Family Guy Episode Resulted in Huge Number of FCC Complaints

It used to be South Park, but today, it’s Family Guy that likes to push people’s buttons. This fired-then-rehired show is one of my personal favorites, and while I find it hilarious most of the time, I can understand why some people get up in arms that it’s broadcast on a Sunday evening, opposite the likes of The Simpsons. But, that’s something I also like about it… that it pushes the envelope – sometimes a wee bit too far.

There’s one episode that aired last season that actually didn’t do too much for me. In fact, I’d have to say it is one of the very few Family Guy episodes I didn’t like. It wasn’t the subject matter, but the fact that the jokes just seemed forced, and it was clear that the writers wanted to really push things a bit too far, to stir up some controversy.

They were successful. The episode was “Family Gay”, and it didn’t just feature one bad joke, but plenty. It kicks off with a mentally disabled horse, continues along to Peter winding up at a gay orgy and finishes with Mort throwing the previously-mentioned horse (now dead) through the Griffin’s window. There’s a lot that happened in between, but rest assured, some jokes were extreme, and gross.

Interestingly enough, it was this episode that spawned a massive, and negative, response. To put things into perspective, during the month prior to the show’s airing, the FCC received a total of 505 complaints, regarding various things that aired on TV that someone disagreed with. As a result of this particular Family Guy episode, the FCC received a staggering 179,997 during the month it aired.

Thankfully for the producers of the show… this kind of publicity isn’t exactly going to hurt anything.

As is usually the case with these campaigns, PTC gave its readers the chance to “take action now” by filling out a pre-scripted FCC Web complaint with details about the show, enabling a potentially limitless number of champions of decency to file objections with the Commission. And as we’ve noted in the past, it’s easy to pile the gripes on, because the FCC does not require complainers to certify that they’ve actually seen the program in question.