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Family Guy

Hey Scott,
Not quite sure how I came about it, but I've recently been DVRing "Family Guy" re-runs on TBS and Cartoon Network (circa 2009-2011 or so), and I am a bit surprised how good I still found the show to be. I was an avid re-run viewer during its cancellation in those few years prior to 2005 when the show returned again, and I was even more a fan after the return. After a few years of the show's return I suppose I just got out of the habit, although I never felt that the show got stale or anything. Sure there have been some terrible eps over the years (all shows have them), but I'll be damned if even after 7 years back on the air a lot of these eps never fail to slay me. It's my understanding that it's become far more "cool" to hate on Family Guy these days, but outside of a handful of bad shows, I'm not getting the hate.
So, I know you were a fan because it's been well documented on the blog, but do you still watch? If not, is it more out of getting out of a habit or a show quality issue?

I don't watch the new ones anymore, no.  I have a bunch on DVR and watch them when I'm really starved for something to do, but at this point I'm pretty much just over the show.  It's not even quality so much as I'm just tired of the same bits and overdone jokes.  I think the Conway Twitty runs were what really killed it for me.  

Comments

  1. The show has been on an AWFUL, non funny spiral since about 2007.  Not even worth your time.

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  2. I think everyone goes a bit strong on the Family Guy hate. I do agree the Conway Twitty thing was just a waste of time. As a UK viewer, I just didn't get alot of the references at points. I don't mind quick ones, but it's when they devote an entire episodes or half an episode to an in-joke that I don't like.

    I love Stewie's evolvement from know-it-all baby back to basically being a regular (but talking) baby.

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  3. I've always hated Family Guy, from day 1.  Peter is a completely unlikeable characer, and the pop culture references generally aren't as funny or interesting as McFarlane thinks they are. 

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  4. I pretty much only watch the pre-cancellation episodes, it's like night and day compared to what it's been since. I just hate how every goddamn joke is telegraphed with "THIS IS WORSE THAN THE TIME..." [insert manatee gag here]. 

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  5. I still think it's pretty funny, but there's been a definite decline in quality over the last few years. I'd still call it one of the funniest shows on TV, but that says more about the entire genre being in the crapper right now rather then Family Guy being really good. The James Woods episodes, however, are fucking awful, and the "Bird is the Word" thing is officially played out.

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  6. General rule of thumb is that the Stewie/Brian episodes are great but when they focus on the rest of the cast, it usually sucks.
     
    The utterly full of bullshit Quagmire rant destroyed a lot of interest in the show, as did the pussy taking it all back from the Hurricane episode where they would not allow Meg's long overdue denouncement of her family stand, with her taking it all back/agreeing to be the family punching bag at the end of the episode.

    American Dad meanwhile has turned into one of the BEST shows on Sunday night Fox-wise, 

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  7. I can't deny the show has dropped off in quality, particularly the "Stewie and Brian locked in a bank" episode being the bottom of the barrel and one of the worst episodes of any TV show I've seen. But I still find it funny.

    And frankly, the Conway Twitty gags had me in stitches every time.

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  8. The South Park "Family Guy Writer's" episode was the final death nail for me and this show.  It was already running on fumes for me as it was and I could simply not overlook how stupid the writing for this show was afterwards.

    On the other hand, American Dad is still awesome.

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  9. Haven't watched regularly in years, but that hour long muder mystery episode was ass.

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  10. I have to admit...the Conway Twitty stuff is the one current running gag that I actually do like. I don't know why.

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  11. There are dozens of gags every episode, half of which are pretty funny. That'll do me.

    And Ted was the same formula, and bloody awesome.

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  12. Holy shit did FG get just unwatchable around season 7 for me?

    Just bad ep after bad ep. I think once Brian became the avatar of Seth McFarlane it was just... guh....

    American Dad OTOH, very awesome and holds up nicely because of the actual having of a plot.

    and BY THE WAY... BY THE WAY...  The BoD Fantasy Football League is up to 12... plus 1... so there is room for 3 more people rounding it out to 16 people.

    So if you are interested, please send your email to
    rahmin_w@hotmaildotcom and sign up.

    Play your hardest in order to get the "Santino Marella" or "Howard Finkel" awards.

    You might be good enough to get the "Starman" award but you probably will get the "Jobber of the Week"

    Only way to find out is to sign up... or have one of the members stooge.

    But yeah FG sucks now.
     

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  13. Fuj, what site are you using, sportsline?

    Is there a buy in or is it just for fun?

    tks

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  14. is this Australian football or American football? Cause I'm in the top 5000 for the former ;)

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  15. The Quagmire rant was awesome and encapsulated everything I'd been thinking for years about Brian's holier-than-thou pretentious left-wing character.

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  16. Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers
    Watch Bob's Burgers

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  17. I've said it before, but part of the reason American Dad is so good is b/c they're actual characters who ebb and flow, who work off of one another, and are not static.  Compare with Family Guy and Cleveland Show where each character plays a cog in the wheel, and pretty much only that cog.

    I do watch all of Animation Domination, so I appreciate FG and Cleveland for what they are, but American Dad really is the most well-rounded of them all.

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  18. No buy in.
    Just for fun.

    Using ESPN... THE OCHO!

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  19.  Considering Brian is easily the worst character on the show I loved Quagmire's rant.

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  20. The show isn't as good but I still DVR it. Find that episodes pile up quite a bit and I'm not in much or a rush to watch it, but once I start a show I pretty much stick with it until the end, except for the Simpsons.

