Family Guy Satire

Cartoon Wars
South Park is an American animated television comedy series about four third grade schoolboys who live in the small, backward mountain town of South Park. The series was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and has been aired by Comedy Central since 1997. The show is well known for its pop-culture parody, outrageous humor, and sardonic handling of current events. Family Guy is an American animated television series about a family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. The show focuses on the fictional Griffin family and its ungainly character Peter Griffin. Seth MacFarlane created the show for the FOX channel. Family Guy was cancelled once in 2000 and again in 2002, but strong DVD sales and the substantial viewership
of reruns on Adult Swim convinced FOX to continue the show in 2005. Together these two animated series are dominating the comedy sitcom race. The question of which show has better comedy is on the minds of many torn viewers.
Family Guy and South Park are two of the most watched and loved animated shows on television today.
These shows are both extremely controversial in the situations portrayed on the television screen. Both shows use the monotonous aspects of small-town life as perfect settings for bizarre happenings. South Park is a collection of rednecks and yuppies, sociopaths and stereotypes. However, it is the group of children that carry the show through its humorous and sarcastic humor. Family Guy similarly live in the small town of Quahog, Rhode Island with a group of unusual people with eccentric cameo appearances. Both South Park and Family Guy focus their plots mainly on a central character. In South Park, it is the maniac Eric Cartman, and in Family Guy it is the loutish Rhode Island father Peter Griffin. Cartman's humor comes from his ridiculous schemes, his undeniable evil, his dismissal of reasonable courses of action, and his unforgettable voice. Peter Griffin humor comes from his clumsy ways, his poorly thought out jokes, and his parody of the average
Joe.
South Park in the beginning was criticized as being little more than stupid toilet humor, a show that would poison the minds of young people with its careless attacks on Jews, the disabled, and religion. However, South Park soon proved itself to be much more than an immature show. It has since thought to be one of the wittiest social commentaries on television. The humor is a mix of obvious sarcasm and a play on the ridiculousness of current events, such as 9/11 conspiracy theories. As delivered by a gang of nine-year-old kids, the jokes seem even more ironic and comical. South Park continues to push the limits of what is acceptable for television viewing. Continually pushing boundaries, South Park has been more successful then anyone could have ever dreamed. Family Guy is a show whose humor is more of reminiscing.
Family Guy often relies on jokes that have absolutely no effect on the plot. They usually are brought up when a character says, "Remember when" or "that's like the time I..." Irrelevant jokes can obstruct plotlines in other shows; the majority of the Family Guy jokes have hilarious results. Family Guy strength lies in references usually from the 1970s culture. Thus, Family Guy is able to reach a wide audience who retains bizarre material from decades past. Recently South Park created a parody episode of Family Guy. Eric Cartman simple stats “Do you have any idea what it's like? Everywhere I go: Hey Cartman you must like Family Guy, right? Hey, your sense of humor reminds me of Family Guy, Cartman! I am nothing like Family Guy! When I make jokes they are inherent to a story! Deep situational and emotional jokes based on what is relevant and have a point, not just one random interchangeable joke after
another!” South Park has been on the air for ten years and going strong. The writers just recently renewed their contracts for a 15th season, running through 2011. An episode titled "Make Love, Not Warcraft" won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. While Family Guy was cancelled once it was brought back, and now is becoming more popular than ever. South Park has become a classic sitcom in my mind, depicting the comedy outlook of the present era. Family on the other hand is in a way inexperienced and relatively new to the cartoon networks. Family Guy may have had a slow start, but is catching up to the senior of comedy South Park.
Family Guy may be popular, but there's still a lot of people who do not favor that type of humor. My feelings on this subject are paradoxical. I like Family Guy, but I still have to agree with people who say the writing is not always up to par, and that the show relies too heavily on pop culture references as a substitute for humor. The main question is which style of humor has staying power? Personally, I think Family Guy is a bright star that will burn brightly but not for very long time. South Park is far from subtle, but as it relies more on current events than nostalgia, it will have a continuous store to draw from. It is unclear how long either show will last, but what is evident is that both still have enormous followings.