TV: "Family Guy"

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edwest2 said:
As a fiction writer myself, and a person who studies media history, all of the TV shows in the 1950s and early 1960s conformed to Christian beliefs. There was a Catholic Legion of Decency. In fact, a man would appear on TV representing the Standards and Practices Department. He would explain that they watch all of the programs to make sure they are suitable for the entire family.

Peace,
Ed
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But there isn’t a Catholic Legion of Decency anymore. Why do you keep bringing it up? It’s gone. We can wish as hard as we can for the past and bemoan all that we have lost, but it’s gone. It’s highly unlikely that it will ever come back again, barring a miracle from God.

There are various organizations, mainly Christian, fighting for decency in the media (Don Wildmon’s organization come’s to mind–American Family Association). My suggestion to those who feel so inclined is to join this organization or another like-minded organization and get busy.

I personally doubt this kind of work will do much good, although I bless you for your work and your motives.

IMO, the BEST way to effect change in the media is to become PART of the media and create the BEST entertainment (books, television, plays, dance, music, visual art, etc.)–stuff that is SO GOOD that people will come to prefer your decent stuff to the trash. Give them a reason to walk away from filth.

Here are a few examples of this. The movie Chariots of Fire was a decent, wholesome movie with a God-centered worldview, and it garnered a huge box office and many awards. The television show *Family Matters * (the show with Steve Urkel) was produced by Christians, and it was incredibly decent and incredibly popular. John Grisham is a Christian who has written many best-sellers. Jim Caviezel is a Christian actor who has enjoyed box-office success in decent movies. Kris Allen is the Christian man who won American Idol last season. Veggie Tales is a runaway success in the cartoon media, and it is created by a Christian man. Susan Boyle is achieving astonishing success as a singer, in spite of the fact that not only is she a devout Catholic, but she’s rather homely by the world’s standards.

And you don’t have to be world-famous to influence the media. My daughter is a stage manager, so you’ve never heard of her. But she can give you example after example of how she had managed to influence directors of plays to stick with a wholesome interpretation. Last summer, she and her Assistant Stage Manager prayed backstage before EVERY show–and the actors noticed and thanked them!

I have written several novels about synchronized skating (the 3rd is due out any day). They aren’t huge best-sellers because most people don’t really care about synchronized skating. But those skaters, parents, and coaches who DO read them find engaging, suspenseful, and highly-entertaining stories with a God-centered world-view, patriotism, and wholesome family values

Stop talking about the past and what used to be. It’s not here anymore and longing for it just frustrates everyone. It’s gone, never to return. We need to live in the present and brighten the corner where we are right now.
 
Cat said:
No, Futurama was definitely not a “religious” show. Oh, heavens, no!
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I didn’t say it was - I said “If Futurama were…” - which expresses a hypothetical condition which is admitted not to be how things are. If I’d written: “As Futurama is…”, you would have me 🙂 “Were” in this case is a subjunctive, for expressing unreal and purely logical - not actual, but - hypothetical situations.​

Bender the Robot was another version of Stewie Griffin the Baby, or Roger the Alien (American Dad), or Bart Simpson on The Simpsons. Same obnoxious know-it-all, and kind of dirty-mouthed at times, but somewhat loveable. He always reminded me of Don Rickles, a comedian whose humor sometimes crosses a line.

The hero on the show always had the hots for the one-eyed girl. It was overtly sexy at times. No “religion.”

The cranky old scientist kind of reminded me of Abe Simpson (Homer’s dad)–he wasn’t all there, and so his comment about the Bible, in context, would have been a joke, not a serious comment.

Futurama was a good show, and I wish they would bring it back. I personally think they just ran out of plots, kind of like Gilligan’s Island ran out of plots. I think that if they would hire new writers, they could keep going for years.
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In the UK we can still get all three programmes. But “The Simpsons” is top of my list 🙂 - it has the virtues of cartoon and of sit-com: one of the great US inventions, in its way, IMO. It was voted the best of 100 animated cartoons on Channel 4 a few years ago.​

 
To Cat -

You misunderstand me. I am not bemoaning anything. Christians who are not Catholics, and Catholics, need to know how we, as an American culture, slowly and gradually were poisoned by a media and small, radical groups to try it “their way.” Understand? And I can’t be vague about it.

People do ask: How did we (Catholics) end up like this? It is important to know how we got from Point A to Point B. We need this knowledge so that our kids don’t fall for it and so that others reading this don’t fall for it.

Back in the 1990s, I watched as a Christian minister told a crowd: “This is no longer Mr. Disney’s company.” They recognized that things had changed radically there and not for the better.

I am doing what I can at the media company I work for to be a Christian influence. And I encourage other Christian creatives to do work that is wholesome, like the Disney Company was. I grew up watching their work and it is still a standard by which I judge other creative work for kids and adults.

