Many years ago, Seth Macfarlane joked about Family Guy lasting twenty seasons, getting to a point the writers are so bereft of ideas they decide to do an entire episode about Greg the Weather-Mime. That doesn't sound as awful as the crap that's on the horizon for the show's thirteenth season.
The show's producers have released a 5-minute clip of the upcoming season premiere, which is a crossover with The Simpsons. That clip is actually pretty funny, in my opinion, and bodes very well for the show if it is indicative of the quality of the rest of the episode.
What the writers have planned after that episode is what makes me wonder if the show will become so pathetically lame that I stop watching it. There's apparently going to be an episode in which Stewie becomes pregnant with Brian's baby. Yeah, yeah, I accept the idea of a talking dog. I even accept the idea of Brian having a human son by a human woman. But a human baby boy becoming pregnant with a dog's baby? That sounds just way too idiotic to me.
Showing posts with label Family Guy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Guy. Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2014
Monday, November 14, 2011
Back to the pilot
When I read the entry for last night's episode of Family Guy in TV Guide, I thought "Oh brother, they're really running out of ideas." But the Good Wife was about a death penalty case, so I decided to give the Family Guy episode a chance. It was... alright.
Brian pretends to want to travel back in time to retrieve a tennis ball he buried back in 1999, but his real reason is to tell his former self about 9/11 so he can become a hero by preventing it. Naturally, this has unforeseen bad consequences. Next thing you know, there are dozens of Brians and Stewies on the Griffin lawn trying to untangle the Gordian knot of causes and effects all their time traveling has caused.
Any time travel story is bound to have some confusing aspects. One of the Stewies acknowledges this, admitting to being confused. But some other questions naturally arise: why is Stewie still a baby? It has been fairly clearly established that Brian is now 8-years-old, and he was 7 when the show started. But now this episode cements the notion that time on the show is concurrent with real-life time: since Stewie's first birthday, Bush the Lesser has served two terms as President of the United States.
Also, what would be the true, unintended consequences of preventing 9/11? Wouldn't George W. Bush simply have asked his good buddy Osama bin Laden for another attack?
Brian pretends to want to travel back in time to retrieve a tennis ball he buried back in 1999, but his real reason is to tell his former self about 9/11 so he can become a hero by preventing it. Naturally, this has unforeseen bad consequences. Next thing you know, there are dozens of Brians and Stewies on the Griffin lawn trying to untangle the Gordian knot of causes and effects all their time traveling has caused.
Any time travel story is bound to have some confusing aspects. One of the Stewies acknowledges this, admitting to being confused. But some other questions naturally arise: why is Stewie still a baby? It has been fairly clearly established that Brian is now 8-years-old, and he was 7 when the show started. But now this episode cements the notion that time on the show is concurrent with real-life time: since Stewie's first birthday, Bush the Lesser has served two terms as President of the United States.
Also, what would be the true, unintended consequences of preventing 9/11? Wouldn't George W. Bush simply have asked his good buddy Osama bin Laden for another attack?
Monday, October 10, 2011
Family drama on Family Guy
Do you still watch Family Guy? Last episode I saw, Meg stood up for herself when the other family started members their usual, boring use-Meg-as-punching-bag schtick. As boring as that shtick is, it is nowhere as annoying as the shrillness of Meg standing up for herself. Well, thanks for making it very easy for me to change the channel to CBS to watch The Good Wife, a show that now comes on on Sunday nights.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Stewie the Creator
When I read TV Guide's description for last night's episode of Family Guy, "The Big Bang Theory," in which Stewie unwittingly winds up creating the Universe with his time machine, I thought to myself, "That might actually be a good episode." And it was a good episode. It was funny and riveting, and the dumb, racist non-jokes were kept to a minimum. Also, the writers deserve props for managing to reference both Back to the Future and Star Trek: The Next Generation at the same time.
However, any episode of any show that deals with time travel is certain to have holes in the plot and nits to pick. This latest episode of Family Guy is no exception. Let's say that we buy the whole notion of the temporal causality loop and predestination paradoxes in general, and specifically the one that threatens to destroy the Universe in this episode.
For an evil genius, Bertram (Wallace Shawn) doesn't seem to fully think through the ramifications of snuffing Stewie out of existence, even allowing for the fact that the former doesn't at first know that the latter created the Universe, and conceding that Bertram understands that he can't kill any of Peter's ancestors since he doesn't want to delete himself as well.
One way to delete Stewie from the time-space continuum is to kill Lois before she gives birth to Stewie. But even doing that is fraught with the danger of consequences that could also prevent Bertram's birth. What if Peter is so grief-stricken by the death of his wife that he kills himself? Or, less melodramatically, what if Peter never goes to the sperm bank and his seed is never implanted into the woman who turns out to be Bertram's biological mother? Bertram's idea of killing Leonardo da Vinci (who is presumably an ancestor of Lois) has the danger of far more unintended consequences than killing a more recent ancestor. (And anyway how did Bertram trace Stewie's ancestry so far back?)
Bertram does succeed in killing Leonardo da Vinci. Stewie sends Brian back to the present and somehow "injects" his DNA into Leonardo's girlfriend (without having sex with her). But why would this be the thing to do that preserves Stewie's maternal line? Wouldn't that introduce genetic material that was meant to be introduced later? Or is that another predestination paradox? Wouldn't the right thing to do have been to extract Leonardo's semen? (Though I can just begin to imagine the disgusting jokes the writers would have come up with if this had occurred to them). In any case, Leonardo was already quite old when Bertram killed him. Leonardo may have already passed on the necessary genetic material, in which case Stewie's "injection" is completely irrelevant.
