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Post by madhair60 on Nov 16, 2010 12:27:39 GMT
Just going back through some old threads, and I came across Namgge's dreadful top 15 comedy shows (no link because he put Mock the Week above Monty Python, over which I remain embittered). Anyway, I decided it had been long enough for me to do a list of my own. I won't put it in any particular order for now, and I'll most likely lean towards the animated side of things. Also, to keep it interesting, I'll not include any live-action shows Nam put in his list. So no Python, Fast Show, etc. So eyes peeled for the all-new, all-hilarious list of Comedy You Should Watch and If You Don't Like Them You Should Press a Hot Iron to Your Genitals. Choice #1: Family GuyIt's been an odd few years for Family Guy. In an example of absurd dating of oneself, the show's in its ninth year now, which seems impossible. I'm sure you're all familiar with the show, but I'll explain it briefly. The Griffin family. Peter (retard), Lois (female character), Chris (retard), Meg (butt-monkey), Stewie (camp gay), Brian (liberal). That's it, besides a succession of no-more-developed side characters. Many use Family Guy's proudly one-dimensional cast as a point of attack towards it, claiming it will never be as good comedy as The Simpsons or Futurama, because it's never made them cry. HUH!? IT'S A COMEDY, YOU DUMMIES. Family Guy's cast are the vehicle for the many, many jokes that make up each marvellous episode. They will act out of character on a whim if it'll make the proceedings funnier, which it usually does. No lessons are learned anymore; those days have passed. And does the show really improve in your estimations because at some point a dog dies on screen? Note: Futurama will not be appearing on this list. Family Guy is content to be a stream of gags, slapstick, observational, conversational, absurdist, referential. Anything goes, and it frequently plays with the format. One of the most daring moments in comedy history came in last year's run when the show (in the middle of its inaugural Fox broadcast) cut to Adult Swim-style bumper ads, urging the viewer to watch it on Adult Swim instead, where they "don't cut out the funniest jokes". This was jaw-droppingly audacious television, and a sure sign of Fox's faith in FG that they allowed it to air. The first two seasons may as well be a different show. Slower paced, lackadaise, understated, dry humour. Hilarious, and most of the truly classic gags come from these years. However, though the show is different now, it remains a reliably enjoyable, often laugh-out-loud hilarious piece of animated greatness. Every episode makes me crease up at least three times, which is an achievement in itself. Even the leaner seasons like the show's seventh, even the horrible episodes like the morally-disgusting "Not All Dogs go to Heaven" abide by this rule of three. Many abandoned Family Guy after South Park told them it was [censored]. Of course, people have failed to notice how utterly crap South Park's been since around, ooh, season 10. The currently-running 14th season has been absolutely laugh-free. But I'll save my South Park dislike for another time, yeah? A lot of people like shows that tell them what they already know. Anyway, yeah. Family Guy's funny, I like it, and I never back the wrong horse, so folks, you may want to get in on this [censored].
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Spudiator
Artist Hume
High Priest of the Religion of Football
STC-O's resident footy obsessive
Posts: 2,815
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Post by Spudiator on Nov 16, 2010 12:41:54 GMT
Interesting start. I look forward to your "South Park sucks" thread in the near future.
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Post by Moo on Nov 16, 2010 13:13:08 GMT
Delete a thread, like.
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Post by Nam on Nov 16, 2010 13:42:50 GMT
Why are there two identical threads? Secondly, as I think I said in my (now very outdated) list, it was in order of how much I laughed at them, not which was better. You can call herasy all you like at my order, but Monty Python isn't as funny to me, in my opinion, and Mock the Week made me laugh harder and more frequently, which is why it rated higher. I don't deny Monty Python is more influential, had more of an impact when it was made, but my list wasn't about influential, it was purely a quantative effort to order comedy by amount of times I've laughed. Thirdly, I can't agree Family is laugh out loud hilarious. I can't say I've seen the most recent series (I think I've seen up to series eight, maybe some of nine, but certainly not all of it), but unless what I've not seen is not gold it's not great. The jokes often fall flat, take to long to set up, are obvious rehashes of old jokes. Perfect example [character] falls over, is hurt and "*inhale* ahh" several dozen times. It's been done at least three times, once by Peter, once by Lois, and once by an AT-AT in the second Star Wars special. There's no reason to repeat that joke, there's no varience, and there's nothing about it that even created a murmur of laughter the first time, and yet, it goes on again. I don't doubt that Family Guy has it's hilarious moments. There is comic gold to be found in it, but most of it is in the first three seasons, with a bit of season four, and then the odd moment here or there in the rest. It's now just using nostalgia, and the fact that it's a network darling in terms of ratings, to pull a complete load of [censored] out of it's ass and hope it's funny. Family Guy has tried to be sentimental and garner some emotional response from it's fans mind. There's the episode where Brian and Stewie get locked in a bank vault, and the entire episode is just them. No cutaways, no rubbish B plots, nothing but them two trying to first handle being locked in, and then the plot revealing that Brian had a gun with a single bullet, and a bottle of