Season 21 of Family Guy has unfortunately reinforced the sentiment that the show’s best days are long behind it. While once known for its boundary-pushing humor and sharp wit, the latest season struggles to recapture that spark, instead delivering a series of episodes that largely fail to impress. Many viewers found themselves rating episodes based on how much of the main plot they could tolerate, a telling sign in itself.
The season opened with episodes like “The Stewaway” and “Happy Holo-ween” receiving middling scores, indicating an early lack of strong direction. As the season progressed, the ratings continued to decline, with episodes such as “Bend or Blockbuster,” “The Bird Reich,” and “White Meg Can’t Jump” all landing with a thud. The latter half of the season fared even worse. Episodes like “Adoption,” “From Russia with Love,” and “A Wife-Changing Experience” plummeted in viewer estimation, culminating in a series of episodes – “Oscars Guy,” “Get Stewie,” “Love Story Guy,” “The Munchurican Candidate,” and “The Bottle Episode” – that were almost universally panned, receiving the lowest possible ratings.
This consistent downward trend points to deeper issues than just individual episode missteps. The criticism levied against Season 21 echoes complaints that have plagued the show for several seasons now. While the overt shock value of excessive gore and drawn-out cutaways may have lessened, the writers seem to have doubled down on other problematic aspects. The attempts at humor often feel repetitive and predictable, recycling old tropes and failing to innovate. Moments intended to be shocking often fall flat, feeling cheap and gratuitous rather than genuinely edgy or funny.
Furthermore, there’s a growing sense that even mediocre episodes are being undeservedly praised, creating a distorted perception of the season’s overall quality. This overrating of average content, particularly noticeable in episodes like “Adoption,” further obscures the genuine flaws that are becoming increasingly apparent. For some viewers, Season 21 reached a new low, comparable to the dreaded “TBS AD!” era in terms of overall disappointment.
Despite these widespread criticisms, there was a slight, almost ironic, silver lining. Out of a sense of morbid curiosity, or perhaps a flicker of hope for improvement, some viewers found themselves intentionally watching more episodes than initially anticipated. Even with a conscious effort to skip episodes that seemed unpromising, a surprising number were still viewed. However, this unintentional engagement hardly redeems a season that ultimately serves as another stark reminder of Family Guy‘s continued decline. Season 21 is not just a collection of weak episodes; it’s another step in a worrying trend for a show that once held a prominent place in animated comedy.
