What's Seth McFarlene's problem?

[HappyGilmore]

But, while I liked Family Guy initially, I prefer South Park to the umpteenth degree.  It's a vastly well written show, consistently entertaining, sometimes offensive but damn near always has a point and isn't necessarily cruel for the HELL of it.  Check out their "Cartoon Wars" episodes about Family Guy/Simpsons/King of The Hill.

I think that double episode nailed it completely. The South Park guys are completely fearless. The episodes they make have been some of the most jaw-droppingly offensive things I have ever seen, but the humor there has always been used to prove a surprisingly moralistic point.

I don't always agree with them, but they understand how to use humor to talk about controversial topics. I can't stress enough how "making it funny" changes the situation.

I have a longer post in me about the whole "depiction of Muhammad" they got up to in the same episode, but that's a different story.

Did you see the later episodes just like, last season where Comedy Central went just a little bit further in their censorship?  Wow.  I am an unabashed South Park fan, and politically side more with the Libertarian Party than either Democrats or Republicans.  So maybe for me, I find their political shows a little more entertaining than most.  And I like that they only do the show in one week.  They can touch on current topics as they happen.  They had a whole episode about Terry Schiavo as it was happening.  Not the BEST topic for certain people, but it made sense at the time.

I'm a KING OF THE HILL guy myself.  Thing is, being from East Texas,
I KNOW some of those characters.  Some days I AM one of them!

I'm in the same boat as you. KOTH, believe it or not was funny, but realistic as well and taught you about life. The show could have been a friggin sitcom 

King of the Hill was a vastly underrated show.  I loved it, and feel it was written really, really well.  The last few seasons irritated me, but it wasn't their fault.  They were in a crappy timeslot and I would never get to see it cause it would be pre-empted for NASCAR or NFL, and then they would go straight to The Simpsons.  Shame, really.

[66Crush]

I liked "King of The Hill" too. I totally know real-life versions of those characters. Fox started giving it the "Married with Children" treatment. As soon as the show was into it's later seasons they stuck it in the preempted by football slot. Not fair because the writting was still consistant. KOTH is far superior to "Family Guy" in the writting, where "Family Guy" is better at the jokes.

[HappyGilmore]

It did get an unfair treatment from Fox.  I am glad though, that Mike Judge is bringing back Beavis and Butt-Head.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

I agree 100%. Cancer is a horrible way to die....a very slow and painful death. My wife died of cancer 2 years ago.

It runs on my mother's side of the family.

Starting in 2001, my maternal grandmother passed away from cancer, and it was the first funeral I'd ever attended.  2002: my same grammy's brother (my Uncle Joe) also passes away from cancer.  I won't go thru the entire list, but the last one to pass on in our family was my Aunt Dottie, (my same grandmother's sister) in 2007, making her the 8th one in that time period to pass away from cancer.

One of the casualties in that time frame was my cousin Nancy (breast cancer) whom, ironically enough, lost her 3 year old daughter Melinda to Leukemia back in 1987.

My grandmother's passing is tomorrow, February 28th as a matter of fact.

I'll be a bit low on the emotional end for a few days, but let me extend my condolences to you, RC, and hope that you know you're not alone in your grief. 

[wickednick]

I've never really understood Family Guy popularity, it does have its moments, but it often just uses nonsensical jokes or extremely annoying humor to fill up the plot line. If you look at a Family Guy episode they really only spend about 10 maybe 15min on the actual story and the rest on stupid jokes.
Family Guy tries to come off as edgy with its offensive jokes, but really shows its immaturity and lack of humor more than anything. Its rips on cancer is a bad attempt at this and the writers should really think a little more about what they are joking about.

[bob]

You'd think Seth McFarlene would know better then to "go there" so to speak with tasteless "jokes" since he was almost a board one of the planes on 9/11 and that would've have some affect on him. I guess not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_McFarlene#Personal_life

[Flick James]

You'd think Seth McFarlene would know better then to "go there" so to speak with tasteless "jokes" since he was almost a board one of the planes on 9/11 and that would've have some affect on him. I guess not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_McFarlene#Personal_life

Seth MacFarlane having had a mother who died from cancer, and having narrowly missed a flight that was part of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 make him niether more nor less qualified to joke about either. Perhaps the show serves some cathartic purpose for him personally. Whatever is the case, I stand by what I've said already. Anybody can joke about ANYTHING, and ANYONE can choose not to support it, or to speak out against it as is happening to some extent here. I'm fine with all of the above. It's only when people start talking about restricting freedom that I start to have an issue, and so far I haven't really seen that happen in this thread. So far, so good.

[bladerunnerblues]

I think "Family Guy" is funny and I get that they push the envelope. But how many more damn cancer jokes are they gonna make? Has Seth lost anyone to cancer, if he did he wouldn't think it was so funny. I'm not stupid, and uneducated for thinking this. The show is very smart and funny and like it 90% of the time. But somebody should punch him in the mouth for the cancer jokes.

Somebody should punch him in the mouth just because they can.

