The Simpsons set the original bar - so it's got to be that for me. Family Guy has lost itself since its glory days. Obviously, The Simpsons is nowhere near the quality it used to be...but it's early years are unrivalled. What a show.
Family Guy is just unnecessary murder and Meg-bashing now, carried on the back of Brian and Stewie. Chris's character is useless. The Simpsons set the bar, dipped hard for the most part of the 2000s but now is a midpoint between 90s gold and 00s crap but I find it more tolerable than FG
Although Family Guy and The Simpsons aren't exactly top rivals - The Simpsons is aimed at a younger audience, and lots of people transition from Simpsons to Family Guy at they get older.
I think the other competitors are Simpsons vs. Futurama (even though they're both Matt Groening), or Family Guy (/Cleveland Show/American Dad) vs. South Park.
The Simpsons has the longevity and more mainstream acceptance, and when it was good it was excellent. But the best episodes of Family Guy are more hilarious, edgy and well constructed than the best Simpsons episodes, so I've gotta go with my boy Seth on this one.
The Simpsons opened the door, but Family Guy took the ball and run with it and pushed the boundaries.
Has anyone seen the new Family Guy episode starring both? Hilarious!
Yup ... I loved the surreal feel of it all. Patrick Meighan is one of my favourite FG writers and he was the one who put that episode together. The Simpsons cast did a great job on it too
The older episodes of the simpsons (4th season and older!) are better than Family Guy, but Family Guy is better than the newest episodes of the Simpsons.
The Simpsons, seasons 3-10. Hilarious, intelligent and charming. Growing up with it helped shape my sense of humour, and taught more about pop culture than school ever did.
Family Guy is still great though, but not as good as classic Simpsons.
The Simpsons opened the door, but Family Guy took the ball and run with it and pushed the boundaries.
If by 'took the ball and ran with it you mean' you mean borrowed moments of The Simpsons brilliance and spun them out into hours of repetitive, unimaginative gags, in place of actual jokes then I agree.
Seasons 2-8 of The Simpsons are essential, stone cold classics almost without exception. 1 is quite different but essential also to appreciate its roots and how it evolved. 9-11 vary wildly in quality and you can probably locate it jumping the shark thereabouts. Almost everything after may as well not be The Simpsons. The animation has lost its humanity and flamboyance and the characters are reduced to wacky impersonations of themselves... and then of course Homer gets <Family Guy>RAPED BY A PANDA<\Family Guy> lololol
Family Guy had its moments but there's hands down no comparison whatsoever between the two. Simpsons broke moulds, had a joke rate throughout a couple of hundred episodes that's probably unsurpassed, had a central family with humanity and charm and created dozens of the most brilliant, unforgettable side-characters ever. They also managed to churn out a couple of hundred episodes before the invevitable decline in quality, whereas FG managed 50 odd.