Simpsons fans get where I am coming from on the title.

Growing up in an era where the Simpsons was taboo because Bart would say "I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?" among other things, I know that some shows just get a bad rap and are really good. Take the Simpsons, for example. It became somewhat of a devil, heck even George H W Bush didn't like it (which caused him to move into Springfield in an eppy), but The Simpsons prevailed and is now a media darling.

The Family Guy, Entertainment Weekly called it that Awful Show They Keep Putting On TV...

Sadly, they are right. Family Guy is just stupid. I watched a recent episode this past Christmas with my 11 year old cousin and I think we laugh...hmmm twice. Family Guy just beats you over the head with cheap gags, flash backs and the most random crap ever. And none of it effects the show at the end of the day. It's like nothing ever happened in the next episode. It's one big wasteful trip, no point to the humor and no conclusion necessary.

The show consists of a father who is dumb and obnoxious to the extreme. A mother who tolerates this behavior and has little influence over her family. A son and a daughter who have no character development whatsoever(half the time the never even speak) and a talking dog and a talking baby. The dog is smarter than everyone else and the baby is on a constant quest for matricide, which we all know is just hilarious.

Take that and mix it with watered down plots (that I can't even say were stolen from the Simpsons because even the worst Simpsons episode can't compare to the horrendous writing on here but anyone who has seen more than five Simpsons episodes will recognize the Family Guy's blatant tries to rip it off) and really crude and unnecessary humor and you've got Family Guy.

I can laugh at it, sure. It wouldn't be hard to do, but I would prefer if writers would try a little harder to make people laugh then by using lame Adam West jokes and flash backs every five seconds. Maybe the Simpsons has spoiled me and I've come to expect more from animation than idiotic non plots etc. Whatever the case I just can't get into this show.

I also really wouldn't recommend that you let your kids watch this show at all because there's not on redeeming thing about it. I always thought my mother was overprotective for not wanting me to watch the Simpsons as a kid but at least most of those shows had redeeming messages that made up for whatever smut was in them. The Family Guy is just a thirty minute smut fest and the only message is...this crap is so "funny" who cares if it makes sense. Most kids will not be suited for this.

But maybe I'm just being a TV snob...

or maybe, like Homer, I need to insert a blue crayon in my nose so that I can enjoy this as much as everyone else. But somehow I doubt even he would find this show very entertaining.

Recommended: No

Type of Program: Cartoon or Animated
Program Quality: Low-grade humor, relies on cheap tricks to tug at the heartstrings