    American Dad was never funny to me in the couple chances I gave it, same with The Cleveland Show.

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  21. One of my favorite South Park's ever.

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  22. I really enjoyed Ted but was completely lost with the Flash Gordon stuff since I have never watched it.

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  23. I agree, Sadly it still beats about half of what The Simpsons have produced in the last 10 years.

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  24.  I think the love or hate of Quagmire's rant depends on one's political persuasion for the most part. 

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  25. "remember the time i got ived tea from mr. t with the profit muhammed"


    "over here muhammed"

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  26. I think the biggest reason I stopped watching was the treatment of Meg.  Pre-cancellation and probably the first or second season post-cancellation, she was more ignored or pushed to the side than anything.  But after that, every single character seemed to go out of their way to treat her like dogshit.

    The only episodes I've liked since 2007ish are the Star Wars trilogy.  And mostly because it's fucking Star Wars.

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  27. Her getting treated like shit is the gag, basically born from the fact no one cared about her. I think McFarlane recognized that most fans found her a useless character and the treat Meg like shit plot point was born. I personally find it funny because Meg is a useless character.

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  28. See, I've never gotten the love for their Star Wars episodes.  In fact, I had stopped watching before them and came back to see if they had improved by satirizing SW and I felt it was abysmal. 

    Good SW satire?  Robot Chicken.

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  29. I do, and I like it.

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  30. Its kind of brilliant actually

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  31. It was the other way around; Cartoon War severely damaged South Park, revealing Parker and Stone as thinned skinned little shits who can't stand that Family Guy is able to get away with more things than South Park can.

    As bad as Family Guy has gotten, South Park has gotten worse. MUCH MUCH worse.       

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  32. I always found it funnier when she was treated poorly due to neglect or ignorance instead of outright hate.  Once they started intentionally ridiculing her is when it stopped being funny.  At least for me.

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  33. I've never been a regular viewer of Robot Chicken, but every time I've seen it, it was great.

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  34. For me, the end of Family Guy was when South Park murdered it. It's tough even now to watch Family Guy without thinking, "Manatee Joke."

    I agree with whoever below said watch Bob's Burgers. I f'in love that show.

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  35. Couldnt agree more. It was a funny gag that turned into a mean-spirited gag.

    My girlfriend HATES Family Guy and it all basically stems from the treatment of Meg. And she liked the first few seasons.

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  36. Adults watching cartoons is disturbing in general.

    A generation of man-children that feel compelled to tune in to hear fart jokes and "GET IT!!! WE WERE ALIVE IN 1986!! DO YA GET IT?!" references.

    At least The Simpsons was designed like every other family sit-com, McFarlane's sense of "humor" really just boils down to "GET IT IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S A THING THAT HAPPENED WHEN WE WERE YOUNG!!!!"

    Neil Tyson has a new version of Nova coming out. Try to make room on the DVR between Family Guy, South Park, Wonder Showzen and whatever version of Dragon Ball they're on this decade.

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  37. What does Family Guy get away with that South Park doesnt??

    I cant imagine anyone except for Seth McFarlane thinking that South Park was the loser of the Cartoon War.

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  38. Flash Gordon used to be a TV show.

    GET IT?!?! ISN'T THAT FUCKING HILARIOUS!!!!? IT WAS A SHOWWWWWW!!!!

    That was the joke. It was a show.

    I thought Ted was funny for a bit about the first 45 minutes, but then the one-note nature of the joke just got old. Also I thought it was weird that nothing is as powerful as a little boys' wish EXCEPT a late-20's girls' wish...

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  39. Jesse, you're way off here.  Parker and Stone simply pointed out that Family Guy was a shallow, poorly written show and had the audience laugh while doing so.

    I'm not sure how they would be "severly damaged" in any way and South Park can get away with whatever they want.

    BTW, South Park also had a fantastic parody with "Simpsons Did It".  Did this make them out to be "thinned skinned little shits"?

    I did not get BAKE-d.

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  40. McFarlane does love beating things into the ground letting a gag run about a minute or two longer than it should.

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  41.  I lean to the left pretty heavily & I thought Quagmire's rant was one of the best things the show has done in recent years. It became less funny the more they kept going back to it, but you just take that for granted with Family Guy these days

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  42. South Park gets away with pretty much everything, cable versus network. They get away with much more than Family Guy ever could.

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  43. Did Seth ever try to take shots back at South Park? I don't recall him doing so, probably because by time they could get the episode made it would have been about 8 months after the South Park aired.

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  44. I like American Dad quite a bit, the dynamic between Stan and Steve is incredibly relatable to me as I was (and still am in a lot of ways) trying to do anything to impress my father.

    Compare that to the "dynamic" between Peter and Chris (is there actually a dynamic there? Other than they laugh at each other being one-note characters?)

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  45. Do you have a problem with Adults watching animated tv/movies or simply watching Family Guy?  I won't argue with the second part, but I would vehemently argue that there's something wrong with any adult enjoying animation.

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  46. "What does Family Guy get away with that South Park doesnt??"

    I promise you Jesse Baker will NEVER, EEEEEEEEEVER answer this question.

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  47. "GET IT IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE IT'S A THING THAT HAPPENED WHEN WE WERE YOUNG!!!! LMAO!!!! NEW COKE!! LOL!!!"

    This is a very accurate representation of the show's humour.

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  48. Better than Parker and Stone having an unhealthy obsession with racist drawings of Mohammed!

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  49. This right here.

