The Simpsons vs. Family Guy

[AmericanErrorist]

Poll question: The Simpsons vs. Family Guy

Is The Simpsons correct in claiming that Family Guy steals from it? Or is The Simpsons jelaous because Family Guy is much funnier?

[DS1]

1. The poll options do a very poor job of explaining what people are

voting on.

The question is "Is one ripping off the other" and the options seem to be which is better..

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. Is DS! cranky? Or is DS1 just being typical?

:P

[DS1]

7. DS1 is pointing out voting irregularities

or maybe you'd like a butterfly ballot, because that's how I'm seeing this poll

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. I bow to your superiority. I saw a poll and picked the Simpsons...

But then, I can't figure out what to wear today and it's already noon, so this fit me perfectly.

[Deep13]

2. Simpsons hasn't been funny in years.

They are too mainstream, not radical like when they first came out.

If Family Guy rips them off, then they are both ripping off every sit com that has ever been made. They all have a big dumb guy, an attractive wife and children.

[Mike Daniels]

11. Three things that have hurt the Simpsons IMHO....

1. The redesign of Flanders and Homer into boorish jackasses. I'm not expecting consistency from a cartoon, but the transformation on these two has been ridiculous.

2. The drifting away from skewering both sides of the political spectrum. One sided attacks would be fine if it was remotely funny or even subtle but the recent writers aren't cutting it.

3. A reliance on having non-musician guest stars appear as themselves within the community of Springfield. I thought I was watching Will and Grace with the number of guest stars that appeared during one season.

[Initech]

3. Old Simpsons > Family Guy >>>>>>>>>>> New Simpsons

The Simpsons stopped being funny around the 10th season, yet, I still think even it's better than a lot of the shit on TV.

[azmouse]

19. The Simpsons stopped being funny after the 5th season.

I just haven't been able to watch it after that season. The new writers just aren't funny.

[Mike Daniels]

5. It's obvious that the Griffith's are a rip-off of the Simpsons

One idiot dad, a somewhat sensible but still scatter-brained mom, an academically slow and conventionally unambitious son, and an intelligent but social misfit daughter.

Granted, Family Guy has had a better laugh ratio than The Simpsons in recent years. However, qualitywise it's comedy lies more in toilet humor and cheap slapstick vs. the Simpsons' intelligent dialog and sight gags.

[mdmc]

6. I like them both

love the simpies...
remember when Rove was on the family guy? :kick:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. A few problems with your assessment.

1) Chris is a total retard and is utterly useless. Bart is highly intelligent - he just doesn't apply himself to academics at all.

2) Meg is not that intelligent and is apolitical. Lisa is very intelligent and almost entirely political.

3) Maggie and Stewie don't compare at all.

4) None of the Simpson's pets compare to Brian in any way.

There alone I think there are enough differences to say it's not a rip off, but you could go on and on and on. Like someone above said - both the Simpsons AND Family Guy are parodies of every other family sitcom ever made, but it's not even like the Simpsons are the first show to do that.

[no name no slogan]

9. I've never found Family Guy to be funny

It tries too hard to be edgy and comes off as one really unfunny inside joke. It doesn't flow. It's just a bunch of wiseass remarks with a couple pop-culture references for the hipsters, so they can feel all superior to non-fans.

The Simpsons lately have not been as good as they were, true, but what can you expect after 15+ years on the air?

[azmouse]

20. The talking baby creeps me out.

I just can't watch Family Guy.:scared:

[Bassic]

10. The Simpsons.

The other one is a rip-off. A very good quality rip-off, but a rip-off still.

[Wetzelbill]

13. Family Guy is way funnier now... but still has a long way to go

to be in The Simpson's league. The Simpsons and Seinfeld are the best overall comedies ever. No doubt. In terms of longevity, breaking ground and being funny year in and year out, it's tough to top those two. But, just by nature, The Simpsons is not what it once was. It can't be. Not after this long on air. At some point the material just naturally starts to dry up, no matter how brilliant the writers are.

Family Guy definitely borrow stuff from it. It's like great film, though, everybody borrows from everybody. You almost have to borrow from The Simpsons if you're going to do something in that genre. They're the best, so you try to emulate the best.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

14. I'm reminded of the South Park episode "The Simpsons Already Did It"

"According to the commentaries that accompany the South Park Season 6 DVD, Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker wrote this episode to express their real life frustration of often pitching new South Park episode ideas, only to discover that the idea had already been done on the Simpsons. One such example that was highlighted in this episode was Season 4's "The Wacky Molestation Adventure", where an early idea was to have Cartman block out the sun over South Park. Stone and Parker dropped the idea after discovering that Mr. Burns had the same plan in the Simpsons episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpsons_Already_Did_It

[eyepaddle]

15. The Simpsons, without question--and I love Family Guy

but without The Simpsons pretty much single-handedly resurrecting prme-time animation, it's pretty douubtful that Fox (or any network) would've taken chances on adult oriented animated series. This holds true for shows which are actually clearly different from The SImpsons, like King of the Hill.

Personally, I've always thought King of the Hill blew.

I think Family Guy is hysterical, but it's always a bit easier to watch and see what works and then just do more of it.

[Deep13]

16. Don't care who gets credit for what innovation. ...

...All I know is I shower and shave during the Simpsons so I can watch FG. It is funny because it is so twisted and bizzarre, with no forced pro-family message. I also think that Peter is a far more developed character complete with a spiritual ideology based on 1970s TV shows.

Peter's eulogy of Mr. Weed. "We of the Christian faith believe that Jesus isn't really dead, but that he must make the world think he is dead until he can control the raging forces that dwell within him." (Hums Hulk music while covering half of Jesus picture with half of Hulk picture.)

Peter and guys walk into their favorite bar and see something different: men in tweed suits, a Union Jack on the wall, cricket on television and a portrait of QE II. "Holy crap!" says Peter, "It's a gay bar!"

[Radical Activist]

17. Anyone else remember the South Park episode about how

the Simpsons has done EVERYTHING. Every time one of the characters has an idea he finds out the Simpsons have already done it.

[Mojambo]

18. I personally prefer Family Guy

The Simpsons is great, but I haven't watched it regularly in a few years.