Posted on 03/23/2010 8:09:43 AM PDT by Bean74
Seth MacFarlane marked the five-year-anniversary of Terri Schiavo's court-ordered death by staging a preschool musical about it in his crass FOX cartoon, "Family Guy."
MacFarlane denied Schiavo human dignity in the March 21 episode by referring to her in lyrics sung by cartoon preschoolers as "the most expensive plant you'll ever see" and a "vegetable," and noted "her mashed potato brains."
The child who played the role of Schiavo's husband, Michael, ultimately concluded, "There's only one solution, it's in the Constitution, we've got to pull the plug."
Schiavo died on March 31, 2005, after her parents fought numerous legal battles, appealing to the United States Congress and Supreme Court, to keep her alive, against the wishes of her husband.
A chorus representing pro-life protesters sang in the show, "Terri Schaivo is kind of alive-oh. What a lively little bugger ... Terri Schiavo is kind of alive-oh, the most expensive plant you'll ever see." A "doctor" sang, "Maybe we should just unplug her."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
What a class act /sarc.
At least when South Park addressed the issue, they were more tasteful about it.
beyond disgusting
I’m beyond being offended by Family Guy. This is the equivalent of “Springtime for Hitler” in The Producers — it is self-consciously, intentionally, and conspicuously offensive. When the purpose of the joke is to offend, then to be offended is to fall prey.
If you’re up-in-arms about anything on that show, you’re playing right into the hands of the writers. They’re playing up your emotional reaction for attention and laughs. It is the televised equivalent of internet trolling — wherein any emotional reaction from a viewer, including laughs or outrage, is a win for the writer.
Move on. Nothing to see here.
SnakeDoc
This reinforces my desire to never bother watching prime time TV.
Family Guy, just like The Simpsons got old for us eons ago. I'm too apathetic to really take offense at what they do. I simply choose not to watch it.
I said it before. “Family Guy” thinks it is oh-so-hip in its dark humor. But it’s only using that as a front to hide what is basically a cheap, bullying mindset that is directed ONLY at easy targets. The show is the cultural equivalent of pushing a blind person down a flight of stairs. Real cowardly stuff.
Trey & Matt have a good sense of humor, and their outrageousness is funny because they use irony brilliantly. Seth, on the other hand, seems to think simply being outrageous in cartoon form is humor; very poor sense of it.
to do this to a woman who was disabled.....and to her family...
I'm sure her husband is getting his laughs out of it though...
this is very akin to the attitude of the Nazis.....dehumanize everyone so its not so hard for a former hard working barber for example, to suit up, goose step, and lead people into the gas chambers...
ah, the rationalization begins.....its just “funny” now...maybe even “clever” and God knows maybe its even “brilliant” to demean the disabled...they all belong in the gas chambers anyway don’t they?....
The main characters are blatantly cribbed from the Simpsons and the cutaway gags that the show is famous for have absolutely no context - they can be used interchangeably in any episode.
Each episode consists of about 3 minutes of plot and 19 minutes of filler: almost anything the writers scribble down goes straight to air and 80-90% of it misses. If they have too many cutaway gags to fit into the allotted time, they just cut-and-paste them into the next episode because they have no specific narrative value.
Parker and Stone are, of course, not offended by any of MacFarland's content. Their beef is that his show exhibits total laziness, no craftsmanship and no regard for the audience - they're offended as writers and as consumers.
Good catch, Cherry... And good point! I stand wiser. I can now imagine the impact that SP character of Timmy might have in terms of other kids using that shout out of “Timmmmy” to make fun of other classmates.
This is beyond perverted. Left me speechless.
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