Submitted by Simpsons Fan, Apr 11, 2007 14:48

I can see your point - certainly Family Guy is a mindlessly derivative Cuisinart of pop-culture leavings. I rarely laugh at its exhaustingly self-aware and self-referential buckshot scatterings that pass as jokes. Family Guy is, for someone old enough to remember first-hand its references, obviously a rip-off of the Simpsons' metahumor style; we Simpsons fans think of it as what would result if The Simpsons were written by people who didn't understand The Simpsons. But I think you are not right to lump The Simpsons in with Family Guy; it is different on a fundimental level. For example, your comment about the "Herman's Head" reference made it seem as if it appeared on the show recently, as an arcane throwback. However, that joke appeared on The Simpsons back when "Herman's Head" was still a recent memory for many people. Also, The Simpsons, unlike Family Guy, traditionally has not referenced gratuitously; it has always done so as part of an ironic turn-about of comedic expectations. For example, when Homer says "I'll always be hungry again," it is a reference, yes, but it is turned around from what we expect, and made into a parody of the original. It is funny because Homer makes a seemingly-epic and profound statement about something that is ordinary and even pathetic.These examples are different from the "throw everything on the wall and see what sticks" approach of Family Guy, because they take the original and do something funny with it. At least that is what The Simpsons did in its Golden Age; the last few years, I agree, it has not been much different from Family Guy -- but that is another issue entirely...

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