Enough Already! 3 Meritless TV Show Criticisms That People Really Need to Stop Repeating

As the saying goes, "Everyone's a critic." Those three words are often uttered when someone voices an amount of antipathy towards something. Television shows are often subject to a lot of criticism. A lot of it has merit, a lot of it doesn't. The problem, however, is the latter half of that statement. So many meritless claims have been repeated over and over and over again about certain things in television. Even worse, they act like it's fact, but it really isn't. I myself have heard quite a few of them, but there are three that really stand out the most, and they are as follows:

3. Family Guy is a Simpsons Copycat (Among Other Biased Criticisms)

I've been a fan and loyal viewer of Family Guy since Day One: January 31, 1999. Yes, I still remember that Super Bowl Sunday premiere on Fox, and it has ballooned into a television phenomenon. Though, the road there wasn't easy. It got canceled not once, but twice between 1999 and 2002 because some people believed the show was "crude" and "unfunny." Oh boy. The immense DVD sales after 2002 said otherwise, as they led to Fox bringing the show back on May 1, 2005. Even then, the unfair scrutiny continued, and the anti-Family Guy bias is the sole reason why that show has no Emmys. Now I am not a gambling man, but I will bet money on this: the people bashing Family Guy? They've never seen a single minute of that show. If they actually took the time and, I don't know, actually watch the show, they'd love it.

Now, I've heard all of the unfair criticisms, but the main one that really grinds my gears is, "Family Guy is a Simpsons copycat." Let's get one thing straight: literally every animated primetime show that premiered since the 1990s is a Simpsons copycat! Going back as early as Dinosaurs, and later The Critic, King of the Hill, The PJs, and recent shows like Bob's Burgers and Duncanville. Yet to them, Family Guy is the only show copying The Simpsons. And people also forget that The Simpsons wasn't original. If it wasn't for William Hanna and Joseph Barbera cooking up a "modern stone-age family" over 60 years ago, we wouldn't have The Simpsons. Amazing how all people say about Family Guy is, "It's not The Simpsons," and it's also ironic, considering what's listed at #2.

2. The Simpsons Hasn't Been Funny in X Amount of Years

This statement, in my opinion, shows how narrow-minded some TV watchers can be. And it's the same statement, the only difference is the number. "This show hasn't been funny in 10, 15, 20 years!" The year that is often said to be the end of The Simpsons' point of hilarity is 1994, which is well over a quarter-century. The show has also been accused of running out of ideas and being "stale." When I hear this, I always ask the same question: if the show has been so "unfunny" for so long, don't you think Fox would have canceled the show (at least) 15 years ago?

I've asked that question a lot to people who make those claims. No surprise, I get no answer. That's a drop the mic moment right there. Let's get something straight here; The Simpsons have been on TV for 32 years. 34 years if you count the skits on The Tracey Ullman Show. Over 700 episodes have aired, and lots more are coming. They hit the big screen in 2007. None of this is accidental. None of this is happenstance, and none of this is because--as many say--"Fox wants to keep their cash cow." It's because the show is good, legendary, iconic, and most of all, outright hilarious.

1. Scrappy-Doo Ruined the Scooby-Doo Franchise

This claim annoys me the most, because there's absolutely no merit to this at all. I've been a Scooby-Doo fan for nearly 25 years, and for all of them, I've heard the same thing: "Scrappy-Doo ruined the franchise." How? How did he do that? Fans often complain about Scrappy's whole demeanor and character, and I admit, I get that. From what I've seen, Scrappy can be a bit much. I understand how his immense bravado can be a bit grating. But saying that the ruined the Scooby-Doo franchise is even more "much." Here's the story: the year was 1979. The Scooby-Doo franchise had lasted for a decade, but they needed something fresh. That's where Scrappy-Doo came in.

The maternal nephew of the mystery solving Great Dane debuted on Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo that year, but a year later, the format started changing. The beginning of the 1980s saw Fred, Velma, and Daphne removed, and the show reduced to a series of short segments featuring Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy going all of the world and always getting into jams. The mystery solving format did return in 1982, and 1983 saw Daphne return as the gang's leader, beginning with The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show, followed by The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries in 1984, and my favorite incarnation, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo in 1985. Six straight years for the franchise since Scrappy debuted. Scrappy appeared in three animated films in the late 80s, but then there's the 2002 live action movie. Oh boy.

Why the "oh boy"? Spoiler alert: Scrappy was the Big Bad in that movie. I absolutely hated that they did that. I'm a wrestling fan, I know what this is. When a character isn't popular as a face (to the point of flat out hatred), they make a villain out of said performer. That is literally what happened with Scrappy, and I hated it. To me, it was the filmmakers giving in to this notion that Scrappy ruined the franchise and saying, "You hate Scrappy? We hear you! We'll make him the bad guy so you can hate him more."

I honestly could have added more examples. Two more come to mind. One is Three Stooges fans hating Joe Besser, and the other is the whole thing about Cousin Oliver being blamed for The Brady Bunch being cancelled, but those, to me, are small potatoes compared to the unfair criticisms I've listed.

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