Also, I had a friend who once said “People who like Tintin like Asterix, but people who like Asterix don’t like Tintin”.

Is the same true for South Park and Family Guy? You’ll find people who like both and people who like just South Park but it is rare to find people who like Family Guy and dislike South Park*.

Agree? Disagree?

(*Except maybe Dishy as it is VERY clear Dishy hates South Park. He he he )

You are wrong about the end of society.

Society will actually end because of MySpace and Twitter, not Family Guy.

It’s just mindless, pointless garbage. And before you say it, no it is not that same with South Park. There is always some sort of level there.

Hmmm … the Oprah’s Vagina episode wasn’t pointless and random? The Terance and Phillip episode wasn’t just throwing out a bunch of fart jokes?

All that having been said, I am clearly in the minority when it comes to wanting more from entertainment than might please the average ten year old boy.

I find this hugely ironic, because Family Guy has many cultural references that someone that young wouldn’t pick up on. It references a huge body of film and entertainment.

Meanwhile, South Park’s cultural references never go much past what a 13 year-old wouldn’t be familiar with. Like current TV hits (24 for example), Playstations, and celebrities like Tom Cruise.

Family Guy isn’t always great, and doesn’t have much of a plot, but when the jokes are funny, they are way funnier than any joke ever told on South Park.

South Park is consistently sort-of-funny, but rarely laugh-out-loud funny. Family Guy is often paoinfully unfunny, but also often gut-bustingly funny.

I say again: Stewie doing Bill Shatner? Osama bin Laden doing stand-up comedy? Peter’s personal theme music?

How can you not piss yourself at those?

It’s random and abstract and just kind of pointless. It really is just horrible.

To me its a sign of the end of civilization. You come this far and this is the kind of output you end up with. It’s like an all you can eat restaurant – the food is not great, but if you don’t care it will fill you up eventually. Or the increasingly dumb selection of “films” that get produced, like ‘Charlie’s Angels’ or ‘Tomb Raider’ (and I imagine 300 – although I am yet to see it), films that deliberately have no plot, the idea being who needs a plot if it looks great? Long action set piece after action set piece, all style, no substance. Shhh, make it loud and fast and nobody will notice. What the plot makes no sense? It’s ok, here’s a car chase.

That’s Family Guy’s entire M.O., cram as many jokes in there as possible. Just put more and more and more jokes in, some will have to stick. This reminded me of the time… insert unrelated gag… Ohh, here’s a joke about masturbation, etc etc.

It’s just mindless, pointless garbage. And before you say it, no it is not that same with South Park. There is always some sort of level there.

All that having been said, I am clearly in the minority when it comes to wanting more from entertainment than might please the average ten year old boy.

And you are right Dishy, I love heaps of stuff many other people couldn’t stomach. And each to their own. Some of my best friends are Family Guy lovers. So you guys keep enjoying.

I’ll just sit quietly in my corner, weeping for the end of society…

I am a South Park fan. I have seen every episode at least twice, most more than that. I own much South Park merchandise.

My question to Ross was not really a “challenge” to explain why South Park is worth watching. I know it is funny. It was just that the objection to Family Guy on the grounds of an inadequate explanation is not really sufficient. Not every episode is great – but neither is every episode of South Park or The Simpsons.

Ross and Josh ask “why so much love for Family Guy” – but I ask why there is so much hate? I mean, I couldn’t sit through an episode of The Amazing Race, but I don’t go around dissing the show, or people who like it. Each to their own. I even put up with Josh gushing over it on the podcast without hitting the fast-forward button.

And Riley – Family Guy is puerile? It’s predictable? Do you like South Park? It’s goddamn puerile and predictable. In fact, it’s marketed as being puerile. But that doesn’t mean it’s not funny.

I’m also not sure how you can imply that Family Guy is more predictable that South Park. With a South Park episode, you can usually predict the entire storyline from the opening minutes. I’d really like to see you predict the tangential cut-away scenes from Family Guy. They may often be unfunny, but predictable is one thing they certainly are not. Unless you’re a Manatee, I guess.

Anyway, you can be sure to see another dozen or so pages of my ranting about South Park in days to come, but for now I leave you with a little treat from Matt and Trey:

Universal Studios Employee Video

Enjoy!