Family Guy Thread (Ladies and Gentleman, Mr Conway Twitty!)

[Andrew]

I thought it was a good enough episode with some funny moments but as usual they dragged a few jokes on too long and past being funny.

I really felt Quagmire should've gotten the shit beaten out of him though. Considering his tirade against Brian, the beating he gave him after he hooked up with the former Mr Quagmire (speaking of which, that made for a good line in this episode) then flat out running him over, he was due for a comeuppence here. Instead, he gets a quietly angry threat from Lois and a bit of a shove from Peter. Disappointing.

Still, it was a pretty good Meg episode that treated her like a character and not just a punching bag, with better characterisation for Lois and Peter that didn't compromise the humour. I still think Quagmire's downfall needed to match some of the beatdowns we've seen before on the show and the button they ended on was another pointless and meandering moment instead of being something with punch. That aside, it's another one I liked well enough.

[el badman]

I thought it was pretty good too, a little creepy but pretty good. I agree that seeing Peter or even Lois beat the shit out of Quagmire would have made sense, but oh well.
That ending was completely off though.

[[Q]]

yeah i was expecting someone to get beat up too. or at least an epic fight scene

[Andrew]

Glad to know I'm not the only one, makes me feel a little less bloodthirsty.

[Andrew]

Latest episode ("The Blind Side") was very ordinary in my opinion. A couple of funny moments but it reminded me of the episode where Brian dates an older woman, right down to the "Brian makes a mistake and isn't forgiven for it" resolution. The jokes about her blindness felt a bit awkward, relying too heavily on pushing the boundaries of good taste and political correctness to be funny and falling short. Looks like True Blood is their new go-to reference when they don't have a joke and want to rip on something they don't like.

[ixcuincle]

Another "serious" episode. I don't like the direction this is going. I know I've disagreed with Andrew on this, but these serious episodes just don't do it for me. I want to watch something funny, not Lois trying to steal a baby just so she can get medical treatment for him.

Were a few funny moments but they were largely overshadowed by the serious nature of the main plot.

[Andrew]

I agree that it's not Family Guy's strong suit. I think they can do more serious stuff and tell a decent story, even if the gags-per-minute formula is their forte.

In this instance, I'd certainly agree that the serious tone didn't make for a good episode. However, for me that's because it was handled clumsily, not simply because it was serious. If Family Guy were able to put forward a slightly more balanced point of view, if its characters were more sympathetic, perhaps it could handle episodes like this a bit better and provide some social commentary without being too self-righteous and still being entertaining. Their position on the issue doesn't offend me, truth be told I'm on that side of the argument. I don't like the way they expressed the argument though, or the way they made strawmen out of the other side. In TV Tropes parlance, they shot the message. It made it an uncomfortable episode to watch.

The Peterang bit was funny, Mayor West was great as usual because Adam West just makes that character's oddities and non-sequiturs work, Peter's suggestion that Lois work a joke into her big speech then laughing at what clearly wasn't a joke...that stuff was good. The rest mostly fell flat with the usual uninspired potshots, jokes that went on too long and lost their punch, etc. I wouldn't call it the worst episode they've done, but the subject matter was too much for a show like this to handle and on the whole the humour wasn't up to scratch. Pretty forgettable.

[Andrew]

At this point, I feel the James Woods stuff has really been done to death. It's cool that he's willing to keep coming back and having some fun at his own expense, but they've already got Adam West doing that and that character is much funnier.

Still, I actually liked the latest episode, a lot more than other recent episodes. They didn't get too hung up on taking potshots and kept the overly long jokes to a minimum. Chris' subplot actually had a decent payoff and while you could see the resolution of the main plot coming a mile away, it was a fun enough ride. Disturbing stuff with Quagmire at the end, but it's probably the funniest he's been in a while. The cutaway with Brian and the squirrel was a highlight for me too, definitely a couple of funny moments in this one. Solid episode.

[Andrew]

Since I've harped on the same old stuff for the past few years, it was my intention to briefly acknowledge anything subpar in the latest episode and then focus on stuff I liked. However, there wasn't much of that this week, with all the hallmarks of a bad Family Guy episode on display. I did enjoy the "if babies ran the world" cutaway, in part because I was expecting them to take a potshot at another TV show and they somehow refrained from doing so, so points for restraint if nothing else. Other than that, bottom of the barrel.

[el badman]

I would agree, most of this episode was either recycled or just plain stupid. Ricky Gervais didn't really add anything to it either. Boring stuff.

[ixcuincle]

The preview commercials didn't look appealing (they basically showed the dolphin , and I asked why I would want to see an episode centered around a dolphin visiting) but the B-plot was pretty good.

The dolphin got really annoying after a while, but that was supposed to be the point.

[Andrew]

Ricky Gervais didn't really add anything to it either.

Yeah, all his stuff was pretty painful. It reminded me of his most recent guest appearance on The Simpsons. I tend to hold him in high regard as a comedian so I don't think he's at fault, both shows have basically used him poorly in those appearances.

[Andrew]

More of the same, so I won't rehash my previous criticisms. I did however like Quagmire's "Act of Rod" line and subsequent breaking of the fourth wall; it was far from being the epitome of wit or anything but it did make me laugh.

[ixcuincle]

LMAO at Barry, or a kid strongly resembling Barry, at fat camp.

There should be more subtle American Dad references in Family Guy.

[Andrew]

Yeah, that's the first episode in a while that I've quite liked. It reminded me of the stuff they were doing in the first couple of post-revival seasons, which I was high up on. Pretty enjoyable fare on the whole.

[Andrew]

I thought the latest episode started a little slow but turned out alright. The ending was a bit ordinary and they've used a variation on "It was all just a dream" a fair few times now, but aside from that the plot was actually pretty good (kudos to the writers for weaving in Peter's fake newspaper) and it was pretty funny for the most part. "Who else but Shirtpants?"

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[benji]

I had to be properly culturally amused when I read the AV Club review of that episode and he thought that clip was a call back to the Stewie thing of earlier this season.

I liked it, if I thought they could write, that could have been a fun hour or two-part episode. Could have made it tops. But American Dad and Bob's Burgers swept the night like always so nobody cares.

[Andrew]

Latest episode was another enjoyable one for me. The Evite cutaway was the only gag that really bombed for me, one of those gags that just doesn't benefit from being overly long while also feeling late to the party in its commentary. The rest was pretty good though.

[benji]

Actually thought that was a lame episode, and I had been liking Family Guy to an extent recently.

American Dad and Bob's Burgers are just epic though, so maybe I'm comparing the show to higher standards now. But American Dad has been around all season, and I watch Family Guy before the good shows...

hmm...

[ixcuincle]

Last episode wasn't really funny. The cutouts are getting stupid.

Best part was Lois getting beat up, only to see Stewie start instigating out of nowhere

[ixcuincle]

Think that was only the 2nd new episode of April.

Okay episode, the Stewie plot got boring after a while, plus Stewie hasn't been talking about world domination for several years. The second plot with Peter spooning with Quagmire

[benji]

I liked it, the fight was great.

[Andrew]

Yeah not bad, not bad at all. I liked the tongue-in-cheek references to Stewie's earlier characterisation and catchphrase, and the fight scene was well done. The stuff with Peter and Quagmire was pretty funny as well. Solid, enjoyable episode.

[ixcuincle]

Latest one was pretty good, although it was yet another Brian and Stewie adventure. Those two have had so many adventures in time, and around the world. And yet, every one of those episodes still remains entertaining.

[[Q]]

I'm a big Taken fan so I really liked the episode