It's no surprise that Family Guy has never won an Emmy. If it ever did, the people who voted for it probably wouldn't be able to look themselves in the mirror the next morning.

It doesn't fit the criteria. It's not snobby, it doesn't have a deep social message to convey, and it lacks diversity.

But that doesn't matter to Peter. He wants the show to win an Emmy anyway and on Family Guy Season 16 Episode 1 he tries to fit the show into a mold it will never be able to conform to.

Family Guy shouldn't complain too much. Though it hasn't been nominated as a show since 2009, it has won in other categories, most notably for Best Voice-Over Performance which Seth MacFarlane won again this year (that makes four for him).

Still, the Emmys are a funny thing. Most of the shows that win, I've never seen, and those I have seen don't hold my interest. I can't connect with them which probably means I'm a low cog on the totem pole of life and especially so since I find great pleasure in watching a show like Family Guy.

Like Peter says, it's the same shows that win over and over again. It's boring and still doesn't compel me to watch any of those shows.

The ethnic characters on these Emmy-winning shows aren't exactly rocket scientists are they?
Peter

Permalink: The ethnic characters on these Emmy-winning shows aren't exactly rocket scientists are they?

But the Emmy is a prestigious award that looks good on your resume and on your living room shelf. And Peter wants one of them, so he comes up with a plan to copy award-winning shows to try and win one.

It takes on Modern Family (bringing in Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, and Sofia Vergara to guest voice) going so far as to show how ridiculous the award process is when Burrell is handed an Emmy for doing nothing but choking a rubber chicken.

It's great that some of the cast was willing to poke fun at themselves and their show.

This Emmy thing goes deep. The same people win year after year after year. It's like there's some kinda secret society that takes all the awards and is keeping us from getting one.
Peter

Permalink: This Emmy thing goes deep. The same people win year after year after year. It's like there's...

Though Family Guy didn't try to do an episode The Big Bang Theory style, I loved that it made the list. Chris playing Sheldon had me rolling. If you guys only knew how much I hate that show, you'd understand why I was so giddy to see it ripped apart in the way only Family Guy can do it.

I mean, what is the deal with people loving that show so much? I don't get it.

Peter goes through the gamut of Emmy-award winning shows to try to win the show the award but to no avail. He's finally contacted by Bill Maher (guest voiced by the man himself) who tells him about a secret society that is basically blacklisting Family Guy from ever getting a golden statue.

When he gets home he finds members of this secret society, including Alec Baldwin and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in his living room who tell him Family Guy is garbage. Shonda Rhimes tells him the show lacks diversity, and Aaron Sorkin says the show is the king of rip-offs and attempts to explain what "real" writing is.

Peter will never be part of the club, and isn't that what the Emmys are all about anyway? Being part of some exclusive club that only certain people can get into?

Isn't that going against everything the Emmys are supposed to represent? Where's the diversity when the same shows win over and over and over again?

And why do we have to be force-fed on what's a good show and what isn't? Don't we get enough of that with critics who tell us a show sucks when in actuality it's pretty darn good (e.g., The Orville)?

Speaking of diversity (way back a couple of paragraphs ago), one of my favorite parts this episode was the girl who told her friend they needed to consider diversity before continuing to watch a show.

Like all television viewers, our first priority before deciding to continue watching a show should be whether or not it features enough diversity.
Female TV Viewer

Permalink: Like all television viewers, our first priority before deciding to continue watching a show...

I love that Family Guy made a statement on the stupidity of that way of thinking. Shouldn't a show be watched for its enjoyment factor first? Am I a bad person if I don't check a show's diversity before I watch it? Or worse, actually like it?

Family Guy is always going to be Family Guy. It's crude and rude and funny as hell. It says the things we all wish we could say, but don't. That's what makes it so great. It doesn't need to win a ridiculous award to be relevant. It just needs to be itself.