The Big Picture: It Seems Today ...

[Nicole Maronn]

I do enjoy Family Guy myself, especially when it was brought back from cancellation. Just like Bob pointed out, the first three seasons weren't that great, but once Season 4 began, the show did get better. While the show does often take jokes too far, both on an offensive level and an annoyance level, I personally love it when it takes risks to develop characters or tackle a serious subject without relaying on juvenile humor.

For example, one of my most favorite episodes from Family Guy involves Stewie and Brain being locked up in a bank vault for the weekend. While this episode does resort to using gross-out and violent humor, the strength of that episode is about how both characters come to a mutual understanding with each other and eventually develop a closer relationship (a "bromance" if you want to call it). While both Brain and Stewie are my favorite characters (and their episodes that feature the both of them are always gems), this particular episode is my favorite for the reasons I stated above: it helped me grow to love these two characters even more and proves that despite Family Guy can be too much blue collar for it's own good, the creative team behind it can put out a decent and heart-felt episode.

 

[jimClassic]

Excellent video. I wasn't aware that there were ppl who hated Family Guy

 

[mew4ever23]

Nah, just kidding. Family guy's alright. It was better after it came back the first time.

 

[Grabehn]

Hold on... Larry & Steve was made by McFarlane? WHAT?! That was one of many CN shorts I loved back then, it was really damn cool.

On topic, I was never a big Family Guy fan since I don't really watch TV. I've seen a few episodes and thought they were funny, but not enought to make me watch it because I want to, rather than because I happened to change the channel.

 

[daxterx2005]

I stopped watching Family guy a few years back, I plan on watching the simpsons crossover ep next year.
It has sparked my interest.

 

[Magmarock]

Oh finally, I agree 110% I love Family Guy, and personally the only reason why I think people hate is because Matt Stone and Try Parker expressed distaste for it on their commentary for cartoon wars South Park episode.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

I'm always amazed at how many people say Bob's Burgers is terrible, and then to go on to say that they haven't rally watched it. What is it about this show (in particular) that provokes this response? In this same thread, one guy said that Bob's Burgers is "shit" after seeing half an episode. That's 11 minutes.

On another board, there was a guy arguing that Family Guy was by the best animated comedy on TV. I asked him "What about American Dad or Bob's Burgers?" His response was "Oh, I haven't watch those shows."

So, how the hell can you proclaim Family Guy to be the best, if you don't watch other the other animated shows??

This to me is so much worse than any of the other arguments about the quality of a show. I'll disagree with others about aspects of shows, but I'll respect their different opinions, because at least they have watched the shows. But these kinds of comments are just absurd.

For the record, I have seen EVERY episode of:

The Simpsons
Futurama
Family Guy
American Dad
The Cleveland Show
South Park
King of the Hill
Bob's Burgers
Beavis and Butthead

... among others. So, while we might disagree about these shows, at least I know the material, so we can have an informed discussion.

These people who are like "I really didn't watch this, and it sucks" are just the worst. I don't understand what makes people make those kind of comments. Is it just them being very immature? If you don't know the material, why are you commenting on it, for attention?

While I can't speak for others... I posted my hyperbolic comment to establish how horrid I found Bob's Burgers to be, based off the one episode. Perhaps one episode isn't good enough to gather a 'valid' opinion. However, one episode was enough to turn me off of the show. Can't imagine why I'd watch anymore.

Perhaps the show is just so awful to some folk that they simply do not wish to watch more than the bare bones minimum? That's certainly how I felt.

 

[lickilax]

I`ll come at you bob.

The post cancellation seasons(4-7) great but the new-new family guy(8-now) is terrible, a lot of things that joke about are horrible, the way Meg is mistreated resembles real life abuse sometimes and is played for comedy, but the episode with Brenda also has abuse involved but the stupid thing is it`s played for drama all of a sudden, what? so Meg getting mistreated by her horrible family on a daily basis is hilarious but when it happens to 1 time characters its wrong?, i`m not gonna hate you for liking it if i hated you for disagreeing with me you would be my worst enemy, but you`re not because while i`m not convinced i understand your point of view.
Cutaways are what i really hate even when i liked Family Guy i found them stupid they kinda made the plots thinner somehow, you should never sacrifice a good story for a joke about some movie or bulls preforming a dance number, some are good like i am so hungry i can eat a horse bit, Peter be careful what you wish for.
In summary i hate it and you like it, but that's OK because your liking it does not force me to watch it.

 

[FireAza]

I like Family Guy too, MovieBob. Don't get me wrong, the show is dumber than a sack of hammers, completely lacking the clever, witty writing of shows like Futurama and The Simpsons. But that's just it, the show wants to make you laugh, and it will do whatever it takes to make that happen. Even if it involves a fart joke.

