Poll: Futurama vs Family Guy?
- Thread starter Beastmaster
- Start date
I prefer Futurama over Family Guy, mainly because Futurama has been more consistently funny. There are more funny episodes than unfunny episodes. Family Guy started out strong, and as one of my favorite shows, but character derailment (namely Stewie) and far too many overly long gags ( three to four minutes of Peter skating around a stage saying 'Starlight Express' over and over is not funny) and random cut-away gags kinda killed my interest.
South Park is another one of my favorites. While they tend to have a similar comedic nature to Family Guy, South Park seems to have more structure and planning. The gross-out and envelope pushing jokes, usual, have a point and aren't in there just to push the envelope.
South Park is another one of my favorites. While they tend to have a similar comedic nature to Family Guy, South Park seems to have more structure and planning. The gross-out and envelope pushing jokes, usual, have a point and aren't in there just to push the envelope.
I've never liked Family Guy as much as my friends have, nor as much as people expect me to. I could never put my finger on it until I saw the South Park double-episode where Kyle and Cartman are battling to try to save/destroy Family Guy over a 'depicting Mohammed' controversy (i.e. the one that South Park was simultaneously facing for wanting to show Family Guy showing Mohammed in that series of episodes).
South just nailed exactly what annoys me with Family Guy. The Family Guy writing staff as manatees picking random word-balls out of the tank was an awesome metaphor (although that part of its style doesn't bother me that much - it was just dead on as a description), but the part that really nailed it was all of Cartman's comments to Kyle: 'Yes, Kyle, FEEL the anger. That's emotional reaction to events happening the plot! It's a rational response based on characters and relationships constructed during the show!'
I just don't enjoy a series of disconnected jokes as much as humour that's derived from characters and their relationships. In Family Guy the characters' motivations are whatever is needed to get them to carry out the joke. For me, the big comparison point for Family Guy isn't the other cartoons, but the old UK series The Young Ones (the show that started the TV careers of Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle, Rick Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Dawn French, Hale+Pace...) in that they both do the kind of anarchic sketch-humour of Monty Python and The Goon Show, but within the format of a sitcom with fixed characters and setting. For me, Family Guy just doesn't combine those styles like the Young Ones did - I never got a feeling watching the Young Ones that the characters are puppets for whatever personality/motivation is needed for that episode's joke, whereas in The Family Guy I get that constantly.
And then add to that that Futurama can throw in the occasional moment of genuine pathos (Jurassic Bark, the ending of the Harlem Globetrotters episode, Luck of the Fryrish...), and it makes you realise just how much more weight there is to the characters in Futurama. Family Guy might - in its strongest moments - be as funny, but it can never, ever, move me.
Edit: the other thing that gets me, is that I find the sexism in Family Guy just a little...too...well it's hard to put a finger on it. I've got no problem with South Park, and that's a hell of a lot cruder than Family Guy, and I've got no problems with that kind of humour. It isn't offensiveness per se. It's just...ok you know how sometimes you'll have a group of friends and you'll make bad taste jokes to each other. The jokes can get pretty horribly homophobic or racist, but it doesn't bother you too much because you know that none of you actually 'think' that way (for context, I'm bi, so I'm kind of referring to my own reactions here). You know that you're really pulling the piss out of people who hold those kind of attitudes. Then someone else joins in, and his jokes aren't any more offensive than the previous ones, but...there's just something that makes you uneasy. You just start getting the feeling that this guy actually has a problem with gays or immigrants. The jokes aren't any worse, but there's just something stylistically that seems to indicate a nastier intent behind it - just a little more venom in the wrong places.
That's how Family Guy strikes me with some of the sexist stuff in there. It wasn't like that in its initial run - it didn't go that way until it came back after being off the air for 3 years (between seasons 2 and 3). And, to emphasise my point, seasons 1 and 2 had the most non-pc jokingly sexist content in there. But it wasn't as bothersome - I mean, you had the episode where Peter goes to a feminist retreat after getting done for sexual harassment/assault (groping a co-workers' breasts and saying 'honk honk') and it only gets worse from there...but it's all so absurdly over the top that it isn't offensive. The later stuff isn't as anti-PC, but it just seems to come in in ways that the writers don't seem to be fully in control of. There's just something about the sheer frequency of it that gets disturbing. A few jokes like that are funny in themselves, but when it becomes so bizarrely constant it starts to make me wonder whether Seth really has some kind of obsession with hating feminism. Probably not his intention, but it's just too constant - I mean, they've burnt the joke out seasons ago, and it just gets to the point where I think 'why are you CONSTANTLY running up this flagpole'.
