Please, before you read this, throw away everything you've seen or heard about Family Guy and just read this. Family Guy has recently gotten much hate and disapproval from the fans, saying that it "sold out", or that it's "preachy", or whatever. I disagree. The show's tone, characters, and overall message has changed. It's not a slapstick, pop-culture based humor show anymore. That was the first few seasons, when the humor and show had a much more "innocent" feel. [b]1[/b] That was the first three or so seasons - the "innocent" phase. McFarlane tried to structure the show like the 80's sitcoms he grew up with, with a colorful cast of recurring neighbors and a lesson at the end of each episode. It was essentially social satire, which isn't really a bad thing. But my point is that the show was more tame. Peter was an oaf, but not retarded. He was a bumbling father, but not abusive. Lois was a stern mom, but not a sociopath. Meg was a bratty teenager, not an emotionally disturbed wreck. The obvious exception here is Stewie, but even his world-domination schemes were a bit more Roadrunner-eque, with no one getting seriously hurt. [b]2[/b] This is the Family Guy that a lot of people I know grew up with, Seasons 4-7. You had a lot more celebrity voices, a lot more cutaways, and more developed characters (Stewie as a homosexual, Brian as an atheist). Surprisingly, there was also a good bit of drama. Remember "Stewie Kill Lois"? This was the phase when Family Guy really started to grow its beard, and when the overall tone changed. 9/11 jokes, ra­pe jokes, incest jokes, and many more racist jokes were thrown in. The show was more like an episode of The Simpsons. [b]3[/b] Seasons 8-11 are what most people hate about Family Guy. People don't like preachy Brian, they don't like gay Stewie, they don't like physically abusive father Peter. But I disagree. If [b]1[/b] was a comedic retelling of 80's sitcoms and [b]2[/b] was akin to a Simpsons episode, then [b]3[/b] is like the movie [i]Sideways[/i]. There's humor, yes, but most of the humor is character-based, not plot-based, and the humor itself is dark and morbid. You'd want to be part of the Griffin family in [b]1[/b] and [b]2[/b], but in [b]3[/b]? Hell no. The Griffins are extremely flawed, to the point of being evil beyond no return. I mean, look at [url=http://video.adultswim.com/family-guy/meg-hates-her-life.html]this clip[/url]. Holy fuc­king shit. Lois has always been a bit mean to Meg, but she just pretty much implied that Meg should kill herself, and even gave Meg the tools to do it. Her own daughter. That's not how Lois was in the earlier seasons. Now, some people may see this as a bad thing. I don't. The family has gotten psychotic and evil, that much is understood, but why? Well, look at the character's lives. Peter was diagnosed with mental retardation, Brian was planning to commit suicide (as seen in the episode "Stewie & Brian", which you should really see if you haven't), Lois is stuck in a dead-end marriage that proves her parents right, and Stewie, Meg, and Chris are neglected as a result. The fourth wall jokes are so common it's insane, which shows that even the characters are sick and depressed of the lives they live. Every single flaw that the characters ever did are coming down in phase [b]3[/b]. Little things that you thought were forgotten are resurfacing. You can see it in [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X49Oi2gZLR4]Quagmire's detailed explanation of why Brian is a terrible person.[/url] Quagmire mentions things in that speech that Brian did in Season 2. And we thought that the Griffin family was going to be somehow immune to everything wrong they've done? No. Probably the best episode that sums up the mood of this new era of Family Guy is "Seahorse Seashell Party", which could've acted as the series finale for the whole show. I would give you a clip, but you really should just watch the episode. It's the most dramatic, tearjerking, heartwarming thing I've ever seen, and it's on fuc­king Family Guy. If that's not a symbol that the show has become darker and more dramatic, I don't know what is. Thoughts?