Getting ready to can "Family Guy" and need feedbac

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To be honest, I've only watched a few family guy episodes - the same number and variety as my kids.

So far, the only harmful message I've seen is that Star Wars is a joke... and my kids don't believe that.

I've seen none of the other stuff and we don't regularly watch the show simply because it's boring.

My kids don't know what sex is ... so they certainly wouldn't know what rape is.

We're always teaching them about right and wrong and telling them what is real and what is not. In the case of cartoons and poor CGI, they already know that none of it is real.

The kids have watched a whole lot of things with arguably the "worst" two being Resident Evil 3/Last man on Earth (both of which were mostly in broad daylight and contain things that they KNOW aren't real). The kids have been taught that life is so boring that we have to invent stuff to make it seem exciting.

We view ALL TV (good and bad) as a learning experience and the kids are encouraged to ask questions constantly. We watched Mall Cop last weekend and some woman took a sensitive (empathetic) comment about her weight the wrong way and started hitting the cop. My eldest asked "Why doesn't he just punch her in the face...." which was the cue for a great discussion about why we don't EVER hit women.... and just as importantly, why a woman who hits men is not acceptable either.

TV only sends the wrong messages if you're closed to discussion - or if the kids have to go watch it elsewhere.

Am I the only person here that got offended in that one episode where Peter thinks that Luke Perry is gay?

I don't remember the exact quote but I remember Peter and Luke were in the taxi cab. Peter goes "Remember you were in Rain Man and the dumb guy was feaking out"

First off, autistic people are not stupid. Seth McFarline (Sp?) should have more respect about people like us.

Second, this show should be off the air completely. It reminds me of all of the jerks in high school that treated me like garbage because I wasn't like them.

1. Nothing should be removed from the air unless it is directly inciting violence or flaunting established law. Anything else is seriously infriging on your basic freedoms - freedom of speech.

2. I always thought that this was the point of the show. The main character, Peter is a meathead. There ARE lots of people around like him who think that they're funny. They say funny things sometimes but usually they are just ignorant and mean-spirited. That's what Peter is. Shallow.

For example; One of the shows I used to love as a kid is "Love thy Neighbour" - a British show about black and white neighours who would be best friends if only they could get over their problems with skin colour. There's a lot of racist jokes and it's probably not something that would be shown on TV these days. The thing is, this show helped me a lot as a child because it showed me how ignorant such bigots are - the white character is easily the worst.

Sometimes, you need to see the extremes to appreciate things.

The difference between "South Park" and "Family Guy" is that SP is actually a very moral show. In fact, certain episodes are downright preachy. Sure the characters say and do some shocking things, but there's always a message and a conscience behind it. For example, they'll swear a lot and then debate the limits of free speech and public decency. South Park is a modern-day morality play that passes itself off as "edgy" in order to attract young adults in need of a lesson.
"Family Guy", on the other hand, has no underlying ethics. It just spews hate to get laughs, most of which is targeted at women. In particular, I have noticed that they advocate eating disorders in many, many episodes.

That's possibly right. I've not watched enough of family guy to actually notice any of that but I have noticed that the quality of the writing is significantly below par.

I've probably seen about ten episodes all-up and I've already noticed enough similarity between the episodes to find them dull and lifeless.

I feel there is more to pick up at school then from a tv show. Lets say let him watch an episode then maybe find another show he might also like and then watch an episode of that. If you get rid of something that could be the worst thing you could do to your child.

I totally agree with you there. I am a family guy to South Park convert and I definately prefer South Park! I'm not sure where I stand on this issue really. I personally would say that a 13 year old should definately not be watching a show which is often rated for 15 year olds. I wasn't even allowed to watch the Simpsons until I was 10! I agree with one of the other posters (sorry always forget names) that it is important to discuss the things seen in the programme with your son otherwise he might think that is how people are supposed to behave towards each other. I would have taken it seriously at his age, and I wasn't allowed to watch it until I was 17. Heck, I've only just started watching South Park! The problem is, that when an obsession with ANYTHING takes hold, it can be nigh on impossible to get off it, so if you do decide the banning route is best, prepare for a rough ride! It depends if he's started to imitate the language/behaviour really.

What worries me is that the special interest is the driving force of the aspie.

We don't pick them.
Adults can't pick them for us.

They just happen...

family guy may be a special interest particularly because you describe it as "fit inducing" when it's turned off".

You think this is a "bad" special interest... think again... I've heard of aspies who have special interests in such bad subjects as; Faeces/Toilet, Sex, Guns. I'm always a little worried that my kids could develop a "really wrong" special interest. Any television is good by comparison.

You could consider going the other way.

Instead of turning it off, accept it for the obvious moral lessons that the show can become.

Watch the show with your son. If he likes talking about it, great... talk about it either during the adverts or after the show. Go over the moral (and immoral) choices that the characters make during the show....

Talk to your son about how a mother would feel if their husband, son, dog (?) said "xxxxxx" (something offensive from the show).

Explain to your son that it's only funny because it's so unaceptable... that people sometimes thing "wrong things in their heads" but nobody ever says or does them. The show is funny because people are doing those wrong things... (essentially it's the same as Dr Seuss's Wacky Wednesday book - except the wrong things are social, not simply silly).

It might work.

I detest Family Guy and also American Dad. Many of their plots are offensive to me.

I did like King of the Hill. The family in that show were decent working class people.

As for letting your children watch things or watching things with them...

One night I was sitting with my then 14 year old son and flicking through the channels when we landed on "Queer as Folk"
OMG!! A room full of naked guys screwing each other! Talk about family entertainment.

What ever happened to decent shows like Happy Days or The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie?

I think you should let the kid enjoy his "Family Guy". Sheltering him will lead to no good. Of course kids are going to rebel against the "rules" when they're extended to things like this. I think you're underestimating your child's intelligence if you think he'll start imitating everything he sees on here. Save the discipline for something that can truly harm him or others, not a cartoon.

Last edited by mikibacsi1124 on 22 Aug 2009, 1:54 pm, edited 3 times in total.

If you child doe snot understand that it is humoru and you should get none of your opions or values from it then maybe you need to explain that to him, otherwise he's perfectly fine watching it, the show might have it's flaws but it's intended for people mature enoguh to understand it.

The joke is mocking Peter's( the token idot of the show) social incorectness and genrelrly how stupid and ginorent he is, it's the same problem as when people think South Park is anti-cemetic because it has an anticemetic charecter.

It isen't making fun of autism it's making fun of peter's inabilty to regonise whne somone is stupid and when somone had a mental condition.