But to the show's credit, it's not so much the jokes themselves that are funny, but their delivery, thanks to the show's talented actors. A line that's kinda "meh" on paper can be really funny when it's delivered with just the right pace, tempo and inflictions. This is what Family Guy does well.

But seriously, I think a lot of the hate the show gets is simply because it's popular among people animation fans would consider to be "civilians" (to steal a term from Genshiken).

 

[DugMachine]

If there's one thing I don't like about Family Guy is how drawn out jokes can be. I absolutely hate jokes that get drawn out to uncomfortable times. I understand that's probably the goal they wanted but it just makes me feel awkward when I stop laughing and have to wait for the joke to finally end.

As for Bob's Burgers.. watched a few episodes and not a huge fan. I don't enjoy the art style and the jokes just don't click with me. But to each their own.

 

[Osaka117]

Bob likes current Simpsons and Family Guy and dislikes South Park. This is why he's MovieBob and not TVBob.

Wow that turned out way meaner than it sounded in my head, so I'll just add on that I don't have a problem with people who like Family Guy, as I myself used to like it, love it in fact, but I pretty much disagree with almost every single point you bring up in this video.

That said, props for mentioning Bob's Burgers. I passed it up when it first started, but caught it when it aired on Adult Swim, and fell in love instantly. For the first time since I stopped watching The Simpsons back in 2006 I have a reason to look forward to Sunday nights.

 

[Riobux]

Family Guy, for me, is like vanilla ice-cream. I can enjoy it, but yet I can not. It's hard to deny that the jokes do tend to rely on randomness a bit too much to catch you off guard, and the jokes tend to be not built into the plot. However, every so often, I can sit down and laugh a bit at Family Guy. I do then walk away either the same I walked in as or, if I've watched too much that month, with a sickening feeling to my stomach that maybe I could do something more. Maybe I can consume something that wouldn't feel like my brain cells aren't wasting away. I end up feeling deflated and bored of life. Family Guy isn't alone in my comparison, and there are more. Like superhero films, buddy cop films, gameshow programs (yes, even Pointless who has a genuinely great pair of presenters) and high-fantasy tabletop RPGs (you know, 95% of tabletop).

I'll admit I end up feeling snobbish about Family Guy, somewhat looking down on those who do enjoy it. It isn't a noble thing, and it isn't something I'm proud of since I am one of those with the mentality of "well, go on, enjoy whatever you like". However, for some reason, I do get the impression those who follow Family Guy and quote their punchlines a lot tend to be a bit dim. You know, like Friends fans.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I used to like Family Guy (I probably enjoy the older episodes), bu just like with Simpsons it just got to a point where i realized i wasn't laughing anymore. With Simpsons it was around the time the movie was released (and rewatching the dvds i notice a drop in quality around season 10-11) and with Family Guy it was around two years ago, i just started disliking the characters more and more in new episodes. Now i'd rather rewatch the good episodes or ne American Dad stuff.

 

[pearcinator]

Family Guy is for people without a good sense of humour. Their skits miss the mark almost every time.

If you do not see the humor in this, well then I don't think anyone should listen to you about whether something's funny or not, let's just put it that way.

If anything, you just proved my point.

Making fun of AIDS is not funny...it's like the lowest form of comedy.

I didn't even smile when I watched that clip...what a terrible show.

Compared to the brilliance of Futurama (which has actually made me cry...something that no other animated show has ever done) Family Guy is like a hairy mole on the TV screen.

 

[D.Strormer]

Hey, I can respect that. I've even been known to laugh, sometimes quite heartily, at an episode of Family Guy. What I, and I think most of the internet, am sick of is Seth's tendency to beat a joke to death until it rises from its grave seeking its revenge and all we can do is cower in its vicious presence. That's why I'm done with Family Guy. Not because it's not funny, but because it rehashes everything until I can't possibly care anymore. That said, I'm still a strong supporter of American Dad, so clearly Seth still has whatever he had which made me laugh before.

That said, I want to ask Bob directly. How can you like Family Guy and then make comments about the kind of comedies that come out in theaters these days? They're cut from the same cloth. Lowest common denominator shows created to bring increasingly obnoxious piles of money to their creating companies. Be fair. Fart jokes are fart jokes, whether from Peter Griffin or Adam Sandler.

I'm not Bob, and to the left you'll see a rather small picture.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I like approximately 60% of Family Guy episodes. Both the old run and the ones after its revivification, with the ones Bob mentioned specifically being some of my favorites as well. I mainly am sick of everyone dumping on Meg, that shtick got old quick and the character has barely ANYTHING to it other than that. Mila Kunis could be doing so much more if they ever gave her more than a few lines a season. Hell, Herbert and Tom Tucker have a bigger presence than Meg.

