4. It Got All Preachy And Up Its Ass With Messages.
Again, this is a criticism that can really be only levelled at the show since it was uncancelled. And the criticism is basically that the writing staff are pretty much using the show to broadcast their own socio-political standpoint. The most prominent offenders are the episodes Not All Dogs Go To Heaven, 420, and Tea Peter In a nutshell, Not All Dogs Go To Heaven basically does little else than espouse the viewpoint that all religious people are intolerant cretins as every single featured character (except Meg who tries to convert him to Christianity) turns their back on Brian for being an Atheist, causing him to become a social pariah. Even Lois who less than a minute earlier had said to Meg about her newfound Christianity theres such a thing as moderation claims an Atheist is just about the worst thing a person can be, and the episode tops this off with a photo of Brian on the news declaring him to be worse than Hitler. This episode pretty much throws every single characters personality out of the window just to make Atheists seem like a victimised minority, and to bash religion. 420 was basically an attempt to do for marijuana what Not All Dogs Go To Heaven tried to do for Atheism: promote it non-stop while making out that anyone who doesnt share the same viewpoint is either evil or a moron. Marijuanas negative effects are well documented yet 420 sweeps all that under the carpet and shows Quahog after marijuana is legalised as being a utopia where crime is down, productivity is up, and ratings for Doctor Who are through the roof. Loiss father Carter is the only character shown to oppose the marijuana legalisation and is against it solely because its harming his investments in timber. It goes even further to cast people who are anti-marijuana in a bad light by having Carter and Peter make an anti-marijuana video that claims Hitler got the idea for the holocaust while high. It doesnt show any kind of balance and is yet another example of the writers using the show to trot out their own views as the only acceptable thing to follow. Tea Peter had some moments of genuine satire but these were overshadowed by the episodes overall message being The Tea Party is evil and manipulates people, anyone who supports it is a gullible idiot, and they get elected, America will fall into hell. And, as per usual, its Brian vocalising the view of the writers which is shown as the only right way of thinking. The writers dont bother to satirise the Tea Party as it exists and instead just make things up like that the Tea Partys overall aim is the removal of the US government with no replacement being put in place. If a comedy show wants to get serious and make a point, thats fine. Many sitcoms have done this incredibly in the past such the All In The Family episode The Draft Dodger, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Airs various episodes on issues such as parental abandonment and racial profiling, and even Family Guy itself with the domestic violence themed episode Screams Of Silence: The Story Of Brenda Q. But while these more serious episodes made valid points about various social issues, what they didnt do was bring out a viewpoint and promote it non-stop without any kind of justification. Which is pretty much what all of Family Guys socially or politically themed episodes do.