In the same vein as The Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants, Family Guy is a long-running animated series many would agree lost its mojo a long time ago. Every once and a while, the more modern seasons have offered an episode that clearly had a lot of effort thrown into the animation and writing, i.e. The Simpsons Guy, Road to the North Pole, And Then There Were Fewer. For the most part, however, the show has become reliant on shock gags, gross-out violence, and just plain mean-spirited moments week after week. That being said, anyone who’s been keeping up with Seth MacFarlane’s creation has likely noticed a return to form throughout Season 16.
While the show is still far from perfect and will likely never reach the heights of the pre-cancelled years, Family Guy is having its best season in quite some time. Here are just three reasons why.
3. The Emmy-Worthy Season Premiere
Season 16 opened on a high note with the meta-heavy premiere, Emmy-Winning Episode. It’s interesting to think that Family Guy has never won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, although it was the first animated series to break out into the Outstanding Comedy Series race since The Flintstones. This episode brilliantly satirized the Television Academy and how they tend to award the same shows every year. Even funnier, Family Guy acknowledged that it’s probably never won a major Emmy due to its own lowbrow nature. Not many shows would enlist Julie Bowen to point out the numerous faults on display, but Family Guy isn’t above being the butt of its own joke.
2. The Brilliant Parodies
Family Guy has always put more emphasis on satire over storylines, which is perfectly fine when the film and television send-ups all hit bulls-eyes. After peaking with the Laugh It Up, Fuzzball trilogy, though, the show has gone downhill in the parody department. Season 16 has taken things up a notch, cleverly poking fun at everything from Modern Family, to Breaking Bad, to Rocky IV. A notable standout is the episode Three Directors, which highlights the filmmaking trademarks of Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Michael Bay. On occasion, the writers have even managed to tell an involving story with a flowing narrative that’s not solely reliant on cut-away gags. Follow the Money, for example, makes impeccable use of the entire cast as a dollar bill travels across Quahog.
1. Legit Character Development
Especially in recent years, the Griffin family have merely become vessels to tell jokes, throwing any character development out the window. While there are still a few characters who are too one-note (Peter) and others that are treated like garbage (Meg), we have seen an evolution of the show’s two most interesting characters: Brian and Stewie. A politically incorrect tweet forced Brian to confront the fact that he’s kind of a jerk sometimes. Thus ensued a character arc that spanned multiple episodes, culminating with Brian finding some redemption and arguably growing as a person… or dog.
As for the youngest Griffin, Send in Stewie, Please delved deep into the diabolical, sexually ambiguous baby’s psyche, revealing that he’s been faking a British accent all these years in an effort to hide who he truly is from the rest of the world. The extended episode possibly features MacFarlane’s best performance as Stewie, which is really saying something when acting opposite Sir Ian McKellen as his child psychiatrist. Another episode, Dog Bites Bear, explored the complex nature of Brian and Stewie’s friendship, taking the audience to some incredibly dark places while also delivering a surprising amount of laughs and heart. No matter what the future holds for Family Guy, there will always be something worthwhile whenever these two characters are involved, especially when there’s solid writing to back them up.
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