That being said, I like around 95% of American Dad, Bob's Burgers, The Simpsons, Futurama, and maybe 20% of The Cleveland Show.

I love Eugene Mirman, Dan Mintz, and Kristen Schaal to begin with, so of course I love Bob's Burgers. Oddly, I don't really like Kristen's stand up act, but all her voice work/guest appearances are awesome.

I recently learned that American Dad has been cancelled and that TBS is picking it up, or is rumored to anyway. Which really annoys me as I love American Dad. I love every character, but Steve and Roger > entire cast of Family Guy.

And Haley...Rachael McFarlane's voice is the aural equivalent of how Liv Tyler looks in One Night at McCools. Smexy :3

 

[Tsukuyomi]

hm, didn't realize hating Family Guy was a thing. Though I can see where it comes from. Personally my issue with it is largely just how the jokes drag on too long. The laughing clip wasn't bad, but it toed the line. The Chicken Fights are always a good example of 'okay, can we get back to what was happening before, now? please?'. Though I think the biggest example of it for me was the episode where Peter won a Dirt bike and his father-in-law had shown up with a piece of construction equipment with the intent of winning the thing and then smashing it just because he knew Peter wanted it. That in itself wasn't bad but it was the part after that was just bleh.

"Soo uh...what do you think about that bench there?"
"*shrugs* it's all right I guess."
"well fine then! I'll destroy that! *takes sixty seconds or so of your life that you can't get back to maneuver into position and finally squish said bench* HA!"

Just...like the joke part of it was totally lost to begin with and any hope of getting some kind of other laugh out of it is gone just for how bloody LONG it takes to finish the gag. Most of the cut-away gags aren't awful, though they do kind of scrape the barrel sometimes and leave you asking "who or what are you making fun of now?"

I may have to try Bob's Burgers. Kinda figured it was going to be one of those "the guys at Adult Swim are CLEARLY superior to you so they have to teach you philistines what's funny/good TV and what's not." things. They bother me when they pull that bit and combine it with not listening to their viewers and fans. But I suppose if it's genuinely good I'll have to give it a try.

And I gotta say I love American Dad so much. If only for Stan's 'often wrong but never uncertain' attitude about various things getting smashed to bits. I know way too many people like him in my life so yeah. Fun to see.

 

[Tim Chuma]

I would still watch it if I still watched TV. I did enjoy some of the new episodes at a friends house. I can't remember when I watched a new episode of the Simpsons and I used to download episode capsules off snpp.com to read through them (they were not really transcripts, more the repository of knowledge of each show, had all the references to the pop culture mentioned in the show.)

 

[Something Amyss]

So movieBob, who will complain about anything he doesn't like (Lone Ranger, whatever else beat Pacific Rim, Amazing Spider-Man) ad nauseum has a problem with people bagging this show because...

...He likes it? Huh.

I guess we need a list of appropriate topics we can bemoan.

It seems I'm always turning out to be that guy when it comes to certain popular things.

"I mean... who doesn't like Michael Jackson?"

Umm... I don't like him and don't see why he was considered to be so talented.

"I mean... who doesn't like The Simpsons?"

Umm... I don't like The Simpsons. I'm not a fan of any of the characters, the humor isn't funny to me and the older episodes didn't age well. The yellow skin is kinda gross too...

It makes me sound like some sort of Hipster I guess, but I'm really not.

Hipsters are dicks about it. If you're just "eh, I don't care for him/it/them," you don't sound like a hipster.

I get where you're coming from. There's a lot of things people like that just don't appeal to me. Say you don't like MJ, and people look at you like you have three heads. I don't hate him, but I have never seen him as anything special.

I dislike Family Guy, though. Maybe it does get unfairly maligned, I don't know. I don't watch a lot of the comparable cartoons, either. I watch Old Simpsons and Futurama but haven't seen a new episode in years. I've never watched the Cleaveland Show or Bob's Burgers. And I occasionally have watched American Dad, but my response is usually the same as Family Guy: Why am I doing this to myself?

I guess I'm in the mainstream in this sense, though I didn't know it was a thing. It used to be that not liking Family Guy was up there on the list with Jacko and the Simpsons. I guess I'm just out of touch with the current fads.

And on that note...GET OFF MAH LAWN!

 

[Ukomba]

Bob's Burgers put me off at first with it's animation, but it is actually really good . No MLP or Gravity Falls reference? Shame.

Family Guy is decent a lot of the time, but McFarland gets WAY too heavy handed with this proselytizing. The Golden Compass had the same problem, especially the last book, where the shoe horned morel really hurts it. The worst of this I think was the Alcoholism episode, but at least it was enjoyable, Partial Term of Endearment just made me feel ill.

The characters really aren't likable either. I'd welcome Stewie killing Lois at this point.