Lastly, I wonder how Stewie had the resources to build himself a cryogenic stasis chamber and have himself deposited in what was presumably yet to be colonized Quahog but not the resources to build himself another time machine (as Doc Brown did in the 19th Century in Back to the Future Part III).
It is precisely because the episode was actually funny and engaging that it is fun to pick it apart like this. I hope they do more episodes like this and fewer episodes in which Brian is complaining about his failures with women or as an author.
However, any episode of any show that deals with time travel is certain to have holes in the plot and nits to pick. This latest episode of Family Guy is no exception. Let's say that we buy the whole notion of the temporal causality loop and predestination paradoxes in general, and specifically the one that threatens to destroy the Universe in this episode.
For an evil genius, Bertram (Wallace Shawn) doesn't seem to fully think through the ramifications of snuffing Stewie out of existence, even allowing for the fact that the former doesn't at first know that the latter created the Universe, and conceding that Bertram understands that he can't kill any of Peter's ancestors since he doesn't want to delete himself as well.
One way to delete Stewie from the time-space continuum is to kill Lois before she gives birth to Stewie. But even doing that is fraught with the danger of consequences that could also prevent Bertram's birth. What if Peter is so grief-stricken by the death of his wife that he kills himself? Or, less melodramatically, what if Peter never goes to the sperm bank and his seed is never implanted into the woman who turns out to be Bertram's biological mother? Bertram's idea of killing Leonardo da Vinci (who is presumably an ancestor of Lois) has the danger of far more unintended consequences than killing a more recent ancestor. (And anyway how did Bertram trace Stewie's ancestry so far back?)
Bertram does succeed in killing Leonardo da Vinci. Stewie sends Brian back to the present and somehow "injects" his DNA into Leonardo's girlfriend (without having sex with her). But why would this be the thing to do that preserves Stewie's maternal line? Wouldn't that introduce genetic material that was meant to be introduced later? Or is that another predestination paradox? Wouldn't the right thing to do have been to extract Leonardo's semen? (Though I can just begin to imagine the disgusting jokes the writers would have come up with if this had occurred to them). In any case, Leonardo was already quite old when Bertram killed him. Leonardo may have already passed on the necessary genetic material, in which case Stewie's "injection" is completely irrelevant.
Lastly, I wonder how Stewie had the resources to build himself a cryogenic stasis chamber and have himself deposited in what was presumably yet to be colonized Quahog but not the resources to build himself another time machine (as Doc Brown did in the 19th Century in Back to the Future Part III).
It is precisely because the episode was actually funny and engaging that it is fun to pick it apart like this. I hope they do more episodes like this and fewer episodes in which Brian is complaining about his failures with women or as an author.
Monday, December 13, 2010
The magical sleigh
Last night's full hour Family Guy episode, "Road to the North Pole," was brilliant, especially in comparison to the other episodes so far this season. Nitpicking Family Guy had gotten to be very unpleasant, because it was practically beating up on a lousy show.
But this latest episode was a pleasure to watch. I don't feel like a bully when I point out that Stewie didn't have time to make those modifications to Santa's sleigh that get Brian and Stewie out of a rough spot just in the nick of time. One minute Brian is declaring that he will take care of Santa's deliveries, the next Brian and Stewie are off on the sleigh, up in the air. And if Stewie really did make modifications to Santa's sleigh, where was Brian at? So here we have a deus ex machina, with Stewie being the deus and the sleigh being the machina.
The episode takes a very serious turn for its last few minutes, almost bordering on preachy. This was the point at which I remembered my reason for sitting down to watch this episode at all (after the very obnoxious episode "Brian Writes a Bestseller" I thought I was done watching Family Guy): I wanted to see how it meshes with the pre-cancellation episode "A Very Freakin' Special Family Guy Christmas": for the most part, pretty well. The only thing is that the earlier episode leads us to believe that Lois would have taken care of getting the presents, and not relied on Santa Claus completely. Recall that in that episode, Stewie is disappointed by the first gift he opens, but then Chris prompts him to open the other present, which has that strong green glow that stands for nuclear materials; presumably the first gift Lois bought and the second is from Santa.
It feels good for Family Guy to once again be worthy of nitpicking.
But this latest episode was a pleasure to watch. I don't feel like a bully when I point out that Stewie didn't have time to make those modifications to Santa's sleigh that get Brian and Stewie out of a rough spot just in the nick of time. One minute Brian is declaring that he will take care of Santa's deliveries, the next Brian and Stewie are off on the sleigh, up in the air. And if Stewie really did make modifications to Santa's sleigh, where was Brian at? So here we have a deus ex machina, with Stewie being the deus and the sleigh being the machina.
The episode takes a very serious turn for its last few minutes, almost bordering on preachy. This was the point at which I remembered my reason for sitting down to watch this episode at all (after the very obnoxious episode "Brian Writes a Bestseller" I thought I was done watching Family Guy): I wanted to see how it meshes with the pre-cancellation episode "A Very Freakin' Special Family Guy Christmas": for the most part, pretty well. The only thing is that the earlier episode leads us to believe that Lois would have taken care of getting the presents, and not relied on Santa Claus completely. Recall that in that episode, Stewie is disappointed by the first gift he opens, but then Chris prompts him to open the other present, which has that strong green glow that stands for nuclear materials; presumably the first gift Lois bought and the second is from Santa.