very expensive scotch stashed away in the vault, should he ever feel like killing himself. Stewies realisation that maybe that's why they came to the bank that day was almost endearing. I say almost because before that there's a horrible jarring sequence in the middle where Stewie tries to get Brian to eat the [censored] out of his diaper so Stewie doesn't suffer. This isn't potrayed as anything but "oh gross, he's gonna eat dog [censored] OMG" Jackass style stuff, which really clashes against the overall tone of the rest of the episode, and stops the episode from being Family Guy's only genuinely touching episode. As I said to Cal after watching "That would've been so much better without all the [censored] eating bull[censored]". Credit where it's due, it's doing something right, it's still attracting ratings, so why change a winning formula, particularly when the cleverer, more subversive, and altogether more parodic (and IMO better) early stuff got cancelled. Twice. It's really just a shame that it now relies too heavily on being crude, crass, and as offensive as they can be. Family Guy may be daring, it may push the boundries more than any other shows (and with good reason considering how it's network treated it), but daring doesn't always mean funny, and Family Guy struggles. To some people, a bit of crass humour is all you need, and if you get a good belly laugh out of it, then fair play, but most the jokes nowdays are, again in my own opinion, too far, missing refuge in audaicity and heading straight into dude not funny and in some cases squick territory. Still, your list, your call, but everytime I watch a new episode of Family Guy I'm usually dissappointed by how little I laugh at it compared to how funny it was. It's not beause I've grown up since it first premiered, as the older episodes, while slower paced, are still as clever and funny as they were. Comedy Programs tend to ned to obey one of two things, you either need a fast delivery of punchlines so the audience never notices that the plot is awful, or a good plot to disguise the lack of jokes. Brilliant comedies can do both, telling a great story will also leaving you choking on your own laughter. This is what people love about Futurama. It may not be a gag every second, but people love the plots, they love the characters, and they enjoy the ongoing story of it, to the point where they can forgive it for not being overly funny, and sometimes quite depressing. In comparison Family Guy falls flat plot wise, leaving it's entire quality dependant on gags, something which I feel it increasingly struggles with.
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Post by ShayMay on Nov 16, 2010 14:01:38 GMT
ANOTHER ONE?! FOR GOD'S SAKE, EVERYONE, STOP COPYING STU!!
But yeah, Family Guy's good.
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Post by Calisto on Nov 16, 2010 16:42:44 GMT
What other thread?
(Nah, I removed it. =P)
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Post by Baron Canier on Nov 16, 2010 16:54:24 GMT
Family Guy has glaring flaws, but it can still make me chuckle. Wouldn't rank it as one of my favourites, though.
Generally I prefer American Dad. Despite my initial misgivings about the concept it turned into quite a well-rounded show.
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Post by Alex on Nov 16, 2010 17:17:24 GMT
I've got to admit that I have chuckled occasionally at Family Guy. However, as a whole it just turns me off with its format. I really can't stand the extended clip show format that it adopts as it just feels like it gets in the way of whatever story they're actually trying to tell. Maybe it's just that I'm not a fan of random humour for the sake of random humour, or a greater fan of well constructed storytelling, but Family Guy just never sits right for me and the period of The Simpsons' history where they tried to emulate Family Guy with pointless cut-aways, meaningless plot threads that go no-where and pure random humour for the utter sake of it is by far the worst of its very long run.
Either make a sketch show or make a sit-com. Stop trying to make both at once.
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Pitt
Script Hume
Ungrateful Sonic Saxophonist
If Lando dies, I'll destroy your planet!
Posts: 7,007
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Post by Pitt on Nov 16, 2010 17:17:36 GMT
The politics seem to be what most people dislike about Family Guy. That's the impression I get from other message boards, at least.
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Post by madhair60 on Nov 16, 2010 18:40:16 GMT
Nam:
Yup. I knew then and I know now; I'm only comparing it to your list facetiously, being silly and faux-bitter. I enjoyed reading it again.
I though season 8 was superb, and the current season has so far been excellent. I would recommend checking it out.
The first time I saw that (in "Wasted Talent", season 2) I nearly [censored] myself laughing. Did it really do nothing for you? The callback in season 4 with Lois was funny due to me not expecting it, but yeah, the AT-AT one was a step too far. The Star Wars episodes in general have done nothing for me at all.
That episode was incredible television. It's exactly what the haters slagged the show for not being. I posted about it at the time on another forum, let me dig it up:
"It was absolutely astonishing! The biggest "[censored] you" to the haters they've managed to date - one of the most common complaints levelled at the show (by point-missing idiots) is the lack of character development, the jokes for the sake of jokes. Now they've gone and done a show that demonstrates what Family Guy would be like without cutaways; it would be [censored]ing excruciating. In any other show this would have been "this was just like the time Brian ate that poop". In this show we get the process, the five-minute buildup. [censored]ing incredible.
Family Guy with character development! There, they've done it, now they'll never do it again.
