All in the Family Guy

There have been countless family-based television comedies throughout the decades of the technological innovation. Almost all of them consist of similar aspects in which make them a family show, such as personal conflicts amongst the households members or just the average domestic hardships that the average person can relate to. This is indeed what makes this type of program popular. In 'All in the Family' Archie and his family dealt with many situations that are still relevant today, but it also contained more specific issues that were important when it originally aired on CBS in the 70's. For instance, in the episode from the screening two weeks ago, the characters dealt with the issue of sexual orientation. Even though this can still be considered an issue today, the subject was far more sensitive thirty years ago. Another issue, shows from that era dealt with was racial stereotypes, this too isn't that concerning of an issue.

Almost twenty years later we have another type of family comedy. Seth MacFarlane pitched his animated family sitcom to Fox and it began airing in the end of the 90's. 'Family Guy' was similar to All in the Family, in that it usually involves the father character (Archie and Peter Griffin) learning something new or understanding a misconception. The Griffin family is also like the Bunker family in that they both are average American families who sometimes disagree but in the end always have each other. Although the two may have some similarities, there are far more differences between the shows. One is that Family Guy doesn't always necessarily have a moral to every episode, sometimes they are just humor-filled. Also, when Family Guy does deal with issue of today, it often does so in a satirical manner. The major difference between the two is that television shows can get away with much more than they could in the past. Censorship isn't as harsh and shows now take more risks when it comes to violence, humor, and controverisal topics. Family Guy is a perfect example, because after three successful seasons Fox cancelled the program in 2001 thinking it's adult humor wasn't doing good enough to stay on the network. It eventually picked it back up in 2005, and is now one of the highest rated shows on television. This just goes to show that television shows, including family comedies, have evolved to be suited for the time period and what may have been relevant or offensive in the 70's isn't in modern times.