Why did Family Guy change so much after the revival?

J

Joe Cooker

New member
The show used to be so .... different in humor style and character. Before the revival the humor well for one didn't get a mercy TV-14 it accually felt like a show for teenagers. Peter wasn't as stupid and Stewie was actually evil and not just a character so you could get a homosexual joke out. And Cutaways weren't used any time they got a chance. And the thing I noticed most at the end of an episode there was always a scene where a characer learns something and not a quick mean hearted joke. Now if this sounds like a rant I'm sorry because I like the revival episodes but still..... does any one know what happened?
 
Well people change, and it doesn't take much longer than a year or two for that to happen. Interests and humor can change in that amount of time. Maybe he wanted to differentiate from the Simpsons?

... Or quite simply, Seth MacFarlene became a sell out. I'll be honest, the guy is a talented voice actor, but his ego has been inflated ever since the revival.
 
Yes. Dude's ego got bigger then the moon kingdom and the fanboys kept mooning over him. Plus according to every high school hipster with a Stewie t-shirt and frat boys who identify with Peter's drunken stupidity even when FG is crap, it's gold :shrug:

To put it simply they were in a bit of rut after the revival and they never had to get out of it, I'm almost certain when they do these days it's by mistake.
 
OR it's possible that there are people out there who just want a good laugh and enjoy the show for what it is. Additionally, in my experience threads containing words like "fanboys" are usually flamebait

Fratboys and high school hipsters huh? I finished college six years ago and I enjoy Family Guy immensely. Many of my friends my age (and older) also enjoy the show. Not exactly appreciating your insinuation that current Family Guy fans are either in high school or are idiot frat boys. Come on now.

Or maybe they just figured out what kind of show they wanted it to be and just went in a different direction. The show still has it's fans and does well in the ratings, so this approach seems to be working just fine. And you honestly think the episodes that are really, really good (such as episodes like "Stewie Kills Lois", "Meet the Quagmires", "Play it Again, Brian" and several others are just accidents?

IMHO, when the crew behind Family Guy give it their all they usually turn out something special. They're still very capable of creating quality product, although I'll be the first to admit that the show has it's share of duds.
 
Split obligations? Seth's working on 3 (possibly 4 now) shows. Even for a creative genius, that's a bit much considering everything else he does. FG back then was his main/only project, wasn't it?
 
Anyone mind pointing to me to examples of Seth McFarlane's huge ego that has apparantly caused his work to go downhill?

I don't know the guy personally, but I haven't seen him do anything that suggests he's completely full of himself. Maybe using Brian as an author avater, but that seems to be the only example I can think of.
 
Uh you said it your self pretyy much any revival Family Guy episode with Brain has been unfunny because he spends too much time trying to make you agree with him.
 
Perhaps. But if anything they would be the one's to blame.

Seth doesn't make the show all by himself. I don't know why all the blame should rest squarely on his shoulders.
 
It's possible Seth pays more attention to his other projects now, much like Matt Groening pretty much left the Simpsons behind when Futurama came around.

He probably spends a lot of time trying to get his other stuff off the ground he doesn't have the time (or energy) to work on it as much as he used to. Which may contribute to the difference in writing and jokes from the pre-revival.
 
I thought the show pretty much had the same writing staff as it did pre-cancellation. Still, even a lot of the writers I recall writing great episodes in the early seasons churned out some major stinkers later on (Mike Henry comes to my mind in particular).
 
I think some are still there, but many are gone as well. Proof:

Ricky Blitt: Hasn't written an episode since season 2, production-wise. Went on to create "The Winner".

Neil Goldman/Garrett Donovan: Ditto. Went on to "Scrubs".

Gary Janetti: Last work was on Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. Went to "Will & Grace".

Matt Weitzman/Mike Barker: Last wrote during season 3. Now on "American Dad", obviously.

Craig Hoffman: Last one was during season 2. Not sure what he did after that, other than "Endgame", a made-for-TV movie.

Bobby Bowman: Only wrote one episode in season 2. Went to "Yes, Dear" and "My Name is Earl".

