Family Guy: The Simpsons guy
So i
watched the new Family Guy episode, a real talker on the net due to it being a
cross-over show with the Simpsons. Now for the casual viewer who just catch an
episode here or there this might sound like a good match. Both are social
satires that revolves around a family with a strong cast of supporting characters
and racial stereotypes. But the thing of course is that Family guy is a mean
show, it likes to torture it´s characters and often cross the line from funny
to somewhat uncomfortable. Now this is something the fans of the show likes as
it give it some “edge” compared to most others. The problem is that this clash
with the Simpsons much more family friendly style of humor. Sure it can be dark
too form time to time but on general it is a lot less brutal and spiteful.
The episode
itself is about how Peter starts a daily strip in the local paper and it is a
runaway hit until he makes some backward joke about women and their role as a
household appliances. This in my mind is intended as a dig at the critique the
show itself receives from time to time, like that would make it more ok since
they are aware of it. Any way the angry mob of women the comic-strip created
forces the Griffins to leave town. Yes… This was the thing that caused this…
Not the other crap he did over the years. Any way they end up in Springfield,
somewhere USA after having their car stolen at a gas station and it is a bit of
a kick seeing the town through the eyes of a different creator. After meeting
Homer and accompanying him home meet the rest of the family. Again here is a small
comedic moment that take a dig at other cross-over shows where sometimes a core
cast member could not do the shoot or was too expensive and thus is left out
and some oh so convenient excuse is presented. It drew a small laugh from me
but I guess it is easy to miss as I have seen mixed reactions to it online. Any
way the rest of the episode is 2/3 fan service and 1/3 plot including a down
right stupid reason to get both shows supporting cast in. In the end they are
back at status quo as it always is.
To be honest
I did not find it to be all that funny, many of the situations felt forced and
the flow was shot to all hell. Also the show try to brush of the whole fact
that Family guy is the show that has anything to gain from this by making a
joke about how cross-over shows often is a sign of desperation. Again taking an
ironic stance and hoping to pull it off. But the worst thing is that the show
reads much like a checklist, as it often does when you go overboard with
fan-service. Places a,b,c and have to be seen and we need to interact with
character x,y and z. There is no natural interaction.
I also
guess I need to address my take on the 800 pound gorilla… The thing that have
had the most echo over the web.
The rape
joke…
Because
they could very well not stay away from one of those now could they. In short
Bart and Stewie are making prank calls to Moe, Bart doing a classic Lee
Keybottom and Stewie just telling Moe his sister is being raped… .. . Yeah it
is not even funny and I guess the idea is to have some chock value but it is so
abrupt and out of left field that it causes mental whiplash. There are many other
ways of making people stop and go “what the fuck” and I feel that this was not
the best one that could be used. Within the right context a rape joke can work…
But it needs to be carefully crafted and have a proper build-up and closure in
the same way as other tragedy jokes does. After all humour is a coping mechanism.
Here it is just flat and can at best be
compared to a jump scare (jump scares are the clip-art of the horror genre by
the way) as it sure as heck gets your attention but not in a good way.
It is not
in any way the worst Family Guy episode ever made but it will not end up on any
ones top 10 list either in my opinion, and having said that I am sure the
internet will prove me wrong.
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