    The Meg thing was funny when it was relatively understated.  Once it became "HEY, WE HATE MEG!  WE HATE HER SOOOO MUCH, WE LITERALLY SPIT ON HER!!  ISN'T THAT HILARIOUS>>>", that was when it stopped being funny.

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  50. I'd go one further, if it came from McFarlane, he was probably referencing the awesome 80s movie that has the Queen soundtrack.  That movie introduced an 8 year old me to boners.

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  51. The content is obviously the most important part. I hold American Dad in a completely different league from Family Guy because there's actually a plot component to American Dad. (Meaning...shit *actually* happens on that show)

    I'm trying to come up with examples of "quality animation" and am coming up pretty close to empty.

    A Scanner Darkly (which barely counts as it was film with paint on it) and uh...I don't know did they ever animate The Death of Big Pussy or something?

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  52. NINETY NINE RED BALLOONS!!!!

    THAT WAS A SONG!!

    R
    F
    L
    M
    F
    D
    B
    A
    C
    O

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  53. I'll choose a few things and you give me your opinion:

    Heavy Metal
    Avatar, The Last Airbender (obviously the series, not the movie)
    Pixar stuff, like Toy Story or Wall-E
    Classic Disney, most of it holds up
    DC movies, i tell ya, they've been pretty good

    I'm sure i'm leaving stuff out, but thoughts on these?

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  54. You're being inconsistent and hypocritical.

    BTW, there was nothing racist about the Mohammed episode of South Park.

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  55. I am totally shocked that you, of all people, would miss the point of that joke.

    I mean, you always seem so observant and well thought out!

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  56. Just btw although the content sucks the Twitter handle @ConwayTweety is the greatest name in history.

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  57. Ok you're right Heavy Metal ruled. Though I haven't seen it in fifteen years so I'm sure 32-year-old me likes it less than 16-year-old me did.

    I completely spaced the Pixar stuff, you're right there. Some of those movies are timeless, the Toy Story's in particular.

    Alot of the classic Disney/Warner I only find entertaining for the obvious racist/homophobic aspects. I wouldn't let my kids watch any of that stuff aside from some Roadrunner/Coyote.

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  58. Oh but, btw...I'd still feel a little creeped out by adults watching most of those things if they didn't have kids.

    If you walk into a single person's apartment and they've got a collection of Pixar/Disney/Avatar box sets? Yeah...I'm backing out of that apartment very slowly...

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  59. I would throw in Dilbert, Futurama, and SOME of King of the Hill as animated shows adults can watch without too much shame.

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  60. 1000x yes. The manatees followed by the parody jokes that could have passed for legit family guy destroyed the show for me.

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  61. Well, that's a shame.  I enjoy good films and funny shows regardless if someone made it with a computer or hand drawn animation or if it's live actors.

    To me, funny is funny and I don't think more than that about it.

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  62. I'll throw my hat in. Sending e-mail now.

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  63. Family Guy writers can pretty much create whatever they want episode-wise and simply create alternate edits for each station that airs it (hence Fox gets one version that is vetted by network standards and practices, Adult Swim gets another version with more racy content since cable is looser than network S&P-wise, and the DVD gets fully uncut and contains stuff omitted from the TV version and all swearing unbleeped.

    South Park meanwhile has to deal with cable standards and practices and Comedy Central won't let them do what Family Guy gets to do as far as creating two versions of an episode. So if S&P rejects something, they can't restore it PERIOD for the DVD. They can get swears unbleeped but that is about it.  

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  64. LOVED King of the Hill.

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  65. It seems really odd for a wrestling fan in a forum to go "Adults watching cartoons? Well that's just creepy."

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  66. I think we're just barely missing each other here.

    Quality animation is certainly possible to achieve, it's just very rare that the content is directed at adults (actual adults, not man-children that are 26 years old and still watching Gundam or whatever)

    As far as the humor aspect, I just get really annoyed that we as a society can't accept anything edgy coming from a person. If a person says something edgy we freak out and try to get the guy fired for offending someone. If a cartoon character says it on the other hand...well hey...that's just completely acceptable.

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  67. Seth and his writers took the high road and basically refused to fire back and give Parker and Stone what they wanted. Indeed, some of the writers took P&S's manatee insult as a badge of honor in order to deny them the joy of knowing that they hurt the writers feelings....

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  68. But being on cable they get to touch issues and be controversial to the point that Family Guy could never even dream of. You think Family Guy would have Oprah's vagina talking and pulling a handgun be allowed?

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  69. The first Family Guy Star Wars parody was really good, way better than Robot Chicken.

    The second and third? Ugh.

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  70. Chin getting sick of a one-note joke. For some reason that strikes me as humorous.

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  71.  While I disagree with your comment about adults and cartoons, you're spot on on why I can't stand Family Guy.

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  72. South Park couldn't do what Family Guy does because they turn around an episode in SIX DAYS. That's why the show is so remarkably timely.

    South Park gets away with more than Family Guy ever, ever has. Ever. Thy're never aired on Network and they don't spend MONTHS getting approval from the Network before air. They spend minutes.

    Seriously. Check out Six Days To Air and maybe know something about how South Park operates.

    Seth McFarlane, well first would never have the fucking BALLS to make a Muhammad joke in the first place, but if he did we'd have never even heard about it because it wouldn't have even made it to the animation stage. Fox stops them three months before the idea even leaves the writers' room.

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  73. Never cared for South Park, personally.

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  74. I watch wrestling with my CHILDREN.

    I watch cartoons with my CHILDREN.

