Okay so I sat down to eat and figured I'd give family guy the first season another shot...my roomate has the dvd's. So I pop in disc 3 just for the hell of it and choose the first episode on there... Um, immediately it's a total ripoff - Peter gets something in the mail saying he's won a free boat, then a bunch of other people get the same thing and go to collect 1st blatant simpsons riipoff...yet i kept watching Next Peter goes to get the boat, and in this time a couple "remember the time" flashbacks happen (simpsons ripoff), but i expected plenty of these. Next the man comes in (acting exactly like a swindler [i.e. lionel hutz/typical x salesman from simpsons]) and offers them to take the boat, or exchange it for the "mystery box" 2nd BLATANT simpsons ripoff - Homer goes to college...Monty: "Or you can trade it all in, for what's in this box" Nuclear Guy:"the box....THE BOX" Well next is a scene in the car where they're driving home talking about not getting the boat, etc....and i just couldn't take it anymore, so I had to shut it off. Just proof that upon choosing a completely random episode, I am disgusted by the lack of actual ideas from the writers, stealing everything from a show that is actually genious. Family Guy disgusts me.
^ | | | | This is the cop-out line for shows like family guy who are either too lazy or just not clever enough to make up their own storylines/jokes.
Wait, wait......if Family Guy copies The Simpsons (which it does), wouldn't that make Family Guy suck(even more)?
Dude I think you're just looking for reasons to hate family guy. Don't like it? That's cool, I don't even really watch it anymore. But if you look at the simpsons, they mostly got their ideas from other things....that's how most things work. That's like saying the new testament totally ripped off portions of the old testament.
The Simpsons has never been funny. I don't care if FG copies or not- they make it better. Simpsons is just boring.
I'm not looking for reasons to hate it. I'm a diehard simpsons fan and I get pissed because Family Guy is so unoriginal and ripping them off constantly. It's okay to have influences and to wear them on your sleeve at times, but this is far and beyond that. They're blatantly copying, and I'm simply trying to open up people's eyes to this. Of course simpsons got influenced by other things, but if you can give me one example of when they blantantly ripped something off as blatantly as FG rips them off, I'll shut my mouth. And you can't use the "homer becoming death" episode, because that was just an idea and rebuttle by the simpsons writers to mock family guy for always copying them.
I believe south park pointed one out. I personally don't care much for the simpsons. But south park pointed out that the episode where lisa or bart or whatever find a micro civilization formed from some tooth or something was a rip off of a twilight zone episode.
No it wasn't...it was a satire on a twilight zone episode. Because the twighlight zone is NOT a comedy show. The twilight zone is a serious/scary show and simpsons put a comedic twist on that. See that's why simpsons is a satire and is smart. Family Guy is taking things from another comedy show and using it on their own comedy show, therefore stealing.
Whatever deluded excuse you wanna use. Why not just say "I love Simpsons, and dislike anything else similar." That way we can just not waste time with trying to correct you.
does it really matter how the writers come up with material? i mean, if they form an idea from something theyve seen and then present it in there own way AND its funny, isnt that a good thing? i mean the point is to make a funny show, not be hailed for creativity or witty highbrow humor. family guy doest try to be anything more than it is, its just meant to be laughed at. in that way they succeed nearly every episode.
Exactly. They're all satirizing horror/sci fi stuff (i.e. the shining episode) And i.e. they do this in all eps, like the 22 short films ep where they satirize pulp fiction. Satire of serious things = good Stealing satire from other comedy shows and using them on your show = bad
Deluded excuse??...there's no excuses, you're just wrong about it. do you even know what satire is? try reading some chaucer and then get back to me. If you take something serious and put a comedic spin on it, it's not copying or stealing.
Dude, that Twilight Zone 'ripoff' was from a halloween episode of The Simpsons. If you had even vaguely glanced at any of the halloween episodes, you would know that EVERY SINGLE ONE is a satire of a well known horror story. South Park didn't point it out, it was bloody obvious to anyone with half a brain. The reason that episode of South Park was funny wasn't because they were ripping into The Simpsons, it was because they were making a joke about just how many things The Simpsons has made a satire of over the last decade or so.
