Have Seasons 7-9 of Family Guy been vindicated recently?

[OmegaAlpha23]

Was Family Guy really more popular than The Simpsons at one point? I know the show's popularity used to be at its highest between 2009 and 2011, but I always thought it was The Fairly OddParents to The Simpsons' SpongeBob, even during its prime.

And no, I don't think seasons 7-9 of Family Guy have been vindicated recently. Nowadays, it seems that a lot of people are more nostalgic over King of the Hill, Futurama, and especially classic Simpsons and/or have more fondness over newer adult cartoons like Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman, and Bob's Burgers than all of Family Guy (and that's a good thing honestly, because any of those shows are far more entertaining to watch than FG, IMO). All of this is just my thinking, though.

Are you kidding me? Family Guy during those years was far bigger and more popular than The Simpsons to the point of where The Simpsons had seem to fade completely. It's ratings exceeded The Simpsons, everyone praised it as if it was the best thing to happen to comedy since Monty Python, everyone quoted it, YouTube clips were highly rated, everyone wore Stewie T shirts, and it had a huge clout over pop culture, as everything, from kids shows, to movies, to even music were copying or having some sort of influence based on it. You couldn't go anywhere without someone saying Seth MacFarlane is a genius It was a pop culture powerhouse, and not only was it bigger than The Simpsons, it was the most popular comedy show on TV. The only shows that ever came close in popularity were Phineas & Ferb and SpongeBob.

People refused to admit they ever liked The Simpsons when Family Guy was popular just to save a little credibility. The Simpsons was so unpopular, that admitting to still watching it, even the old episodes, would make people think you were "uncool" or "gay". FOX even acknowledged this, as they treated The Simpsons like an afterthought, and pushed Family Guy as it's mascot. Even in the 25th anniversary FOX special, they put the spotlight more on Family Guy, and Seth's characters than The Simpsons.

It's popularity started to decline a little bit in 2012, but it completely died in 2014, when Family Guy became no longer fashionable, and The Simpsons started to be the dominant ratings winner again. In those years, Family Guy was hated on the internet, and people were bashing it to smithereens, even refusing to admit they ever liked it, and saying that the old episodes werent that good. It has, because people are posting memes from that era, making reviews praising episodes from that era, and people are even saying that it was the peak of the show. Even yesterday, it oudid The Simpsons in ratings, something it hasn't done since 2014. It could because the 20th anniversary is provoking nostalgia for people who grew up on Seasons 7-9, the same as Phineas and Ferb, which is funny because in 2014, people were blasting those shows to kingdom come, and acted like ever liking them was a felony.

 

[Fone Bone]

everyone praised it as if it was the best thing to happen to comedy since Monty Python,

You are out of your mind.

 

[Dynamite Soldier]

Are you kidding me? Family Guy during those years was far bigger and more popular than The Simpsons to the point of where The Simpsons had seem to fade completely. It's ratings exceeded The Simpsons, everyone praised it as if it was the best thing to happen to comedy since Monty Python, everyone quoted it, YouTube clips were highly rated, everyone wore Stewie T shirts, and it had a huge clout over pop culture, as everything, from kids shows, to movies, to even music were copying or having some sort of influence based on it. You couldn't go anywhere without someone saying Seth MacFarlane is a genius It was a pop culture powerhouse, and not only was it bigger than The Simpsons, it was the most popular comedy show on TV. The only shows that ever came close in popularity were Phineas & Ferb and SpongeBob.

People refused to admit they ever liked The Simpsons when Family Guy was popular just to save a little credibility. The Simpsons was so unpopular, that admitting to still watching it, even the old episodes, would make people think you were "uncool" or "gay". FOX even acknowledged this, as they treated The Simpsons like an afterthought, and pushed Family Guy as it's mascot. Even in the 25th anniversary FOX special, they put the spotlight more on Family Guy, and Seth's characters than The Simpsons.

I don't know. Maybe it's because I wasn't fully aware between 2009 and 2011, but I'm pretty certain FOX still treated The Simpsons as if it's their own SpongeBob, even if you think Family Guy had higher popularity at the time. I'll agree that FG was a smash hit during its heyday (and still is, to a lesser extent), but it's still got nothing on The Simpsons. The Simpsons was and still is a legendary franchise, and it made a huge impact on not just adult animation, but animation in general, something Family Guy hasn't done. FG just happens to be a relatively popular show (think of it as the adult equivalent of The Loud House or The Fairly OddParents during its heyday; not saying they're similar shows, but their popularity seems to be the same).

Also, weren't people already getting tired of The Simpsons before Family Guy became a success. I've heard many say that they jumped ship after season 10 or so in 1999/2000.

It's popularity started to decline a little bit in 2012, but it completely died in 2014, when Family Guy became no longer fashionable, and The Simpsons started to be the dominant ratings winner again. In those years, Family Guy was hated on the internet, and people were bashing it to smithereens, even refusing to admit they ever liked it, and saying that the old episodes werent that good. It has, because people are posting memes from that era, making reviews praising episodes from that era, and people are even saying that it was the peak of the show. Even yesterday, it oudid The Simpsons in ratings, something it hasn't done since 2014.

