Family Guy, Vol. 5

What can be expected from Fox, always wanting more money for less. With Family Guy, a once lamented and controversial television series that was brought back to life with DVD sales, and rumors of it's cutting edge sense of humour has returned with half of a season with volume five. Although, I am a long time collector, I got the first two season the day it was released and maintained my collection the past few years. I've enjoyed all the seasons on a sliding scale, with the second and third seasons being the best and funniest. Thereafter, the franchise became more outrageous and more predictable, relying greatly on the segways and clips that dealt with movies and other social issues. The show is still one of the funniest out there, but its starting to show its age with some episodes that aren't anything more then a whole bunch of American cultural references taken to extremes. But I must admit the episode, Road to Irag starts off funny, but slowly falls short of the intended anti-war message. There are laughs to be had with this series of episodes, but slowly the franchise has started losing its effectiveness; whereas South Park has maintain its scathing sense of humour. But devotees will buy this set regardless, although the up-start show has become part of the established line-up with the Simpsons and King of the Hill found on Fox. It's still funny at times, but not as it once was seasons previous.

At first, when I looked at all the episodes stated on the DVD 3-pack, I noticed that there were episodes missing! What is up with that? I agree with the other reviews, it is a rip off paying so much for only half a season... and when is the rest of the season going to come out? Are they going to put those few episodes on another 3 DVD's? I have a suggestion for those who made the DVD's... next time, do like the simpsons and south park and put ALL the episodes of that season on the DVD's.

So, first I would like to say that I was just as disappointed as others who bought this DVD and discovered that I paid full price for a half season! I obviously was not very pleased to begin with, because it was obviously just a money grab and I was the one who got screwed.

Anyways, to the actual episodes.

This is where I found Family Guy to be extremely hit and miss. Some episodes like Barely Legal were really good but others just seemed to go on and on. I'm usually not a stickler for story lines in cartoon shows but some of the stuff they did with these characters really sets the show back. The last episode where Lois ******spoiler (skip ahead)******* actually cheats on Peter ****end spoiler***** just begged the question as to what the heck those awful writers were thinking. Another one is an airplane gag, where they show bunnies on fire, then a guy on fire, then the guy running home and beating his wife. While totally irrelevant to the actual story, it really did kind of make me uncomfortable in a bad way for the show. I was also not a fan of Peter finding his "true" father either. Watching those so-called "gags" were vile and I actually felt uncomfortable watching the show because there are some boundaries that a show just can't cross so that it can retain it's quality. Family Guy crossed those lines just to make a story, at the expense of its quality and fans like me.

That said, I still think some of these episodes have redeemable qualities that any die-hard Family Guy fan would enjoy. Mother Tucker, Stewie Loves Lois, Saving Private Brian and many others are really good. I would say they are on-par with episodes from past seasons.

Overall, I really felt that some episodes and so-called gags crossed a really big line that I don't think should have ever occurred. I found them to be even quite vile, if it weren't for some really great episodes, the rating would be a 2. The commentaries are also watchable, which is a nice touch, but remember that there are only 13 EPISODES.

I probably wouldn't recommend this box set to fans because the blatant screwing over of the fans by charging 45 bucks for a half season and a useless bonus disc that I've never opened isn't worth it, unless the price is drastically reduced, then I would recommend it.