Family Guy has never intended to be a moving, character-driven show. It doesn't deal in pathos and sentimentality like The Simpsons and Futurama, and has never claimed to do so. Yet, the hatedom use this as one of their main weapons. They hate the show because it doesn't make them cry. It's [censored]ing bizarre, and this episode was a demonstration of the absurdity of their idea of what Family Guy should be. It was dealing with the concepts they normally joke about in gruelling, almost-real-time detail. Fanfiction."
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Post by Badly-Drawn Manchild on Nov 16, 2010 19:44:03 GMT
Not a fan of any of Seth Macfarlane's work. The most Family Guy has ever got out of me is a mild chuckle (usually whenever Stewie or Brian are involved). Any other show along those lines (American Dad, for example) hasn't even managed that.
It's style of humour just doesn't do anything for me, but I'll say this; the attempts by The Simpsons to mirror it since have been much worse.
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Post by Juliett. Bravo. Alfa. on Nov 16, 2010 20:19:53 GMT
I used to like Family Guy. I used to think Seth MacFarlene was funny.
Season 1-3 Family Guy is excellent. Season 4 was ok.
I give kudos to Family Guy for being perhaps the only half decent cartoon show not to slag off other cartoon shows though.
Million things better than it though.
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Post by madhair60 on Nov 16, 2010 20:26:03 GMT
Seth McFarlane, of course, draws every frame of Family Guy, and writes every word of every episode.
Internet.
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Post by Juliett. Bravo. Alfa. on Nov 16, 2010 20:28:31 GMT
Best thing Seth MacFarlene didMind you he does pretty much voice every male character in Family Guy. I just think everything that MacFarlene is making or slapping his name on at the moment just isn't that funny. I must be the worst person in the world. Worse than Hitler even.
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Pitt
Script Hume
Ungrateful Sonic Saxophonist
If Lando dies, I'll destroy your planet!
Posts: 7,007
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Post by Pitt on Nov 16, 2010 20:33:56 GMT
Isn't Seth McFarlane still the script editor?
Maybe he never was. I don't know.
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Post by madhair60 on Nov 16, 2010 21:07:33 GMT
I just think everything that MacFarlene is making or slapping his name on at the moment just isn't that funny. I must be the worst person in the world. Worse than Hitler even. Why are you behaving this way? A sarcastic response to a challenge that never transpired.
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Post by Arch_one_zero_one on Nov 16, 2010 23:50:05 GMT
Ah, Family Guy. Back in the day, it was my favourite animated show, and I still think that S1-3 is some of the best comedy television I'll ever watch. It came back from cancellation strong with S4 and 5, but that was where it started to deteriorate for me. That's not to say that it's all bad from there on in, far from it - I remember S7 being brilliant, and 8 definitely had its moments too*.
The Family Guy Movie too, was infinitely better than The Simpsons one, despite being a straight to dvd affair. And I love the Star Wars adaptations.
I do kind of agree with your 'rule of three' thing - very rarely is there an episode where I don't get at least a couple of laughs out of it (the Bill Clinton one is the only one that stands out off the top of my head as one that I just didn't find funny at all). I also agree with you on the Bank Vault episode, it was excellent, although I think that they did go a little over-the-top with poo-eating scene/s in that.
I still watch it, even though I actually find American Dad more reliably funny these days, but maybe that's just my sense of humour evolving.
One more thing - I wish they'd go back to making Stewie evil with a hint of campness, instead of obviously gay with his quest for world domination a thing of the past. He was way more funny that way, as demonstrated in the Stewie Kills Lois episodes.
*This is going off the dvd seasons, I've lost count on the production seasons.
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Post by Super Sonic on Nov 17, 2010 0:12:45 GMT
They never topped Larry & Steve.
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Post by Baron Canier on Nov 17, 2010 11:12:04 GMT
I loved Larry & Steve when it appeared on Cartoon Cartoons.
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Post by madhair60 on Nov 17, 2010 11:39:05 GMT
Larry and Steve's mostly awful, but it has this gem:
"You will be directly responsible for the resulting euthanasia."
"Oh, boy, they got enough kids over there as it is."
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Post by Super Sonic on Nov 17, 2010 15:15:52 GMT
I laughed more at that 7-minute cartoon than I have done at all the episodes of Family Guy I've seen combined.
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Post by madhair60 on Nov 17, 2010 15:21:32 GMT
No you didn't, unless that combined number is "zero". You're just trying to illustrate depth of knowledge by referencing a relatively obscure related short that only people who liked Family Guy enough to Wiki it have even heard of. Troll on.
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Post by Juliett. Bravo. Alfa. on Nov 17, 2010 19:38:19 GMT
I dont know, just exhausted really. The whole "Seth McFarlane, of course, draws every frame of Family Guy, and writes every word of every episode. Internet. " thing annoyed me.
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Post by Alex on Nov 17, 2010 19:47:31 GMT
I vote that Stu moves on from people criticising Family Guy (in whatever manner) and gives us moar of the list. I want to see if you've got anything on it I can 100% agree with.
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Post by Super Sonic on Nov 17, 2010 20:01:38 GMT
Actually I did. I just don't find Family Guy funny, sue me.
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