Television: Family Guy

(I'm going to keep this far more brief than my last two, partly because, ye gods, they were long, and partly because this shouldn't take much time.)

When Family Guy was cancelled in 2002, I was marginally upset. I'd not had cable television for a while, so I'd fallen out of touch with the show, but I remembered liking it when it first aired in 1999. The revelation that Mr. Tumnus was responsible for the missing dryer socks had me in stitches, and from that moment on, I considered myself a "fan" of the show. So, when it was announced that FOX was reviving the show thanks to successful DVD sales and positive re-run ratings numbers, I looked forward to the new hijinks. However, when it became time to start voicing the new episodes, producer Seth MacFarlane found that he had lost the original scripts, and decided to write the entire season's worth of scripts in one weekend, locking himself and the other writers in a cabin in the Yukon, subsisting on nothing but cheap liquor and jellybeans.

Okay, I made that last part up. But after catching up on my episodes - thanks to my ex-downstairs roommate for leaving behind a VCR that actually works - I have to say that this season is...I don't want to say bad, so let's just say not good. In its first three seasons, Family Guy used to their advantage three writing trademarks: obscure pop culture references, cut away scenes, and the "repetition is funny" joke. Singly or in combination, they were scenes that had me rolling around in laughter. The scene where Peter skins his knee, the introduction of Mayor Adam West, and even Mr. Tumnus: these were jokes that should not have worked, but they did. They don't any more.

Sometimes I'm amused by the episodes, especially the obscure pop culture references - He-Man and Battle Cat? Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Herculoids? A-Ha!? - but it's just not worth my time any more. Family Guy lost me around the time that Peter fought an animated chicken for two solid minutes, instead of actually moving the plot or doing something entertaining. And it's not an isolated incident. I watched two episodes yesterday, and they did it again - Stewie mocking Brian about his novel for at least 30 seconds but seemed like an eternity [Ep 7] and a scene where the guys vomit for over a minute [Ep 8]. If you need to fill up time that badly, I'd rather watch another two minutes of goddamn commercials. The writing this year is stale and LAZY now. And their scenes that "push the lines of good taste" aren't shocking, they're just sad and boring.

The staff is trying too hard to re-capture the glory days, and it's just not working. Family Guy has become the old friend who used to be funny but now does the same schtick like it's a parody of their former self. And I'm going to stop hanging around that guy.