f13.net

Anyone catch this last night?  It struck me as an attempt to take the elements that made Family Guy funny and recombine them to form a new franchise.  It failed miserably, in my opinion - it wasn't an altogether bad show, but it was no Family Guy.

I hope I hope I hope that Fox's ultimate plan isn't to can Family Guy again and try to pass this thing off as its successor.

I was, likewise, underwhelmed.  While watching it I sort of had to question why this needed an entirely new series, when it's basically a slightly skewed Family Guy without the... uh... wit.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible.  However, I'd just bought Season 6 of Buffy on DVD and 15 minutes into the show I found myself wanting to go back to Buffy.  So I gave up on a premier of a new series so I could watch something I can watch whenever I want.  That doesn't bode well.

But, then again, it could just be 1st season shakes.  A lot of shows don't find their rhythm immediately.

Could be.  On the other hand, the first episode of Family Guy almost killed me, it was so funny.  When it comes down to it, the goldfish is like a less-funny Stewie, the alien is like a less-funny Brian, and the dad is some less-funny combination of Peter and Joe.  Unless they take the show in a radically new direction, I don't see much hope for it.

I watched the first episode of Futurama the other day -- total crap. As is the first 3 seasons of the Simpsons.

So you never know, sometimes it takes a while for actors and writers to find their element.

Yeah, pretty much why I questioned the need for a new series.  The son (Steve was it?) is basically the obnoxious nerd who's always hitting on Meg.  The Mom is Joe's wife with a sketchier past.

But yeah.  Goldfish=Stewie.  Alien=Brian with weaker delivery (plus the character, by its very basis, lacks the "seen it all" attitude that's sort of required for the type of humor he's trying to do... Brian's funny because he's so confident, sophisticated... the alien is trying to do the same humor, but without the confidence and a lot of the knowledge... one wonders why they would choose the one premise for a character of this type that just plain doesn't work).

Overall, feh.  I'll watch it on Adult Swim, but only because Adult Swim is part of my regular TV schedule.  I won't be adjusting to watch Fox on Sundays.

By season three the Simpsons were on a roll. Flaming Moes, Krusty finding his father, Homer's Eeny Meeny Miney Mo that saves the plant, those episodes had moments of comedic gold.

And yet, look where Simpson's is now.  Last night's episode was for the most part garbage.  Some of the endzone dance stuff was funny, but the rest was tripe.

I went into watching American Dad expecting Family Guy.  What I got, I wasn't sure I liked.  I didn't like a single character.  Not one.  Only character on Family Guy that I wanted to shiv was Meg, but I want all of these characters sans the Mom (she really didn't do anything bad) to roast in a burning pit for all eternity. 

I'll probably TIVO it. If it lives beyond the 8 episodes Fox is willing to give it before they give up on it, it may find it's own niche. 

The Simpsons has sucked for a long time now.  There was a several year stretch where it was just pure gold, but those days are long past.  I blame the writers.  The Simpsons Go To Japan.  The Simpsons Go On Safari.  The Simpsons Meet N'Sync.  Blah. Blah. Blah.

I found myself writing on the sociological implications of the Simpsons recently, and I found it extremely difficult to pull nearly the amount of material from newer episodes that I could from old.  It was only when I took the other point of view, criticizing the writing for its shortcomings (not just comedically, but the overall message of the episode was poorly thought out), that I could find any material at all.

Yes, they do need to bow out now, they've achieved their goal of the longest running sitcom ever. And yes the episodes of "The Simpson's print money" are getting old.

This is true, although both of those shows were carving out new niches for themselves, which takes time.  I've heard comparisons made between Simpsons->Futurama and Family Guy->American Dad, but I don't think they're apt, because Futurama set out to be a very different type of show from the Simpsons right from day one, whereas American Dad isn't doing anything new at all.  It might end up finding its own voice, but as far as I can tell, that's not their goal at all.

Someone knowledgeable in law might be able to speculate better than I: is there any reason that it would be cheaper for Fox to can Family Guy and start over with a new franchise than it would be to continue Family Guy?  If so, that would completely explain this move.

Family Guy is one of the keystones in their new Summer lineup. Yes, TV is trying to win back the summer.

American Dad will be a regular Fall/Spring show.

That was exactly my impression of it. It had some funny bits, but nothing like the howls of laughter I got from the episode of Family Guy that had the SuperFriends sparkly transition or the Jewish episode. It may be just the first show jitters.

The first 3 seasons of the Simpsons were great.

American Dad was absolutely terrible, IMO. Of course, I (sort of) sat through that episode of The Simpsons... and it can only be described as painful to any real Simpsons fan.

People seem to be getting into why The Simpsons sucks, when it started to suck, when it started to be a good show, etc. I don't see much to discuss. At one point their writers churned out, it became a cash cow for Fox, and the animation changed significantly. It sucked. Then they retooled it, and it sucked much much worse. Huzzah - buy a DVD, what do you expect after 16 years.

I think it started becoming good when Homer became the focus of the show, not Bart. About the same time that Conan O'brien started writing. Maybe that was around the 3rd season, not fourth.

It was a pale imitation of Family Guy.  You get the impression the talking fish was just thrown in because, "Hey, Family Guy had a talking dog and a talking baby; we've only got a talking alien.  We need another talking thing, dammit, or it just won't work!"

Bruce

I just finished watching American Dad. I enjoyed it. It's pretty much just more family guy with less pop culture flashbacks and more in-line references.

Having the alien (which looks like a bigger, grayer Kif) channel Paul Lynde is mildly amusing. But overall: Meh.

I'm reserving judgement until I see a couple more episodes.

Pilots suffer from the fact that all the characters have to find some roundabout way of explaining their general origin, and bulletpoint all their personality quirks. Gets in the way of the funny.

Conan was indeed a very good thing for The Simpsons.

PS: Change the fucking forums back.

Unless the east german goldfish gets more airtime, I don't see this show capturing my interest.

People said the same thing about Stewie and Family Guy.

Also, people said the same thing about Happily Ever After and Nikki Cox's bewbies.

They were right.

I'm playing with the new stuff.