Family Guy 101: Why is this show relevant?

Family Guy last Sunday (02/15/09) was probably the funniest one to date. I thought the one with Jesus and the whole “Bird is the Word” was the one. My 17 year old son had tears in his eyes and I was laughing so hard I just knew my neighbors were going to come and tell us to be quiet!

If you didn’t see it, here is a clip.



By far the funniest in my estimation. So funny seeing it again made me laugh harder!! The whole Bryan Adams song to the most insane looking video was just too much. I love Family Guy and yes Stewie is my favorite character on there.

And the thing is I don’t know why I love it so much. Maybe it is because Seth Macfarlane grew up loving the same things I did. Some of the things he features on the show makes me shake my head in wonder. I mean he comes up with the obvious (featuring the current upheaval in the world) but also the obscure. One example of the obscure was the Woodsey Owl character from the 70’s/80’s who did all these PSA’s for the forest. You know “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute?”

Not once have I ever thought about those PSA’s as an adult, yet seeing that owl again made me smile and then laugh until tears came out, because when you go on you tube and look at those old commercials they are hilarious! See the commercial here:



My poor son, sometimes the humor goes right over his head and he can’t get it unless he researches it online. But by then it is too late to get the humor. But when he watches it in re-runs then he can appreciate the humor. I honestly think that Family Guy, with all its no holds barred situations, is a good look into the human psyche. Seriously.

Good example. The one episode where Peter was the only one in his community who built a shelter to save his family from the New Millennium? Well remember people’s obsession and fear of the unknown? Were the computers going to stop? How were we going to cope? In Family Guy of course Peter was right and everything that could go wrong did, from planes falling out of the air, machines not working, to people living in a post apocalyptic world. Of course the plot turned, as the plots always do in Family Guy, and Peter’s quest? To find the Twinkie plant as in his mind that would be the only thing to survive in the New Millennium.

Bottom line, the show is BLOODY BRILLIANT! If you like crass humor (which this show has in spades!!), and to see people and/or situations made fun of, then this is the show for you. Honestly I do not know why people don’t like it. Maybe they just don’t get it. Or maybe they are the ones the show targets to be made fun of. Either way people should give it a chance. Who knows, you may like it!