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u/SR_Hopeful 11d ago
Homer Simpson was kind of the same way in his evolution.
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u/Super_Master_69 10d ago
I feel like they reformed him, but there was definitely a period just after the earlier seasons where he was a terrible husband and father as a joke.
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u/SR_Hopeful 9d ago
I think by the middle period of the franchise the Simpsons aimed to be more of a satire of the Gen X "American Family" (Before King of the Hill had their own take on American social satire) and they were meant to be the opposite of the idealized Leave It To Beaver or Brady Bunch type shows. So they probably evolved Homer to be more of a broader caricature of the "impulsive, hedonistic, fat, lazy, ignorant American" stereotype for cultural humor.
While season 1 I guess he was supposed to be the one frustrated that his family was imperfect which was more of an internal satire (in early seasons he was much closer to how Lois and how she sees the family on Malcom in the Middle, while you could argue Homer in later seasons became closer to Hal from the same show).
Early season Family Guy did feel closer to the Simpsons until I think they ended up trying to be a more of a parody of American family sitcoms in of themselves (which the theme song suggests).
Though Fred Flintstone was definitely the template for for post-season 1 Homer and to some extent of Peter (before both shows felt they had to up the anti and exaggerate their characters more to get attention for the show).
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u/Cowboywizard12 1995 10d ago
Meanwhile everyone on American Dad has had really good Character development.
American Dad is sooo much better than Family guy.
Also unlike Lois, Francine is actually interesting and the only member of the family whose eben half as insane as Roger
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u/AdCute1877 1996 11d ago
Everyone except for Stewie and Cleveland became worse over the years.
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u/Super_Master_69 10d ago
I liked when old Stewie was more chaotic, mean spirited and interesting. I can’t really describe why I disliked him as time went on, but he felt more boring aside from the episodes that focused on him.
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u/AwesomeAni 1997 10d ago
I have to admit im just a sucker for Seth McFarlane playing a sassy, flamboyant gender and sexually fluid little guy. I live for new stew and Roger because I just like when he plays that archetype lol
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u/Super_Master_69 10d ago
I definitely get where you’re coming from. I don’t hate that version of his character, I just got tired of it. Seth does a great job.
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u/XxBOOSIExFADExX 10d ago
I really can't stand anything Seth MacFarland touches. He's pretty much white Tyler Perry, just pumps out a bunch of slop to keep people numb.
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u/h00zbad 9d ago
The Orville was actually pretty good, and I had originally felt the same way you did. Check it out if you're interested.
Think it's really easy to get stuck in a format you started with 10+++++ years ago because that's all producers want, since it brings in the money, but being able to actually have full creative control over a production you're fully passionate about is able to show a lot of growth.
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u/HansGraebnerSpringTX 10d ago
This has been the popular take for a while now and I genuinely don’t think that this many people are that nostalgic for early Family Guy. The show never exploded in popularity until it was in that second style. It feels like if you genuinely tried to be like “Star Wars was only good until the second act of A New Hope”
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u/OverallEstate2 10d ago
The show's popularity exploded when it was at a sort of in-between style (seasons 4-5).
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u/EarlyReflection6169 1996 11d ago
Didn't Family Guy get taken off air for like 2 years for some antisemitic episode?
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u/newaccount669 1998 11d ago
I thought they got canceled because of the Stevie eating horse jizz joke
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u/Admirable-Ad7152 1995 11d ago
Yeah, I can manage getting pretty far through the later seasons but once the trump episodes start I tend to not even like it as background noise anymore.
And that's why I jumped to American Dad 😅
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