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Written by: Matt Weisse
While many of my reviews focus on both positives as well as negatives, Family Guy’s most recent season has been such an abject failure that I really have almost nothing good to say about it. In fact, the show has gotten to the point that I honestly considered titling this article “The complete and utter downfall of Family Guy.”
Now before you write this off as a rant by a Family Guy hater, let me say two things: First, I actually love Family Guy, particularly the earlier seasons, which is the main reason why I am so upset about its recent turn for the worse.
Second, instead of simply and repeatedly saying, “This show sucks now,” I have actually determined some of the main reasons for its shortcomings:
1 – Being offensive is not funny in itself.
This season, the writers’ primary goal seems to be to offend. Thus far, topics covered in Season 8 have included typically taboo topics such as Judaism, down syndrome, and sexual harassment, among others. In addition to its offensiveness, none of it is particularly funny or entertaining, which is typically why one would watch Family Guy in the first place. The writers seem to assume that if they tackle an incendiary topic, it should be funny just because they “went there.” But it’s not.
2 – The plot lines are running thin, even for animated comedy standards.
I understand that there are hundreds of episodes of The Simpsons and South Park out there that really eliminate a lot of potential plot options, and I also understand that Family Guy isn’t exactly plot driven, well, ever. Even then, I never thought I’d see the day where there’d be an episode about Peter falling in love with a cardboard cutout of Kathy Ireland. Really, guys?
3 – The writers are desperate to recreate their successes, but they are running out of original gags.
Family Guy invented the “drawn-out moment” (i.e. Peter bangs his knee and holds it going “ahhhhhh” for literally 2 minutes), and I’ll admit, at first it was so absurd that it was funny. But now, it seems as though the writers have run out of new material, and instead have to kill time by going back to old gags. And the Conway Twitty portions suggest they may even be too lazy to animate original content.
4 – The musical numbers are awful.
This is a combination of 1 and 3. The musical numbers aren’t funny anymore, they drag on, and they feel more like time killers than anything else.
5 – Even the pop culture references, a Family Guy staple that used to be one of its clear highlights, are no longer
consistently funny.
The references used are increasingly obscure or odd, particularly given the demographic of people watching the show. Making appearances this season are: Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Vladmir Putin, Ronald Reagan, Richard Dawson, and Richard Dryfus. Maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t think of two things done by any of these people in the past decade.
Bonus: The award for lowest point in Family Guy’s 8-season history goes to… The Terri Schiavo musical, which succeeded in being offensive, unfunny, time consuming, and completely lacking in any sort of relevance.
Ultimately, the show has become a disaster. I suspect that Seth MacFarlane, the show’s creator, and company have been spread a little too thin with American Dad and The Cleveland Show, and given the lack of gas left in the tank, Family Guy appears to be trying too hard to imitate itself, like, “Hey guys, remember when I did that thing one time and it was funny? If I do it over and over again it will still be funny, right? Please?” This may be understandable, but it is in no way excusable: South Park is onto season 14, yet it still manages to balance relevance, offensiveness and humor.
The only question that remains is why I continue to put myself through the misery of watching this TV failure, and there is already evidence that I’m not alone: The first episode of the season aired to a season-high 5.6 rating, while the latest aired to a season-low 3.4 rating. Family Guy is going to need to find some way to turn itself around soon or its third cancellation may be inevitable – and this time, Fox won’t be the one to blame.
Rating: 1/5 Falcons
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