[JayJayM12]

You'd think Seth McFarlene would know better then to "go there" so to speak with tasteless "jokes" since he was almost a board one of the planes on 9/11 and that would've have some affect on him. I guess not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_McFarlene#Personal_life

Seth MacFarlane having had a mother who died from cancer, and having narrowly missed a flight that was part of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 make him niether more nor less qualified to joke about either. Perhaps the show serves some cathartic purpose for him personally. Whatever is the case, I stand by what I've said already. Anybody can joke about ANYTHING, and ANYONE can choose not to support it, or to speak out against it as is happening to some extent here. I'm fine with all of the above. It's only when people start talking about restricting freedom that I start to have an issue, and so far I haven't really seen that happen in this thread. So far, so good.

Couldn't agree more!  (well, if you had thrown in that Kate Winslet and Mila Kunis are hot, then I would agree even more, but you know...)

[HappyGilmore]

You'd think Seth McFarlene would know better then to "go there" so to speak with tasteless "jokes" since he was almost a board one of the planes on 9/11 and that would've have some affect on him. I guess not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_McFarlene#Personal_life

Seth MacFarlane having had a mother who died from cancer, and having narrowly missed a flight that was part of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 make him niether more nor less qualified to joke about either. Perhaps the show serves some cathartic purpose for him personally. Whatever is the case, I stand by what I've said already. Anybody can joke about ANYTHING, and ANYONE can choose not to support it, or to speak out against it as is happening to some extent here. I'm fine with all of the above. It's only when people start talking about restricting freedom that I start to have an issue, and so far I haven't really seen that happen in this thread. So far, so good.

I completely agree.  I mean, I'm not a big fan of the show.  Not cause it offends me, I just don't like it as much.  But he's got every right to write any joke he wants.

[JaseSF]

Seth McFarlane = Butt Munch Giggity Giggity Giggity, Hee hee hee. 

[66Crush]

I was only speaking figuratively about Seth needing a punch in the mouth. I was in a bad mood when I heard what seemed like the ten thousand five hundredth joke about cancer on a Family Guy rerun.

[Killer Bees]

I'm glad that this post is raising a dialogue here, because in today's society, so many people are struggling with what is insensitive, and how far do we go? Growing up in the 80's it's almost laughable now at what was controversial back then. Some religious radicals thought things I loved like "Married with Children" and Heavy Metal music were gonna bring about the fall of civilization. So I always felt like nothing could offend me, and now I find myself disturbed by a joke on a cartoon. But I do feel that people are less sensitive to violence and disease and more PC about things like race and religion. As far as sex, it's hasn't been really taboo for along time. I for one don't find it to be nearly as shocking as it used to be, but I'm a perv anyway lol.

The fall of civilisation will be brought about by reality tv and Paris Hilton.  And not necessarily in that order.   

[Killer Bees]

I agree 100%. Cancer is a horrible way to die....a very slow and painful death. My wife died of cancer 2 years ago.

It runs on my mother's side of the family.

Starting in 2001, my maternal grandmother passed away from cancer, and it was the first funeral I'd ever attended.  2002: my same grammy's brother (my Uncle Joe) also passes away from cancer.  I won't go thru the entire list, but the last one to pass on in our family was my Aunt Dottie, (my same grandmother's sister) in 2007, making her the 8th one in that time period to pass away from cancer.

One of the casualties in that time frame was my cousin Nancy (breast cancer) whom, ironically enough, lost her 3 year old daughter Melinda to Leukemia back in 1987.

My grandmother's passing is tomorrow, February 28th as a matter of fact.

I'll be a bit low on the emotional end for a few days, but let me extend my condolences to you, RC, and hope that you know you're not alone in your grief. 

I'm sorry for your family losses, Umaril.  Much love and hugs from me 

[RCMerchant]

I agree 100%. Cancer is a horrible way to die....a very slow and painful death. My wife died of cancer 2 years ago.

It runs on my mother's side of the family.

Starting in 2001, my maternal grandmother passed away from cancer, and it was the first funeral I'd ever attended.  2002: my same grammy's brother (my Uncle Joe) also passes away from cancer.  I won't go thru the entire list, but the last one to pass on in our family was my Aunt Dottie, (my same grandmother's sister) in 2007, making her the 8th one in that time period to pass away from cancer.

One of the casualties in that time frame was my cousin Nancy (breast cancer) whom, ironically enough, lost her 3 year old daughter Melinda to Leukemia back in 1987.

My grandmother's passing is tomorrow, February 28th as a matter of fact.

I'll be a bit low on the emotional end for a few days, but let me extend my condolences to you, RC, and hope that you know you're not alone in your grief. 

They say it gets better with time...I don't believe it. I think we just deal with it better.

As far as FAMILY GUY is concerned-I dont think they show should be censored...they have the right to say what they want. I just dont watch it anymore.
(I DID like the episode where Stewie invents a device that enables him and Brian to travel to parallel univerese's...that was quite well done,art wise...)