I enjoy The Simpsons , but I must say I've never laughed watching The Simpsons as much as with Family Guy.
Jezbian . . . you're avatar . . . kick's . . . . ass! Roland is the fuckin' man, even if he is . . well, . ...y'know. Sorry, back on topic. My take: even if The Simpsons and Family Guy may seem very similar to some, the bottom line is I don't think The Simpsons are funny, and I DO find Family Guy funny. a few points, here: 1) Seth McFarlane and Matt Groening are friends behind the scenes, so the whole "rivalry" thing is just for fun. 2) No show . . . I repeat . . . NO show that is basically a cartoon for adults is going to be 100% original, alrighty? They need enough adult and thematic jokes to keep the "mature" audiences happy, so we end up with alot of the same old stuff rehashed throughout the sprectrum. 3) The exception probably would be South Park, but they were only original for a little while, and personally, I don't find them very funny anymore. They have their cliches just like Family Guy has their flashback humour. I guess you could say FG's "remember that time I . . . " is their equivelant to SP's "Oh my God, you killed Kenny." Shows just do certain things over and over, because it works. I know South Park stopped the whole killing Kenny thing after a few seasons, but the point is that in Family Guy's defense, SP don't always have fresh material either, they have fresh material hardly at all now, it seems. 4) Family Guy's writers actually do their best to keep their jokes fresh. They will check to see if any other show in their same vein are currently running the same joke(s) that they are about to run. If that is the case (As it often is), they swap it for something new. But they are only human, and shows WILL end up being very similar, it can't be helped at times. To say Family Guy is a blatant rip-off of The Simpsons when you hardly watch enough shows to really tell (It seems) is ludicrous. Family Guy has been on for five seasons now, and if they were really that unoriginal, I don't think they would make it, especially when they are on the same network as The Simpsons. I don't really care if Family Guy has similar comedy styles to The Simpsons; I don't think The Simpsons are funny. I DO think FG is funny. So if Simpson lovers/FG bashers should be pissed about anything, it should be that McFarlane can do the same style of comedy much better than his predecessors. Does that make him a rip-off? Not in my mind. There are MANY key differences between the two shows that make them different enough for me. That is merely my opinion, and you can counter-post all you want proving me wrong with snipets from both shows, or what-have-you, it won't change my mind about Family Guy. You aren't the only one to think this, though, everyone else in my family doesn't think FG is funny, either. Does that mean they are right and I am wrong? No, it means we have different taste in comedy. I personaly dislike most sitcoms, I find them to be rather idiotic, but my family LOVES them. So, it comes down to personal taste. Don't make false claimes against a show you happen to dislike. It's not like McFarlane and crew are hurting the Simpsons guys, anyway. They are still going on fine and dandy no their own.
You're doing it wrong! Anyway, I liked that episode of Family Guy. That was back when FG's style of humor was still refreshing and not yet the trainwreck of formulaic jokes and pop culture references that it later became. If you don't watch the earlier episodes through Simpsons-tinted lenses, they are pretty funny.
This is how I see it. Although, I like FG all the way up through Season 4, because they always have made pop-culture references. Season 5 is getting a bit weak, though. *EDIT* Actually, most of Family Guy's pop culture jokes were actually dated even when they were first aired, so at least that shows that the creators were truly aiming it at adults, and/or past culturally-educated youngsters who could actually grasp the humour in those references. Unlike now when they make more modern-related jokes that will be soon forgotten, and thus, un-funny.
Well, Family Guy has always had pop culture jokes (just like the Simpsons and South Park) but they weren't always totally obnoxious. Once Peter started making "Like the time when..."s about Darth Vader at work or whatever, I was sick of it.
No, I know what you are saying. If you see my edit, I also don't find it very funny when they make jokes about modern pop icons and the like. They did alot less of that in the early days. The danger there is that we don't know what will and won't be remembered years from now, so most of FG's later material could end up being very unfunny if the modern referances they make end up being forgotten.