It isn't that any of the jokes by themselves are problematic - obviously it's a light show and isn't supposed to be taken seriously. But there's a difference between the guy who makes one gay joke (assuming it's not an overtly venomous joke) and the guy who is constantly joking about gays every single conversation he has, every time you see him....eventually you start thinking there's a serious problem underlying his 'humour'. I just get that sensation and it kills that part of the show for me.
South just nailed exactly what annoys me with Family Guy. The Family Guy writing staff as manatees picking random word-balls out of the tank was an awesome metaphor (although that part of its style doesn't bother me that much - it was just dead on as a description), but the part that really nailed it was all of Cartman's comments to Kyle: 'Yes, Kyle, FEEL the anger. That's emotional reaction to events happening the plot! It's a rational response based on characters and relationships constructed during the show!'
I just don't enjoy a series of disconnected jokes as much as humour that's derived from characters and their relationships. In Family Guy the characters' motivations are whatever is needed to get them to carry out the joke. For me, the big comparison point for Family Guy isn't the other cartoons, but the old UK series The Young Ones (the show that started the TV careers of Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle, Rick Mayall, Adrian Edmonson, Dawn French, Hale+Pace...) in that they both do the kind of anarchic sketch-humour of Monty Python and The Goon Show, but within the format of a sitcom with fixed characters and setting. For me, Family Guy just doesn't combine those styles like the Young Ones did - I never got a feeling watching the Young Ones that the characters are puppets for whatever personality/motivation is needed for that episode's joke, whereas in The Family Guy I get that constantly.
And then add to that that Futurama can throw in the occasional moment of genuine pathos (Jurassic Bark, the ending of the Harlem Globetrotters episode, Luck of the Fryrish...), and it makes you realise just how much more weight there is to the characters in Futurama. Family Guy might - in its strongest moments - be as funny, but it can never, ever, move me.
Edit: the other thing that gets me, is that I find the sexism in Family Guy just a little...too...well it's hard to put a finger on it. I've got no problem with South Park, and that's a hell of a lot cruder than Family Guy, and I've got no problems with that kind of humour. It isn't offensiveness per se. It's just...ok you know how sometimes you'll have a group of friends and you'll make bad taste jokes to each other. The jokes can get pretty horribly homophobic or racist, but it doesn't bother you too much because you know that none of you actually 'think' that way (for context, I'm bi, so I'm kind of referring to my own reactions here). You know that you're really pulling the piss out of people who hold those kind of attitudes. Then someone else joins in, and his jokes aren't any more offensive than the previous ones, but...there's just something that makes you uneasy. You just start getting the feeling that this guy actually has a problem with gays or immigrants. The jokes aren't any worse, but there's just something stylistically that seems to indicate a nastier intent behind it - just a little more venom in the wrong places.
That's how Family Guy strikes me with some of the sexist stuff in there. It wasn't like that in its initial run - it didn't go that way until it came back after being off the air for 3 years (between seasons 2 and 3). And, to emphasise my point, seasons 1 and 2 had the most non-pc jokingly sexist content in there. But it wasn't as bothersome - I mean, you had the episode where Peter goes to a feminist retreat after getting done for sexual harassment/assault (groping a co-workers' breasts and saying 'honk honk') and it only gets worse from there...but it's all so absurdly over the top that it isn't offensive. The later stuff isn't as anti-PC, but it just seems to come in in ways that the writers don't seem to be fully in control of. There's just something about the sheer frequency of it that gets disturbing. A few jokes like that are funny in themselves, but when it becomes so bizarrely constant it starts to make me wonder whether Seth really has some kind of obsession with hating feminism. Probably not his intention, but it's just too constant - I mean, they've burnt the joke out seasons ago, and it just gets to the point where I think 'why are you CONSTANTLY running up this flagpole'.
It isn't that any of the jokes by themselves are problematic - obviously it's a light show and isn't supposed to be taken seriously. But there's a difference between the guy who makes one gay joke (assuming it's not an overtly venomous joke) and the guy who is constantly joking about gays every single conversation he has, every time you see him....eventually you start thinking there's a serious problem underlying his 'humour'. I just get that sensation and it kills that part of the show for me.
I agree with this person.Fanta Grape said:
When Family Guy is good, it's hilarious and I am literally on the floor, laughing at it. Last night's episode is a good example of how funny Family Guy can be.
