Cartoon Wars

Not sure if anyone else has seen the last couple South Park episodes, where they take on the issue of showing Muhammed (the Islamic prophet, not the boxer) and also rip on Family Guy.

The episodes were pretty good actually. Of all the South Park episodes that try to have some political theme or message, this might be one of the most meaningful and important. At least in my opinion. I won't talk about the political stuff much here, you'll have to watch the episodes yourself and see what you think.

What I did want to talk about was the stuff they said about Family Guy. I know a lot of people love that show, which is cool, but I've tried to watch more than a couple episodes of it, and I just can't really get into it. I think I've mentioned this before on this blog. There are some funny parts, but overall I just can't say I'm a fan of the show.

At one point, I thought I was the only one who didn't "get" Family Guy, especially for someone who likes Simpsons, South Park, and just stupid humor in general. But based on some of the stuff that was said in the South Park episodes, I guess I'm not the only one.

(By the way, if any of you haven't seen the last 2 South Park episodes I'm talking about, and are the sensitive type to "spoilers", maybe you should skip the rest and come back after you've seen it. I really don't think I'm going to "ruin" anything by what I say, but just in case, that's your warning.)

Basically, their criticism of Family Guy is that their episodes have no real plot, and that the jokes are pretty much just random scenarios that pop up with no rhyme or reason. I never realized it before, but after they pointed it out, I do think that is exactly why I don't appreciate the show.

I don't know if every episode of Family Guy is like that, but they made up some mock clips of it in the South Park episode, and those clips were surprisingly dead on with the episodes I've seen of Family Guy. The family's just sitting in the living room, and out of the blue, the dad says something like "hey, remember the time I was ...", and then they go into a flashback sequence where they show that story happening.

Meanwhile none of it has anything to do with anything, it's like the writers just wanted to insert a scene that they thought would make people laugh. You get the feeling that when the writers try to construct an episode, a list of jokes or funny situations or pop culture references are written first, and then they figure out how to incorporate as many of them in half an hour as they can.

To me, it would be like Eminem writing a rap, by first coming up pairs of words that rhyme. Then trying to make sentences that end in those words, and finally to make the song, just put those sentences one after another. It just results in something that makes no sense and sounds awkwardly put together. Not that I have much experience in writing rap songs, but I would think that you should start by deciding what subject to rap about first, and then come up with the best rhymes from there.

I know, I'm expecting too much from a cartoon sitcom, it's not like writing poetry, or directing an independent film about gay cowboys eating pudding. I guess I just can't help but compare it to Simpsons or South Park, two of my favorite shows of all time. In its prime seasons, the writing on Simpsons was as polished and smoothly done as it gets. South Park came along, and it was a lot rougher around the edges and not as cleverly written, but still funny and smart in its own way.

As for Family Guy, I can see how fans think it's hilarious, and even how the random style is part of the show's charm. But personally, I have a feeling I may never really "get" it. I mean, I happened to watch some of Scary Movie 2 on TV the other day, and I seriously think even that had more plot continuity, than a typical Family Guy episode.

I don't remember the exact quotes, but in the South Park episodes, there was a part where Kyle said something to Cartman like: "How can you not like Family Guy? Its humor is right up your alley!". Which set Cartman off: "Don't you ever compare me to Family Guy, Kyle! EVER! I will kill you where you stand!"

Now, I may not get as pissed off as Cartman when people ask me how I can like Simpsons and South Park, but not Family Guy - but I understand.