TVSquad

The only thing these two have in common is that they're animated. South Park will be remembered as a classic, satrical cartoon.

Family Guy is derivitive in every possible way-even it's name is uncreative and bland.

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Interference from family advocacy groups getting worse? What about thin-skinned celebs like Tom Cruise or the "Religion of Peace" threatening violence to promote censorship? I don't remember a family advocacy group getting a episode of South Park pulled.

Nah... let's just blame it on Christians, they are used to getting crapped on.

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I think family guy will be remembered longer than South Park. Not to take anything away from South Park which is a great show and I watch it religiously but Family Guy changed the way TV business is made by being the first show that was uncancelled because of the huge DVD market. Both show are very creative and I challenge anyone who is a nay-sayer of both South Park and Family Guy to even try to write something as funny as these shows.

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Why is there always someone who has to bash one or the other? They're both equally funny, equally memorable and equally controversial. This is NOT a debate. Stop trying to make it one!

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Here's yet another viewpoint. I think that for the most part, South Park is funnier, but only for the first and sometimes second viewing. Family Guy episodes remain just as funny the third, tenth and twentieth time you see it.

The issue is topicality. SP's stories are more often than not tied to some current event that people will forget over time. Normally this is one of the show's strengths, being able to create a new episode from scratch in under a week, so the story can reflect what is currently happening. To see what I mean, go watch an episode of All in the Family on TV Land and see how many Nixon jokes still make you laugh, assuming you were even alibe when Nixon was still in office. Of course there are many SP episodes that hold up, such as Cartman conniving to get the school bully to eat his own parents. But in a year or two, who's going to remember the reference point of an episode featuring Towelie writing a specious book and becoming a public pariah because of it?

Family Guy, on the other hand, because of their production schedule can not be anywhere near as topical. If they decide to do an episode about Scott McClellan resigning (to pick a random current headline) it'll take them several months until they have a program ready to air, by which time people will be asking "Scott Who?" So FG has to stick to broad generalizations of current events that aren't likely to change over the course of the production period. That takes away a lot of the comic opportunity available to them.

And for Mike Davis above, I think you're missing the point that FG is designed to be generic at its core. The humor comes from taking plots that can start out the same as standard plots from any other family sitcom, but then take it and twist it as far as they can with only the limits of animation (and censors) to hold them back. And yes, every episode has several moments of non-sequituer humor that some people enjoy because they get the reference andothers think are stupid simply because they don't get the reference.

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South Park is a living legend.
Family Guy is a living fad.

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They're both great. But I don't watch South Park, too many other shows to watch. Seasons 1, 2 and sometimes 3 of Family Guy has great repeat value for me. Both will be remembered regardless of what they're labeled as, be it a classic or fad or legend or uncreative.
When toys and monopoly games are made from/for the cartoons, they've made a mark.

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'Family Guy' is the 'Yes, Dear' of cartoons. You can turn it on 25 minutes into the episode and any jokes will be just as (un)funny as they would have been had you watched the whole thing. Calling it satire is being extremely loose with the language. It's a series of pop culture sight gags. Nothing wrong with that, I just don't think it has the longevity (as in it's enjoyable to watch repeatedly) or depth of something like Futurama or even King of the Hill. It's tough to laugh the fifth time Kool-Aid Man comes through the wall, it's appeal is that it's a surprise, and the show just doesn't have anything deeper to notice as you watch it repeatedly. The surface is all it has.

Obviously this isn't the point of this post, but I just get annoyed with Seth McFarlane being mentioned as though he's a peer with some of the others. Popular, sure, good, no.

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It is interesting that he blames conservative family organizations for causing increasing censorship. It was liberal executives at Comedy Central that censored the South Park "Cartoon Wars" episode.

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Brent
Think of Cartoon Network(C) as the middle man between the conservative family organization(A) and South Park(B). South Park(B) says, "We to want to push the envelope" and conservative family organizations(A) say, "No more envelope pushing". For A to effect B, they use FCC to effect C, and C wants to keep both sides happy, but they can't do anything about A, so C effects B, therefore A effects B. Or something along those lines.

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It was my understanding that this thread wouldn't require flowcharting skills.

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I am confused. All I am saying is it isn't a one-sided issue. One side wants to buckle down and appease Islamo-facists, and the other side wants to stop filth.

Comedy Central is for showing Jesus Christ shitting on people, but is against showing Mohammed giving a guy a helmet. This example shows which of the two sides are more out of touch. Both are a bit out of touch, but the elitist liberal (the types that run the press and networks like Comedy central) executives are way more.

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i'm just all for not censoring anything.

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Brent, this has nothing to do with Comedy Central executives being in touch, out of touch, liberal or conservative. It has to do with the all too real threat of repercussions from showing Muhammed in a possibly unflattering manner. The actions of fervent fundamentalist Muslims who decide that their religion and their icon is being mocked have proven to be extremely destructive in several parts of the world and could easily be repeated in the United States. As disgusted as I may get by the actions and philosophies of the fundamental Christian right in the United States, I'm glad that showing Jesus flinging poop won't set off a series of riots.

It is unfortunate that before 9/11, or perhaps even a year ago, showing Muhammed in an unflattering manner might have caused at worst some protests, to do so now is to practically incite violence. It sucks, but that's the way things are right now. And personally, it's things like this that make me prouder than ever to be an atheist.

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I've seen more episodes of South Park, and only a couple of Family Guy. It's clear to me that Family Guy is a lot better quality animation and better and funnier material. Whoever said here they have a problem with Cool Aid man breaking through a wall for the fifth time, must have stopped counting when they killed Kenny for the millionth time. Other than that, South Park takes cheap easy shots at the most contraversial issues in order to maximize attention and ratings. Family Guy kills Kenny and rest of the crew.

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and one more thing... it's peanut-butter-jelly time! peanut-butter-jelly time!

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South Park is ten times better than Family Guy. Family Guy is overrated. South Park always makes me laugh. South Park kicks ass! Family Guy Sucks!

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ok, lets start off. South Park has no right to show Jesus Christ "crapping" on people. but they wont even show MUHAMMAD??? i have nothing agaisnt other religions such as Islam, but how dare they take aim at Christianty. pfft. im all for Family Guy. Yes, sometimes the show is going agaisnt Christianty, but, they have better morel values. and they are a heck of a lot funnier.=]

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