Season Review: Family Guy Season 15

Should there be more Family Guy?

It has been YEARS…YEARS since I’ve had this much hope for Family Guy. Yes, you will notice that in terms of season scores, Season 15 does not drop up or down one iota from the show’s fourteenth season, but there are real glimmers of hope in Seth MacFarlane’s mothership franchise.

Are there still episodes of Family Guy that are rather uninspiring and won’t age well? Yes, already Quagmire discovering Tinder in “The Dating Game” is an example of an episode, similar to The Simpsons’ “Looking For Mr. Goodbart“, that relied heavily on apps that aren’t even cool anymore in terms of apps. As a matter of fact, any episode that revolves around any app, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, should all be banned from here on out because none of them age well. Wanna know how many episodes I’ve had to review where the concept is all about catching the main characters doing stupid shit on Youtube in exchange for notoriety? It’s a tired premise…get rid of it.

We also got our fair share of premises revolving around “Peter does this now”, whether it’d be throwaway ideas like being a cop, a DJ, starting a string quartet, etc etc all with mixed results. Quite honestly, Fred Flintstone and Homer Simpson have pretty much claimed stake to a lot of those ideas if not derivatives heretofore that it’s hard to get excited sometimes. I will say, the one welcome addition by subtraction of this season? The lack of guest stars or at least the overabundant FOX marketing shilling said guest stars for cheap views. Totally fine with it, Family Guy ‘s got enough characters, we have no need for more.

I’m also going to miss Frank Sinatra Jr and Carrie Fisher…and I’m leaving that by itself.

But, what I’d like to see Family Guy do is really start to reap the benefits of the cast of characters that are seldom used in the show’s verse. The Simpsons have no problem going to Moe, Grampa, Chief Wiggum, and others to carry entire episodes, and I think it’s about time that Family Guy does the same. We started to see some more plots feature Cleveland’s wife Donna, but why not dig into the Swansons or the Browns a little bit and have some fun? How about some of Cleveland’s friends from Stoolbend visiting? Or maybe give Vinnie a bit more screen time?

I will say, Family Guy is starting to rediscover some of the character traits that made the show’s first couple of seasons so good. The cutaways are still there, but old-school Family Guy fans remember throwback gags like the monkey in Chris’ closet or the quick-hit jokes from Stewie that jab a couple before the producers’ setup the big ol’ belly laughs combo that made the franchise stick around for as long as it has. I think the latter is starting to creep up a bit more in Family Guy, and it certainly showed the last few episodes.

I do think we’re going to have to answer some questions next season for Family Guy. For starters, does Peter get a new boss at the brewery? Or do the producers avoid Peter at work all-together? (I hope not). I can’t imagine anyone else voicing Carrie’s “Angela”, no way, no how. And how about that “Dearly Deported”? The entire run of Bordertown was nowhere near as contemporary as was Chris doing everything he can to make his lady happy. Was it a shameless throwback to The Cleveland Show’s run of Junior/Cecilia episodes in the show’s final season? Sure, but those were good episodes and I wouldn’t be opposed to Family Guy revisiting Isabella in a similar sense, continuing to showcase a bit of a struggle between a younger generation’s attempts at trying to find true love none too dissimilar to what JC and Becky were going through on the canceled Bordertown. 

With Alec Sulkin taking more of the reigns of Family Guy back, I think the future looks bright for the franchise. The producers have so many avenues they could work with that not only could this franchise return to form by both marching forward with exciting and fresh ideas coupled with keeping the spirit that made Family Guy one of the best animated franchises around.