I like Family Guy; I think it’s funny. But it is so mean spirited that I can only take it in small doses. My boyfriend and I have the most recent series on dvd from Netflix, and tonight we watched a few episodes, but had to stop and watch an Attenborough Life of Mammals documentary to cleanse our heads.
And put me in the watching Futurama over and over camp. And I’ll jump on the Venture Brothers band wagon, too.
I like both of them. You might want to read the first sentence of what I wrote.
Oh now, duckling. Be nice.
Futurama has characters I like as people (and stinking lobsters). I enjoy watching even a bad Futurama, because I just like hanging with that bunch, even if they’re just watching TV in their underwear and scratching themselves.
Back in the early days of television, comedies had that effect. You’d laugh just hear Jack Benny say, “Oh, Rochester!”, even though you’ve heard it a million times. Johnny Carson too. Even when he was bad, he was still Johnny Carson, and you liked the guy so much you just wanted to have him on in the room with you.
Futurama has that quality. Shows like Firefly have that quality. That’s what makes them great. Caddyshack isn’t considered one of the great comedies because the plot was great, the jokes elaborate, or even really all that funny. It’s a classic because the characters get under your skin.
Futurama is also much more quotable. I think a “what’s your favorite line” thread about Family Guy would be a lot shorter than the Futurama thread.
Or just picture everyone sitting on a couple of sofas, chatting congenially about animated TV shows, nodding, smiling, having respect for different opinions, and maybe throwing back a couple of brewskis. That’s how I do it. Cuts down on all the teeth-gnashing and hair pulling. 
I’d rank Family Guy well above Futurama for humor, but I totally agree with everything you said.
South Park > all.
But Futurama is pretty good, and definitley much better than Family Guy.
Bender > Peter
Fry > Chris
Leela > Lois (although Lois wins the beauty contest)
Amy > Meg
Farnsworth > Stewie
Brian > Zoidberg (yeah, I’ll give him that one, since I’ve always considered Zoidberg the weakest part of the show)
Hermes > Cleveland
Branigan > Quagmire
Morbo > Tom
Futurama’s Willy Wonka Spoof > Family Guy’s Willy Wonka Spoof
this is quickly turning into a “who would play this character in a movie adaption” spinoff thread (which Futurama’s even done a couple times!). The point is, Futurama has a much stronger cast. Family Guy can be hilarious at times, but Futurama adds much more, and therefore comes out as the overall better show. But you’re still allowed to like both!
Well, unless Proposition 304 passes, and we all pray it will.
I like all of the above. As with all subjective standards, there is no universal truth…until middleman weighs in.
The rankings of the long running animated shows is as follows:
A few other good ones: Stroker and Hoop, Drawn Togehter.
God yes!
I can’t imagine what would have given anyone that impression…
Wow. You caught something a dozen posts after I caught it myself. You’re sharp as a tick.
I think his point was more along the lines of ‘your post could easily be read that you were calling posters here pretentious jackoffs’ because that’s exactly what you were calling them, and trying to pass it off as being ‘unclear’ with mealy-mouted excuses about ‘general terms’ fooled exactly zero people.
I could be wrong.
Good thing you you included that last part, because you are. My entire post was referring to the vast number of Comic Book Guy type people on the web who incessantly do exactly what I described. It was only after I posted and reread what I had written that I realized it looked like I was referring specifically to the posters in this thread, which was not my intention, hence my correction.
Nice backpedal.
Oh, I’m very sorry, we appear to have a genuine case of a lack of clarity.
I meant, of course, that I could be wrong about Miller’s motivations. Your subsequent posts have left me with no doubt as to the spirit to which your post was intended.
“Think” does not belong in the same sentence as “Futurama is funnier than Family Guy.”
Family guy had some good novelty laughs for the first couple of seasons, but would’ve been remembered much more fondly had it stayed dead. Futurama is one of the best shows ever to be broadcast.
They are really not in the same league at all unless you’re in the 8-15 age group where all cartoons that say swear words are funny.
Is it just me, or are things just generally “touchy” around here today? I’ve been seeing [what strikes me as] a lot of quickness to take offense and slowness to accept clarification as given in good faith.
Yes.
[sub]jerk[/sub]
