Family Guy Thread (Ladies and Gentleman, Mr Conway Twitty!)

[benji]

-150 respect points to buzzy for having to ask that.

[JaoSming]

+150 conditional points if he apologizes to benji for absolutely nothing



anyway, I'm "done" with Family Guy until they attempt the Star Wars thing again. i'll probably still watch it, but my expectations are just gone for anything good.

[Andrew]

Peter making fun of it being a Meg episode and daring people to change the channel would've had more of an impact if their other recent episodes had been worth watching.

Anyway, what we got was more of the same. Peter is cruel to Meg, Brian is self-righteous, the writing staff delivers their message in the most heavy handed way possible, a couple of stale references, rehashed jokes and the freshest thing in the episode is the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation acting like a bunch of children. There were some laughs, the Jagermeister shouting "Get to the chopper!" and most of Patrick Stewart's lines stand out for me but as for the rest...well, we can't be too far away from twenty minutes of footage of Seth McFarlane sitting on a toilet broken up by a couple of three minute clips of Conway Twitty.

[JaoSming]

This past one was better than the rest, the musical part of it was one of their best IMO, although it did run a bit long. Another couple jokes about the show itself with Peter unable to come up with a cutaway since he's high, and then his reaction to someone saying "Family Guy" in the show (which I did like because of the prior setup cutaway, but whatever)

I really don't like those little 5 minute side stories we get at the beginning. It's funny, but to go from no reaction from Quagmire about the cat, to him saying giggidy a few times in the episode, to him being depressed about the cat at the end. Just bleh.


And finally, I loved the ending, too bad it didn't make any sense, but hey, that is Familia Dude.

[buzzy]

I really don't like those little 5 minute side stories we get at the beginning. It's funny, but to go from no reaction from Quagmire about the cat, to him saying giggidy a few times in the episode, to him being depressed about the cat at the end. Just bleh.

But this is something you have to do to get to the main plot. In my opinion the cat story was quite a good way to set up the arresting of Brian and the main plot.

You see that in The Simpsons alot also. Let's take a random episode for example: "The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson". Bart and his class are visiting the police station and Bart grouped those many bullhorns together and destroys the city. This way he gets sent to a military academy where the actual plot with Lisa & Bart starts.

The difference between this and the latest FG episode is probably that it makes I kind of a huge twist and that way it kinda feels weird. Going from a Quagmire story to the whole weed thing, so I see where you're coming from.
I've seen some people here complaining about those little stories in the beginning, but I don't find that bad at all. Just wanted to say that.

Anyway, this was defintely one of the better episodes recently, I think a laughed the most at the part where the cat started scratching Joe's leg and he didn't care. Felt wrong though.
I still think that they're overdoing those little cutscenes though, like the mermaide and the drugs commercial ones.

Loved the whole TV news scene where they are on drugs.
"How does the weather look Ollie?" - "Not too bad .." - "Right on"

[cyanide]

The American Dad episode that followed made this episode from mediocre to meh

[Andrew]

The episode itself wasn't too bad but it was pretty lazy satire/social commentary, very typical "Seth on his high horse" (no pun intended) fare. I suppose we're not supposed to take Family Guy seriously or anything but with an episode like this, I do think the writers' intention is truth said in jest and scare campaigns are fair game for a comedy series like Family Guy. However, much like their shot at Christianity this season their argument was rather one sided and self-righteous, portraying the opposite point of view in a laughably shallow manner to get their point across. Compare that to South Park which handled the subject so much better in their "Future Self 'n' Me" episode.

The only difference between the celebrity bashing cutaway in this one and most episodes is that they openly acknowledged it and frankly that doesn't make it any funnier. Wow, they have the guts to bash celebrities. Aren't they badass! On the other hand, Peter's psiren song was pretty good albeit a little long and the musical was pretty enjoyable even if it did contribute to a shallow excuse for satire. The news/weather scene was another highlight though those jokes are the easiest ones in the book to write. A mediocre one from the frat boys in a lousy, lousy season.

[JaoSming]

This last one was better, a lot funnier than the other ones this season and even kept a decent pace with it's story. Even better with no pop shots at itself.

Kinda wrapped up too quickly and predictably, but still a decent episode, especially compared to the other ones of this season

[cyanide]

Best episode of the season, no contest, and this best episode was only pretty good. If they can make episodes like that more consistently, then Family Guy is worth watching.

[Andrew]

I'm tempted to call it the best of the season too. The worst parts were Lois being mean to Meg (but then Lois has sucked since basically becoming a female version of Peter sans the stupidity and slightly more moralistic) and the shot at Adam Sandler, which wasn't completely off target and it was a pretty good impression but still a bit of a "people in glass houses" moment and if nothing else, about ten years too late since Adam Sandler has moved away from those movies a bit. They certainly could have been worse though and the rest was pretty funny. A coherent story that didn't just exist to tie the cutaways together was quite refreshing too. A very welcome change after the pitiful run of episodes this season.

[benji]

I've seen some people here complaining about those little stories in the beginning, but I don't find that bad at all. Just wanted to say that.

It's blatant "we have this shtick we want to use, but can't flesh it out into a full story, so we're going to cover up the fact we don't have a full episode anyway (despite almost never having actual endings) and throw it in at the start."

