"Fox Reuniting Itself with 'Family Guy'" (1 Viewer)

[NickSo]

ygpm

 

[MarkHastings]

Why is that everytime a Family Guy threads pops up, I feel like I am supposed to be scum for loving it? :rolleyes

 

[MatthewA]

I don't know.

I only sporadically watched the show in its original run. But then I bought the DVDs and I was hooked. These new episodes better be incredible.

If American Dad is still around after my sister's Bat Mitzvah (June 4), I will shave half of my head. But so help me I will not go into threads about it destroying it. It speaks for itself.

Nor do I go into threads about "Malcolm in the Middle," which I despise, and crap on them. If you want to talk Simpsons knock-offs, why does "Malcolm" get a free pass?

 

[GuruAskew]

"Malcolm in the Middle" is almost as unfunny as "Family Guy" but at least it's somewhat distinctive compared to "The Simpsons". "Family Guy" is nothing but a blatant ripoff, which I could overlook if the show was actually well-written, well-animated or well-acted.

 

[Matt Stone]

I have to ask, Bill...Since you hate the show so much, why do you feel the need to constantly post in the Family Guy threads?

I'm not trying to say that dissenting opinions shouldn't be allowed, but we already know that you hate the show. You really don't have to remind us in every thread.

 

[JamesED]

Plus, is he going to sway anyone? I'm in no state of mind to comprehend anything after finishing a plate of special brownies and polishing off a 3rd season disc.

 

[Jason Adams]

Remind me to jump into threads about shows you love, bashing every single aspect of it. I hope I can remember to spew the exact amount of vitriol.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

The new episode is pretty good, although the last act is too much of a copy of the film the episode takes its name from. I'm curious to see how much originality the show maintains this season.

 

[MarkHastings]

No show is going to please the ENTIRE market. Family Guy is marketed to a specific group of people. I would say that group is the "Male/18-40 years" old group. What I like about it, is that it's "stupid-fun" it's just dumb jokes that make me laugh. In a world full of stress and pain, I love to just sit back and watch something that is just plain silly.


If you don't like it, that's fine (it's not meant for you), but just shut up about it and let those (who enjoy it) enjoy it.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Actually, as a Family Guy hater, I think every thread should contain contributions from at least one person who hates the show, and that goes for shows I like, too. Lovefests can get dull.

Anyway, I think the show is likely to do fine. It's more popular than it used to be, and Fox is once again promoting the hell out of it. There's a myth that they ignored FG last time; the opposite is true -- the Fox executives fell in love with Family Guy, because it was the sort of undemanding, content-free frat-boy humor that suited their corporate sensibilities, and so they gave it more promotion and better time slots than Futurama, effectively preventing Futurama from getting the success it deserved. The execs love Family Guy, always have, and they will keep plugging the hell out of it to make sure its core audience doesn't lose interest.

Now the same is happening with another show that's better than Family Guy ever was or will be, King of the Hill, whose episode order has been slashed and which is on the verge of cancellation because the Fox executives consider Family Guy and American Dad their new standard-bearers for animation. (But at least KotH achieved a good run before Fox started fucking with it.)

But anyway, the DVD sales, the hype, and the fact that the Fox executives love FG will all add up to a decent run and a blockbuster syndication sale. It doesn't bother me as much as Bill G. Family Guy is a bad show in every way, but it's hardly the first bad show to achieve undeserved success on the basis of corporate hype and mindless humor.

Now, the bubble might eventually burst. Remember that in 1997 or 1998, King of the Hill was getting the same kind of hype and promotion that Family Guy is getting now; the bubble burst for that show and Fox lost interest. If that happens with FG, it probably won't be able to hang around for another few years with modest success, because it's not a good enough show for that. But I think it'll reach 100 episodes easy before its core audience outgrows it, and that's all Fox really needs for a syndication bonanza.

 

[Julian Lalor]

If they loved it so much, then why did they cancel it? And speaking someone who is as far from a frat-boy as you could possibly imagine, I thoroughly enjoy the show. Sure, it's not as good as King of the Hill or Futurama, but at least it isn't another reality show.

