Jubenhimer
Member
Family Guy is still currently running, it's been on since 1999. While it no longer has a lot of the wit its golden years had, one thing that did strike was just how different its first season in particular is from the rest of the series. In fact, it may as well be a completely different show. The basic premise is the same. Peter is the somewhat dimwitted, but well-meaning father who's impulsiveness and ego gets him into trouble, with his wife Lois, dumb son Chris, awkward daughter Meg, voice-of-reason Dog Brian, and the Baby Genius Stewie, as he and the Griffins get into wacky scenarios and use cutaway jokes to emphasize points. That's where the similarities end, there's a lot of differences between Family Guy's beginnings and its current status.
* It's a lot more formulaic - All 7 episodes of the first season follow this format
- Griffins are sitting around
- Conflict arises
- Peter does something stupid or misguided
- Peter works to fix what he did wrong
- All the while, Stewie plots his own schemes as his invention of the week fixes the conflict of the episode.
- Peter learns his lesson
Later seasons broke away from this format and just started to do whatever the hell it wanted, which I think was for the better as it gave the other characters more development. But the more formulaic nature gives Season 1 a more grounded feel than the rest of the series.
* The characters - Just like how season 1 might as well be a different show, the characters may as well be different too. Peter is the bumbling father who constantly makes stupid, careless mistakes. But his idiocy in Season 1 comes more from his shortsightedness and slightly bigoted nature than just being outright moronic. He still possessed some level of intelligence, and was smart enough to get himself out of trouble. Unlike later Seasons where the characters had devolved into horrible people, Each of them had a good traits to balance themselves out. Lois was the naggy but, but caring housewife instead of a selfish sex-obssessed egomaniac. Meg was just the awkward Teenage Daughter who wanted to be acepted and not cheap punching bag for abuse. Brian was the smart, self-aware snarker who helped Peter out, rather than the shallow, hypocritical, and manipulative SJW he became later on. Chris and Stewie actually changed for the better. Chris used to be the actual idiot of the family, who was naieve and slow. But he grew into a more child-like earnest character who while still somewhat dim, is more self-aware and caring than his father who became an un-sympathetic, and borderline psychopathic Jerk. Stewie started out as an Invader Zim-type character. A delusional meglomaniac with ambitions of both Matricide and World Domination, but he was so incompetent and full of himself to actually pull those things off despite having the gadgets and weapons to do so. When the show was uncancelled, he became less and less interested in this, as he evolved more into a friend of Brian while questioning his sexuality, before finally retiring his plans in Season 6. Now he's more of an anti-hero with a compassionate side than a bumbling supervillan.
* Cutaways - Family Guy is known for its cutaway gags. Every now and again, the show will take the viewer out of the main story, to show them a quick joke or skit to make a point. But unlike modern Family Guy, which has devolved into an over-glorified Sketch comedy show as the cutaways began consuming more and more episode run-time. The cutaways were used sparingly in Season 1. Another difference is that most of the cutaways in the early seasons were just flashbacks of Peter and the others. While modern Family Guy will show you stupid random crap for a cheap laugh, Season 1 will cut to a flashback of Peter or the others in absurd situations relating to their current problem. This allowed the plot of the show to take more center stage.
* It's oddly tame - Compared to later seasons of the show, Season 1 is incredibly tame in terms of content. While later seasons won't hesitate to show you blood, gore, vomit, sex, violence, and other "Fun" subjects. Season 1 mostly is focused on normal Family problems with some slightly edgy humor thrown in. In many respects, Season 1 of Family Guy feels more like an Adult show than modern Family Guy, which is basically a kids show with a potty mouth. Granted, this could be due to FOX censors at the time being really strict on the show since it was so new. But in many respects, those restrictions bred some rather clever jokes and sight-gags that didn't have to rely on references or shock-value to be funny.
I still think Family Guy can be funny at times, even if it's nowhere near as clever or well written as it used to be, it can still get a chuckle out of my inner 14 year old. But looking at Season 1, if you were to change the title of the series, and told me it was a completely different show despite the same characters, I probably would've believed you.
* It's a lot more formulaic - All 7 episodes of the first season follow this format
- Griffins are sitting around
- Conflict arises
- Peter does something stupid or misguided
- Peter works to fix what he did wrong
- All the while, Stewie plots his own schemes as his invention of the week fixes the conflict of the episode.
- Peter learns his lesson
Later seasons broke away from this format and just started to do whatever the hell it wanted, which I think was for the better as it gave the other characters more development. But the more formulaic nature gives Season 1 a more grounded feel than the rest of the series.
* The characters - Just like how season 1 might as well be a different show, the characters may as well be different too. Peter is the bumbling father who constantly makes stupid, careless mistakes. But his idiocy in Season 1 comes more from his shortsightedness and slightly bigoted nature than just being outright moronic. He still possessed some level of intelligence, and was smart enough to get himself out of trouble. Unlike later Seasons where the characters had devolved into horrible people, Each of them had a good traits to balance themselves out. Lois was the naggy but, but caring housewife instead of a selfish sex-obssessed egomaniac. Meg was just the awkward Teenage Daughter who wanted to be acepted and not cheap punching bag for abuse. Brian was the smart, self-aware snarker who helped Peter out, rather than the shallow, hypocritical, and manipulative SJW he became later on. Chris and Stewie actually changed for the better. Chris used to be the actual idiot of the family, who was naieve and slow. But he grew into a more child-like earnest character who while still somewhat dim, is more self-aware and caring than his father who became an un-sympathetic, and borderline psychopathic Jerk. Stewie started out as an Invader Zim-type character. A delusional meglomaniac with ambitions of both Matricide and World Domination, but he was so incompetent and full of himself to actually pull those things off despite having the gadgets and weapons to do so. When the show was uncancelled, he became less and less interested in this, as he evolved more into a friend of Brian while questioning his sexuality, before finally retiring his plans in Season 6. Now he's more of an anti-hero with a compassionate side than a bumbling supervillan.
* Cutaways - Family Guy is known for its cutaway gags. Every now and again, the show will take the viewer out of the main story, to show them a quick joke or skit to make a point. But unlike modern Family Guy, which has devolved into an over-glorified Sketch comedy show as the cutaways began consuming more and more episode run-time. The cutaways were used sparingly in Season 1. Another difference is that most of the cutaways in the early seasons were just flashbacks of Peter and the others. While modern Family Guy will show you stupid random crap for a cheap laugh, Season 1 will cut to a flashback of Peter or the others in absurd situations relating to their current problem. This allowed the plot of the show to take more center stage.
* It's oddly tame - Compared to later seasons of the show, Season 1 is incredibly tame in terms of content. While later seasons won't hesitate to show you blood, gore, vomit, sex, violence, and other "Fun" subjects. Season 1 mostly is focused on normal Family problems with some slightly edgy humor thrown in. In many respects, Season 1 of Family Guy feels more like an Adult show than modern Family Guy, which is basically a kids show with a potty mouth. Granted, this could be due to FOX censors at the time being really strict on the show since it was so new. But in many respects, those restrictions bred some rather clever jokes and sight-gags that didn't have to rely on references or shock-value to be funny.
I still think Family Guy can be funny at times, even if it's nowhere near as clever or well written as it used to be, it can still get a chuckle out of my inner 14 year old. But looking at Season 1, if you were to change the title of the series, and told me it was a completely different show despite the same characters, I probably would've believed you.
