and Meg abuse "jokes" does not a show make. Essentially, I felt "Cartoon Wars" was dead on. So, eh, not into it.

But, the rest of the world...

Seriously, everywhere I go, from half of my family to my dormmates at college, everyone gushes about Family Guy. They act like God Himself gifted humanity with it. If the name comes up somehow, people gasp in savoring awe. If I mention I don't like it, they act like I blasphemed in the Vatican. It's the best selling show of all time. I see it quoted and cited everywhere.

And to be honest... I don't get it.

I'm not trying to set myself up as the guy who has perfect taste, or the expert on good TV. I'm basically asking (after what, seven years?)... what am I missing? What is it that makes Family Guy so popular and, well, revered?

The voice acting? The scripting? Specific references? Certain characters?

PS: If I come across as strong or this was just asked, advance apologies.
 
Everything pre-Adult Swim and rebirth was actually funny. When they went crazy with the shock jokes, completely mess up Brian, and gave too much focus on Stewie. It went to the crapper.
 
Yeah, it might help if you tell us what episodes you've seen. If you've seen mostly season 4+ episodes, I don't blame you for disliking it but would recommend you watch some of the earlier seasons. If you've seen episodes from every season, it's just not your show.
 
In all honesty,I'm not quite sure why I like Family Guy (I also dislike the Meg abuse).....I guess I just find Peter's stupidity funny(Mayor West is usually pretty funny,too),and some of the random pop culture jokes make me laugh....
There are alot of other animated series I enjoy more....South Park is one (and I totally agree with their Family Guy criticizm in "Cartoon Wars" )...
 
I think the essence of what makes Family Guy funny is that it's the one show where you really, truly don't know what joke is coming next. A lot of humor is in the essence of surprise, and timing, and you can't even rely on the plot to guess what's going to happen.

So....when they do things like overuse one-joke characters that were only funny once, it hurts the series, as it runs contrary to its appeal.

Also, ever since they were given the freedom of cable and DVD releases they've been lazily relying on shock gags; and ever since Bush's second term they've been violently slamming lefty dogma down our throats. Being preached at is not funny, especially when the message is so simplistic and biased.
 
It's mainly due to the writers. During the first three seasons, David Zuckerman did some great writing for Family Guy. But after he left, Alex Borstein and a bunch of other new guys took over and the show hasn't been the same. Seriously, who hired Cherry Chevapravatdumrong?
 
I would say that, based on the episodes you've seen and the fact that you still don't like it, that the show's just not for you.

Just because you have an unpopular opinion doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you or that you're missing something.

For instance, I hate the show Scrubs. Everyone I know loves it. I don't know why I dislike the show. Based on my overall taste, it seems like I would like it. But I hate it.
 
I'm the only boy my age who hates South Park. It's type of humor along with the animation and character design spells unappealing for me.

You can't like everything everyone else likes, and you can't like everything as much as everyone else does.
 
I liked Family Guy's first two seasons best, although Season Three was pretty much just as good. It really shouldn't have come back though, it's got virtually no redeeming qualities now. And like the Simpsons, it's now gotten to the point where the bad episodes outnumber the good ones. There's nothing about it that's as good as it was before it was cancelled, except for perhaps the music and animation (but the animation was pretty bad to begin with). The writing has been garbage since Season Four, and personally I don't even like some of the voice acting as much lately (specifically Peter, Lois and Stewie).

To me Peter sounds blander than he did in S1-3, perhaps not as emotive or something. He always sounds like he's awkwardly setting up for some bad cutaway, even when he's not. Lois's voice has been getting more and more exaggerated since the show started, and while her original voice was annoying, this new level of shrillness is also pretty bad, IMO. As for Stewie, I just prefer his original evil incarnation rather than the feminine version, but that started to change even before the cancellation.
 
If I watch Family Guy I will laugh, there are some great episodes. I just can't consider myself a "fan". I don't care about the characters or anything, I find a lot of established things on the series to be very dumb. Because of the random nature I always find something to laugh at but like I stated I find it mostly dumb..
The rebirth is def. not as good as the original show but it keeps enough for people to like it. In fact it mostly expanded on stuff the "mainstream" liked..


As for South Park I find that show WAY too preachy, the shock value of the bleep cuss words rubbed out by the time i was 15. When I watch it about once a month or so I usually laugh but I can't make my self watch it consistently and enjoying it.
 
Oh, sorry, I wasn't fretting about unpopular opinion, I'm basically asking what is it that lets OTHER people enjoy. I've been on the end of worse popular opinion before, so I don't get phased by it. :sweat:
 
Aside from the occasional thought-joke or a TV reference, I don't like Family Guy either. The humor is way too mean-spirited, crude, and often just gross. It's definitely not my show at all.

Too bad too, since the 1st season of Johnny Bravo proved Seth McFarlane can do talented, funny cartoon writing without relying on gross-out/mean-spirited gags.
 
As others have said, it's the completely unpredictable punchlines and non sequitors that I enjoy. Sometimes the show feels like a series of Gary Larson cartoons. One of my all-time favorite jokes was Peter's line "The healthiest thing we can do is just ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. Like we do with the squid", at which point there's a never-before-seen giant squid at the kitchen table.

I could go either way on pop-culture references, and am so numb to whatever people consider "offensive" that I can't even tell when a joke is supposed to have shock value.
 
I don't like it. Never really have. I don't feel the need to ask others why though. I just don't like it and it's fine with me.

Just because something is popular doesn't mean you have to go with the flow.
 
The show has become the Brian and Stewie Show for the most part. Peter has his moments, but those two are the ones that usually get the best lines or plots. I think the appeal is from youngsters to those that grew up in the 80's or 70's. They basically skewer a lot of those things we grew up with and it's supposedly cool to see stuff that we loved and be like, "they remember those too!"
 
You're not alone, I've never been a huge Family Guy fan, and also can't figure out what the fuss is about.
When it first started airing, it seemed like a less funny copy of The Simpsons. It eventually found its voice, and improved some, but never became a great show.
After it 'came back' , it completely lost whatever it once had. I've watched entire recent episodes and not even cracked a smile once.
They occasionally get off a good joke, but the past couple of seasons have been way more misses than hits.

I think part of it's popularity is due to a PR campaign on Seth McFarlaine's part. He did extensive tours on college campuses, and pushed the idea of this show being some underdog cult hit that you HAD to like to be cool. That idea apperantly stuck, and it seems that the biggest defenders of Family Guy are college age kids who were told to like it. Even when you point out significant examples of bad animation and lazy writing in the show, it's fans will retort with something like 'Simpsons sucks' or some other pointless response that doesn't address the issue.
I agree with the South Park critique of Family Guy. It's lazy writing that really isn't funny.
 
Yeah, that is dead-on for my experiences too. Funny thing is, Seth strikes me as somewhat talented and capable (he is a fellow New Englander too), so its a bit of a "?!" to see his name attached to this.

Funny thing is, I kind of enjoy American Dad!, but not as much since my favorite character (Hayley) has suddenly turned into a nonexistent, greedy, lazy, hypocritical brat this season (damn "Camp Refoguee" in particular)...
 
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