Futurama and South Park...

[on:]

Futurama and South Park... are these the only adult cartoons NOT centred around a family, that have 'made it'?

By adult cartoon, I mean a half-hour sitcom that happens to be a cartoon, which is not aimed at children, ie - simpsons, family guy etc.

Just look at all of the mainstream adult cartoon sitcoms..... simpsons, family guy, american dad, cleveland show, king of the hill - these are ALL centrered primarily around a family (although you could argue that KOTH is a group of friends, ie hank dale bill boomhaur - but i'd still call it family-centred more than anything)

And then there's Futurama and South Park. Futurama is obviously a workplace rather than a family. And South Park is primarily just a group of friends (with families just involved now and then).

Are these the only 2 adult cartoon sitcoms that 'made it' which are not centred round a family?

I know that there's other adult cartoon sitcoms not centred around a family. For example, Archer (workplace), and Sit down shut up (workplace). But these aren't famous enough to the degree of futurama, south park, simpsons, FG, AD, cleveland show, and KOTH...

[Reply #1 on:]

Planet Express is a family - and has futurama "made it"?

[Reply #2 on:]

Planet Express is a family - and has futurama "made it"?

Futurama has definitely 'made it' in my eyes, as it's extremely well-known. It's on TV like every day, and just about everyone has heard of it. The same cannot be said for shows such as 'The PJs' or 'The Critic' etc.

Planet express is like a family in a metaphorical sense - but in technical terms it's a workplace. Look at the simpsons, Homer = father, Marge = wife, Bart = son, Lisa = daughter. Futurama is not like that. Fry and Prof are related, but it's not the same.

[Reply #3 on:]

hopie4ever is clearly referencing that professor line, the episode in which it is I've unfortunately forgotten.

But I'll agree it has certainly "made it" - that the 4 movies prompted a new season shows that it is well loved by many.

[Reply #4 on:]

Of course Futurama has 'made it'.  It's making a comeback, is it?   You're right about one thing, it's one of the only adult cartoons besides South Park and maybe Dilbert that don't revolve around a dysfunctional family.   Let's face it, dysfunctional families are so over done. 

That's why Futurama and South Park are so cool.  It's not the same-old same-old like The Simpsons and Family Guy.  Glad South Park made fun of Family Guy! 

[Reply #5 on:]

Yeah, Futurama is way more original than all the others.

Whilst I like Family Guy, I absoultely DESPISE 'the cleveland show'... how did such an unoriginal idea make it onto the air?

[Reply #6 on:]

hopie4ever is clearly referencing that professor line, the episode in which it is I've unfortunately forgotten.

But I'll agree it has certainly "made it" - that the 4 movies prompted a new season shows that it is well loved by many.

It was in Future Stock. The professor said "This isn't a buisness! I've always thought of it more as a source of cheap labour - like a family."

[Reply #7 on:]

Whilst I like Family Guy, I absoultely DESPISE 'the cleveland show'... how did such an original idea make it onto the air?

Seth MacFarlane could crap in his hand, sell it to FOX as a new show and they would buy it. Anything with his name attached to it automatically makes dollar signs appear in their eyes like evil Scrooge McDucks.

[Reply #8 on:]

 In that sense the man is a genius. He's successfully applied the anti-Edsel effect—Don't waste time finding out what the public want, just figure out what sells.

[Reply #9 on:]

Regarding Seth, I love Family Guy and American Dad also grew on me eventually. But to have a 3rd show which is virtually the same thing as the previous two, with only very subtle differences, is just plain crap.

Matt Groening had 2 shows, which were both very different from each other. Seth should take a leaf from Matt's book.

[Reply #10 on:]

American Dad is very different from Family Guy and The Cleveland show!

I feel like I'm gonna explode here!

A show doesn't have to be set in a different time period to make it very different from another show by the same creator.

[Reply #11 on:]

American Dad is very different from Family Guy and The Cleveland show!

I feel like I'm gonna explode here!

A show doesn't have to be set in a different time period to make it very different from another show by the same creator.

American Dad is only very slightly different to FG and TCS. Very subtle differences. But overall it is still too similar IMO.

I said nothing about time periods. I am just so bored of the exhausted family forumula with talking pets, that Seth has re-hashed 3 times in a row now. With all the same voices. Same animation. The only difference between FG and AD that I can identify tbh is no flashbacks/cutaways, and slightly more politically motivated in AD. That's it.

No need to explode, calm down

[Reply #12 on:]

Just because American Dad is about a family doesn't make it that similar to Family Guy or The Cleveland show, by that logic, every tv show that centres around a family is only subtly different from each other. Everyone seems to just see that American Dad was created by Seth MacFarlane and centres around a family and automatically identifies it as some kind of Family Guy clone when, if you actually watch them both they're actually quite different. Even a lot of the humour is pretty different from Family Guy humour (I'm not talking about the more political stuff, both Family Guy and American Dad have quite a bit of political humour, nor am I talking about its lack of cutaway jokes)

As I've said many times before, I'm sick of American Dad getting lumped together with Family Guy when it's a much better show than Family Guy (that's not to say I don't like Family Guy, of course).