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Lucky There's a Family Guy
I’ve been debating recently
as to the future of this column. I feel as though it has stagnated. I feel as
though I need to take it in a new direction. After a lengthy discussion with my
best friend, he felt that I should spend less time recounting adventures in my
life and more time on analysis. So, that’s what I’ve resovled to do. I’m going
to press forward, pose the questions that no one dare ask, and attempt to come
to a resolution. For example, why do people in the animation industry hate
Family Guy so much?
Family Guy is one
cartoon that I’ve found to be truly hilarious. This is something I’ve tried to
comprehend many times. See, I’ve grown to loathe the whole concept of “pop
culture references as humour.” When I see it in a film like Shrek 2, it
makes me demand my money back. But, on Family Guy, I’m rolling on the
floor laughing. I think I figured this out when I watched one episode, and, in
the middle of it, they just launched into an old G.I. Joe public service
announcement. When most people want to do this kind of thing, they would try to
do a spoof of the old G.I. Joe PSAs. They would have the soldier be a
gay stereotype or something like that, or have the lesson be totally insane like
remembering to put on your helmet before you go skydiving. But not on this
Family Guy episode. They played it perfectly straight. It actually seemed
like it would have fit at the end of an old G.I. Joe episode. That’s
when I figured it out. In most situations, the pop culture reference is the
punchline. On Family Guy, the reference itself is the whole joke.
Family Guy has had a
very unique history. It all started in the early 1990s. Seth McFarlane, the
creator of Family Guy, did an animated student short film entitled
Life with Larry, which was about a fat slob named Larry and his highly
intelligent talking dog named Steve. This got McFarlane a job at Hanna-Barberra
where he worked on such notable shows as Cow and Chicken, but he did
eventually get to do a sequel to Life with Larry called Larry and
Steve. It was shown on the Cartoon Network, and got rave reviews.
McFarlane was soon approached by 20th Century Fox about expanding
Larry and Steve into a series. McFarlane started work on it. He gave Larry
a whole family, and Larry eventually evolved into Peter Griffin, and Steve into
Brian.
Family Guy premiered
in January of 1999, and, sadly, was not a ratings bonanza. It got moved around
so many times that people hardly knew when it was on. The only reason why it
made it through 3 seasons was that the head of the network was a self-admitted
fan. That wasn’t enough, and the show died in the fall of 2001.
But see, here in the 21st
Century, failed TV shows don’t really die. They get picked up by some cable
channel where it’s shown in reruns until the end of time. And then, it also
gets released on DVD. That’s exactly what happened to Family Guy.
Thanks to being on three times a day on six different cable channels, the show
finally found its audience. The DVDs sold incredibly well. 20th
Century Fox realized that there was money to be made, and they approached
McFarlane about resurrecting Family Guy. It made its big comeback back
in May, and has been a smash hit ever since.
With an unprecedented
success story like this, you’d think lots of people in the animation community
would be supportive of the show. But no! There’s a great deal of animosity
towards Family Guy. Just look at this:
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Trey Parker and Matt Stone absolutely hate it when
South Park is compared to
Family Guy. Stone says that placing South Park
on the same level as Family Guy “hurts real
bad,” and Parker maintains that it’s like being kicked in the balls.
-
During the brief run of Clerks: The Animated Series, Kevin Smith
referred to Family Guy as being Clerks’ nemesis. David Mandel,
co-creator of Clerks, called Family Guy “Emmy award winning shit.”
-
Ren and Stimpy
creator John Kricfalusi just doesn’t like the style of
animation, citing that Family Guy’s standards are “extremely low” and
that a 10 year old could draw it.
But the biggest Family Guy haters
are the crew at The Simpsons. The writers for The Simpsons
routinely rip apart Family Guy at conventions and in interviews. The
insults have even spilled over into the show. One episode of The Simpsons
featured Fox executives plotting to get Family Guy cancelled because
it was low-brow humour and not as profitable as The Simpsons. Another
featured an antagonist insulting Bart by calling Bart a “family guy.” But, one
that made headlines over the summer was when someone re-watched last year’s
Simpsons Halloween special. The segment involved an army of Homer Simpson
clones, and one of the clones was revealed to be Peter Griffin.
To be fair, Seth McFarlane
has actually been cool about this criticism. When he was questioned about the
“Peter Griffin as Homer Simpson clone” slam, he just kind of shrugged it off,
and said that, with The Simpsons and Family Guy being the two most
successful animated TV shows right now, comparisons are inevitable. And
Simpsons writer Mike Reiss is one of the few Family Guy defenders in
the Simpsons camp. Reiss says that his Simpsons compatriots
simply don’t like Family Guy because Family Guy isn’t family
entertainment.
And that always has been the
big one: that Family Guy is nothing but a Simpsons rip-off.
Granted, on the surface it seems that way, but once you watch the show and meet
the characters, you see that it couldn’t be more different. Let’s have a brief
comparison here.
|
Family Member |
The Simpsons |
Family Guy |
|
The Father |
Homer Simpson: A beer loving, donut
addicted moron. |
Peter Griffin: A beer loving, TV
addicted moron. |
|
The mother |
Marge Simpson: Calm, long-suffering
voice of reason |
Lois Griffin: Short-tempered voice
of reason who gives as good as she gets. |
|
The son |
Bart Simpson: The oldest and a
certified mischief maker. 10 years old. |
Chris Griffin: The middle child,
doted on by his parents, and just plain slow. In junior high. |
|
The daughter |
Lisa Simpson: The middle child and
a quiet genius. 8 years old. |
Meg Griffin: The oldest child, and
neglected by her parents to the point of abuse. In high school, and
concerned with typical teenage things. |
|
The baby |
Maggie Simpson: Sucks on her suckie,
used for sight gigs. |
Stewie Griffin: A homicidal maniac
bent on ruling the world. |
|
The dog |
Santa’s Little Helper: He simply
exists |
Brian: A witty, urbane fellow with
a penchant for booze. |
I kind of think that the
cries of Family Guy having ripped off The Simpsons are what George
W. Bush call a “pre-emptive strike.” The Simpsons just started its 17th
season. Now, go back and look at The Simpsons in season one. If you
follow how The Simpsons has changed and evolved over the years, you’ll
see that The Simpsons has been moving towards a Family Guy style
of humour over the past 17 years. I have no doubt that, in another five years
of so, The Simpsons will have evolved into Family Guy.
Or maybe Family Guy
finally claimed The Simpsons spot as being the most controversial cartoon
on TV. Don’t forget, way back in The Simpsons season one, there were a
lot of criticisms thrown at The Simpsons that are now being thrown at
Family Guy. Perhaps Family Guy gained the edge that The Simpsons
wore dull.
I don’t think I have the
answer to this one. I think writing off the animosity towards Family Guy
as nothing but jealousy of success is a little shortsighted. And yes, Family
Guy does go for the base humour a lot more than other shows. Let’s face it,
the only reason why South Park was ever controversial was because it
depicts children swearing. Base humour always causes controversy. This is
obviously nothing I’m going to solve here, and probably something I’ll never
figure out.
At the end of the day, all I
know is is that I think Family Guy is funny.
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