characters Brian and Stewie time traveling, and lampooning American pop culture.
The feud between the shows began in April 2006 when South Park dedicated the two-part episode “Cartoon Wars” to mocking Family Guy. “Cartoon Wars Part I” poked fun at Family Guy writers, joking they were a team of manatees who randomly selected beach balls to curate storylines and jokes. This was the result of Parker and Stone growing tired of the shows being often grouped together, sharing that “you guys have one of the best shows on television — you and Family Guy" is one of the meanest things ever said to them (via Exclaim).
Initially, Family Guy writers only clapped back in their DVD commentaries, referring to their own gags as “manatee jokes.” True retaliation came in their 2009 episode “Spies Reminiscent of Us.” In this episode, Family Guy’s Peter Griffin and his neighbor Glenn Quagmire (both voiced by Seth MacFarlane) participate in an improv show where only Peter’s nonsensical gags evoke laughter from the crowd. Quagmire, who pushes classic improv one-liners like “don’t think” and “keep it going," tries to steer their comedy away from gags and more toward the deeper, character-based humor the South Park creators accused them of lacking. Though subtle, the episode was clearly mocking South Park’s criticism of Family Guy. While both shows have taken shots at each other, the creators’ comments about one another’s series reveal it may be Parker and Stone fueling the feud.
Why Trey Parker & Matt Stone Hate Family Guy
To put it frankly, ’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone aren’t fans of Family Guy because they “just don’t respect it in of writing,” Parker confessed (via Comedians ‘R’ Go). “I just want to say for the record right now, we’ve seen Family Guy… we do hate it,” he explained. On a more positive note, Stone added that he believes Family Guy has the potential to be an amazing show because you “can tell there are smart people working on it.” Despite this, they maintain the Family Guy writers need to work harder than they do; Parker and Stone joke that their opinion likely doesn’t hold any weight, given the Family Guy writers make more money than them.
Ironically, while he’s often embroiled in the feud, Seth MacFarlane has only written three episodes of Family Guy, "Death Has a Shadow," "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1," and "North by North Quahog.” MacFarlane shared that what he doesn’t “understand is the personal venom that [Stone and Parker] spew in the press about the show and about me, where it’s not in the context of a joke” (via Rolling Stone). “It’d be interesting to know where it comes from because I don’t know them.” Though Family Guy added fuel to the fire with “Spies Reminiscent of Us,” it appears the feud may be one-sided and ultimately perpetuated by Parker and Stone. Regardless, both South Park and Family Guy continue to be cult favorites in their respective corners of the animated sitcom genre.