Not sure if this should be in another thread so merge it if you want to.

I had some time to kill at work today, so for kicks I made up this list and put it on my site. I haven't seen all these Family Guy episodes, but I have seen some. I'm not sure why I have this hatred for this show. Perhaps it's because I think it's a shame to see Family Guy gain a huge audience, along with its spawns American Dad and The Winner, while shows like Arrested Development cannot. Maybe it's the same reason film enthusiasts rail against crap that makes millions of dollars while other superior films go unnoticed.

This list has an episode of Family Guy followed by an episode of another show with a strangely similar plot/theme/gimmick.

If you have any more, or if I'm reaching too much on certain episodes, or if I'm full of shit, let me know.

Family Guy
6. The Son Also Draws
First aired: 5/9/1999
Chris loses interest in being a youth scout, as he would rather pursue drawing and art instead. The Scout Master then kicks Chris out of the scouts. Peter then takes the family to the Big Apple to try to get Chris reinstated back into the scouts. After Peter takes a wrong turn on the way, the family ends up at a Native American casino. Lois then gets obsessed with the slot machines while Peter goes on a vision quest to prove that he has Native American blood in him.

The Simpsons
91. $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)
First aired: 12/16/1993
The economy of Springfield is in decline, and Mayor Quimby tries to listen to the citizens' ways to improve the economy. They suggest that legalized gambling has helped rejuvenate run-down economies, and it can work for Springfield as well. While Marge waits for Homer's shift to end at Mr. Burns' casino, she finds a quarter on the floor and uses it to play a slot machine. She wins and almost immediately becomes addicted to gambling. With abject begging and earnest attempts at support and understanding, Homer persuades Marge to admit that she has a gambling problem. She finally realizes the neglect the family has been suffering and returns home.

The Simpsons
162. El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer
First aired: 1/5/1997
The episode sees Homer eat an "Insanity Pepper" and go on a mysterious voyage, which features surreal animation to depict the elaborate hallucination. It was written by Ken Keeler, directed by Jim Reardon[3] and features Johnny Cash in a guest spot as the "Space Coyote".


Family Guy
27. Wasted Talent
First aired: 7/25/2000
When the local brewery has a contest offering tours of the plant, Peter and his friends go on a drinking binge trying to find the winning beer can. Through a stroke of dumb luck, Peter and Brian actually find one of the winning "scrolls". In a Willy Wonka homage, Peter and Brian start the tour, but are quickly kicked out after drinking the "Beer that wasn't supposed to be tasted." Meanwhile, Lois's students have a big piano recital/competition coming up - and Lois is praying one of her students wins. She thinks she's got a lock on it when she signs a new student, Ling, a piano prodigy. However, in her enthusiasm, Lois works Ling too hard and she drops out! In an odd twist, Peter - in a drunken stupor over being booted from the contest - sits down at the piano and plays brilliantly! Lois is thrilled and keeps Peter drunk long enough to win the piano recital.

Futurama
13. Fry and the Slurm Factory
First aired: 11/14/1999
he episode opens with an advertisement for Slurm, a highly popular and highly addictive soft drink. The ad announces the beginning of a contest: whoever finds a golden bottlecap inside a can of Slurm wins a free trip to the Slurm bottling plant on planet Wormulon, as well as a party with Slurm mascot Slurms MacKenzie. After checking thousands of cans, they give up on finding the winning can, and return the F-ray. Fry settles in to relax with a Slurm, and chokes on the bottlecap. Cut to Wormulon, where the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory spoof begins as the Planet Express crew arrives at Slurm Centralized Industrial Fabrication Unit. The crew takes a riverboat tour down a river of Slurm through the factory.


Family Guy
51. North by North Quahog
First aired: 5/1/2005
Peter and Lois decide to go on a second honeymoon. But when Peter crashes the car, he decides to pose as Mel Gibson to stay in his fancy hotel suite, where they find a copy of a "The Passion of the Christ" sequel. They attempt to destroy the film and end up being chased by two priests who went to retrieve the film.

South Park
114. The Passion of the Jew
Kyle finally sees the Passion of the Christ, and is horrified by it. While Cartman is organizing Passion fans to get others involved in the film so they can perform a cleansing. Meanwhile, Stan and Kenny see it, and believe that Mel Gibson should give them their money back. So, they set off to find him in Malibu.

Family Guy
65. Brian Goes Back to College
First aired: 11/13/2005
After writing a story for a local magazine, Brian gets a job at The New Yorker. He admitted that he didn't graduate from college and lost his job. So he went back to college. In the end, he failed.