It feels good for Family Guy to once again be worthy of nitpicking.
Monday, November 8, 2010
So glad Quagmire's not Japanese
As Family Guy nears the shark, the writers sometimes seem to think that the way to spice up the show is with sudden left-field revelations about established characters. And so it turns out that not only is Peter's biological father not Francis Griffin, but Peter was born in Mexico and is not a U. S. citizen. Yawn.
So it filled me with dread when in last night's episode, "Halloween on Spooner Street," Quagmire tells Peter that he's part Japanese. "Here we go: now it's not enough to have these left-field revelations about the main characters, we also need to do it for secondary characters," I thought.
But it turns out that Quagmire's not actually Japanese, he was just saying that to set up a prank in which he frightens Peter aboard an old Japanese plane. That doesn't, however, lessen the extreme unfunniness of the whole storyline.
So it filled me with dread when in last night's episode, "Halloween on Spooner Street," Quagmire tells Peter that he's part Japanese. "Here we go: now it's not enough to have these left-field revelations about the main characters, we also need to do it for secondary characters," I thought.
But it turns out that Quagmire's not actually Japanese, he was just saying that to set up a prank in which he frightens Peter aboard an old Japanese plane. That doesn't, however, lessen the extreme unfunniness of the whole storyline.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Brian the conservative
Stewie is not the only Family Guy character getting dumbed down. Brian is becoming quite the moron as well. I have a hard time believing that the Brian from Season 2 is a character who could be brainwashed into blindly and idiotically accepting Republican rhetoric after reading Rush Limbaugh's book. From this episode, we're to accept that Brian's liberalism was so shallow it could be easily transmuted and restored. This is perhaps an even sadder transgression against this character than having him eat Stewie's crap.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Stewie will never kill Lois
With Family Guy finally switching to 16:9, the show remains mired on many of its familiar tropes of more or less recent vintage, such as Quagmire's weird out-of-left-field hatred for Brian or James Woods' obsession with Quahog. But one old trope dusted off for last night's episode "And Then There Were Fewer" was Stewie's supposedly matricidal intentions towards his mother Lois, declared from the very first episode and examined in the episodes "Stewie Kills Lois" and "Lois Kills Stewie."
But let's not forget "Death is a Bitch," in which, with Death incapacitated, Stewie throws Lois down the stairs, followed by an armoire and a grenade. Lois is none the worse for wear, because Death's broken ankle has not healed. Various nitpickers have pointed out that if Stewie really intends to kill his mother, he could've done any of the things he does in that episode when Death was infirm.
In last night's episode we get more evidence that Stewie's matricidal rants are just talk: before Diane Simmons can kill Lois, Stewie uses a long-distance rifle to kill Diane, then declares that if anyone will "drop" Lois, it will be him. Well, Stewie, you missed your chance: why couldn't you kill both Lois and Diane? Did you only have one bullet with you?
But let's not forget "Death is a Bitch," in which, with Death incapacitated, Stewie throws Lois down the stairs, followed by an armoire and a grenade. Lois is none the worse for wear, because Death's broken ankle has not healed. Various nitpickers have pointed out that if Stewie really intends to kill his mother, he could've done any of the things he does in that episode when Death was infirm.
In last night's episode we get more evidence that Stewie's matricidal rants are just talk: before Diane Simmons can kill Lois, Stewie uses a long-distance rifle to kill Diane, then declares that if anyone will "drop" Lois, it will be him. Well, Stewie, you missed your chance: why couldn't you kill both Lois and Diane? Did you only have one bullet with you?
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tacky cattiness at the expense of plot
The show: Family Guy, once a paragon of animated freshness compared to the stale Simpsons, now degenerated to a platform for offensive jokes for the sake of being offensive, simultaneously tacky and catty attacks on celebrities, and a complete disregard for both inter- and intra-episode continuity.
The episode: "Big Man on Hippocampus," first aired back in January and rerun recently.
What happened: Taking a page from The Simpsons, the writers set up the main story of Peter's amnesia with a seemingly unrelated first act in which the Griffins go on Family Feud. During taping, Peter has an accident and loses his memory. The family tries to restore his memory with some old family videos, but Peter is more interested in watching Pretty Woman. That night, Peter spies on Lois undressing, and Lois re-introduces Peter to sex. The next day, Peter decides that despite how much he enjoyed sex with Lois, he'd rather have sex with other women. That night he brings Tiffani-Amber Thiessen home with every intention of having sex with her. Lois leaves in a huff. Peter asks Tiffani about her necklace. "Is that how you spend your Saved by the Bell money?" Peter asks.
What doesn't make sense: So when did Peter relearn what Saved by the Bell is? And why would he know about that teen comedy but not remember how to drive? So basically, Peter's amnesia is suspended just long enough for him to make a tacky, catty remark to a celebrity. Do the writers feel proud of themselves here? Worse, this is one of those nits that could've been prevented with a simple line of dialogue inserted earlier: besides Pretty Woman, the box of videotapes could have also have had a Saved by the Bell tape. It wouldn't have been necessary to actually show Peter watching that show, but just to mention it eliminates this nit free and clear.
