Thoughtnami Classics | Family Guy Is Not A Copy Of The Simpsons

Originally Posted 12/14/05 by Jeff Harris

There are a lot of people who are foolishly under the impression that Seth MacFarlane's immensely popular series Family Guy is a carbon copy of The Simpsons. I'm not talking about the people who just hate Family Guy like John Krisfalusi, many former Spumco employees like animation journalist Amid Amidi, or the South Park creators. The folks behind The Simpsons have countlessly thrashed Family Guy on numerous occasions, even going as far as calling Peter Griffin a Homer Simpson clone in a segment of the once-funny Treehouse of Terror specials. A recent issue of the once-funny Mad Magazine called Family Guy "the most original show on television" while portraying the core cast dressed as The Simpsons. Heck, this past weekend, they even called American Dad a copy of the copy of the Simpsons.

But that's not really fair of The Simpsons nor people who believe that Family Guy is a copy of The Simpsons. I mean, I could easily go as far as to say The Simpsons isn't all that original either, which is essentially a copy of a copy itself. Despite what Time Warner may do, there are millions that still remember The Flintstones, which was in itself a copy of The Honeymooners (the good one, not that recent movie revamp).

You know, let's just compare the core casts of both shows:

Homer Simpson: A scheming, egotistical, lazy, oafish, loud idiot.
Peter Griffin: An idiotic, vain, hard-working jackass stuck on pop-culture references, not unlike Martin on the late great HBO series Dream On.

Marge Simpson: A loving, religious, common-sense, hard-working mother.
Lois Griffin: A caring, slightly perverted, reasonable, restless MILF.

Bart Simpson: An underachieving, troublemaking, popular brat.
Chris Griffin: A despondent, creative, quiet, shy kid.

Lisa Simpson: A musically-inclined, sad, moralistic voice of reason.
Meg Griffin: A socially-inept, slightly vain, annoying vain.

Maggie Simpson: A quiet baby.
Stewie Griffin: A brilliant, tyrannical, matricidal, slightly effeminine baby.

Santa's Little Helper: A stupid dog.
Brian Griffin: An educated, culutured, creative voice of reason.

Seriously, why do people want to make themselves think that Family Guy is a Simpsons clone? The only thing that are similar in both show is that they're both shows centered on a nuclear family. That's it. People don't call King of the Hill a Simpsons clone, probably because KOTH is a live-action series that just happened to be animated. Now I've heard people like Amid complain about Tokyo Godfathers (one of my favorite animated films ever) "not fully utilizing animation," yet giving this show so much of a pass. It's frustrating.

But in conclusion, Family Guy is not a copy of The Simpsons. Family Guy is just an animated edition of "I Love The/Best Week Ever."