Oh That Seth MacFarlane.

Oh man, the Cleveland Show is starting tonight...
Another brilliant show created by Seth MacFarlane, how DOES he do it.

Oh I know... he doesn't.

I don't get it. MacFarlane makes Family Guy, Politically Charged Family Guy, and now Black Family Guy and people seem to think that he is the most brilliant animated show creator EVER.
Seriously?
According to some Family Guy is the apex of comedic genius... (in animated television)
Seriously?

UGH!

I like the shows, they are amusing... but people give them so much credit for being something they're not.
They're not clever... they fill the show with pop culture references, which people love, and random physical gags, which are less funny in cartoons, in place of actually coming up with any witty jokes or story lines.

Robot Chicken does something similar... but they don't try to trick you into watching a half hour show with a make-believe plot, they make it 11 minutes and make it completely obvious there is no plot or any cohesion to their episodes at all, also they fill it with many/much more clever, witty jokes... it's all around better. (Usually)

But I'm sick of people mentioning Family Guy moments as being amazingly hilarious.
Peter can only fight the chicken so many times before it gets old. (It has)
And they can only make so many shitty self-references and repeated jokes (greased up deaf guy wasn't funny the first time... why have I seen him again?)
Also, talking animals aren't funny anymore... Brian the Dog at first seemed like a clever character. An amusing spin on Snoopy... very amusing. But then they had the fish on American Dad (who like Brian has a crush on the wife of the family... real unique) and now they have a talking bear on the Cleveland show. Oh the wit.

And Family Guy is in syndication so much!
It's on 5 different channels, and on for probably 5-6 hours a day.
That's nuts!
We're conditioning people to have shitty senses of humor, and almost no attention span. (Not that we're not doing that in dozens of other respects in our culture today)
We make them think that making arbitrary pop culture references, is always funny.
When in fact... it's not!

Think about it like this.
I've watched episodes of Family Guy at the bar, with no sound, because... I'm at a crowded bar.
And it was still fairly amusing...
you know why?
Because you don't need to listen, you don't need to have any idea what's going on... because NOTHING IS GOING ON.
I'll just randomly see Gary Coleman and laugh...
Or see Peter get hit in the nuts...
That's not funny, clever, or witty TV at all.

And if you want to argue with me and say, "Well you laughed when it was on mute... that must mean it's good."
You know what else is good on mute... "America's Funniest Home Videos." (it's actually funnier on mute... removes unnecessary host commentary.)
And you know how much writing and thought goes into that show's clips... NONE.
It's the comedic equivalent of going on youtube and searching "kicked in the nuts," or "punched in the face."
Sure you'll laugh, but that doesn't mean it's witty or clever in any way.

But then again, I realize my thought process would technically make Seth MacFarlane a genius for knowing how to cash in on America's stupidity.
But he's not fucking good at coming up with funny TV shows.
Only his voice is funny... if that is his real voice.

And now I can only top this off with the writers of Family Guy.