Family Guy Season Seven (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I hope I have the season number correct.

I noticed that I have been rather unhappy with the TV shows
I have been watching this season (Heroes, Prison Break, The Fringe).

Ahhh, you know what? Maybe I am having a bad month. I say
this because I seem to be equally unimpressed with the season
return of Family Guy.

Now this is one of my favorite shows. However, I think we can
all agree that over the past two seasons the show just doesn't hit
its high points as much as it used to. More jokes fall flat rather
than making you force out a good belly laugh.

Not a strong season opener as far as I am concerned. Don't think
there was one really good laugh to be had. As much as I would
hate to see Family Guy leave the airwaves, the show is
starting to feel like it has overstayed its welcome. I mean, from
what I hear, The Simpsons became rather tired and lifeless
after its initial 7 seasons.

Hope to see better next week.

 

[AnthonyC]

What bothered me about the premiere was that the "Brian finds the girl of his dreams" plot has been done to death. People complain that The Simpsons is constantly repeating storylines, but in seven seasons, Family Guy has done at least four or five episodes about Brian being in love.

That said, "Horton Hears a Domestic Disturbance But Doesn't Call 911" was pretty amusing.

 

[JohnS]

I agree with you Ron.
I was unimpressed with last season
and with the season preimere of season seven.

But last season gave us Blue Harvest which was fantastic.
and later on this season we will get the sequel, Something,something, Something, Dark Side.

Last night's Love Blackually just didn't make me laugh.
and with the past problem with jewish jokes, I'm surprised the line said by Cyrano of "You stupid Jew" got past the sensors.

And Ron, about hoping next weeks is better. Doesn't look like it.
Next weeks episode is called, I Dream of Jesus
When Peter becomes completely obsessed with "Surfin' Bird", a 1963 hit song from the Trashmen, Brian and Stewie are determined to destroy every last copy of it. When Peter goes searching every record store in Quahog for it, he runs into an old friend and ends up hanging out with Paris Hilton and Perez Hilton

and the week after that we get another Brian and Stewie road trip musical special, Road to Germany
Trying to save Mort Goldman

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Sounds like its gonna be a rough couple of weeks till we
get to the Blue Harvest sequel.

 

[Shane D]

wont it be months before the star wars? i thought i read somewhere it was the last episode this season.

 

[Malcolm R]

It'll definitely be during one of the sweeps periods (Nov, Feb, May).

I laughed a few times this week, but it wasn't anything special.

The way they framed the shot when Brian's nose was growing across the table toward Stewie, there had to be a joke there that was cut (censored).

 

[WillG]

It was a so-so episode. But, I have been starting to get angry at Seth MacFarlane. As much as I am a fan of the show, this episode did something to clench my feelings that he is a jerk. I can't really describe it since the joke had to do with a very sensitive issue in our society. But the joke indicated that Brian felt a woman who had a certain stance on the issue (even though the character was a bit kooky) was a C**t. Now it seems pretty obvious to me that Brian is the main mouthpiece of MacFarlane. It just seems to me, he is one of these guys who if you don't fall in line with the way he thinks, you're an asshole (and I have heard similar thoughts on the DVD commentaries). Personally, on this certain issue, all I'll say is that I have pros and cons for each side of the arguement, so it's not like I was personally offended, but the joke seemed scathingly condescending.

 

[MatthewA]

Brian is Lisa. Both are one-dimensional vessels for the writers' political beliefs.

It is becoming more and more obvious to me that Seth MacFarlane is a one-trick pony and that pony has a broken leg. The first three seasons were great, but the new episodes are unwatchable (pop culture references are not a joke, they are a setup to a joke, and they forgot that); "American Dad" is nothing more than a straw man to attack conservatism; it will probably be gone soon. "The Cleveland Show" will probably be a disaster. I saw the preview with the "white trash" character who "had a problem with black people," and I thought to myself, "has he ever set foot in the South?" He thinks he's Norman Lear but he doesn't even reach the level of Sherwood Schwartz.

In the IMDb, they posted that he stopped smoking marijuana because it was making him paranoid. Don't believe me, look here:

MacFarlane Swears Off Marijuana

This show and "The Simpsons" (I'm starting to feel Sam Simon was right all along) seem to be in a race to see who can become the worst show on TV quickest. Thus far, the race is a dead heat. I don't think there will be any protests if FG is cancelled again.

 

[AnthonyC]

I know what you're talking about and I agree--expressing your opinion on the matter? No problem. Making everyone who feels differently look moronic and eccentric? Not cool.

 

[WillG]

Except that on The Simpsons, they don't typically use Lisa to condescend viewers who don't share those beliefs. The "Lisa The Vegetarian" episode had her doing that, but she "learned a lesson" at the end to be tolerant of other people's belief.

 

[MatthewA]

That was in "the good old days," i.e. the 20th century Simpsons.

Have you seen the show lately?

 

[WillG]

I still watch the show, but I don't pay as much attention as I used to. Any good, recent examples

 

[MatthewA]

Well, when she became a Buddhist, she was practically saintly when everyone else was intolerant. Even though back in 1992 that was her towards Homer's religion born of laziness. Maybe she is not so much a vessel as much as a reflection of the writers' attitudes. But she can still be a bit of a pill, and would be more credible as a character if she were a couple years older.

I try to block most of the recent episodes out of my mind. They angry up the blood. To get this thread back on track, I can't even watch the recent Family Guy episodes because they taint the first three seasons. Even some of the early revival episodes were good. But the show that airs now suggests that it is dying.

 

[TravisR]

Not to be a smartass but I think that also perfectly describes the first three seasons of Family Guy too.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I've seen a few of the episodes from the last two or three years of the show but besides animation style, I couldn't tell the difference from an early episode or a current one. Whereas The Simpsons, I can pretty easily tell what era an episode is from.

 

[Joe_H]

I agree that Family Guy isn't as great as the earlier episodes, but it still makes me laugh enough to be watchable. I actually think what's more funny than the pop culture references lately has been some of the in jokes, like in this episode, wondering if Loretta would actually hear Stewie talk.

That being said, my favorite is still the Willy Wonka spoof episode.

 

[MatthewA]

I don't agree. In the first episode, a reference to the child molester episode of "Diff'rent Strokes" is the set up. The joke is the molester's remark. If they were doing it today it would be just expecting to get laughs from the mention of a 30-year-old (next month, BTW) TV series. Likewise, in a second season show a joke about "The Cosby Show" is not that it's about "The Cosby Show," but that Dr. Huxtable goes crazy and his head falls off.

Some of the bits just go on forever (Peter in the grocery store with "227's" Jackée was just tackée). If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, why did they have to imitate the style of the Sideshow Bob/rake gag that went on 10 times too long back in 1993? And if you have to explain a joke, it is not funny.

I'd rather the show try to actually improve (and the show was on an upward swing in quality when Fox pulled the plug in 2002) than see it go on in its current state.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Tonight's episode was worth it for the Office Space spoof with Stewie and Brian goin' gansta' on the record lol.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I don't think so. It was a bit from "AIRPLANE!"



Hey, has everybody heard about the bird?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yep, even the dialogue was similar lol.

 

[Malcolm R]

Huh. Guess it's been awhile since I've watched "Airplane."