So last night was Family Guy's 150th episode and it was amazing, oh wait no it wasn't, it was strange and weird and it only made me laugh maybe 3 times. For the past few months, GC and myself have been discussing how we think Seth Macfarlane, the creator of Family Guy is losing his mind and producing episodes that are more weird than they are funny. Well, last nights episode proved us right and left me wondering, what has happened to Family Guy? The show starting with simple comedy, maybe a little too simple because it was canceled after its first 2 seasons. After record DVD sales, adult swim airing episodes, and letters of complaints, Family Guy was picked back up by FOX. From there, Family Guy began to take over the airwaves and really became an intelligent and funny cartoon show that was more than just a fart jokes. This new season however, has not been a let down, but it definitely has a new feel. I believe that Macfarlane began just as a simple writer, got canned, then came back with brilliance, rode that wave, and is now a little too cocky for his own good. I mean, I don't really need to see Stewie in a coma with a gross head injury for an entire episode; what's the appeal? But last night really made me wonder, has Seth Macfarlane officially lost his mind? The first half-hour of the hour long special consisted of Stewie and Brian stuck in a bank vault with no way out. The first problem they encounter is the dirty diaper Stewie has created and hilarity ensues as they figure out how to get rid of the mess. From there however, and for most of the half-hour, Brian and Stewie try to get really deep and Brian even talks about suicide; why? Macfarlane talks about the episode to the Associated Press and states, "The idea was to do an episode with just those two characters in one room, almost like a one act play, no cutaways, no flashbacks, to see if those characters could be dimensional enough to sustain a half-hour with just their personalities." Ok, interesting, I can get on board for making the characters more dimensional, but I think that Macfarlane took it too far. Family Guy is supposed to be more funny than thought provoking, and to drop a bomb like Brian having a bottle of scotch that is going to drank as a final drink before he uses his loaded gun to kill himself takes it a little too far. Brian talks about how he keeps the gun in a safety deposit box because he likes knowing that if he wants an easy way out, he always has a means to go. I mean, c'mon Seth, he's a cartoon talking dog, I don't think you needed to take it that far, but I don't know, maybe its some kind of twisted genius.
Anyway, I still love Family Guy and for anyone who knows me, the quotes are not stopping anytime soon. It is going to take a lot more than a few strange episodes for me to stop watching every week, so in the end, as long as Family Guy is on, I will keep watching, but I think I'm just going to enjoy the reruns a little more.
Until Next Time,
Hazy
MacFarlane talks about doing the episode to see if the characters could sustain themselves in a one-act play setting. I am not sure what he was trying to prove to his loyal fans. Fans love the show and I think that MacFarlane did this for his own good. He wanted to prove to himself that he created multi-dimensional characters and that his show was more valuable than a random series of jokes.
ReplyDelete