The current conversation in the Family Guy thread has me thinking, which show has seen a sharper decline? There was a period in the late 90s/early 2000s where The Simpsons was almost unwatchable and was totally flat as far as comedy is concerned. The show has bounced back somewhat in the last 2-3 years. It's nowhere near its Golden Age but some episodes have the irreverence that the old days used to have in spades.
Family Guy was always a show that had its faults right from the beginning IMO. I loved the show but I could see its failings as it lacked any real plot and relied heavily on pop culture which worked really well early on but we've seen society as a whole has dropped away from that kind of kitschy pop cultural kind of humor and now the show has to actually rely more on the characters which have always been little more then cardboard for the most part.
The strongest dynamic of the series being the Brian and Stewie relationship has frittered away to nothingness and Stewie's homicidal tendencies have dropped completely off the radar while the amusing slightly homosexual aspect has turned blatant gayness.
Peter has actually seen a lot of growth but in doing so the show has lost a lot of its punch IMO. This is kind of ironic as Homer Simpson went from being fairly nuanced to being a complete neanderthal during The Simpsons' Dark Period.
One last thing, you can clearly see how the lack of plot development has killed FG now what with all the crazy time consuming show tunes. The show tunes completely derail any momentum the episode has built up and ruins the rest of the episode.
Will Family Guy bounce back? I hope so because it was EXTREMELY funny back in the day. Somehow though, I don't see the show having a bounce back the way The Simpsons has had in recent years. Is FG's drop off worse then The Simpsons? probably not so I go with The Simpsons having the sharper decline.
Family Guy was always a show that had its faults right from the beginning IMO. I loved the show but I could see its failings as it lacked any real plot and relied heavily on pop culture which worked really well early on but we've seen society as a whole has dropped away from that kind of kitschy pop cultural kind of humor and now the show has to actually rely more on the characters which have always been little more then cardboard for the most part.
The strongest dynamic of the series being the Brian and Stewie relationship has frittered away to nothingness and Stewie's homicidal tendencies have dropped completely off the radar while the amusing slightly homosexual aspect has turned blatant gayness.
Peter has actually seen a lot of growth but in doing so the show has lost a lot of its punch IMO. This is kind of ironic as Homer Simpson went from being fairly nuanced to being a complete neanderthal during The Simpsons' Dark Period.
One last thing, you can clearly see how the lack of plot development has killed FG now what with all the crazy time consuming show tunes. The show tunes completely derail any momentum the episode has built up and ruins the rest of the episode.
Will Family Guy bounce back? I hope so because it was EXTREMELY funny back in the day. Somehow though, I don't see the show having a bounce back the way The Simpsons has had in recent years. Is FG's drop off worse then The Simpsons? probably not so I go with The Simpsons having the sharper decline.
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