I'm amazed by how many people prefer the earlier "Family Guy".
- Thread starter Horse Detective
- Start date
- NSFW
- Status
The second half of season 1 on is all great stuff.
I remember hating it to hate it like most people but slowly realized how much better it was than the FG output at the time.
Wreck-It Ralph
Member
I liked the early seasons of Family Guy because I was 12 years old. Not so much now that I'm older.
Family Guy went from being a slightly edgier, more random Simpsons to being a 2edgy4u, shock-value Simpsons. That's why I prefer the pre-cancellation Family Guy.
But really, Family Guy never had anything on South Park's good episodes or the Simpsons first couple seasons. It was just good for when I wanted to laugh without using any of my brain, whereas with SP and Simpsons I had to think at least a little bit. It was a great show for when I was heavily sleep deprived.
But really, Family Guy never had anything on South Park's good episodes or the Simpsons first couple seasons. It was just good for when I wanted to laugh without using any of my brain, whereas with SP and Simpsons I had to think at least a little bit. It was a great show for when I was heavily sleep deprived.
Mechanized
Member
Some of the episodes from the first 2 seasons are almost unwatchable, and not funny at all. There are a few good gags here and there, but for the most part its really lame in retrospect. Things did pick up after that though.
Hero Prinny
Member
honestly I got sick of family guy when they started to think they were some kind of musical. they'd waste so much times with songs, I remember there being an episode where its some real guy singing the song and the showed the entire song. They're clearly using those song bits to eat up as much time as possible. But I did enjoy a a bit of the post cancellation episodes for what its worth.
Escape Goat
Member
The first few seasons were best. Now it's one big gay stewie joke.
freeofgreed
Member
The first two seasons were awful, Simpsons carbon copy and just as boring. Yes the Griffens were more likable but you don't watch the show for it's characterization you watch it to laugh, which it failed horribly at doing. Season 3-6 were golden though, season 7 was awful and was the point when the show was just coasting off its own success and it just kept recycling the same old jokes, I stopped watching it at this point and haven't looked back. My roommate had it on the TV a few months ago and it was a new episode, so I watched it for old time sake and the show has gotten even worse.
No it's not. I was wondering when people would start call Cleveland Show the "underrated gem". The Brown family alone don't have likeable member except for Cleveland.
benjipwns
Banned
It started off garbage, but then got that "I know we're dead in the water" vibe and improved.
Would never say it got "good" on a consistent basis though.
This is pretty accurate.The first seasons actually had a structure/purpose. The Griffins were a typical sitcom family that were put into situations far outside sitcom conventions and confronted head-on with all of the established tropes on mainstream TV and movies. Basically it was a parody of sitcoms with a lot of other pop culture thrown in.
That's why the theme song starts with a parody of [edit]All in the Family, and features the characters referring to a simpler time before "Violence in movies and sex on TV." It's basically, "Here's a classic sitcom family," but the joke being that the show is a raunchy parody of that concept. The show's name itself comes across as a sitcom pitch with no effort put into it. "It's a show about a.... family... guy. Yeah! Family Guy!"
I also assume this is why there's a TV in the logo.
Post-cancellation that structure was discarded for whatever the hell Macfarlane wanted, with no character consistency or over-arching parody. The opening theme song and logo are relics of what the original idea was supposed to be.
GenericBadGuy
Member
I haven't watched the show in a long time, but something that stood out to me was how violent the show seem to have become. There were constantly people bleeding out or dying or the family was beating the shit out of each other. Maybe it was always that bad and I never noticed but it seemed that way to me. Someone even told me some rumor about some new writer started on the series then everything got real violent.
Caught a few seconds of it from back when the animation was crap. The humor is so dull and awful. Not that the show has been gold, but it can be enjoyable occasionally. Despite that, I still see this floating around Facebook every week or so.
I think this image sums up my feeling toward the show fairly well. There is a difference between the two versions. That's not to say the original was great. The overall tone and feel of the show was better in the end. Especially in how the characters are handled.
