Next on Fox...

From those who wonder if the well of reality shows has been tapped dry we bring you “More to Love” on Fox. A show that mixes “The Bachelor” and “The Biggest Loser” into a smorgesboard of…well, smorgesboards. Yes, someone pitched a dating show for fat people and got it picked up by a major network. Now I am all for reality shows featuring people who are, you know, actually real. We don’t need to see the vapid barbie dolls on the dating shows unless it is The Rock of Love Bus where they really are needed to keep the skank factor at an appropriate level. But can we do it with a little more subtlety and tact? Do we need to identify the contestants as losers at the start?

So when I listed my influential television shows last night I specifically left off Family Guy. That might come as a surprise to some people as I clearly find the first few seasons of the show to be exceptionally good. The problem is, and last night’s episode really showed it, that the quality of the show has just fallen off a cliff recently. There is a pretty good reason behind it. With much of the writing staff siphoned to American Dad (and the horribly ill-conceived Cleveland spin-off) they just don’t have the same group of people working in the pitch room.

But really what the show is doing wrong is that they are going away from the sure fire comedy and trying to be cutting edge but only being offensive in the process.

Last night they had the entire cast of Star Trek The Next Generation on as guest voices and instead of featuring them they were reduced to being a part of the sub plot. Exactly why they were placed in that role, when they were the focus of all the advertising and promotions, is beyond me. If you can’t write a 22 minute plot featuring Stewie and Star Trek you probably shouldn’t be working in Hollywood. I can’t really complain about what they wrote either as those scenes were the funniest of the night. And yes, I do want a McDLT.

But mainly the main focus was on Meg and the classic abuse Meg scenarios that have been taking place for years. And to be honest, if you beat up on a character for long enough it stops being funny and simply becomes mean. Because at some point that character must win and Meg will never win. Peter will just be mean and abusive and at some point in starts being more abusive than funny. Homer can choke Bart because Bart gets the upper hand. Bad things can happen to Cartman because we know Cartman deserves what is coming to him. But Meg’s flaw is being stuck in a show with writers who have no clue what to do with her character so they just abuse her. It actually makes the show difficult to watch.

Add in the times they go over the line with some of the other jokes (yes, the Shatner joke was tasteless) and Family Guy just isn’t nearly as good as it could be. We need more Brian and Stewie. Comedy is really tough to write and it is a fine line you have to toe but I hope the show gets back to being what it used to be.