Season Review: Family Guy Season 13

Posted on May 27, 2015May 25, 2015 by Tommy North

That’s a wrap on another season of Family Guy! This has been quite an interesting season to say the least. When we picked up with the Griffins back in the Fall, we were also simultaneously picking up again with the Simpsons. The two finally met in a crossover that had everybody talking. The quality of the episode is for debate, but there is no denying it was a creative way to kick off the season. Fast-forward to May and we are now ending another chapter of the Family Guy story. How was the season overall? Well, let’s get into the review!

Crossovers are a hot commodity on television. Arrow and The Flash have been doing it regularly, and we even saw Futurama and The Simpsons have one of their own. None was more talked about than when The Simpsons met Family Guy. Admittedly I thought it was a weak episode. It was a case of loving ketchup and chocolate pudding. Each excellent in their own respect, but they just shouldn’t be together. The two styles of comedy didn’t blend well and I ultimately thought that the Family Guy humor overshadowed what The Simpsons brought to the table. The Simpsons characters felt like hallow shells of themselves, and it wasn’t pleasant to watch.

Moving on with the rest of the season, it was a really bumpy road. There were good episodes sprinkled into this season, but overall I found myself giving the show some pretty low scores. As a matter of fact, this season provided “Stewie is Enceinte”. This episode received a 1, and that is the lowest score I have ever given while writing for Bubble Blabber. The episode focused on Stewie impregnating himself with Brian’s DNA. This results in human/dog hybrids that looked grotesque, and the whole episode was simply disturbing.

After that episode, it soon got to the point where I wasn’t looking forward to the show on Sunday nights anymore. But there was still hope…

Towards the end of the season there was a bit of a resurgence A few scores of seven snuck in there, and that good by my standards. But very rarely this season did I give the show an eight or nine. But as I look back at the season, I can see that there weren’t as many terrible episodes as I thought. The bad ones do stick out, but the most common score I gave was a seven.

Going into this season I was very excited for the show. After The Cleveland Show ended, and the Browns came to Quahog, I had always imagined the casts merging on a more pronounced level but the Brown family has almost been non-existent this season. The new relationships I thought would emerge didn’t happen. The Stewie and Rallo adventure I had in my head didn’t end up happening (I won’t give up hope though). I think they missed an opportunity to bring established and recognized characters into Family Guy. The opportunities will always be there, but I feel like they should strike while the iron is hot.

Overall, this season didn’t up being as bad as I imagined in my head. There were definitely a lot of low points, but there were a fair share of highs. Next season I hope the show does something to keep itself fresh. Killing Brian and having a crossover with The Simpsons may be good for ratings for one night, but having a consistently good show will ultimately be more beneficial in long-run. Am I excited for next season? Honestly, I’m not. But that presents an opportunity for the show to surprise me in a good way. I’ve said it before, but when the Family Guy writers are some of the best, and I think they have a lot of great episodes left to crank out. Personally, I’d love to see some parodies. Since Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars, the chances of Family Guy doing the prequels has been slim to none, but maybe there is another great franchise Family Guy can take a crack at.