It could because the 20th anniversary is provoking nostalgia for people who grew up on Seasons 7-9, the same as Phineas and Ferb, which is funny because in 2014, people were blasting those shows to kingdom come, and acted like ever liking them was a felony.

I did remember how more people were turning against Family Guy sometime after "Life of Brian" aired (and who could blame them honestly?). By that point, the jokes were getting stale, the shock value was overdone, many of the characters were becoming bigger jerks, the animation became cheaper, the cutaway gags were overused, the humor was much crueler and the list goes on. Although, I don't recall Phineas and Ferb being universally hated. Towards the end of the show, I did notice some people complaining about the show's repetitiveness (and as much as I like the show, I have agree with them), but I don't think it had a huge hatedom all along (and if it did, then it must've been smaller than the likes of Family Guy, Teen Titans Go!, Johnny Test, and even post-Sparky FOP).

 

[OmegaAlpha23]

I don't know. Maybe it's because I wasn't fully aware between 2009 and 2011, but I'm pretty certain FOX still treated The Simpsons as if it's their own SpongeBob, even if you think Family Guy had higher popularity at the time. I'll agree that FG was a smash hit during its heyday (and still is, to a lesser extent), but it's still got nothing on The Simpsons. The Simpsons was and still is a legendary franchise, and it made a huge impact on not just adult animation, but animation in general, something Family Guy hasn't done. FG just happens to be a relatively popular show (think of it as the adult equivalent of The Loud House or The Fairly OddParents during its heyday; not saying they're similar shows, but their popularity seems to be the same).

Also, weren't people already getting tired of The Simpsons before Family Guy became a success. I've heard many say that they jumped ship after season 10 or so in 1999/2000.

I did remember how more people were turning against Family Guy sometime after "Life of Brian" aired (and who could blame them honestly?). By that point, the jokes were getting stale, the shock value was overdone, many of the characters were becoming bigger jerks, the animation became cheaper, the cutaway gags were overused, the humor was much crueler and the list goes on. Although, I don't recall Phineas and Ferb being universally hated. Towards the end of the show, I did notice some people complaining about the show's repetitiveness (and as much as I like the show, I have agree with them), but I don't think it had a huge hatedom all along (and if it did, then it must've been smaller than the likes of Family Guy, Teen Titans Go!, Johnny Test, and even post-Sparky FOP).

No, they acted as if it didn't exist, and it only served as an appetizer for when the MacFarlane shows aired. They gave more attention to Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show than they did with The Simpsons when Kevin Reilly was president. Family Guy had more likes on Facebook than The Simpsons during that era, it was killing The Simpsons in the ratings, and it was the talk of the town. It wasn't just a popular show, it was a pop culture powerhouse. In the 2009-2011 era, I knew no one who liked The Simpsons anymore, and if they did, they were not vocal about it. Before 2012, the show's success was unkillable. The 25 Most Liked Pages on Facebook, Spring 2011 Top 20 Most Popular Facebook Pages | Social Media Revolver Family Guy is the most popular TV show on Facebook

Now, it has shown itself to be just a relatively popular show after people got sick of it in 2014, and abandoned it and The Simpsons started becoming more popular than Family Guy again, but in 2011, it didn't look that way. It was the SpongeBob of FOX, and actually had more likes on Facebook on SpongeBob. I didn't know anybody that didn't like Family Guy. It was the most popular show ever for a few years. People were getting sick of The Simpsons then, but it still remained popular enough for people to watch. But when Family Guy took over in popularity in 2008, almost everyone hated The Simpsons so much to the extent of saying that they didn't find it funny in the first place, and you were called "gay" if you admitted to still liking it. After Life of Brian it was a turnaround. Everyone abandoned Family Guy like the plague, and started hating on it for it's shock value, unlikable characters, joke explainations, lazy parodies, terrible writing, more focus on the comedy than the plot, and not aging well. It went from being the most popular show on TV to being one of the most hated shows on the internet. Not helping was the more serialized shows airing in 2013-2015, so it made Family Guy dated by comparison.


Popular opinion turned both Family Guy and Phineas and Ferb for their lack of character development, heavy lampshading, sticking to the status quo, and being repetitive. The hate towards those shows especially Phineas and Ferb was on par with Johnny Test and FOP. Until Teen Titans Go took over in 2015, Phineas and Ferb and Family Guy were both two of the most hated cartoons on the internet, for similar reasons and everyone always singled them out as being the worst examples of cartoons airing at the time. The internet was on them like a pack of hyenas, and everyone considered them pointless, and wanted them cancelled. You couldn't find a single person that would own up to liking either show, and it was still considered laughable if you still watched them by 2015. Which is a different world to 6 years before, when they were the most popular shows on TV.