1. Main Characters Remain Underdeveloped 14 years In
After the show first aired in 1999, the fact some of the main characters have lost parts of their personality since the earlier seasons and are now underdeveloped by comparison is staggering. Meg Griffin comes under a lot of scrutiny as she's largely become unused in Family Guy now, and the same goes with her brother Chris. Both of them have no specific quirks about their personality in the new seasons, except for Meg being laughed at by her own family and being perpetually told to shut up by Peter. Chris meanwhile hasn't changed in the slightest apart from his voice. The lack of episodes where the pair heavily feature is also something very noticeable: Lois Griffin is in danger of similar treatment as she's now become less independent and more of a moaning wife. Considering how characters who make infrequent appearances are still better developed than the main family is criminal. 14 years on and still these characters have lost any quirks that made them different. Brian Griffin, the family dog, has reverted back to being a pub pal for his owner Peter, and friends Joe and Quagmire. Brian is also very close with Stewie, and the pair do share a number of episodes travelling the universe in a time machine, but gone are the days when Brian would be hitting on women while drinking his favourite martinis. Now he's become an everyman character who occasionally says something sarcastic. Peter has gotten dumber after all these years, but so much to the point where it's Family Guy pandering for laughs. Wife Lois has often had to correct Peter when the latter was reading out words, which is just pathetic as him being retarded was something completely forgotten about for a number of seasons. It seems the show pick and choose when they will remember specific traits from characters but such inconsistency is certainly a contributing factor to Family Guy's gradual decline. Do you think Family Guy needs to die in 2014? Share your thoughts below.
Crippy Cooke, 23, is a freelance Football Writer contributing to What Culture. He's had work featured on Zoo, MSN, London 24, The Telegraph, The Huffington Post, and was recently named Writer of the Year on FTBpro - while also a nominee for Best Male Blog in the Football Blogging Awards.
