Conrad Walters posted on smh.com.au 9 months ago:

Family Guy

Amusing but the gene pool is so diluted it's hard to summon a real laugh.

What makes adult animation succeed, as this occasionally does, is merciless subversion. Tonight's menu has no shortage of targets: macho moustaches, unintelligible music lyrics, artery-clogging fast food, stem cell research, animal rights and (take a breath) the Holocaust. Ricardo Montalban guest stars as an eloquent spokesbull for a bovine concentration camp called Dacow.

I can't help but ponder, though, how different are this mum, dad and three kids from the mum, dad and three kids of The Simpsons or American Dad?

The latter is almost understandable; it shares a creator and a voice in the form of Seth MacFarlane. However, animated comedy also depends on surprise - which is why we can still smile at Homer Simpson after two decades, even if we rarely laugh out loud any more.

This amuses but the gene pool is so diluted it's hard to summon a real laugh. Without that, we may as well watch any one of the endless police procedural clones that litter the airwaves.

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