However, the same goes with Futurama. In my opinion, Futurama can be funny while applying brilliant social commentary on many different issues... however, I've also seen how unfunny it can be and when it isn't funny, it's cringe worthy.
Got to hand that one over to Futurama, Family Guy has its moments, and quite a few of them, but Futurama is in a whole other category alltogether; can't even begin to imagine how it would be if I was studying natural sciences and could catch/understand all the math and physics based injokes.
Futurama just reeks of being stylish, quirky, creative, and smart, with creative puns found everywhere, and there's some real depth to and even a bit of development going on with the characters, and some complex storylines which are usually tied up elegantly. Most importantly, it's still good fun the entire way through. Even when it occasionally makes a fumble, the result usually isn't too bad. I'd hold it to be the best animated "sitcom" on TV, if because it's really mostly anything but. And perhaps the best piece of western animation aimed at adults to run as a TV-series.
Family Guy can be outrageously fun at times, but to call it a smart show would be something of a stretch, and creativity isn't what it used to be. It's apparently taken a few hints from South Park of late, but just isn't a show to pull them off. Its otherwise quite interesting characters have developed into something less interesting, and have remained there ever since. Still worth a watch when in the mood for some dumb fun with an occasional glimpse of brilliance, but there's just no comparison to Futurama.
Futurama just reeks of being stylish, quirky, creative, and smart, with creative puns found everywhere, and there's some real depth to and even a bit of development going on with the characters, and some complex storylines which are usually tied up elegantly. Most importantly, it's still good fun the entire way through. Even when it occasionally makes a fumble, the result usually isn't too bad. I'd hold it to be the best animated "sitcom" on TV, if because it's really mostly anything but. And perhaps the best piece of western animation aimed at adults to run as a TV-series.
Family Guy can be outrageously fun at times, but to call it a smart show would be something of a stretch, and creativity isn't what it used to be. It's apparently taken a few hints from South Park of late, but just isn't a show to pull them off. Its otherwise quite interesting characters have developed into something less interesting, and have remained there ever since. Still worth a watch when in the mood for some dumb fun with an occasional glimpse of brilliance, but there's just no comparison to Futurama.
Yea randomness in small doses on shows can be fine. I was think you might be one of those teenagers (like the ones in my class) who will say something extremely random (probably something they heard on television) as a cheap excuse for laughs. I was just hoping you weren't the kind to say "HAHAHAHA Thats so random!" just because something is random, not because it is funny.TriggerHappyAngel said:I never thought that randomness could be looked down upon that bad.Dimensional Vortex said:
I just like jokes that come out of nowhere and give you a "what the hell just happened?" feeling.
Like this one:
But do they make fun of themselves enough to counter all the annoying jokes that are a bad way to get people to laugh? Does it counter all the jokes that are only a bit funny because of the shock value it brings (South Park is worse with that)? If you posted all the times Family Guy poked fun at itself like the time you just mentioned, and I posted all the jokes that were lame, unfunny and often monotonous I think we would see that the few times it does poke fun at itself isn't enough to redeem itself for all the Conway Twitty jokes that go for ages or the Chicken fight jokes or the ones that are just bad.JWRosser said:This is all true, but then again, they make fun of themselves. For example in one of the more recent episodes (I forget which) they have a cut away gag in which Quagmire thinks me is getting the spin-off*, and he says something along the lines of "So long suckers. Have fun with your Conway Twitty and Giant Chicken jokes!"Dimensional Vortex said:
Admittedly, yes, I do fast forward through these bits. They're funny the first time but after that do get a bit tedious, but apart from that I think, personally, Family Guy is brilliant. Of course, each to their own
Don't get me wrong, I like family guy, it is a great way to make me laugh. But I'm not so attached that I don't see the flaws and errors with it's design.
PS: Saying the Cleveland show is above average humor and jokes is a bit generous, I think it is one of the most unfunny animated shows and just a bad spin off all together. Of course that is just my opinion.
*What about the Cleveland Show? I think that has some moments of hilarity but the rest is just above average.
I cannot but agree more with the majority of people here: Futurama is the funniest of the two by far. Family Guy is often not even worth a chuckle me thinks.
Futurama is more laid back and therefore easier to watch for pure "i'm bored, what now?" entertainment. But it also has a lot more bad puns, its a lot more static, and generally not as intelligent as Family Guy. I like them both and watching too much Family guy can get a little intense, while watching too much Futurama can get a little boring.