    Don't worry, I find adults that tune in regularly to a PG television show expecting The Wire pretty fucking sad too.

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  75. Here's your post in response. Feel fulfilled now?

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  76. This will sound a bit wanky but the thing that put me off was the Griffins character roles just being chucked out the window. Every one of the main characters is just a whim driven idiot who does stupid stuff for the sake of a joke. Lois was the slightly uptight moral compass for Peter to play off while Brian was basically Peters conscience. Now Lois does drugs and made porn, Brian is an unsubtle liberal message (just point out Im not making a comment for or against any US party as I am a firm believer that all politicians are out for money and the best we can hope for is they don't fuck us too hard in their scramble for short lived power) might as well not be a dog anymore since he drives, works and dates human women. Megs gone from being an awkward teen to being mentally unstable (something Lois weirdly no longer cares about when at one point she was a doting mother) Stewie is just a constant unfunny gay joke.

    Family Guy used to be a silly show that occasionally pulled something risque out when it wouldn't be expected, now its written for the constant shock and the whole shows been Russoed in regards to things like that (The last FG DVD I bought they had the word fuck in nearly every episode, guess what that word on its own is not a joke)
    I think the problem is Seth Macfarlane made great Cartoons but along the way became a mediocre comedian. 

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  77. Fuck that shit, Pixar movies are great fucking films regardless of genre and The Last Airbender is a terrific show. Fuck anyone uncomfortable enough to think that adults can't watch cartoons; YOU'RE ON A BLOG THAT DISCUSSES FUCKING WRESTLING.

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  78. Inability to defend one's self is the high road now?

    Wow. You're fantasy booking extends to reality too? That's cute.

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  79. Right. Another show I only watch because my six-year-old wants to.

    I should have known calling people out for being man-children would have *REALLY* pissed people here off.

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  80. But Parker and Stone have repeatedly stated (until, allegedly, Viacom basically hit them with a gag order after 201 aired keeping them from talking about it) that the Mohammed episodes were their response to the debacle where a Dannish paper published blatantly racist pics of Mohammed as far as Parker and Stone being pissy that the cartoons were never published in the media when the media talked about the controversy surrounding them and the violence that ensued.
     
    And really, the way Matt Stone talked about said racist drawings, it was in a tone where he was basically fetishizing them and him being pissed off that the racist drawings never got published in American newspapers/aired on American news outlets.  

    If they wanted to do an episode satirizing the notion that Islam forbids artistic portrayals of Mohammed and the fact that they have incorporated him into the South Park universe as part of Jesus's super-hero team, there are ways to do that without referencing said racist Dannish cartoon controversy. Say, do an episode where the kids team up with the Super Best Friends and the plot basically is constantly making excuses for Mohammed being off-camera doing things that are vital to the story. Maybe toss in a joke or two about Mohammed being shy and not liking having his picture taken.   

    Hell, they could have even gotten away with outright showing Mohammed as part of the super best friends had they just put him there and not made a big deal about it. He's still in the syndication opening and the opening sequences for several seasons worth of episodes too.....

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  81. They CHOICE to do the six day schedule; they could take longer to get better quality episodes (which they still do; some episodes that Parker and Stone have high liking to are done outside the six days window so that they are done properly) and fight for what they want but they don't. 

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  82. Dude, you have the highest comment count on this blog.  Is that something that you do for your kids?

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  83. "They could take longer, which they do, but they don't."

    That's what you just said.

    It's about being topical. Which is something you have to do if you're aspirations are higher than making a joke about something that happened 25 years ago.

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  84. Fair enough. 

    Still sort of disagree, but I can see where you're coming from. 

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  85.  I guess my issue with it, and I say this as an admittedly touchy guy because I work in politics, is that Brian is the voice of reason on the show.  Yeah, he's arrogant, sanctimonious, holier than thou.  But sheesh, he lives with fucking morons.  I equate it to a liberal living in a racist, backwater town in Mississippi or wherever one thinks those towns still exist (heck a few of them in Michigan still).  If you are an outspoken fellow, you can't help but holier than thou, because the people around you are pond scum. 

    I don't know.  To me the whole rant came across as Seth trying to appease critics who thought he was too hard on blowhard republicans, so he did that as some kind of cosmic evening up.  It just didn't work for me.  if there were other characters on the show that weren't morons (and I LIKE the show), other liberals who pointed out the idiocy of the town and it's people in a less abrasive or holier than thou manner, then yeah it might have worked.  But under the circumstances?  For me, not so much.

    As for the original topic, yeah I've kind moved on from Family Guy.  Seen all the older ones too many times, and I think I only watched about half of this season and about half of last year before I deleted them off DVR.  Same with The Simpsons.  American Dad however does still rock.  Never liked the Cleveland Show.

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  86. I was never a huge fan of Family Guy, and when American Dad first aired, I thought that show was more much clever and interesting.  I haven't watched either one for years.

    I still think Simpsons is a good show, even though I don't watch that one much either.

    Futurama is the best show of that genre.  It was amazingly clever, smart, and interesting back in 2000 (which I didn't really see because of the terrible scheduling), but I never realized it until Adult Swim showed it.  It's was great back then, and it's still really good now.

    The one really great thing of having hundreds of channels is that quality shows can find an audience and grow, instead of being cancelled 1-2 years in.

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  87. I liked it more as a liberal, just for that element of self deprecation. 

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  88. But making a big deal about the double standard that exists in relation to showing images of Mohammed ANYWHERE was the joke and I'm glad someone finally just pointed it out without sugar coating it.

