What I like about Family Guy: classic era and Season 4-8 era

 I really like Family Guy. It's my second favorite show, The Simpsons being my first favorite show. Family guy as time goes on gets more and more crass, but I believe that seasons 1-3, and seasons 4-8 are the best seasons of the show. Season 8 is when I believe the show gets worse but there are still gems beyond season 8.

What do I like about the different eras? I will be covering season 8 onward in a different post, but I will break down era 1 and era 2 in this one. 

The classic era of Family Guy, seasons 1-3, is before the cancellation and revival of season 4. I really like seasons 1-3. My absolute favorite season and in my opinion, one of the best seasons of Family Guy, is season 4. Seasons 1-3 are similar to The Simpsons but in a good way. When Peter screws up, he learns a valuable lesson and feels genuinely bad, unlike the newer seasons, but I'll cover why that is in the other post. The relationships between the Griffin family members are wholesome and no one is flanderized. Brian is the straight man and not just an annoying leftist. (I am left leaning but Brian gets obnoxious in later seasons because of it.) Lois is not an angry all the time, she is also a voice of reason and her voice doesn't feel like a cheese grater on my ears in the earlier seasons either.

Season 4-8 of Family Guy is a different batch of seasons from seasons 1-3. Even in the second era, there is some flanderization. The show gets more shock humor added in, but there are great jokes. Joe is still seen as a human who loves life and isn't just a sad punching bag for ablest jokes. The violence is turned up a bunch too, but isn't always gratuitous. Stewie isn't evil as much anymore and he becomes nicer if I can even call it that. He can be quite rude but I love that Stewie could be gay or even bi and that he has interests outside of plotting to unalive Lois. His friendship with Brian is great and some if my favorite Family Guy episodes even beyond Season 8 are ones where Brian and Stewie go on an adventure. Even the weakest and most out of character "Road to" episode, Road to India, I still like because it's a Brian and Stewie episode. There are episodes season 8 and beyond I will touch upon in a later post how they really bring out the rapport between Stewie and Brian.

Some of the best jokes are in seasons 1-8. I haven't seen a lot of stuff season 19 onward but Family Guy is reaching a modern renaissance much like The Simpsons in the newer seasons.

The cutaways actually are quite entertaining in seasons 4 to 8 as well as seasons 1-3. They aren't just random for the sake of random. They have punchlines.

I might do some highlight episodes in future for both Family Guy and The Simpsons as to why they are my faves. No season is off bounds!

curlyalicia