When you watch Family Guy, whichever season, you must realize what you are watching: an animated show without a plot that is built around slapstick jokes and pop culture references. If you expect to be moved by it, or to learn something by it, then you will be severely disappointed. A great show pulls at your emotions; it makes you feel connected to its characters and it makes you care week-to-week about what happens. Family Guy doesn’t have that effect, but it doesn’t try to. It knows what it is, its fans know what it is, and the show will never be a great show, it will just be itself, and it’s perfectly fine with that.

The show revolves around Peter Griffin (voiced by Seth MacFarlane), an overweight, dim-witted alcoholic and his family. Lois (Alex Borstein) is his wife, Meg (Mila Kunis) is his daughter, and Chris (Seth Green) and Stewie (MacFarlane) are his sons. And then there’s the family’s talking dog Brian (MacFarlane). Family Guy uses the same jokes over and over again, such as pokes at Peter’s weight, or the fact the Lois is perceived to be too good looking to be with Peter, or how everyone on the show hates Meg. The show lives off of these and other running gags, but its audience seems to be content with it.

Part of the reason the show isn’t terrible despite its flaws is Seth MacFarlane’s genius. In addition to being the primary voice actor on the show, MacFarlane is the head writer and producer of the show. He constantly makes fun of Hollywood celebrities through the show, and can create hilarious moments seemingly out of thin air. What people perceive as immature comedy is the backbone of the show; the term it’s-so-stupid-it’s funny applies. It can be when Stewie (an infant) takes steroids and works out at the gym, or when Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase star as themselves, who are celebrity spies for the government. MacFarlane can make these moments really funny, and while he uses shock value too often, he can add some very funny one-liners.

You may have noticed that I didn’t mention many specific details about Volume 8, but that’s primarily because Volume 8 hardly differs from Volume 7, and Volume 7 hardly differs from Volume 6, and so on. There’s no plot or character development to distinguish between volumes and the comedy draws from the same sources each time. The only thing that changed is that the animation itself is of better quality in later seasons. There are some bad episodes, and some hilarious episodes, but you’ll find the average episode will make you’ll laugh, and then you’ll completely forget about what you laughed at and what even happened in the episode. Also, the show often takes notable scenes from movies and other television shows and puts its characters in these scenes as a joke, but I have found that not many people get these references, as the average person who watches Family Guy isn’t a 50-year- old movie buff. But I guess that’s the world we live in, where great movie moments get replayed by a cartoon and the homage goes right over the head of most of the audience.

For what it is, Family Guy is actually pretty funny. It caters to a specific audience (teenagers and young adults), but with all the garbage that’s on television these days, even with its many flaws and drawbacks, Family Guy isn’t difficult to watch.