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  89. I kinda think Cartoon Wars was South Park's creative peak too, so it's funny that they were tearing down the new whippersnappers in town and it was probably their collective best story ever, and then it was all downhill for them. I don't really dig South Park but those episodes were great. 

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  90. Yeah, of course. The comment count is an adorable go-to comment but in reality, the overwhelming majority of my posts come from live threads while I'm sitting here being bored watch a kids' show.

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  91. I love American Dad, nothing drives me nuts more than people who write it off because they don't like Family Guy. I've seen every episode of that show and I can honestly say they run at a "good episode" rate in the high 90% range. 

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  92. We had to leave in the middle and I feel like I saw the whole thing because it was so predictable I'm sure I know how it ended. Some of the first half was funny though. 

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  93. Hate to break this to you dude, historically almost all animation has been aimed at adults. From the original Disney shorts, to nearly all anime, to current Pixar stuff, all of that stuff has been made with adults in mind. You're just a close-minded asshole.

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  94. The Venture Bros.  Still the best 30 minute sitcom, animated or not, on TV.

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  95. Woah, zero chance Chin doesn't respond to Dougie.

    This could be a battle for the ages, someone get the Fink to do the ring announcements, stat!!!

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  96. Who are you talking to? And who cares?

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  97. Hey. Name-calling. You learn some of that maturity from your cute little cartoons kiddo?

    I like your argument though, "Those kids movies, THOSE RATED G KIDS MOVIES, are actually aimed at adults! Why? Because I'm an adult that likes kids' movies!"

    That's some epic logic there sport!

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  98. You sir, it's like you know me.

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  99. There's occasionally a cut away gag that I like if I get the reference, and I enjoy Stewie/Brian episodes, pretty much anytime they act or react to something as if they're a baby and a dog. But that's about. I can't stand Peter, can't stand Chris. The novelty of a talking baby and dog and references to other things I know is about all I ever liked about it.

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  100.  Peter is really one of the most unlikeable characters I've ever seen.  He has no redeeming qualities.  I guess that's supposed to be part of the joke, but I really always found myself just wanting to change the channel. 

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  101.  STAR WARS JOKES IN 2007???  Almost 30 years after the original movie and 8 years after "Phantom Menace" made everyone start re-assessing the entire series?

    Wow, he doesn't care whose toes he steps on!

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  102. Yes, man-child is not name-calling. And any movie that doesn't have tits or the word fuck in it is automatically aimed towards children solely. Have you ever even seen Up? Or Wall-E? No adult themes in there at all. Face it, you're a complete hypocrite.

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  103. No joke, have you seen "Up"? What did you think?

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  104. It's always the same argument here: "It must be directed at adults because I am an adult that watches it!"

    That's backward logic. What that really means is that you're an adult that likes things directed at kids.

    When you see the letter "G" or "PG" on a program, it's not meant for you. Stop pining away for it dreaming of better times when "Show X" *was* meant for you. You're an adult now.

    It's a sad, sad moment in a man's life but eventually we all have to confront the fact that we're not always going to be the 18-24 demographic. The entertainment world is not always going to be designed on getting *your* dollar.

    If things work out right, hopefully you'll be an adjusted enough adult to be able to admit that some of your interests *ARE* childish rather than denying it because it makes you feel uncomfortable and less "manly" or whatever.

    With very few exceptions, wrestling is fucking childish. They're pretending to fight as part of, usually, a greater morality play.

    Cartoons are also mostly childish. As are toys. As are comics. As are video games. Very few exceptions to that rule, particularly if you factor in the rating. Again, if it's a "G" game or a "G" comic, it's probably NOT FOR YOU.

    No one is above it. I like wrestling, and I can admit it's stupidly childish about 98% of the time. I have a ridiculous little boys' love affair with baseball. Totally childish. I wouldn't try to convince other people that those interests are actually very mature simply because I enjoy them.

    Entitlement. It really does seep into everything these days.

    tl;dr Family Guy is fucking stupid. Grown men that love cartoons are sad. Seth McFarlane is stupid AND sad.

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  105. Thanks, I work at being adorable.  You’re a bit of a cutie yourself.
     
    I watch kids stuff with kids sometimes too, goddaughters mostly, my own is too young for TV.  I’ve seen more than my fair share of The Backyardigans, but I don’t participate in any Backyardigans community, even though Pablo is pretty cool.
     
    You do participate in a wrestling community, measurably, and on a more frequent basis than any of the rest of us man children in fact.  Because of this, it is hypocritical of you to pull the “This is KIDS STUFF, I only watch this junk for my KIDS” card.  You certainly have a lot to say for someone who is completely disinterested.

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  106. Because REAL MEN only like shows with swearing and sex.

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  107. Is there something better and more appropriate to call a grown adult that's defending to the death his love for kids' programming?

    I'm all ears. I'll start using that word instead. Man-child doesn't roll off the tongue anyway.

    I like that, strictly for the purposes of this argument, you can't separate having an adult theme from being an adult movie. That's pretty awesome and convenient.

    What was Wall-E rated? Oh right, PG-13 for the adult themes! How could I have...oh...wait...it wasn't? Well shit.

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  108. No of course not! They only like shows with morality plays and fuzzy cartoon characters that come with their own toy line!

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  109. I feel sorry for you.

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  110. Yup. That's me, so completely interested in wrestling that I spent the entire live thread arguing the usage of the word "retarded" rather than watch the show.

    I have no problem admitting that wrestling is fucking dumb and childish. It is for kids, there's absolutely no way to deny it, though man do people try!

