Criticism of Family Guy

The American animated sitcom Family Guy has been the target of numerous taste and indecency complaints. One source of these complaints comes from the Parents Television Council, a conservative non-profit watchdog group that has not only expressed moral opposition to the series, but also has filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission.

In addition to criticizing the show's perceived controversial or offensive content, critics have also targeted the show's reliance on meta "cutaway sequences", as well as accusing the show of having one-dimensional characters and unoriginal storytelling. Other contemporary animated sitcoms such as South Park and The Simpsons have satirized Family Guy's writing.

The show's use of jokes and satire have led to much controversy. For example, the show's "You Have AIDS" sequence from the episode 'The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire' drew several reubukes. In a sequence of this episode, Peter and a barbershop quartet sing and dance around the bed of a man with end-stage AIDS. This angered audience members and led to protests by several AIDS service organizations. In his 2006 book The Decency Wars: The Campaign to Cleanse American Culture, author Frederick S. Lane described Family Guy as among several television sitcoms that he believed were "aimed at the darker side of family life."

The Parents Television Council, a conservative non-profit watchdog group, has published critical views of Family Guy. In May 2000, in an email newsletter, the PTC launched a letter-writing campaign to the Fox network to persuade the network to cancel Family Guy. This followed the show's return from a long hiatus in its second season, due to what the PTC claimed were "strong advertiser resistance and low ratings".Family Guy made the PTC's 2000, 2005, and 2006 lists of "worst prime-time shows for family viewing", with over forty Family Guy episodes listed as "Worst TV Show[s] of the Week". This was due to profanity, animated nudity, and violence. The series was also named the worst show of the 2006–2007 season by the PTC.

...
Wikipedia