“The Simpsons hasn’t been funny since Season 8.”
“Family Guy is just a poor-man’s version of The Simpsons.”
These things are definitely acknowledged in the episode, some more caustically than
others, however with the combined writing power of The Simpsons and Family Guy you
have probably one of the strongest episodes either series has seen in a long while.
Granted I believe both shows have seen there best years but each has their strengths:
even the weakest Simpsons episode has biting satirical wit, Family Guy will still hit you
with at least one laugh-out-loud moment. Unfortunately both shows do have their
weaknesses: The Simpsons, having run for so long, has begun to run dry in the story
department and Family Guy has moved from fast-paced surreal comedy into the meanspirited
soap-box rantings of Seth McFarlane.
The crossover has some funny moments that play to both of The Simpsons and Family
Guys back catalogue and really hammers some great visual gags along with a Peter Vs.
Homer fight that makes all the previous Chicken fights appear limp in comparison.
To Family Guys credit, they have really been brave to highlight all the similarities
between them and The Simpsons. To be honest I never realised how many similarities
there were in relation to the characters in both shows. The unfortunate thing though is
that this episode really does highlight many of the issues with Family Guy: tongue in
cheek references that often can come off as very bitter and mean-spirited. They take
constant digs at The Simpsons and even Bob’s Burgers (a low blow considering Bob’s
Burgers has some of the best back and forth banter on TV right now.)
A lot of this cynicism towards The Simpsons can be traced back to Season 6, Episode 2
of Family Guy where, if you listen to the commentary track, Seth McFarlane shares his
animosity for producer James L. Brooks that led to both him and the writers listing all
the issues with The Simpsons. The most frustrating issue when listening to this
commentary track today is that a lot of the things they ranted about The Simpsons is
now true of Family Guy: they don’t know how to tell a story anymore, they can’t give an
episode a proper ending, and they have really lost their way. If the writers of Family Guy
could keep this level of quality from this crossover episode, they just might move from
strength to strength.
This is a pretty good episode if only for the fact that the crossover makes so many
strong references to both shows best elements.
However, for now I will stick with Archer, American Dad and Bob’s Burgers.
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