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  111. Because I don't pine away to be a child again?

    Don't. Being a grown-up is actually pretty fun.

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  112. I don't think you understand the rating system. It's not to set an upper age limit, it's to set an under age limit. You may want to consult the mpaa website for more info. You're missing out on a lot of interesting program. I know that it won't have head-shots and anal sex in it, but sometimes you have to expand your horizons.

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  113. Family Guy's two worst seasons are 6 and 7. however, I think Seasons 8 and 9 are some of the best stuff they've done. Especially in Season 8, where they nearly eliminated all of the stupid cutaway gags altogether and started having really interesting plots.

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  114. No. Because you limit yourself with your prejudices.

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  115. I haven't seen it, my wife LOVES that movie but I've just never gotten around to it. It's one of the random movies that just never ended up on the shelf here, like Ice Age 2, we just sort of forgot to buy it or something.

    I hear it's great though but I can't comment on it.

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  116. Morality plays, you mean like in every single decent tv show and movie ever?

    My DVD collection ranges from "adult" like Nightmare on Elm Street and 24, through "all-ages" such as Les Miserables & Dads Army to  "kids" such as Looney Tunes & Dumbo.

    I see no differenc ein enjoying whatever i wish to watch. Just because your mental capabiliteis mean that anything without boobs and foul language bores you, does not mean it is the case for the rest of the human race.

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  117. "People that love kids shows are childish."

    "Yeah well you want anal sex in every TV show!"

    Is it fun arguing with yourself?

    I guess in your world lots of shows are "accidentally" rated G when really they intended to be for more mature audiences, they just forgot to add any adult content.

    Awesome.

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  118. Limit myself? I watch lots of shows for kids.

    I just understand that they're for kids.

    Oh, and most importantly, I don't get upset when I'm not fulfilled by the lack of adult content.

    You know, like 85% of this blog that wants their PG show to be more adult. That's where this is coming from really.

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  119. "Adults that like cartoons are childish."

    "You want tits and cunts in every show!"

    That's a pretty awesome leap there.

    It's almost like this isn't the blog where poster en masse routinely bitch about not getting adult content from their favorite PG show. ALMOST.

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  120. Now you're upset that people want their kids shows to be more adult? Nobody even mentioned that. You're all over the place and not making any sense. Spend the evening gathering your thoughts and try again in the morning. We'll wait.

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  121. Seriously, I don't have the time to educate someone that won't listen to any sort of reason. I hope your children's mother has a better grip on life than you do. Otherwise, they're in big trouble. Good day sir.

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  122. Try my Mr. TEA


    TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA

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  123. holy shit, its a trap was terrible.

    i think i giggled once.

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  124. Haven't posted in a while, but saw this and needed to post. I used to love Family Guy. It was one of the reasons I used to stay home on Sunday Nights. Nowadays, I DVR it, fast forward through most of it, and then delete it when it's over. Seth has really been spreading himself thin with all the shows and Ted. I've seen Ted twice. It's not as funny as people have told me it was. But it is kinda funny. And...it's exactly what a live action FG movie would be like. Cutaways, musical routines, shitty endings. Someone said it best, Seth MacFarlane loves driving jokes into the ground, and while he may think it's funny, i don't. We get it. No one likes Meg, Herbert's a Pedo with an annoying voice, and sometimes Peter's retarded. I really do wish it would go back to the days of when it was funny, and there wasn't as many Back to the Future or Star Wars jokes.

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  125. "
    Adults watching cartoons is disturbing in general. "


    You must be easily disturbed.

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  126. Eh...it kinda blows

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  127. Doesn't require a whole lot of scrolling down to decipher who was bullied as a child, and is subsequently lashing out (online of course, because not every bullied kid ends up with the physique of Sheamus) as over-compensation.

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  128. That movie rocked and mings daughter was hot as fuck.

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  129. since the reboot i cant get into it.

    havent watched it enough to give it traction in my head.

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  130. Family Guy and The Simpsons are kind of in the same place for me right now (though The Simpson always has been and always will be the superior show, don't mistake me for saying or implying that I believe otherwise).  Their glory years are both behind them yet I continue to watch both of them as a collection of stand alone jokes and gags, if nothing else, because I still find them drawing a fair amount of laughter from my bleak soul. 

    With the Simpsons, the plots are secondary to me, I just love the characters enough to be happy every time they say or do something funny.  And I also find that in rewatching some of the newer episodes, they are still producing a significant body of quotable lines (e.g “Everything's perfect about the past except how it led to the present”).  I've never had near the same love or reverence for Family Guy, so I'm not even sure I would say it's declined; it's more that the cutting edge is gone and the style of humor (the rampant nonsensical references and envelope pushing shock jokes) have aged. They're still funny sometimes, but not as often and sometimes it just feel very cruel and despicable (like the Michael J. Fox drinking wine gag), not unlike Dane Cook's recent aurora joke.  I think Family Guy is at it's best in the rare instances when the characters act or are treated like they exist in the real world (Bryan acting like a dog in contrast to his normal liberal douche persona or Peter being aggravated by Consuella--random example I know, but that always cracks me up).It aggravates me when both shows are panned wholeheartedly by jaded ex-fans who now only with them off the air (what's up AVClub commenters) when they can still be enjoyable as different entities now.  Then again, I'm someone who finds the "Surfing Bird" gag funny and actually loaded some Conway Twitty on my iTunes after seeing one of his cutaways, so maybe I just fall into whatever bizarre demographic they're aiming for now.

