FOX's Sunday Night Lineup

THE SIMPSONS – Quality entertainment in whatever season this is for them (14? 15? 16?) This wasn’t the best episode ever but had some great moments and could be rewatched easily. The Simpsons might have had a lull two or three years ago, but last season came up with some incredible episodes. I guess the only criticism you could make is that they don’t hit them out of the park every time. But even mediocre Simpsons is better than most else.

THE WAR AT HOME – Ye gods. I haven’t heard a laugh track this bad….well, ever. I was in awe of this show. It was so colossally poor in its presentation, you just HAD to think they were doing it on purpose. The subject matter (worried one son is “a gay” and the daughter is dating a black guy) seemed so old-fashioned. And yet, I watched it again, if only to make someone else (my sister) sit through the awful. And we actually laughed. I counted 12 laugh-out-loud lines. But it’s soooooo bad. I’m willing to watch one more episode under the “Train Wreck” theory, but after that….

FAMILY GUY – Hands down the best episode of the night. The bit with Helen Keller? That’s the best “go on and on forever” joke FAMILY GUY has ever done (way better than that stupid time Peter hurts his leg). Brian trying to impress his black date by assuring her that he’s against slavery and if offered a slave, “I would say no.” And the two Flintstones gags, each one so out of bounds! Loved it. This is a classic episode, probably in their top five of all time.

AMERICAN DAD – The show is TONS better than when it premiered, and pretty watchable now, but still pales in comparison to FAMILY GUY, which is so obviously is taken from. The alien simply doesn’t work, and the fish…(Although: they had the fish doing DVD commentary during several scenes, which was pretty funny.) All in all, after a night of comedy, this isn’t the end of the world, but why couldn’t we end with FAMILY GUY?