The Lamonster
Member
Yep. I prefer Cleveland Show to FG or AD.
^ see? I didn't even bother spelling out their titles.
I just watched the whole show and it never got good. All the family members became more and more annoying besides Cleveland. Rallo especially was annoying and he became quickly the jack of all trades for the writers, same as Steview. In one episode he can act his age and in other he buys Mustang and takes it for a joyride. There were good episodes but they were very rare.
somuchwater
Member
Early on, for so many of us who grew up on the Simpsons, Family Guy initially seemed like a slightly more edgy, referential sort of humour, and the early stuff had some genuinely funny stuff.
Now it's an aggressively stupid show that traffics in outright sexism and racism which it tries to hide under a bullshit banner of "irony" or, even worse, "we're equally insulting to all groups." Ugh.
At least, that's my take on things.
Now it's an aggressively stupid show that traffics in outright sexism and racism which it tries to hide under a bullshit banner of "irony" or, even worse, "we're equally insulting to all groups." Ugh.
At least, that's my take on things.
Charles Alan Ratliff
Member
American Dad is great. You have to be of high intelligence to truly appreciate it, though, so it's understandable why some people don't like it.
King Mystery
Member
Did the show get new writers or something? When you compare the most recent episodes' jokes to something like the pirate chase, there's definitely a noticeable drop in quality.
benjipwns
Banned
Last I knew Family Guy has bled writers like crazy. Like SNL level.
Surface of Me
I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
If I'm going to watch Family Guy, I actually prefer the newest seasons. They actually do things interesting with characters at times, rely on black humor mostly, and the cutaways have been significantly reduced. Of course, it's still awful at times. One of the newest episodes is literally 20 minutes of rape jokes.
Also, American Dad> Family Guy.
Also, American Dad> Family Guy.
-ImaginaryInsider
Member
Season 2 and 3 are my favorite, the characters were better written.
benjipwns
Banned
This has been a departure and an improvement from it's "popular" peak. They sometimes go entire episodes without any cutaways, maybe just doing a long joke instead.
And they've cut down on the B and C and D plots, writing better A plots as a result.
It's interesting that a lot of the comments about people preferring early Family Guy to late Family, and also liking American Dad, are actually kind of related. What I think might be happening is those people prefer particular writers who moved from Family Guy to American Dad.
The two guys who basically wrote/ran American Dad, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, worked on Family Guy before it got cancelled. MacFarlane actually had little do with American Dad (besides voicing Stan and Roger obviously) and his biggest creative contribution was framing it as a show about a conservative father and a liberal daughter butting heads (which the show drops after it's first season and becomes better for it).
The two guys who basically wrote/ran American Dad, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, worked on Family Guy before it got cancelled. MacFarlane actually had little do with American Dad (besides voicing Stan and Roger obviously) and his biggest creative contribution was framing it as a show about a conservative father and a liberal daughter butting heads (which the show drops after it's first season and becomes better for it).
It was funnier but also it helped that it was new so it hadn't worn on me yet. After watching it for a few years the already unlikeable characters become worse.
Somehow with American Dad they made a show even worse. Maybe AD is some long drawn out prank or something where they created the worst show they could and are trying to see how long they can keep it on the air.
Somehow with American Dad they made a show even worse. Maybe AD is some long drawn out prank or something where they created the worst show they could and are trying to see how long they can keep it on the air.
benjipwns
Banned
Huh, sounds like some other show, what a Meathead.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I agree with the OP on this one. I find the newer stuff much more enjoyable than the earlier pre-cancellation episodes and never understand people who say the opposite. But I keep quiet because it's useless arguing with them because they'll make you out to be the wrong one and laugh. It's as useless as arguing over how to pronounce GIF. I give up doing it.
dapperbandit
Banned
I can see why the show got cancelled early on.
The jokes felt a bit flat and at times the animation was atrocious.
