[Swan]

South Park is much better. Politically South Park is on point.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Swan

South Park is much better. Politically South Park is on point.

South Park is the opposite of what I said above for me, as much as I love it. Their satire is usually dead on target and they tackle things that are more controversial than Family Guy all the time, but because their satire is so good it pretty much always works. From at least S5-ish onwards, anyway, it was a bit more crude for the first couple of years.

But rather than missing the mark with clumsiness like Family Guy, I find that when South Park misses the comedy mark it's because they've leaned too heavily into being openly "preachy" and it just isn't entertaining at that point.

Like I said though it's very rare and, actually, I think there were just a couple of seasons where it went that way maybe 4/5 years back. They're definitely back on form now, and they've mastered season-long "themed" arcs too.

[Redway]

Another ting I don’t like about Family Guy is the fact that Peter’s depicted as the main protagonist because of misogynistic ideas from a certain time that the man, no matter how irresponsible and moronic he is, js the head of the family. Brian, Stewie and Louis are in a different league to him (and I don’t necessarily dislike Peter).

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Redway

Another ting I don’t like about Family Guy is the fact that Peter’s depicted as the main protagonist because of misogynistic ideas from a certain time that the man, no matter how irresponsible and moronic he is, js the head of the family. Brian, Stewie and Louis are in a different league to him (and I don’t necessarily dislike Peter).

To be fair I always took that to be a satire of the "classic US family sitcom/comedy movie", where the big fat bloke is always "in charge" no matter how ridiculous and bumbling he is. They also play a bit on the fact that they're in a decent sized, detached family house that they own when it seems unlikely that Peter is competent enough to be doing anything worthwhile to earn the money to pay for it, and Lois (I believe) doesn't work (another US trope).

On that vein I thoroughly recommend the show "Kevin Can ****** Himself" - which is a dark parody of sitcoms and plays on the same trope (Kevin is basically Peter Griffin, the protagonist is his wife who is basically Lois if she finally had enough and had a mental breakdown). If you're going to watch it though watch at least the first two episodes - it is NOT what it seems to be in the first episode (a bad sitcom) - it is a dark comedy/drama.

Basically (semi spoilers as it's a reveal at the very end of the first episode)

Spoiler:

The show is in two different styles. Most of the show that's about the wife and all of the other characters when "Kevin" isn't around is shot like a gritty, slightly depressing comedy drama ... with a major plot point being that she's plotting to kill her husband. Any scene that Kevin is in or enters, the camera style changes, everything becomes really light/colourful, and it's all stupid jokes and "laughter in a can" like a 90's sitcom. Then he leaves the room and it flips back. It's a very interesting show for those who have ever watched "family sitcoms". Basically the idea is that his constant "quest for laughs" and silly hair-brained schemes are actually ruining other people's lives, and leaving them broke.

Fair warning it's pretty bleak/depressing at its core.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Soldier Boy

To be fair I always took that to be a satire of the "classic US family sitcom/comedy movie", where the big fat bloke is always "in charge" no matter how ridiculous and bumbling he is. They also play a bit on the fact that they're in a decent sized, detached family house that they own when it seems unlikely that Peter is competent enough to be doing anything worthwhile to earn the money to pay for it, and Lois (I believe) doesn't work (another US trope).

On that vein I thoroughly recommend the show "Kevin Can ****** Himself" - which is a dark parody of sitcoms and plays on the same trope (Kevin is basically Peter Griffin, the protagonist is his wife who is basically Lois if she finally had enough and had a mental breakdown). If you're going to watch it though watch at least the first two episodes - it is NOT what it seems to be in the first episode (a bad sitcom) - it is a dark comedy/drama.

Basically (semi spoilers as it's a reveal at the very end of the first episode)

Spoiler:

The show is in two different styles. Most of the show that's about the wife and all of the other characters when "Kevin" isn't around is shot like a gritty, slightly depressing comedy drama ... with a major plot point being that she's plotting to kill her husband. Any scene that Kevin is in or enters, the camera style changes, everything becomes really light/colourful, and it's all stupid jokes and "laughter in a can" like a 90's sitcom. Then he leaves the room and it flips back. It's a very interesting show for those who have ever watched "family sitcoms". Basically the idea is that his constant "quest for laughs" and silly hair-brained schemes are actually ruining other people's lives, and leaving them broke.

Fair warning it's pretty bleak/depressing at its core.

Yeah, I can’t vibe with or warm to that at all. He’s veritably challenged to the point where Louis has to have him use post-it notes in lieu of checks and he’s just a terrible person (I still kind of like him but to say he’s a bumbling fool would be an understatement).

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Redway

Yeah, I can’t vibe with or warm to that at all. He’s veritably challenged to the point where Louis has to have him use post-it notes in lieu of checks and he’s just a terrible person (I still kind of like him but to say he’s a bumbling fool would be an understatement).

I think as with most comedies there's also been "character trait creep" where he wasn't quite as dramatically incompetent in the first few seasons but became more and more so. Similar to Joey in Friends, who started out S1 as their "less educated but fairly street smart" friend ... but by the end was basically a toddler trapped in a grown man's body.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Soldier Boy

I think as with most comedies there's also been "character trait creep" where he wasn't quite as dramatically incompetent in the first few seasons but became more and more so. Similar to Joey in Friends, who started out S1 as their "less educated but fairly street smart" friend ... but by the end was basically a toddler trapped in a grown man's body.

(Moving swiftly on from LT’s usual bait) yeah. They did the same thing to Homer Simpson, Junior off My Wife and Kids and Chelsea (That’s So Raven). Chelsea in particular was fairly smart in season 1 (and partially season 2) but in seasons 3 and 4 it was a miracle how she was able to get by without a cater all day or had the sentimental sensitivity-intelligence to even have strong morals about animals. In the earlier episodes she hardly acted like that at all.

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Redway

Yeah, I can’t vibe with or warm to that at all. He’s veritably challenged to the point where Louis has to have him use post-it notes in lieu of checks and he’s just a terrible person (I still kind of like him but to say he’s a bumbling fool would be an understatement).

People class Peter as a man child,I've noticed there's more hate towards Lois ...as she's supposed to be the 'responsible' one ...yet she behaves like a selfish idiot aswell.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

People class Peter as a man child,I've noticed there's more hate towards Lois ...as she's supposed to be the 'responsible' one ...yet she behaves like a selfish idiot aswell.

I don’t mind Peter being the henpecked man-child (that’s a common thing to varying extents both on television and in reality) but I’m not really here for him indirectly being seen as the protagonist and (in anything other than his delusional dreams) man of the house just because he da man of the house. I watch Family Guy through the lens of Stewie and Brian (not just because they’re two of the only smarter, sensible people on that show minus Brian’s intermittent alcoholism) and I’m sure a lot of other people do as well so the whole ‘king Peter’ rhetoric could do with being dialled down.

Having Louis married to Peter is an L but in terms of selfishness they’re almost as bad as each other, just in different ways. I would judge Louis harsher (and she does give off narcissistic vibes sometimes) for it than Peter on account of her being much smarter but there’s enough about her that makes her reasonably non-annoying so she doesn’t bother me too much. I just enjoy her for what she is and ignore the fact that she’s married to who she’s married to.