One more thing: Yes, I'm still watching this on FOX. Supposedly the jokes are funnier on Adult Swim. Why? Because they can use all the swear words and racial slurs they want? Hey, look at me, I find humor in the prevalence of racism in this country! Give me a break. Besides, bleeps can be exploited for humor much funnier than any catty stereotype that could air on Adult Swim; this is something which this show has actually done in the past. In my opinion, this bit from "PTV" is the funniest in all of post-cancellation Family Guy:
The episode: "Big Man on Hippocampus," first aired back in January and rerun recently.
What happened: Taking a page from The Simpsons, the writers set up the main story of Peter's amnesia with a seemingly unrelated first act in which the Griffins go on Family Feud. During taping, Peter has an accident and loses his memory. The family tries to restore his memory with some old family videos, but Peter is more interested in watching Pretty Woman. That night, Peter spies on Lois undressing, and Lois re-introduces Peter to sex. The next day, Peter decides that despite how much he enjoyed sex with Lois, he'd rather have sex with other women. That night he brings Tiffani-Amber Thiessen home with every intention of having sex with her. Lois leaves in a huff. Peter asks Tiffani about her necklace. "Is that how you spend your Saved by the Bell money?" Peter asks.
What doesn't make sense: So when did Peter relearn what Saved by the Bell is? And why would he know about that teen comedy but not remember how to drive? So basically, Peter's amnesia is suspended just long enough for him to make a tacky, catty remark to a celebrity. Do the writers feel proud of themselves here? Worse, this is one of those nits that could've been prevented with a simple line of dialogue inserted earlier: besides Pretty Woman, the box of videotapes could have also have had a Saved by the Bell tape. It wouldn't have been necessary to actually show Peter watching that show, but just to mention it eliminates this nit free and clear.
One more thing: Yes, I'm still watching this on FOX. Supposedly the jokes are funnier on Adult Swim. Why? Because they can use all the swear words and racial slurs they want? Hey, look at me, I find humor in the prevalence of racism in this country! Give me a break. Besides, bleeps can be exploited for humor much funnier than any catty stereotype that could air on Adult Swim; this is something which this show has actually done in the past. In my opinion, this bit from "PTV" is the funniest in all of post-cancellation Family Guy:
"You know, you're lucky you're good at (bleep) my (bleep) or I'd never put up with you. You know what I'm talking about, when you (bleep) a lubed up (bleep) of toothpaste in my (bleep) while you (bleep) on a cherry (bleep) Episcopalian (bleep) extension cord (bleep) wetness (bleep) with a parking ticket. That is the best." — Peter Griffin
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tired of Family Guy crap yet?
Maybe we were all too grossed out by the idea of Brian actually eating Stewie's crap to notice something Brian should have realized long before putting his nose to the diaper:
Remember how in "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do" the Griffin household degenerated into a pigsty when Lois went to jail? Peter, Brian, Meg and Chris are sitting on the couch, looking all dirty, when Stewie comes in, pleading for someone to change his diaper. "I can't fit any more in there," the poor baby says and then just falls down face flat on the floor.
Let's not forget that Brian has a long memory. There was an episode in Season 4 or 5 in which Brian got back at Peter for something that happened in Season 3. And if Stewie really is still 1-year-old, shouldn't Brian remember that Stewie survived the ordeal of Lois's incarceration despite so few diaper changes?
It was painful to watch that scene when Brian actually eats Stewie's crap. It felt very wrong. Now that I remembered these scenes from previous episodes, I understand why it felt so wrong for the character.
Remember how in "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do" the Griffin household degenerated into a pigsty when Lois went to jail? Peter, Brian, Meg and Chris are sitting on the couch, looking all dirty, when Stewie comes in, pleading for someone to change his diaper. "I can't fit any more in there," the poor baby says and then just falls down face flat on the floor.
Let's not forget that Brian has a long memory. There was an episode in Season 4 or 5 in which Brian got back at Peter for something that happened in Season 3. And if Stewie really is still 1-year-old, shouldn't Brian remember that Stewie survived the ordeal of Lois's incarceration despite so few diaper changes?
It was painful to watch that scene when Brian actually eats Stewie's crap. It felt very wrong. Now that I remembered these scenes from previous episodes, I understand why it felt so wrong for the character.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Rewriting the Simpson family tree over and over again
So the Simpsons are 1/64th Black, according to a recent episode reran last night. Yawn. I see what Bill keeps saying about The Simpsons having become a thoroughly boring show. The problem isn't just that Family Guy did it first (remember Nate Griffin?), but also that in two decades the show has managed to write a lot of the tree.
I remember Grampa Simpson reminiscing that the Simpson family came from "the old country" (he didn't remember which) as immigrants to Ellis Island, and lived on the Statue of Liberty for a brief period. Granted, Grampa Simpson is as reliable a narrator as Peter Griffin, and the immigrant story even if true does not rule out American, Civil War-era ancestors for Bart and Lisa.
There's something else. I can buy Grampa forgetting stuff, but not Lisa. Wasn't there a much earlier episode in which Lisa examined the Simpson family tree looking for an ancestor to be proud of? And wasn't the conclusion of that episode that the Simpson men are boozehounds at best, while the Simpson women are doctors, scientists, activists, etc.? I don't remember the title of that episode, but I would think Lisa Simpson would remember what happened in that episode.
