# How hath Family Guy ripped off The Simpsons, help me count the ways **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543 "2006-11-15T16:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/81 "2006-11-17T16:44:20Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] Finally, the Muppets example is just stupid. Kermit played a newscaster in a skit on a skit show. Did you include this lame ass example just so I would have to feel silly responding to it? [/QUOTE] Actually, The Muppet Show did have a recurring news segment, Muppet News Flash, Kermit was just a reporter. In fact thinking back on it, this is probably one of his better examples. Something almost always happened (in some painful way) to the anchor that involved the back story. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/82 "2006-11-17T17:52:02Z")
[QUOTE=CandidGamera] 'OMG! Both these shows have a newscaster character! Somebody call the Supreme Court!" [/QUOTE] Why would you do that? I mean, lawsuits aren’t filed in the Supreme Court anyway. Oh, wait. That was a joke. You and your jokes. Lemme try, lemme try? /starting over/ Okay, **CandidGamera** , what do you want me to call them? ::rimshot:: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/83 "2006-11-17T18:14:04Z")
_Family Guy_ is actually a blatant rip-off of _Star Trek: The Next Generation_. Both shows have a guy who’s the lead character. And he’s in charge of a ship. Both lead men have a woman who gives him advice which he doesn’t always agree with. Both shows have a male character who likes sex. Both shows have a handicapped character. Both shows have a black character with a mustache. Both shows have a character with a strangely shaped head. Both shows have a teenage male character. Both shows have a character who isn’t human. Both shows have had a secondary character die. Both shows have shown characters traveling to places. Both shows have shown characters at work. Both shows have shown characters talking. The coincidences start to add up. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/84 "2006-11-17T18:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=ITR champion] I think what **Rucksinator** is saying is that is that everytime a housewife disapprovies of her husband going into a casino, but then ends up becoming a gambling addict, it’s a ripoff of The Simpsons. That, after all, is what **Rucksinator** said. [/QUOTE] It’s been a while since I saw it, but the plot line involving specifically the wife seemed to me to be nearly identical, and I saw the FG episode not long after the Simpson’s episode, so it was kinda fresh on my mind (ie. it wasn’t like I thought “Hey, the Simpsons once had a casino plot”, it was more like “Holy crap, what a ripoff.”) I don’t doubt that there were differences, but the similarities were somewhat blatant. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/85 "2006-11-17T21:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] Okay, **CandidGamera** , what do you want me to call them? ::rimshot:: [/QUOTE] Whatever they want! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/86 "2006-11-18T07:17:11Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] And I’ll give you South Park, Arrested Development, and M_A_S_H_. The American Dad example doesn’t even come close, and even if it did it’s a cartoon by the same guy we’re accusing of ripping of the gimick – do you see just how weak that is??? Finally, the Muppets example is just stupid. Kermit played a newscaster in a skit on a skit show. Did you include this lame ass example just so I would have to feel silly responding to it? [/QUOTE] Perhaps you missed my post earlier in which I gave several other examples of TV sitcoms which used the “News as Exposition” thing before The Simpsons. Either that or you’re deliberately ignoring my post because it doesn’t agree with what you’ve already decided upon… ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/87 "2006-11-18T18:10:37Z")
Cartoon characters are not extras. They have to be drawn, designed, and modeled, and a “standard look” has to be established as a reference for each animator. It’s a certain amount of work to create _any_ character you see on screen. Given that they’re already paying the animators and the voice-over artists on a per-show basis, it’s no more or less work to use a recurring newscaster than it is to do a voice-over radio news broadcast while they animate the main character listening to the radio. Once the character design is done, it’s easier to have that newscaster character recur than to create a new newscaster each time. A live (or filmed) TV sitcom simply casts an actor to play a newscaster for a single show, then dumps him. They don’t want to pay him to be a recurring cast member (because that would drive up the cost of that actor). As a consequence of both shows being animated, they both have a large cast of characters, most of whom are specialized, many of whom persist. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Family Guy ripped off the Simpsons, except that Family Guy is using the same _medium_ as the Simpsons, which carries with it the advantage of persistent, recurring characters. Hell… Scooby-Doo had radio news broadcasts that operated as a plot device, at least fifteen years earlier. The only difference is, they didn’t name the newscaster. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/88 "2006-11-21T07:03:57Z")
> [@](#): > > A better comparison of Kent Brockman and Tom Tucker might be “self-important, frequently incorrect newscasters whose personal flaws are frequently displayed on air.” There may be tons of similar newscasters in sitcom history, but as a younger TV viewer I couldn’t name one off the top of my head. Um, Ted Baxter anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/89 "2006-11-21T07:12:09Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] Um, Ted Baxter anyone? [/QUOTE] Well, there you go - although it’s from a show that aired before I was born. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/90 "2006-11-21T16:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] Perhaps you missed my post earlier in which I gave several other examples of TV sitcoms which used the “News as Exposition” thing before The Simpsons. Either that or you’re deliberately ignoring my post because it doesn’t agree with what you’ve already decided upon… [/QUOTE] Or, perhaps I wasn’t responding to you in the text you quoted. Dammit, man. Keep up! Furthermore, I addressed two of your examples (MwC and Dinosaurs) in another post. I’ve not seen the Goodies, was the newscaster a recurring named character? Same question for Parker Lewis and ALF (each of which I just can’t remember a newscaster in, but I know I watched). If so, “sure, two more examples”; if not, once again, dammit man, keep up. As for me having already decided, please see post nos. 46, 48, 69 and 77; and, one and for all, dammit man, KEEP UP! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543/91 "2006-11-22T08:47:24Z")
[QUOTE=whole bean] I’ve not seen the Goodies, was the newscaster a recurring named character? [/QUOTE] _The Goodies_ used current BBC News Announcers, parodying themselves- so the chap who read the 9 O’Clock news on the BBC 1 in real life would be the chap parodying himself reading the 9 O’clock news on _The Goodies_ in the TV show, if that makes sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hath-family-guy-ripped-off-the-simpsons-help-me-count-the-ways/380543.md?page=4)