I stopped watching the show after season 8 I think, it had just become self indulgent crap. The Return of the Jedi spoof spinoff was painfully bad. I think the last mainline episode I watched had Brian and Stewie trapped in a bank vault together and that was just awful as well. I never saw any of the dead Brian stuff.
It always felt to me that the writers and Seth McFarlane got very arrogant about the space their show occupied in animation and would do things like insert "edgy for the sake of it" gags and never ending, drawn out jokes because they knew they could get away with it, not because it made for great entertainment.
It's a shame because despite my complaining, the show made me laugh a lot when they weren't overdoing it.
The jokes felt a bit flat and at times the animation was atrocious.
I stopped watching the show after season 8 I think, it had just become self indulgent crap. The Return of the Jedi spoof spinoff was painfully bad. I think the last mainline episode I watched had Brian and Stewie trapped in a bank vault together and that was just awful as well. I never saw any of the dead Brian stuff.
It always felt to me that the writers and Seth McFarlane got very arrogant about the space their show occupied in animation and would do things like insert "edgy for the sake of it" gags and never ending, drawn out jokes because they knew they could get away with it, not because it made for great entertainment.
It's a shame because despite my complaining, the show made me laugh a lot when they weren't overdoing it.
MrCookiepants
Member
Season 3 Family Guy was excellent. On par with peak Simpsons, imo. I don't watch it any more.
Winter John
Member
I don't know which season it was but I stopped watching when they had Lauren Conrad on and decided to replace plot lines with lol we so random cutaways
from what i understand, american dad basically carried on what family guy originally was until family guy came back (really just the first season). macfarlane just kept doing crazy shit and anti-comedy on family guy while the other original family guy writers tried keeping everything within a structure and keeping the characters as characters and actually try and evolve them. i felt like when american dad experimented, it was doing so from a more thoughtful place. it's still not highbrow humor, but it's not throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.
EYEL1NER
Member
Ha! That's one of my favorite episodes. Francine diving off the boat kills me every time.
"I'M IN THE GOOOOOooooooooooo-" *splash*
There used to be actual funny jokes based on interactions between the characters and their world, now it's nonstop "let's see how offensive we can be".
Also, all of the characters' personalities underwent changes for the worse, but what the hell were they thinking with Stewie? The concept of a baby that's an evil mastermind yet is never taken seriously and is entirely dependent on his most hated enemies? That's funny. The concept of a baby that does nothing but portray gay stereotypes? Not so much.
Also, all of the characters' personalities underwent changes for the worse, but what the hell were they thinking with Stewie? The concept of a baby that's an evil mastermind yet is never taken seriously and is entirely dependent on his most hated enemies? That's funny. The concept of a baby that does nothing but portray gay stereotypes? Not so much.
Family Guy started in 1999? Really? i thought it was a product of the mid 00's.
Anyway i appreciate more the later episodes, the earlier one just weren't funny but midway they switched to the retard, violent and "disgusting" humor that was a breath of fresh air in this type of cartoons (for me at least).
Anyway i appreciate more the later episodes, the earlier one just weren't funny but midway they switched to the retard, violent and "disgusting" humor that was a breath of fresh air in this type of cartoons (for me at least).
i'm not a superfan of this show like i am avatar the last airbender or rick and morty, but i would recommend these episodes:
season 3:
meter made (literally the episode after vacation goo)
haylias
season 4:
the one that got away
bar mitzvah hustle
season 5:
rapture's delight (widely considered as one of the best episodes in the series)
season 7:
hot water
ricky spanish
season 8:
lost in space
MaverickHunterX
Member
Pretty much this.
If I remember correctly (and if false, feel free to chalk it up to "tales from my ass...") I thought the original writers from FG were put on AD in order to help even it out. That's why S1 kinda sucks (everything is an American based stereotype) and starting with s2, AD just gets better and better...
I can't remember the name of it but the newish episode where they all go on holiday to Hawaii is class. They manage to weave in a separate plot for all the family members brilliantly.
- Status