I remember Grampa Simpson reminiscing that the Simpson family came from "the old country" (he didn't remember which) as immigrants to Ellis Island, and lived on the Statue of Liberty for a brief period. Granted, Grampa Simpson is as reliable a narrator as Peter Griffin, and the immigrant story even if true does not rule out American, Civil War-era ancestors for Bart and Lisa.
There's something else. I can buy Grampa forgetting stuff, but not Lisa. Wasn't there a much earlier episode in which Lisa examined the Simpson family tree looking for an ancestor to be proud of? And wasn't the conclusion of that episode that the Simpson men are boozehounds at best, while the Simpson women are doctors, scientists, activists, etc.? I don't remember the title of that episode, but I would think Lisa Simpson would remember what happened in that episode.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Not so bad Sunday
Animation Domination on FOX Sunday nights had fallen into a pattern: bore us to death with The Simpsons, then fill up The Cleveland Show with disgusting, unfunny bathroom humor, then all the offensive, catty racial jokes into Family Guy, and then delve in Roger's eccentricities on American Dad.
This division of labor was not in evidence last night. I caught the last few minutes of The Simpsons; then followed The Cleveland Show with some cliched story about the paterfamilias spending money necessary for the children on something frivolous, in this case casino gambling; and then on Family Guy the drinking buddies are reunited with Cleveland on a quest to find the source of the world's dirty jokes. None of these shows are now anywhere near the heights reached in their golden pasts, but these breaks from the usual rut they had fallen into lately was a pleasant break.
This division of labor was not in evidence last night. I caught the last few minutes of The Simpsons; then followed The Cleveland Show with some cliched story about the paterfamilias spending money necessary for the children on something frivolous, in this case casino gambling; and then on Family Guy the drinking buddies are reunited with Cleveland on a quest to find the source of the world's dirty jokes. None of these shows are now anywhere near the heights reached in their golden pasts, but these breaks from the usual rut they had fallen into lately was a pleasant break.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Lois not in GLBTA
Is it just me or is Lois on Family Guy getting more and more ignorant? Her attitudes to Brian's various girlfriends are but one indicator. Another is her attitudes towards gays: in "You May Now Kiss the... uh... Guy Who Receives," Lois's initial refusal to allow Jasper's wedding to a Filipino man was not exactly exemplary of tolerance but at least it showed a woman intelligently willing to amend her views.
Last night, in one of the unfunniest Family Guy episodes to date, "Quagmire's Dad," the writers introduce Quagmire's father, a commissioned officer in the Navy, only to have him get a sex change operation. It is not at all surprising that Peter comes to the unmindful conclusion that Quagmire's father feeling like a woman trapped in a man's body is exactly equal to his being gay. But it is surprising—and disappointing—that Lois would come to that same conclusion.
And just for the record, this is the difference, which both Peter and certainly Lois ought to be aware of: a gay man is attracted to other men but has no desire to change his body in any radical way (even if he's usually a "bottom"); a transgendered man may be attracted to either men or women but regardless has a strong compulsion to change his body into a woman's body. Lois apparently learned nothing in "You May Now Kiss the... uh... Guy Who Receives."
Oh, and how could Brian not tell Ida is a post-op transsexual if he's so damn disgusted by the concept?
On another note, it was good to see the animators not putting Private chevrons on every single Navy officer shown (as they have done with police officers in prior episodes), and in fact giving appropriate Navy officer rank insignia to the officers shown. Though there was this one guy whose rank fluctuated between Lieutenant and Commander (two and three solid stripes on the shoulderboard, respectively) but maybe we can chalk that up to the exigencies of animation.
Last night, in one of the unfunniest Family Guy episodes to date, "Quagmire's Dad," the writers introduce Quagmire's father, a commissioned officer in the Navy, only to have him get a sex change operation. It is not at all surprising that Peter comes to the unmindful conclusion that Quagmire's father feeling like a woman trapped in a man's body is exactly equal to his being gay. But it is surprising—and disappointing—that Lois would come to that same conclusion.
And just for the record, this is the difference, which both Peter and certainly Lois ought to be aware of: a gay man is attracted to other men but has no desire to change his body in any radical way (even if he's usually a "bottom"); a transgendered man may be attracted to either men or women but regardless has a strong compulsion to change his body into a woman's body. Lois apparently learned nothing in "You May Now Kiss the... uh... Guy Who Receives."
Oh, and how could Brian not tell Ida is a post-op transsexual if he's so damn disgusted by the concept?
On another note, it was good to see the animators not putting Private chevrons on every single Navy officer shown (as they have done with police officers in prior episodes), and in fact giving appropriate Navy officer rank insignia to the officers shown. Though there was this one guy whose rank fluctuated between Lieutenant and Commander (two and three solid stripes on the shoulderboard, respectively) but maybe we can chalk that up to the exigencies of animation.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Not laughing on the way to the bank
You can forgive the writers of Family Guy all the inconsistencies about Brian and Stewie IF those inconsistencies result in very funny jokes. The latest episode really brought to the forefront how the writers are in a constant state of remembering and forgetting that Brian is a dog and Stewie a baby. So Stewie can go clothes shopping at DSW yet is completely clueless as to how to unfasten his diaper? What do you make of all the suggestions that Stewie engages in a lot of gay sex—does he take his diaper off for that (and what kind of sicko...)? Or is it just some weird kind of bravado? And don't get me started on Brian the sometimes dog.