The Simpsons
84. Homer Goes to College
First aired: 10/14/1993
Burns gets Homer enrolled at Springfield University. Homer ignores the educational aspect of college and instead focuses on his preconceived notions of college life (through adolescent movies such as "The School of Hard Knockers", which stereotype college life as pranks, partying, and rigid deans). The end of the semester is fast approaching and Homer is not prepared for finals. The nerds say the only way to pass is to cram for the final exam, which they help him do. However, Homer acts very stupid and promptly fails the exam.

Family Guy
74. Peterotica
First aired: 4/23/2006
After reading an erotic novel, Peter gets the idea to write one himself. Carter gets sued for publishing Peter's book on tape and loses all his money, where he is forced to become a middle-class citizen. Meanwhile, Stewie tries to train for the Olympics.

The Simpsons
323. Diatribe of a Mad Housewife
First aired: 1/25/2004
Marge writes a novel about a woman not unlike herself married to a man not unlike Homer but who lusts for a man not unlike a muscular Ned Flanders, which becomes talked about throughout the town, but when Homer reads (well, listens to the Olsen twins read on tape) the book, Marge fears that something not unlike the end of the book will happen, where the Homer character kills the Flanders one.


Family Guy
83. Hell Comes to Quahog
First aired: 9/24/2006
After Peter uses Meg's money to buy himself a tank, she gets a job at the new Superstore in town. However, the Superstore puts all the shops in town out of business and sucks up the city's power supply. Brian and Stewie team up to save the town from the corporate giant.

South Park
120. Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes
First aired: 11/3/2004
The town is abuzz; the new Wall-Mart store is having its grand opening. There are bargains galore everywhere; Cartman is delighted that he can get 3 copies of "Timecop" for $18. Stan asks his dad why Wall-Mart is able to sell stuff so cheap, his dad says he doesn't know, but he knows he loves it. Kyle doesn't want to go to Wall-Mart but finds out that that Jim's Drug Story has to close down because it can't compete. The boys go to the town's Main Street, but find that it is all boarded up and looking much like a ghost town. The boys return to town, with the intention of destroying the stores heart and Cartman tries to stop them, much as Kyle knew he would.


Family Guy
90. Peter's Two Dads
First aired: 2/11/2007
After Peters dad, Francis, dies, Thelma tells him that his real father actually lives in Ireland. So Peter and Brian decide to head there in search of his father, who ends up being the town drunk. They decide to play a drinking game to prove his paternity. Meanwhile, Stewie acts out and Lois spanks him. Realizing that he likes being spanked, Stewie does whatever he can to get into trouble.

The Simpsons
366. Homer's Paternity Coot
First aired: 1/8/2006
A mailman that has been frozen in a Springfield glacier carries a letter for Homer's mother, apparently from her lover claiming Homer is his child. While Homer goes out looking for the letter's sender to find out the truth, Abe is afraid to lose Homer and thereby all of his family.

Family Guy certainly isn't the more original show, but it's still funny and that's all that matters to me, especially since the Simpsons are almost unwatchable now.

I love Family Guy, but I hate the imitations and scene reenactments that become more and more inevitable with every pitcher that gets consumed down at the pub.

but it's not funny! aimlessness doesn't equal comedy

There's a high degree of incongruence to writing a long and well-supported criticism of why Family Guy isn't funny.

So should it be more like:

"Family Guy dumb because not enough boobi...hey look at that alligator!"

Simpsons did it! Simpsons did it!

yeah, this thread reminds me of two episodes of South Park. But Family Guy does suck.

Family guy is funny at times but it gets stupid, specially with all those flashbacks in the more recent eps

Now, that's funny!

It's lost a lot of steam and doesn't hold up to a lot of repeated viewings. Some of the episodes are still good, but I'll take South Park or a few other shows over it any day.

Family Guy is a hit or miss show. And I get what Orpheus is saying, it doesn't hold up to repeated views

totally agree. i still enjoy the new ones and try to catch em on Cartoon Network. It's no south park though. I watched the new episode again last night and it was even better the 2nd time around.

to be fair, the wasted talent/futurama comparison is a play off of Charlie and teh Chocolate Factory, so both are at fault

yeah but Futurama did it first

I've never seen the show, so I don't know anything about it. But then again I don't watch TV much anymore anyhow.

great insight, appreciate it!

I'm here to help.

I don't care who did what first, the fact is that Family Guy has a tendency to be hit or miss every now and then, but it is consistenly funny. You can't say the same about the last half dozen seasons of The Simpsons.

so you want to compare the first seven seaons of Family Guy to the first seven season of the Simpsons? You really want to do that?