Best episode of the season, no contest

It didn't have the TNG cast so I don't know what you're talking about.

[Eich]

god i love that seagull

[cyanide]

It didn't have the TNG cast so I don't know what you're talking about.

Boooooooooooooorrriiiiiiiiing.

On a side note, I'm looking forward to Star Trek the movie.

[benji]

I think that post said everything we need to know about your objectively bad taste.

[JaoSming]

not horrible, but an OK episode this week, too much Live Action stuff in it, but whatever


...a lot of HIlls jokes that Kathryn got but I didnt

[el badman]

Not a bad episode, it had some really good moments. But yet another episode about Brian's romantic life, so I don't know...

[buzzy]

Great episode. The first ~5 min were freaking hilarious.

[Andrew]

I really liked it, which surprised me a little given how lacklustre the season has been overall and episodes about Brian's love life are starting to dance a fine line between just the right level of twisted and being too gross to enjoy. Aside from that the weakest part of the episode was probably Lois, but that's to be expected these days. I loved the live action stuff with the talk show hosts, I think it's funnier they went that way rather than animating them and doing bad impressions (or even getting them to voice themselves). Any live action cutaway that doesn't involve Conway Twitty has potential in my book. Cutaways in general were pretty good, just a good funny episode with a decent story that didn't ruin itself by being self-righteous, smug, in love with itself or coming to a screeching halt with an overly long joke. A rare gift this season.

[JaoSming]

Like I said in the Simpsons thread, I am not a fan of the multistory episodes. I did get to suffer through this, and while those kind of episodes should be family guy's way to shine, its just a meh episode with a few funny parts.

[el badman]

While it definitely tends to show a lack of inspiration when resorting to multistory episodes like that, I actually thought this was one was not too horrible. I thought the Shawshank's segment was really well done.

[Andrew]

I'm actually a fan of the format bending multi-story format in The Simpsons and Family Guy's had a couple of decent ones, but this was pretty ordinary. I agree that the Shawshank send-up stood out as the best and overall it was very watchable, but nothing special.

[Andrew]

Mediocre at best, very much in line with most of the season really. Rehashed concept, predictable plot, rehashed and very tired jokes and hallmarks of the series and pointless potshots at celebrities and pop culture. Really, a joke about Madonna's age? Gee, take that! The shots at Kevin Smith and How I Met Your Mother are just two more entries in the "You really shouldn't make fun of other people's work when you've just had one of the most terrible seasons of any comedy show (that was good at some point) in the history of television" file.

Overall, a really disappointing season. I'm not usually one for "I'm never watching this again!" declarations when it comes to shows I like that have taken a turn for the worse, I'm more of a "to the bitter end" kind of viewer but after this season of Family Guy...I don't know. It's sad how quickly it's gone downhill. It's not funny, it's not engaging, it's not interesting...it's just money in Seth MacFarlane's pocket. And he still has the balls to complain about how Fox treats him and make fun of everyone else. It's a real shame what passes for comedy these days. When you don't have any material of your own, just tear apart someone else's. I suppose it works for Kathy Griffin, so why not Peter Griffin as well.

[el badman]

I mostly agree, that was not very good at all.
The celeb shots felt once again forced, immature and pretty much bitter. Not much to save that episode, and a very disappointing season overall.
And it was followed by the Cleveland show preview
Can't see that going anywhere either...

[Andrew]

Family Guy returns September 27th as well with its eighth season. Hopefully it's a lot better than the last two seasons, but to be honest I'm not holding my breath.

Road to the Multiverse

Stewie and Brian travel through alternate universes.

Could have some funny moments if they steer clear of unnecessary swipes (unlikely) and lengthy Conway Twitty appearances (more likely but I wouldn't rule it out), but I'm a little tired of their "Road to..." episodes. They're kind of reaching for ideas here.

Family Goy

Lois gets tested for cancer and finds out she is Jewish.

And this is why classic Simpsons will always be superior to Family Guy. Hopefully it's at least funny if nothing else, it's not like you can expect anything else from Family Guy anyway but it's a perfect example of how the frat boys compensate for shallow characters and subpar storytelling skills by making unexpected character revelations for the sake of coming up with something that resembles a plot. Not that canon has to be important on every show, but it's kind of lazy that they don't even try. But that's Family Guy. I'm guessing the explanation will go something like this:

Brian: This doesn't seem to make sense, Lois. How can you be Jewish?
Lois: Well Brian, maybe you should just accept it or go post with the nerds on the Internet.
Peter: Oh boy, my wife is Jewish. This is more unexpected than the time I laughed at Scrubs.

Cutaway to Peter watching Scrubs on TV with poor impressions of the actor's voices and dialogue. Peter laughs and says "We're better than them." Eight minutes of Conway Twitty follows.

It's bad, it rehashes a joke they've already told and it takes an unfunny shot at a show that's actually been funny in the past couple of years. I'm calling it now.

Something, Something, Something, Darkside

Peter retells the story of The Empire Strikes Back.

Finally...this one at least should be entertaining.

[el badman]

Yeah, I'm certainly not holding my breath for better stories or even less celebrities cheap shots. Aside from 2-3 episodes maybe, the last two seasons have been an epic disaster.