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  131. "You know, like 85% of this blog that wants their PG show to be more adult."

    Probably because the show used to be more adult...

    You act like wrestling has always been PG so expecting it to be anything but is ridiculous.

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  132. if it involves gianna michaels or lisa ann...

    im down.

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  133. Family guy>monday night raw
    seth mcfarlane>wwe creative

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  134. i want it to be good.

    it was PG in the 80s and i loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  135. I just wanna say two things

    1. Im enjoying this "clash of the titans" in this thread.
    2. The FF league is locked up at 16 teams. Thanks for signing up.

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  136. Nah he said that pretty clearly in his first post.

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  137. I kind of agree here. Most complaints about family guy and indeed wrestling seem to come down to "it's not how it was when I was younger" when the reality is that we all aren't what we were when we were younger.

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  138. I knew there was a flame war somewhere in here when I saw that a Family Guy post got a 140 comments.

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  139. Me too.  On the one hand, you have a guy who thinks everything he says is creative, witty gold, but seems to be completely clueless (most of the time, anyway) that he comes off looking like an angry, ranting child.  I said "most of the time", because he was embarrassed enough by his actions in the Dark Knight/Wrestling thread to leave for a
    while after half the forum started laughing at him for flipping out over literally nothing.  Of course, I'm sure he'll offer some bullshit explanation (i was camping with my fucking wife and my fucking kids having a fun fucking time and not wasting time fucking caring about something as fucking stupid as fucking Raw and fucking Batman you fucking fuck). 

    On the other hand, you have another guy who can't tell that he's being clearly trolled.  I mean, when somebody comes on this blog of all places to rant about adults watching cartoons,  it's pretty obvious what the intent is.   He "feels sorry" for the childish ranter in question, yet still feels the need to type paragraph upon paragraph back to him.   

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  140. Johnny Storm vs Robbie Ryamond/Prof Stein over here.

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  141. Family Guy jumped the shark when Stewie and Brian became BFFs instead of 2 individuals who reluctantly tolerate each other.   That's not to say that Stewie and Brian didn't have some funny interactions together........but overall the show's quality dipped somewhere around that time.  It didn't help that every other scene was somebody randomly vomitting.  Apparently that's knee-slappingly hilarious or something.

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  142. wrestling has damn near since forever been pg.

    it was 97-03ish that it wasnt.

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  143. I really need to start paying attention more to the shitty posts. Seems like all the fun stuff happens there.

    ReplyDelete
  144. Over here in the BoD... Blink and you miss GOLD.

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  145. I would be remiss if, on a Family Guy thread, I didn't link this clip as my all time favorite cutaway.  I've probably watched this over 50 times now and it still shreds me.  If only they were all this good.

     http://youtu.be/6LZ3LLlBsRE

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  146. Nothing about animation makes them children only.  Medium is important, but it doesn't change things that much.

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  147. People don't dislike wrestling for being childish, they dislike it for having poor characterization and continuity,.

    ReplyDelete
  148. How do drug use and the production of porn make you a bad person?

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  149. I wouldn't consider old school NWA PG or geared specifically to kids.

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  150. Well, that's a bit of an unfair argument against the show. Robot Chicken did the same thing and it was brilliant. And actually Blue Harvest was easily one of the funniest episodes in years. 

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  151. it was violent, but it was till held in the confines of a sport.

    it wasnt choppy ur peepee
    hand births
    unholy weddings
    gay weddings
    abortions
    tit and ass

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  152. It's a manner of respect.

    I'm not going to burn a Bible live on a TV show because it's stupid, immature and disrespectful.  We live in a global society and you can't just do that shit.  I understand that art can and should break boundaries, but controversy for the sake of controversy is garbage.  Saying fuck because it's "shocking" is something that I hoped everybody outgrew in middle school.

    Who cares anyway?  South Park is now just badly disguised political propaganda with the occasional funny bit.

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  153. I think you're projecting a bit. 

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  154. Uh, the Dark Knight was rated PG-13.  I really don't think that's a kids movie.

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  155.  Chin also is the guy that is only here on this blog because he likes laughing at wrestling and Scott hates wrestling.

    ReplyDelete
  156. im pretty sure he has young'ins, i think he has talked about them once... maybe twice.

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  157.  You just never know when a pier-six brawl is going to break out.

    The minute Dougie went after Chin, I knew it was going to be a fun ride.  Chin gets so worked up and combine that with Dougie's biting (and sometimes insulting) posting style...lol.

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  158. You know what really grinds my gears? That only recent Simpsons episodes air in syndication, at least on my local channel. My friends and I have plenty of lines and jokes from the Simpsons that we share, but I haven't seen a show earlier than 2005 on the channel guide in years. I'm sure there's still occasionally funny stuff on these new ones, but I just don't follow the new Family Guy and Simpsons.

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  159.  I attended my first NWA show (in Florida) at 8 years old.  It was bloody, but like Fuj said, in the context of a "real sport", it's like letting your kids watch UFC or NFL.

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  160. My local channel does the same thing, only we get episodes from 2008 on. There's a couple websites that show the entire Simpsons catalog in full, including deleted scenes. 

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  161. While that's obviously adult content, I think it's an immature idea of it as well.  When we were teenagers watching the Attitude era, that's what we thought adult content was.  But that's not *all* it is.

    Old-school NWA was adult without resorting to all that craziness.  A lot of territories seemed to be like old-school NWA as well.  It wasn't vulgar, but it was geared toward adults as much, if not more than kids.  Whether it's because it was treated like a sport or not is irrelevant.  It wasn't geared specifically to kids, which is what the assertion was.

