[Matrixbeast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sentai

Family Guy ran into the same problem as Simpsons, but they hit the problem seven seasons before Simpsons. It became to outlandish. To off-the-wall and far to politcal. The first couple seasons are great. But then they got renewed and meh. The Simpsons is the same way. The shows were somewhat grounded in reality. Yes, some were a little out there. But nothing like they have now.

I don't even care about it being too "Outlandish." It's a cartoon sitcom, thus they're not bound to the same "Rules" as other sitcoms. Characters can get hurt, situations can be more extreme, etc.
While Family Guy did need to tone down the gags (The mile a minute rapid fire gags rarely got laughs and the longer ones ran the risk of driving the joke into the ground before the gag finished. Oh, and the Conway Twitty bullshit was never funny. It physically pains me to see that, because it just makes me picture MacFarlane laughing in a chair, saying "Fox is paying me to literally do nothing for the next 5 minutes.")

No, where Family Guy lost me is in Brian. Brian changed from "The straight man who acted as Peter's foil/Voice of reason (Like Lisa)" to "Seth MacFarlane's personal soap box that lets him insert his views on politics, religion, and the world (Like Lisa)."
Where Simpsons's writers soon realized that Lisa was grating, MacFarlane never learned. He still makes Brian speak about his liberal agenda, about how Seth feels about current politics, about whatever issue was hot button 6 months ago.

I've been told that Brian partakes in more gags nowadays like the older episodes, but that doesn't change a thing. So Brian will do something silly. Doesn't help that 10 seconds later he'll be back standing atop his soapbox spouting and preaching.

I've been told to not let one character ruin my experience or fun with a show, but the issue is that, as the years went on, the rest of the characters have been flanderized as well. Peter went from "Lovable idiot" into "Retaded sociopath", Lois from "Unstable mother" to "Apathetic, sociopathic enabler" and etc etc. You can see the loss of FG's sense of self when, during an early season, Peter could say "I love you, Meg" with absolute sincerity, while a later season, Lois can't even utter it during Meg's birthday.
At the end of the day, no matter how wrong things could happen during the Simpsons, it still feels like this is a family. For Family Guy, it feels like you have to ask "Why are any of these characters putting up with everyone else?"

IN SHORT:
Brian is a bad character and ruins the show on every level.
Seth doesn't know the difference between being "Dark" and being "Mean-spirited."