There were few laughs in the episode, made far more worse by a pretension to profundity. It's one thing setting a live action piece all in one room, but animation frees one to go to any place. I know some of you are going to say something like "But they do go to a different place emotionally." Save it. This episode has nothing on the "Road to" episodes. Nor does it illuminate Brian and Stewie's complicated relationship any better.
(Oh, and great job Wikipedia linking "love" in their article about this episode to "platonic love." Even with just this episode alone you have to realize that Brian and Stewie are way beyond "platonic love" despite Brian's unwillingness. That's how Wikipedia is: slander real people but tread lightly with fictional characters.)
There were few laughs in the episode, made far more worse by a pretension to profundity. It's one thing setting a live action piece all in one room, but animation frees one to go to any place. I know some of you are going to say something like "But they do go to a different place emotionally." Save it. This episode has nothing on the "Road to" episodes. Nor does it illuminate Brian and Stewie's complicated relationship any better.
(Oh, and great job Wikipedia linking "love" in their article about this episode to "platonic love." Even with just this episode alone you have to realize that Brian and Stewie are way beyond "platonic love" despite Brian's unwillingness. That's how Wikipedia is: slander real people but tread lightly with fictional characters.)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Meet the Stewie who loves funky fruit hats!
In last night's new episode of Family Guy, Brian's questioning of Stewie that the old baby still watches Jolly Farm deserved a better answer, for after all, at the end of "Road to Europe" (a pre-cancellation episode), Stewie declared: "The Stewie who loved Jolly Farm is dead." I wonder if the writers felt any need to explain why Stewie is watching Jolly Farm again in order to set up the story of the American version of the show, or if they simply assumed that no one watching last night would remember "Road to Europe."
However, the writers did feel the need to pre-emptively nitpick the contrivance of Karina revealing herself to really be Stewie on a live broadcast of the show, by having Brian ask why that is and having Stewie respond: "Convenience." And this is not a nit, but let me just say that Stewie's falsetto voice as Karina was one of the most grating and unpleasant things on Family Guy in recent memory.
However, the writers did feel the need to pre-emptively nitpick the contrivance of Karina revealing herself to really be Stewie on a live broadcast of the show, by having Brian ask why that is and having Stewie respond: "Convenience." And this is not a nit, but let me just say that Stewie's falsetto voice as Karina was one of the most grating and unpleasant things on Family Guy in recent memory.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sad state of the Animation Domination
Yesterday I happened to catch a snippet of The Simpsons in the middle. Agnes was reminiscing how she participated in the Olympics long, long ago, while pregnant (weirdly paralleled in real life in Vancouver today), and baby Seymour's kick within her belly cost her the gold. Back in the present, Seymour says he remembers that. As big a grain of salt recollections from the womb would normally require, this one requires a huge monolith of salt. For one thing, "Seymour Skinner" is really Armin Tamzarian, who usurped the real Seymour's name and life after Vietnam. It's as if the show is begging to be nitpicked. One thing it's not begging for is laughs. Which reminded me why I had stopped watching the show. I turned off the TV, not to turn it on again until just before The Cleveland Show, in time to catch Homer dancing with a half-section of his face. Huh? Who cares.
On The Cleveland Show, Cleveland Jr. gets "pregnant" with Rollo's fish. You can just see the miscarriage coming from miles away. At least on TV they had to decency to describe it (likening it to Louisiana cuisine) rather than showing it; any sickos who would've actually liked to see that will probably be satisfied by the DVD. This is one episode I don't care to ever watch again, on any medium. Come to think of it, I should perhaps stop watching this show altogether.
Then on Family Guy, Chris is inexplicably enamored of a retarded girl who turns out to be Sarah Palin's daughter (Palin is not explicitly mentioned in that regard, but it's quite obvious that's who they were thinking of). Coming at the end of such a dreadful evening, American Dad! did not look so bad, and even had a few chuckles.
On The Cleveland Show, Cleveland Jr. gets "pregnant" with Rollo's fish. You can just see the miscarriage coming from miles away. At least on TV they had to decency to describe it (likening it to Louisiana cuisine) rather than showing it; any sickos who would've actually liked to see that will probably be satisfied by the DVD. This is one episode I don't care to ever watch again, on any medium. Come to think of it, I should perhaps stop watching this show altogether.
Then on Family Guy, Chris is inexplicably enamored of a retarded girl who turns out to be Sarah Palin's daughter (Palin is not explicitly mentioned in that regard, but it's quite obvious that's who they were thinking of). Coming at the end of such a dreadful evening, American Dad! did not look so bad, and even had a few chuckles.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Racism for its own sake
I had commented before that Family Guy now seems to be more about being offensive than about being funny. After watching the newest episode last night, in which Meg becomes a hardened criminal, it becomes clearer to me that the brand of offensiveness the Family Guy writers are most interested in is racial.
When the maid Consuela goes to visit her grown son in jail, she actually Windexes the glass separating them. Oh my God, oh please. Much worse near the end: Meg decides not to rob Mort Goldman's pharmacy and leaves with Brian, causing Mort to express relief at not being robbed and then greet "four fine Black gentlemen" who are not even seen onscreen. Nothing good can possibly be inferred from that, either for Blacks or Jews. I hope Black people are faring better in The Cleveland Show.