    Even if wrestling was always geared toward kids *before* 1997 (which it wasn't), they opened Pandora's box and went after that older demo.  And if you never watched wrestling until the Attitude era, you wouldn't know anything but adult-oriented wrestling.  I don't see any reason viewers shouldn't expect a more mature product from WWE since it's exactly what they've done before.  And again, mature doesn't only mean T&A, blood, abortions, and cussing. 

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  162. And those aren't considered kid shows even if kids watch them.  So why should wrestling?

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  163.  The NFL isn't considered ok for kids to watch?  News to me.

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  164. Same boat here. I wasn't gonna enter the thread until I saw the post count. I figured something good had to be going on.

    ReplyDelete
  165. ...That's not what I said.  They're not considered *kid shows*.

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  166. I see now.

    I don't usually follow the live threads.

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  167.  They want you to buy the DVDs, I'm sure.

    It makes me so incredibly happy to know I'll never not own all the good seasons of Simpsons again, barring some catastrophe.

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  168. The only Family Guy episodes worth a shit anymore are the yearly sci-fi themed ones (like the Sliders parody or where Stewie created the Big Bang, not the lazy Star Wars ones). Other than that it's just "eh, throw it on while we're eating or something" TV. Once in a while a little set piece is all right though, like that run Peter & Quagmire had about every East Coast drugstore. Someone on AV Club said the best way to handle FG is to look at it like a comic strip rather than a cohesive show and just enjoy whatever little nugget might make you chuckle. 

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  169. Stick to being a wrestling nerd, know-nothing shut-in.

    ReplyDelete
  170. At least American Dad is really good, I mean that's probably why Family Guy is lacking. He's putting all his energy into AD. 

    And just because Family Guy isn't as funny as it use to be doesn't mean the episode aren't still solid. It's more than I can say about WWE right now. 

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  171.  I don't if it's about buying the DVDs or not.  From what I understand the syndication package is sold in different assortments.  You can buy 20 years worth or you can buy the more recent ones only.  Lots of conspiracy theories about Fox stations not wanting to show the old ones so that people realize how much better they were, dvd sales, etc.  Honestly though I think it's just stations that are cheap as hell.  The fox affiliate here does  2005 or so to current.  The detroit fox affiliate shows all 20 years. 

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  172.  wow.  as Chin/dougie winds down, will we get Chad vs. Ryan?  The public is on the edge of their seats!!!

    ReplyDelete
  173. "Would you like some 'Mr. T... Tea'?"

    Loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  174. I saw that clip of MacFarlane claiming that he and his team wanted to "take the high road" by not retaliating.

    Umm... since when does "Family Guy" take the high road? The whole POINT of the show is to be as crass and tasteless as possible.

    That was McMahon-level transparent.

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  175. All the good manatees jumped ship years ago.

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  176. I stopped watching FG about a year or two after it started, but I decided to watch the "bank vault" episode on Youtube after seeing some news-bits on it.

    I have to say, I didn't find it funny OR shocking - it was ten minutes of build-up with a climax that happened off-camera. I really didn't get why anyone other than the most old-fashioned conservatives would have a problem with it. Granted, the *idea* was there, but the execution was beyond flat.

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  177. I own the first two DVD sets, and definitely noticed the show beginning to change halfway through the second set - it seemed to get more formulaic, with crude jokes existing solely for shock value, gags being run into the ground, and musical numbers in (almost) every episode.

    Since then, I tend to watch about one new episode per year, and it always reaffirms what I already thought: Seth MacFarlane ran out of material and/or got lazy a LONG time ago.

    That said, I still love the "Dammit, Janet" episode (the gag where Peter turns the house into a giant puppet was completely outside-the-box and absolutely hilarious), and that episode where Stewie and Brian go back in time to the pilot episode was really good, as well.

    ReplyDelete
  178. I thought it was offensively hilarious.

    I'm amazed Seth McFarlane was able to get away with THAT especially in our ass-backward society. 

    ReplyDelete
  179. Ryan, your e-penis is being challenged, prove how large your internet cock is and fuck Chad up.

    ReplyDelete
  180. Gay weddings aren't for kids?

    ReplyDelete
  181. I'm agreeing with Dougie...holy fucking shit.

    Yeah, the first animation were shorts done before movies.  With plenty of "adult" humor in them.  It's only after the golden of animation ends and the budgets and animation quality went to shit that it became kids shows, because as Christian said "get the kids because they're stupid".

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  182. You're a crackhead.

    ReplyDelete
  183. I take it you are unfamiliar with the works of Studio Ghibli and Shinchiro Watanabe.

    ReplyDelete
  184. I think there are times when it is not only acceptable but maybe even necessary to burn a bible.

    ReplyDelete
  185. Maybe (and I really can't think of any), but I still wouldn't do it on national television.

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  186. Lol that was pretty awesome

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  187. Pretty agree on the wrestling and cartoons but sports really are for people of all ages.

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  188. Yeah pg isn't the problem. The show sucking is the problem. An "edgy" wrestling show can still really suck. (Vince russo tna anyone?)

    ReplyDelete
  189. The bird song was classic though

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  190. Gianna michaels...so so so fine

    ReplyDelete
  191. Lol yes I am. I thought he was talking about ice age 2. Yeah up is ok. Not my cup of tea but better than ice age 2

    ReplyDelete
  192. Did you seriously not get what Nick was saying there?

    ReplyDelete

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