This show goes into the life of an average family in Rhode Island. The characters include a mother and father, three children including two awkward and socially challenged teenagers and a talking baby, as well as the talking family dog. It makes fun of things we do every day that may not seem stupid, but really they are unnecessary and pointless. This show is filled with hilarious flash backs to past events, and includes lots of sarcasm as well as some dumb comments and actions by the unintelligent father, Peter.
One of my favorite episodes is “Pre-Retarded”, where Peter finds out he’s retarded and goes around doing stupid, but hilarious things. He wins a game of Trivial Pursuit because his wife gave him ridiculously easy questions from the children’s version including “What color are fire trucks?” Peter struggles, but eventually gets it right and wins the game, convincing himself that he’s a genius. When he takes the test, he finds out that not only is he not a genius, he’s actually mentally retarded so he bulldozes the house in celebration. This episode is similar, but better than the rest of the episodes, because the plot is typical, but it is filled with more funny comments and random instances.
Although this show may seem just like a basic comedy, meant to entertain children, it is really targeted at teens and young adults. The comedy makes fun of other stereotypes and gets away with things that may be considered racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic. It portrays these groups of people in the way they are supposed to be seen in society, but shows that the stereotypes aren’t true, by making the stereotypes seem stupid and exaggerated. In another episode when they are trying to get away from a bunch of southerners, the dog, Brian screams “Look, it’s a newly-married, interracial, gay couple burning the American flag”. It shows how ridiculous they look when they all scream, “Oh let’s get’em!”, and this way it makes fun of the stereotypes against southerners, and the group of people described in his remark, because the people would never actually do this.
The reason I like Family Guy is because it is really one of the funniest, and most genius shows on television. The writers of the show are very intelligent, and smart about what they write. Although this show is hilariously funny, that is just one of its good qualities. It also sends an important ideas about how people are supposed to be seen, and tells us that stereotypes aren’t always true. It makes fun of average things and has long awkward pauses to show how funny our daily routines can be. Although this show may be offensive to some, I believe it is all in good humor. I am Jewish and in some episodes they do make fun of Jews reinforcing the stereotypes, that all Jews are rich accountants, lawyers, or doctors. This is just to make a point, and the writers do not really believe the things they show, because they exaggerate the stereotypes to make them look silly.
In a way, this show is a lot like me. On the outside I really enjoy comedies, and basic entertainment that I can laugh about. There are also real issues that are important to me, and other things in my life that I care about besides just humor. This show is very provocative, but I believe it to be very funny as well as important, even if others may not share these same views. This program shows that I am a caring person and I am aware of the realities in life. Like Family Guy, I may be funny and joking on the outside, but we both go deeper on the inside.