When the maid Consuela goes to visit her grown son in jail, she actually Windexes the glass separating them. Oh my God, oh please. Much worse near the end: Meg decides not to rob Mort Goldman's pharmacy and leaves with Brian, causing Mort to express relief at not being robbed and then greet "four fine Black gentlemen" who are not even seen onscreen. Nothing good can possibly be inferred from that, either for Blacks or Jews. I hope Black people are faring better in The Cleveland Show.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Disappointing choice for Yoda, Carl is
I was very disappointed by the choice of Carl as Yoda in "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side," the Family Guy parody/homage to Empire Strikes Back. Even with the choice of many characters fixed by "Blue Harvest" (the parody/homage of A New Hope), there was still plenty of Family Guy characters left to choose from (contrary to what Seth MacFarlane says on the DVD commentary). Now, if the characters have to be fixed in relation to Chris as Luke, then Darth Vader should be Peter and not Stewie. Besides, some of the mappings were chosen in relation to Peter rather than Chris: Lois as Leia and the Giant Chicken as Boba Fett, rather than Meg as Leia and perhaps the Evil Monkey as Boba Fett. Heck, they even felt free to remap some characters, most notably Meg went from being the trash compactor monster to being the asteroid monster.
What do I have against Carl anyway? I can believe the character as a convenience store manager, but as a sage old Jedi master, the mapping is incongruous, but not enough to be funny.
Another time I will go over nits in this installment uncovered by the IMDb staff, and maybe some of my own.
What do I have against Carl anyway? I can believe the character as a convenience store manager, but as a sage old Jedi master, the mapping is incongruous, but not enough to be funny.
Another time I will go over nits in this installment uncovered by the IMDb staff, and maybe some of my own.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Blue Harvest
With "Something, Something, Something Dark Side" due out next week, I think it would be appropriate to review the previous installment of Family Guy's homages to the classic Star Wars trilogy.
The title of that first installment already gives cause for a nit: based on the first episode to be released, Episode IV, A New Hope, the Family Guy homage is titled "Blue Harvest," which was the code-name for Return of the Jedi, not A New Hope. Do you buy Seth MacFarlane's explanation that they didn't know if their homage would be successful and if then they would have to make the other two installments? Heck, they'll probably even have to make installments for the prequel trilogy. But at this point, the only previous material unquestionably suitable for reference in nitpicking is the film A New Hope itself.
After that there is the matter of assigning Family Guy characters to Star Wars characters. The most obvious choice for Luke and Leia are Chris and Meg. However, the Family Guy writers are so dead set on using Meg for a punching bag, that Meg couldn't be Leia, she had to be a monster in the trash compactor. Instead, Lois is Leia. So family correspondence does not matter for the choice, fine. Still, I was troubled by the choice of the pedophile Herbert for the noble Obi-Wan Kenobi. And I think a fat Darth Vader (Peter) would've been funnier than a short one (Stewie), but I have to concede that Peter makes an excellent Han Solo.
There is also the matter of which version of the movies to use as the source text: the classic edition of 1977 or the Special Edition of 1997? The decisive question of who shot first in the cantina provides the answer: Han/Peter shoots at Greedo first, as in the classic edition, which makes more sense to a nitpicker anyway. Greedo must be a real retard to shoot first and miss! How can such a lousy shot make it as bounty hunter worthy of being hired by Jabba? (To refresh my memory on Greedo's background, I went to starwars.com; I wouldn't trust Wikipedia or even the Wookiepedia—ugh! But note that starwars.com emphasizes that Greedo shot first and missed.)
The following are from the IMDb, at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0888817/goofs. I will give my running commentary as I go along.
"Continuity: A cloud appears in front of one of Tatooine's twin suns too quickly (possibly a deliberate error since the same thing happens in the actual movie.)" OK, whatever. I've never noticed that and it probably wouldn't bother me if I did.
"Revealing mistakes: When Peter [Han] and Chris [Luke] are getting the couch out of the trash compactor, Brian [Chewbacca] and Lois [Leia] are standing on top surface of the garbage water." Didn't notice that either but that's a worthier nit.
"Continuity: At the Cantina bar, Han Solo is the last character to leave for the Millennium Falcon, but somehow manages to get there before everyone else." Whatever.
"Continuity: When Peter (Han Solo) and Chris (Luke Skywalker) attempt to get the couch out of the trash compactor, somehow Chris gets his end of the couch out but Peter can't get his." I'm willing to give a pass on this one.
"Continuity: During a light saber duel between Obi Wan (Herbert) and Darth Vader (Stewie), Darth Vader uses a red light saber. After killing Obi Wan, Darth Vader is seen with a blue light saber as stormtroopers fire on the Millennium Falcon as it departs. In the next shot that shows Darth Vader, he is again holding a red light saber." That's a good one.
"Continuity: After the light saber duel between Herbert (Obi Wan) and Stewie (Darth Vader), Brian (Chewbacca) and Peter Griffin (Han Solo) run out with the couch. When they are arguing with each other on how to get the couch into the Millennium Falcon, the laser blasts are actually going the wrong way. The Storm Troopers are on the right of them firing to the left, but the the laser blasts are coming from the left of them and going right. You can clearly see there wasn't any Storm Troopers on the left of them as they were running to the ship." Fine, I'll accept this one.
The title of that first installment already gives cause for a nit: based on the first episode to be released, Episode IV, A New Hope, the Family Guy homage is titled "Blue Harvest," which was the code-name for Return of the Jedi, not A New Hope. Do you buy Seth MacFarlane's explanation that they didn't know if their homage would be successful and if then they would have to make the other two installments? Heck, they'll probably even have to make installments for the prequel trilogy. But at this point, the only previous material unquestionably suitable for reference in nitpicking is the film A New Hope itself.
