Structure and Comedic Style of Family Guy

Structure-How do they make you laugh?

The way the characters cope with situations is very similar with the Simpson’s in the ‘Closed Loop’ approach where everything is reverted to it’s original state at the end of an episode. But even though most of the episodes are self contained there are exceptions, an example of this is when Peter becomes a fisherman as he has lost his job from killing his previous employer at the toy factory. Or when references are made to previous episodes. The show itself loves to parody just about anything, with references to TV shows, films, actors, singers, books and even historical events. The town of Quahog is undoubtedly based on modern day Rhode Island, this is apparent by the obvious naming of the local public buildings. The show can’t seem to avoid grabbing a celebrity in every few episodes, for example Luke Perry’s sexuality was once again questioned, and answered in the sitcom in its own way in series 2. By Meg publishing an article that Peter had wrote for her, which accused Perry of being homosexual. Which of course is followed by a lawsuit against Meg for defamation of character.

The jokes themselves don’t vary as such, and aren’t as witty as they believe themselves to be. Most follow a simple slapstick routine, or by degrading another character for laughs. Most of the self styled jokes though are separate from the storyline, and are brought in through a character wondering what things would be like if something was different about the current situation, or when they refer to an earlier time using the phrase “Remember that time”

But not all of the gags are based that way, some localized ones are included for MacFarlane’s hometown, not to mention some cross over moments where characters from other FOX programs. Such as one episode where Homer from the Simpson’s was switched with Peter for the introduction, and what was notable is that you don’t notice anything different between the animation styles.

But what Family Guy is well known for is the way it stomps through controversial issues without any refinement or mercy, no matter what the similarities between itself and most animated sitcoms is that it wasn’t afraid to shout about what other shows thought were no go areas. Examples of this are ever so more apparent in the DVD release, where it pushes the mark once more with it mentioning incest and others sensitive issues.