When Family Guy originally premiered back 2000, my initial feelings towards the animated show were that of extreme adoration. I was an immature high schooler who soon began spreading the word about that new "Simpsons-esque" cartoon that was somehow falling through the cracks. Following the show was cancelled, I was among the huge numbers of people who purchased the first two DVD volumes, which ultimately result in Fox resurrecting the show.
I had both a Peter Griffin t-shirt as well as a Stewie one, and I wore them with pride. At parties, my friends and I'd play "Drink the Beer" where when we drank our beer, we won...another beer! When Family Guy premiered on Fox again in 2005 next initial cancellation, I was happier then Quagmire in a Vietnamese brothel.
But ever ever since then, I slowly began to drift far from Family Guy. Episode after episode, the writing began to suffer and the show lost more and more structure. Once a great blend of outrageous humor, offensive material and vulgarity, Family Guy now seemed to be more focused on being absurd then being funny. I grew tired of the epic battles between Peter and the Chicken or the musical numbers by the child-molesting elderly neighbor, Herbert. And I must say i learned to loath the out-of-nowhere live-action Conway Twitty performances. kickassanime (Seriously, does any Family Guy fan find them funny? I'd want to know.)
Which brings us to 2009, where my opinion on Family Guy can best be described by that of Lois Griffin's opinion on her behalf husband. She loves him and always will though his stupidity could possibly get so overbearing that she feels like she's wasting her time. Sure, she can do better and sometimes wishes she did. But in the end, the great times outnumber the bad times, which results in her decision to faithfully stand by his side.
And that's the way in which I feel about the recently released Family Guy: Volume Seven. A few of it's good, a number of it's bad, nevertheless when it's all said and done, you'll laugh significantly more than you'll sigh despite these episodes being a far cry from the classic Family Guy that I fell in love with.
Of Volume Seven's thirteen episodes, not too most of them be noticeable as great television. Due to the show's structure, you can only really hope for funny moments and dialogue to pop-up sporadically throughout each episode. The infamous cutaway gags/flashbacks that Family Guy is so popular for will also be pretty hit-or-miss. Ones just like the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion getting pissed at Dorothy because she admitted she would definitely miss the Scarecrow primarily right in front of them are hysterical. But then you definitely get ones just like the Shouting-Arab Gram Business that completely fall flat.
An enormous perk of purchasing this DVD rather than just watching the individual episodes on television may be the profanity that gets sprinkled in all the episodes by the creators. I need to admit, it's pretty hilarious hearing each member of the cast drop an F-bomb at least once, especially Stewie. Other special features which are included on the DVDs are deleted scenes and commentaries by the show's creators.
A featurette entitled "Family Guy Cribz" got my hopes up that they would parody the MTV show Cribs with a few of the show's most widely used characters take us on a tour of their house (How funny could Quagmire's have been?). Instead, I obtained a real documentary on Family Guy's production offices in Los Angeles and the folks that work there, which only left me wishing I worked for Family Guy. Finally, Volume Seven includes a sneak peak of Fox's new spin-off series The Cleveland Show where Stewie takes what right out of my mouth. "What the hell? He's getting their own show?"
Regardless of Family Guy's slow decline in quality, I still find myself laughing aloud at these newer episodes. The characters are still enjoyable to watch and I will always be fond of the show's immature nature. Family Guy: Volume Seven is not really a waste of time by any means, I recently hope that by enough time Volume Eight comes around, we visit a Family Guy that doesn't have to pay a whole episode of Peter singing The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird" merely to squeeze fun out of us.