After that there is the matter of assigning Family Guy characters to Star Wars characters. The most obvious choice for Luke and Leia are Chris and Meg. However, the Family Guy writers are so dead set on using Meg for a punching bag, that Meg couldn't be Leia, she had to be a monster in the trash compactor. Instead, Lois is Leia. So family correspondence does not matter for the choice, fine. Still, I was troubled by the choice of the pedophile Herbert for the noble Obi-Wan Kenobi. And I think a fat Darth Vader (Peter) would've been funnier than a short one (Stewie), but I have to concede that Peter makes an excellent Han Solo.
There is also the matter of which version of the movies to use as the source text: the classic edition of 1977 or the Special Edition of 1997? The decisive question of who shot first in the cantina provides the answer: Han/Peter shoots at Greedo first, as in the classic edition, which makes more sense to a nitpicker anyway. Greedo must be a real retard to shoot first and miss! How can such a lousy shot make it as bounty hunter worthy of being hired by Jabba? (To refresh my memory on Greedo's background, I went to starwars.com; I wouldn't trust Wikipedia or even the Wookiepedia—ugh! But note that starwars.com emphasizes that Greedo shot first and missed.)
The following are from the IMDb, at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0888817/goofs. I will give my running commentary as I go along.
"Continuity: A cloud appears in front of one of Tatooine's twin suns too quickly (possibly a deliberate error since the same thing happens in the actual movie.)" OK, whatever. I've never noticed that and it probably wouldn't bother me if I did.
"Revealing mistakes: When Peter [Han] and Chris [Luke] are getting the couch out of the trash compactor, Brian [Chewbacca] and Lois [Leia] are standing on top surface of the garbage water." Didn't notice that either but that's a worthier nit.
"Continuity: At the Cantina bar, Han Solo is the last character to leave for the Millennium Falcon, but somehow manages to get there before everyone else." Whatever.
"Continuity: When Peter (Han Solo) and Chris (Luke Skywalker) attempt to get the couch out of the trash compactor, somehow Chris gets his end of the couch out but Peter can't get his." I'm willing to give a pass on this one.
"Continuity: During a light saber duel between Obi Wan (Herbert) and Darth Vader (Stewie), Darth Vader uses a red light saber. After killing Obi Wan, Darth Vader is seen with a blue light saber as stormtroopers fire on the Millennium Falcon as it departs. In the next shot that shows Darth Vader, he is again holding a red light saber." That's a good one.
"Continuity: After the light saber duel between Herbert (Obi Wan) and Stewie (Darth Vader), Brian (Chewbacca) and Peter Griffin (Han Solo) run out with the couch. When they are arguing with each other on how to get the couch into the Millennium Falcon, the laser blasts are actually going the wrong way. The Storm Troopers are on the right of them firing to the left, but the the laser blasts are coming from the left of them and going right. You can clearly see there wasn't any Storm Troopers on the left of them as they were running to the ship." Fine, I'll accept this one.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Punchingbaggis personae
Since very early on in Family Guy, Meg Griffin (Mila Kunis) has been a punching bag. But this tendency, which was latent from close to the beginning, became excessively pronounced when the show returned after being canceled.
Now it seems that every single character on the show will become a punching bag. The next one to receive this treatment, of a character beating as relentless as it is predictable, is Brian. The pre-cancelation episode "Brian Does Hollywood" planted the seed for this new attitude to Brian: instead of a straight man foil to Peter's lunacy, now Brian is continuously hounded for his mediocre writing and general pretentiousness.
In "Jerome is the New Black," aired a couple of Sundays ago, we find Brian inexplicably concerned that Quagmire doesn't like him. The episode culminates in an unfunnily long speech from Quagmire listing all of Brian's faults, which of course includes a dig at Brian's pretense of being a great writer. Brian comes home devastated, and Stewie soon comes to regret asking Brian to sleep in his room. Then, in "Dog Gone," as if it wasn't bad enough that Brian's novel Faster Than the Speed of Love supposedly didn't sell a single copy even with the endorsement of Oprah's Book Club, we now find that a book club for retards actually loves the book.
I can only speculate which character will be the next target of the punching treatment. But I predict that it will not be funny or at least entertaining.
Now it seems that every single character on the show will become a punching bag. The next one to receive this treatment, of a character beating as relentless as it is predictable, is Brian. The pre-cancelation episode "Brian Does Hollywood" planted the seed for this new attitude to Brian: instead of a straight man foil to Peter's lunacy, now Brian is continuously hounded for his mediocre writing and general pretentiousness.
In "Jerome is the New Black," aired a couple of Sundays ago, we find Brian inexplicably concerned that Quagmire doesn't like him. The episode culminates in an unfunnily long speech from Quagmire listing all of Brian's faults, which of course includes a dig at Brian's pretense of being a great writer. Brian comes home devastated, and Stewie soon comes to regret asking Brian to sleep in his room. Then, in "Dog Gone," as if it wasn't bad enough that Brian's novel Faster Than the Speed of Love supposedly didn't sell a single copy even with the endorsement of Oprah's Book Club, we now find that a book club for retards actually loves the book.
I can only speculate which character will be the next target of the punching treatment. But I predict that it will not be funny or at least entertaining.
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