The Catholic Church is about miracles. Our faith needs to be put into action. But we must know how and why creative individuals were turned in a direction that is turning all media into pornography. Family Guy spits on “those values on which we used to rely” as does South Park. Too much “entertainment” is about sex, sex and more sex. Take Dexter, that lovable serial killer. You can pick up the first season at Target. Profanity, partial nudity and fornication, with the addition of dismemberment. In the 1960s, I loved talking about my favorite TV shows. Today? There are none. So what do people talk about? “Hey. Did you see that episode where Dexter cuts up that guy with a chain saw?” Oh yeah. I’m going to avoid that.

Peace,
Ed
 
ChadS said:
What about “Torchwood” and “Dr. Who” They seem to be of a higher quality than a lot of junk we have on American TV. Don’t forget about the endless talk shows and judge shows we have here daily and for hours on end.

ChadS
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We get endless food programmes & “reality” daftness. I envy you. I watch Dr. Who - but it’s not as good as the old black and white series with older Doctors. Too much is made explicit that need not be - which is as though a magician were to reveal “how it’s done”: “Doctor Who” needs a dash of the unknown, not simply the unfamiliar, to work.​

OTOH, there is a fantastic series ITV series called “Primeval” - it has dinosaurs, tension, mystery, romance. You can watch episodes on Youtube. (No, it is not like “Jurassic Park” - it’s better than that.)
 
I am a fan of “Family Guy”, and I hope that it will always be on tv. Yes, it is definitely not something you want kids to be watching, but it still has it’s funny moments. I know Christianity is often joked about in the show, but so is just about anything you could imagine. Even though the creator Seth MacFarlane is a gay rights supporter, he still makes jokes about homosexuality that would be very offensive to homosexuals. The bottom line is if you don’t like it, just don’t watch it.
 
Even if it wasn’t so blasphemous, I’ve always thought the writing was dismal.
 
I think Family Guy is HILARIOUS. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. You have no right to stop others who enjoy it from seeing it.
 
Havard said:
Even if it wasn’t so blasphemous, I’ve always thought the writing was dismal.
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One reason this country is plummeting into the Godless abyss of socialism (which Holy Mother Church rightly opposes) is that they are more fervent in demanding their right to personal sin than in giving glory to God.
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
One reason this country is plummeting into the Godless abyss of socialism (which Holy Mother Church rightly opposes) is that they are more fervent in demanding their right to personal sin than in giving glory to God.
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AMEN!!!
 
Seth Mcfarlagin (creator of family guy) is an open atheist. He’s completely corrupt in morrality as well. It’s a shame, he expesses his opinions through the character Brian the most. He’s very foolish about alot of the things he upholds. And the fact that he looks at himself as an intelligent, openminded person is a direct attack on his rationality.
Oops, Was that too harsh?😊

“The fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own opinion”
-Proverbs 18:2
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
One reason this country is plummeting into the Godless abyss of socialism (which Holy Mother Church rightly opposes) is that they are more fervent in demanding their right to personal sin than in giving glory to God.
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What does freedom of speech have to do with Socialism? Countries with hate speech and blasphemy laws are usually extremely socialist.
 
taylorc said:
What does freedom of speech have to do with Socialism? Countries with hate speech and blasphemy laws are usually extremely socialist.
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Are you having difficulty with the difference between a Caesar-based morality and a God-based one?
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
Are you having difficulty with the difference between a Caesar-based morality and a God-based one?
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Are you having trouble understanding the difference between morality and legality. I suggest you read some of Thomas Jefferson or John Locke’s writings.
 
C’mon guys, get real. This is a simple exercise. Put these in order from most offensive to least offensive:
  • The Crusades
  • The Inquisition
  • Supporting the African slave trade
  • Supporting Naziism
  • Covering up child molestation
  • A CARTOON
The reason Seth MacFarlane (and others) make fun of Catholicism, Judaism, and religion in general is that somehow people think God cares one iota about a stupid cartoon and isn’t just livid about all the other atrocities listed above.

Geeeeeet real.
 
Retort said:
The reason Seth MacFarlane (and others) make fun of Catholicism, Judaism, and religion in general is that somehow people think God cares one iota about a stupid cartoon and isn’t just livid about all the other atrocities listed above.
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I’m pretty sure you’ll end up having a lot of people here giving you just as many atrocities made by non-believers against believers. Hence, you ‘argument’ is one that only a juvenile high-schooler would make… which is pretty much Seth MacFarlane’s sense of humor in a nutshell.
 
MrZetterlund said:
Seth Mcfarlagin (creator of family guy) is an open atheist. He’s completely corrupt in morrality as well. It’s a shame, he expesses his opinions through the character Brian the most. He’s very foolish about alot of the things he upholds. And the fact that he looks at himself as an intelligent, openminded person is a direct attack on his rationality.
Oops, Was that too harsh?😊

“The fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own opinion”
-Proverbs 18:2
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The man created a hit show that millions of people watch in the era were reality tv is king. Misguided, definitely, unintelligent definitely not.
 
Birdpreacher said:
The man created a hit show that millions of people watch in the era were reality tv is king. Misguided, definitely, unintelligent definitely not.
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Hehe, depends on the field you attribute intelligence to. He may very well be a marketing genius but as a comedian, I’ve seen enough of his show to say that he gets his humor from 4chan.
 
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