Family Guy to Reach 150 Episodes

Here's my piece on this Sunday's momentous Family Guy episode, found on TheTwoCents.com.

Family Guy Actress Responds to Palin

Now here's an interesting turn of events I found off of CNN.com: Andrea Fay Friedman, the actress who voiced the character that sparked an angry response from Palin, has down syndrome, and saw the scene as nothing but satire.Friedman states that she was simply playing a role, and the line was part of that role, which she had fun doing. She also goes on to say that her parents raised her to laugh and have a sense of humor, which is part of having a normal life.

I would have to agree, especially since I do not feel that the episode showed her character in a negative way (except for being a bit high maintenance.) I'm beginning to wonder if Palin saw the episode at all, or just merely heard about it. What do you all think?

Question of the Day 2/19/2010

Taking a cue from Sarah Palin (and this will probably be the only, ONLY time I do that) and the whole Family Guy situation, how far is too far for a comedy to go? Is there a line that should be drawn? Comment away!

Palin angry over Family Guy reference

Former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has a beef with Family Guy. According to the Associated Press article I read, this past weeks episode featured a character with Down Syndrome, who while on a date with Chris makes a statement that her Dad is an accountant and her mom is the former Governor of Alaska. Palin refers to the reference as "another kick in the gut" and later asks "when is enough enough?"

To get this out of the way, I do understand Palin's position. As someone who worked with children with disabilities, it is very hard for me to see jokes at their expense, especially on T.V. However, after watching the episode, it really didn't seem like an attack on her son Trig, and wasn't necessarily a negative portrayal of people with Down Syndrome. The character seemed high functioning, and wasn't all that different from any high-maintenance, high school age girl. In fact, they've done a lot worse with other groups before. Does that make it right? Maybe not, but if they were to apologize for this, then they need to apologize to the following groups that were also made fun of in the episode:

The British
American Public(for thinking Thornton Melon was a real person)
Harry Truman
Medium
Scandinavians

Even though I don't think it's something that should be blown out of proportion, I have the feeling it will be. Fortunately for Family Guy fans, the show still produces viewers, so I don't see it going away any time soon.

My DVR Moment of Last Week

Hands down, this weeks honor goes to The Good Wife and the fabulous Julianna Margulies. Her final scene with an appropriately creepy and excellent Dylan Baker, in which the notions of trust and appearance are called into question, left me with chills. There's a reason why she keeps winning the recent string of awards folks, and if she has more scenes like that, Magulies could continue in the future.

Runner-up: Meg Returns Home on Family Guy

I don't know if I could explain the sight of a totally different Meg walking into her home after spending three months in jail, so I'll just let the video below do it for me. Viewer discretion is advised for some foul language.




Missed Moment: Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino at the Grammy's. I tune in and out of this ceremony every so often, but I would have loved to have seen if he lived up to Reality King comment that was made a while back. Anyone know where I can find the video?