 

[DonMac]

Sean Moon

Yes, the Chappelle Show Season 1 boxed set is now the #1 selling TV-show DVD boxed set, while Family Guy Seasons 1 & 2 boxed set is #2.

(But #2 in sales out of every TV boxed set released is still pretty good )

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Crummy ratings. The first time they cancelled it, it was because its ratings on Thursday nights were actually worse than the flop shows Fox had put there before it (it wasn't that they couldn't beat Friends, it's that they couldn't even beat previous Fox flops). Gail Berman, then president of Fox, loved FG so much that she gave it a surprise renewal, it was brought back, and flopped again. Even MacFarlane has said that they were right to cancel it at that point.

As to whether it will flop again now, no, I don't think it will. The DVD sales and cable run have given it a new buzz that it didn't have before. It still doesn't have much appeal to older viewers, but Fox can't get older viewers at 9 on Sunday because they're all watching Desperate Housewives. What FG will get are the young male viewers who think Desperate Housewives isn't their cup of tea, and it'll get enough of those viewers to post respectable ratings in the 18-to-49 demographic.

BTW, I find it too bad that Ken Tucker is no longer TV critic at Entertainment Weekly; he really hated FG and had some great comments on it ("The awful show they just keep putting on the air"). FG even wrote in a gag where Peter says "Up yours, Ken Tucker," but they cut it. I'll miss Tucker's bashing of FG.

 

[MarkHastings]

As long as that person understands the meaning of "Constructive Criticism", if not, it's just threadcrapping.

 

[Jason Adams]

Uh...you call thursdays up against Friends a better timeslot then what Futurama got? Lets face facts...both Family Guy and Futurama were fucked over by Fox scheduling, and their audience suffered because of it. Fox did bring it back twice, but then did the same thing to it...buried it in the schedule. We both know that Fox is an extremely impatient network when it comes to letting good shows build an audience.

And one more thing...how do you say that a show that has under its belt, being the second best selling TV on DVD box set of all time, has to be kept plugging the "hell out of it to make sure its core audience doesn't lose interest."? If anything, its core audience has gotten more interested over the time the show was off the air, cause you know...the show wouldn't have been "uncancelled."

And of course, Futurama has just an "undemanding, content-free frat-boy humor" sense just as much as FG. Personally, if I had to guess, the underlying theme in your posts regarding FG is that your just really mad that Futurama got cancelled. Just my two cents.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Actually, I'm not that big a Futurama fan, though I liked it. I'm more pissed at the way Fox is ignoring and possibly cancelling King of the Hill to hype Family Guy, which will never be as good. But on the whole I'm just a little disappointed in the success of FG because it's a bad show succeeding undeservedly, just as I'm disappointed when a good show fails undeservedly. Them's the breaks.

 

[Matt Stone]

Wow, thanks for the certainty. I thought I liked Family Guy, but with your absolutely no proof argument, you've swayed me. It's a bad show :rolleyes

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Well, I don't have any proof that the shows I think are good are good, either. That's a personal opinion, and based on that personal opinion is my reaction: it's sad when a good show fails, and it's sad when a bad show succeeds. I'm sure there are some shows you think succeeded undeservedly, just not this one...

 

[Matt Stone]

Honestly, I post in threads about shows that I watch regularly. If I go negative, it's in regards to the quality of the show I watched. I don't go into threads about shows that I don't like simply to repeatedly post "This is a bad show." I consider that thread-crapping. You've made some good points in your recent posts, but you've closed them with some all encompassing opinion statements. Not a problem with you having an opinion, but a problem with the futile nature of "Well your show sucks" type of posts.

 

[Joe_H]

I saw the new episode as well, and to be honest with you, I was disappointed. Admittedly thats probably because I hyped it up so much in my head, but still.

There were some funny parts, but just not as good as I was hoping.

And so people don't think I'm just making a meaningless post, I actually love the show.

Actually now that I think about it. I hated the original pilot and only started liking it when i saw the dvds.