‘Simpsons’ Fan Makes the Case That ‘Family Guy’ Started the Show’s Free Fall

Fans of Family Guy, but is it possible that The Simpsons dug its own grave when it tried to pull off a little reverse plagiarismo?

The rivalry between The Simpsons and Family Guy is the foundational competition in the field of animated comedy. Just as the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers serves as the bedrock for the NBA, the back-and-forth between the two Fox animated giants is the defining conflict of the genre, and anyone who loves adult-focused cartoons about middle-class families with obese, alcoholic and unintelligent fathers has strong feelings one way or another about the Simpsons vs. Family Guy cold war.

Part of the reason why so many Simpsons die-hards have such ionate hatred for Family Guy is that MacFarlane’s suspiciously similar sitcom premiered on Fox right at the tail end of what most fans consider to be The Simpsons’ Golden Age. However, as one Simpsons fan explained in their viral post in the Reddit forum r/unpopularopinions, Family Guy finding its audience right as the quality of The Simpsons took a nosedive was no coincidence, as Matt Groening’s team fell into the trap of chasing Family Guy’s popularity all the way down to the lowest common denominator.

In their post, titled, ”I Think Family Guy Is to Blame for the Fall of the Simpsons,“” Lifedrainerapp argued, ”The Simpsons hit its peak midway through the first ten seasons. And I think it’s because it’s a parody of your typical family. Most episodes were relatable and none were too outlandish to not be somewhat believable.“

“Then along comes Family Guy. With its over the top humor and ridiculous storylines,” Lifedrainerapp lamented, “The Simpsons fell into the trap of trying to stay relevant and keep up with Family Guy that it lost the charm we all grew to love.”

Simpsons fans have long asserted that, around the time the show hit double-digit seasons, episode plot lines began to grow much more outlandish and less character-focused as The Simpsons moved away from the creative blueprint that first made it a hit. In the decades since the end of the Simpsons’ Golden Age, fans have often blamed this shift toward wacky, over-the-top humor on showrunner Mike Scully, who helmed The Simpsons from Season 9 to Season 12 and oversaw the infamous “Jerkass Homer” arc.

However, on January 31, 1999, smack-dab in the middle of Scully’s tenure as Simpsons showrunner, a certain animated series premiered that focused on off-the-walls comedy and featured a much more mean-spirited patriarch than The Simpsons’ own lovable oaf. Family Guy, with all of its cutaways, fast-paced action and limited pathos, represented everything that traditionalist Simpsons fans would come to hate about their own favorite show. 

But while the timeline for The Simpsons’ decline and Family Guy’s ascension certainly lines up to Lifedrainerapp’s theory, some skeptical Simpsons fans aren’t quite as willing to blame the show’s creative deterioration on anything beyond the sobering reality that it’s really, really hard to stay funny for more than a decade. “The Simpsons has been airing for like 36 years. Literally my entire life,” one such doubter wrote in the comments of Lifedrainerapp’s post. “I think it just gets harder to write engaging humor for a show that’s already done nearly everything imaginable.”

It’s impossible to say for certain if The Simpsons would have stayed great if Fox never greenlit Family Guy, and the brain drain in The Simpsons’ writing room as respected voices like Conan O'Brien left the show certainly didn’t help with the decline. But, really, if Family Guy didn’t drag down the quality of The Simpsons, then how do you explain the unholy abomination that is “The Simpsons Guy”?