Dave Collard/Ken Goin: Season 3 was the latest. Went on to "Tripping the Rift".

Jim Bernstein/Michael Shipley: Only one season 3 episode (technically season 2 in production order). Briefly worked on season 4 before going to a variety of shows like "Oliver Beene", "My Name is Earl", and eventually "American Dad".

Alex Barnow/Mark Firek: Season 3 was their one and only. Now (or previously, I think) on "Til Death".

Allison Adler: Ditto. Went to "Still Standing", "Life As We Know It", "Chuck", etc.

Daniel Palladino: Double ditto. Went to "Gilmore Girls".

Gene Laufenberg: Last one was at the very start of season 4. Went to "Living With Fran" (yeah, I haven't heard of it either).

New writers for season 4 and onward: Patrick Henry
Alec Sulkin/Wellesley Wild
Patrick Meighan
Tom Devanney
John Viener
Matt Fleckenstein
Kirker Butler
Michael Rowe
Tom Maxwell/Don Woodward
Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
David A. Goodman
Andrew Goldberg
Brian Scully
Alex Carter
Richard Appel

The directors have shuffled, too. There are still some veterans on the show like Peter Shin, Pete Michels, Dan Povenmire, and John Holmquist (who did one episode in season 2 before returning with "Airport '07"), but these people, AFAIK, are gone:

Michael Dante DiMartino: Went to "Mission Hill", "King of the Hill", and most notably, "Avatar".

Roy Allen Smith: Went to, um, "LeapFrog". Never heard of it.

Monte Young: Did various episodes of "The Oblongs", "King of the Hill", and "ChalkZone". Not sure what he's doing now.

Neil Affleck: I think he was working on FG and Simpsons simultaneously, though I could be wrong. Went on to "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends".

Jeff Myers: Jumped ship for "King of the Hill". Though interestingly, there was an eight year gap between directing jobs on that show (2001 to 2009).

Bob Jacques: Went on to "The Oblongs" (briefly) and "My Life as a Teenage Robot" before working on some more Spumco stuff, I assume at Carbunkle.

Jack Dyer: Went to "The Oblongs". Also apparently did some animation timing for "The Simpsons".

Swinton Scott: A bunch of stuff after FG: "God, the Devil and Bob", "Futurama", "The Batman", "Camp Lazlo", "What's New Scooby Doo".

Gavin Dell: Worked on the infamous Larry Doyle Looney Tunes shorts.

Scott Wood: Who knows what he's doing now.

Glen Hill: Ditto. FG seems to be the latest thing listed.

Bert Ring: Went to work on "Curious George" and "Tak".

Rob Renzetti: Now doing a bunch of work for Nick and CN series.

Brian Hogan: Went to "Billy & Mandy", "Baby Blues", and "The Batman".
 
It has to be the writers because the episodes after season 3 have little to no story flow and character development. Also, the jokes have been severely downgraded in terms of cleverness and originality.
 
Season 1 was certainly very different, as well as much of season 2. But I think the show isn't too different now than it was in season 3, stylistically; it's just gradually increasing in randomness, increasing in vulgarity, and decreasing in cleverness. It's not really any mystery, it's just the natural course for a show to take. You start with a few ideas, then they spawn some really great ideas, then you start running out of ideas.

I do think Seth MacFarlane is less involved at this point, which likely has something to do with it. I can't blame him; he's working on 3 shows now. Hopefully The Cleveland Show is not depending too heavily on him, but his voice acting load for Family Guy and American Dad is tremendous, aside from any writing/consulting he does.

The Simpsons has changed much more drastically -- although it's also had over twice as long to deteriorate.
 
Dan Povenmire's gone from FG. He went on to co-create Phineas and Ferb with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (Dan and Jeff previously worked together on Rocko's Modern Life)
 
Yeah, you're right; looking at the FG episode list, his last episode was "Meet the Quagmires". Still, he was one of them to come back after the revival and stay a while, at the very least.
 
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