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| If you don't like it, don't watch
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When The Family Guy (seen here in Australia on the Seven Network) first premiered (in the States) in it's now cozy 8:30pm Sunday night timeslot, the daily tv readers, and presumably the rest of the television viewership, were split down the middle. Some felt the show was way too much of a Simpsons rip-off, while others were thrilled by its daredevil approach to primetime television.
Last Sunday, The Family Guy made some more enemies with what is being panned as a "tasteless joke." The scene in question involves a kid who has the head of his John F. Kennedy Pez dispenser blown off by a stray bullet then says "Whoa, it's a good thing I have my Robert Kennedy dispenser.
Not only that, Sunday's The Family Guy vaguely bleeped out some profanity even the untrained ear could pick up.
"There's no question it was a tasteless joke," said Doug Herzog, Fox head honcho who wasn't in charge when the script was approved some eight months earlier.
Herzog, a MTV and Comedy Central veteran, didn't exactly defend the joke, he did refer to The Family Guy as a "great show" and a "funny show" eloquently adding, "a lot of comedy, and some of the best comedy often offends."
Now clearly, any reader who has been to this site more than once knows our position on questionable material. We're all for it. If you don't like it, don't read or in the case of The Family Guy, don't watch. However, one Fox producer who shall remain nameless for now, made a good point.
"The Family Guy is in the wrong timeslot."
The argument being: if they want to shock people with comedy that offends, they should do it later when the kiddies have gone to bed.
If the Kennedy bit offended, "we certainly apologize as a network," said Herzog. "It's something we would be keeping an eye on in the future."
So the larger question remain unanswered: Should The Family Guy move to a later timeslot and allow Futurama to follow the Simpsons or should people just lighten up?
—John
