Family Guy

Criticism from peers and critics

While the show has an undeniably large and vocal fanbase, Family Guy and Seth McFarlane in particular have featured a great deal of controversy in terms of negative treatment by other comedy writers, animators, and critics.

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Many shows and writers have been openly critical of Family Guy. Most famously, three blatant potshots have been featured in The Simpsons:

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• In one episode Family Guy was referred to as "crude, low-brow programming" by Fox Executives with it being implied that the show was going to be cancelled due to the show being incapable of turning a profit like The Simpsons and the Matt Groening?created Futurama (ironically, Family Guy's ability to turn a profit on DVD was critical for its return to the airwaves, while the 'Futurama was cancelled due to the show being deemed too expensive to keep on the air).
• In one of the recent Treehouse of Horror episodes, Homer creates an army of clones of himself that are each progressively dumber than the real Homer. One of the clones is shown to be Peter Griffin.
• In yet another episode, Bart Simpson was insulted when somebody called him a "Family Guy".

Numerous writers associated with The Simpsons, such as Matt Groening, Al Jean, David X. Cohen, Matt Selman, Tim Long and Joel Cohen have insulted the show during public appearances, in interviews and on DVD commentaries. When a long-lost book of jokes is mentioned on a Simpsons DVD commentary, Al Jean joked that it was stolen by "Family Guy" writers. Executive producer Mike Reiss, however, has said that he enjoys Family Guy and that other Simpsons creators dislike the show because they believe it's inappropriate for their children, although he keeps his fandom low-profile to prevent him from becoming a traitor.

Related Topics:
Matt Groening - Al Jean - David X. Cohen - Matt Selman - Tim Long - Joel Cohen - Mike Reiss - Low-profile - Traitor

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Clerks director Kevin Smith and David Mandel, co-producer on Smith's short-lived Clerks animated series, have gone on record as Family Guy haters: in the final episode of their cartoon they included a scene in which a bad comedy writer consults a book entitled "How To Write Cartoons by Seth McFarlane (sic)." Upon consulting the book, he suggests that the writers send the characters to Gilligan's Island and make gay jokes about them, illustrating their opinion that the show lazily attempts to disguise poor writing by alternating between pop-culture references and offensive humor. On the DVD commentary, Smith refers to "Family Guy" as the show's nemesis. When it is pointed out that "Family Guy" won an emmy, Mandel refers to it as "Emmy Award-winning shit".

Related Topics:
Clerks - Kevin Smith - David Mandel - Sic - Gilligan's Island

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South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have expressed their discontent at being put at the same comedic level as "Family Guy". When questioned about the meanest thing anyone ever said to them, Stone replied "When people say to me, 'God, you guys have one of the best shows on television. You and Family Guy.' That fucking hurts so bad." to which Parker agreed: "Very well said. It's such a kick in the balls."http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=22&csid=6&csid1=3880.

Related Topics:
South Park - Trey Parker - Matt Stone

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The show's animation has also come under fire by Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, who expressed concern over the fact that the current generation of aspiring animators will be negatively influenced by the animation present in Family Guy (see ): "If you're a kid wanting to be a cartoonist today, and you're looking at Family Guy, you don't have to aim very high. You can draw Family Guy when you're ten years old. You don't have to get any better than that to become a professional cartoonist. The standards are extremely low."

Related Topics:
Ren & Stimpy - John Kricfalusi

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In addition, Family Guy has faced vicious attacks by the media critics itself. The show was voted one of the top 10 worst shows in 2001 by Entertainment Weekly, ranking at number 2. "EW" contributor Ken Tucker is the most vocal critic of the show on the magazine's staff, comparing the show to Arli$$ and describing them both as terrible shows that couldn't be killed. In response Seth MacFarlane included a gag in "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story" in which evil baby Stewie breaks the neck of an EW reporter after being asked if he had heard any news about Futurama's future. Furthermore, in the episode "There's Something About Paulie", Peter Griffin uses a page of Entertainment Weekly as toilet paper when he sees that the roll is finished. It should be noted, though, that EW hasn't been nearly as harsh in more recent reviews of the show, even positive at times. A recent Mad Magazine cover proclaimed "We Salute Family Guy, TV's Most Original Animated Series". The accompanying illustration featured the Griffins slightly altered to resemble their Simpsons counterparts, clearly making fun of the show's alleged unoriginality.

Related Topics:
2001 - Entertainment Weekly - Arli$$ - There's Something About Paulie - Mad Magazine

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MacFarlane has admitted that the show was strongly influenced by "The Simpsons" and many jokes, even episodes, are extremely similar. Given the similarities between "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" and the fact that they're on the same network with only 30 minutes between them, the comparisons are unavoidable.

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The Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror XIV (which aired in November 2003 during Family Guy's cancellation) features a story entitled "Reaper Madness" in which Homer takes over the duties of being the Grim Reaper. Many Family Guy fans have claimed that it's hypocritical to suggest that Family Guy steals from the Simpsons when the story to this Simpsons episode is very similar to the Family Guy episode entitled "Death is a Bitch" in which Peter assumes the role of death. However, others point out that the story of a mortal taking on the duties of the Grim Reaper has been used several times before "Family Guy" or "The Simpsons".

Related Topics:
Treehouse of Horror XIV - Grim Reaper

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