The Simpson family formula works well for a lot of Fox's animated series. That is, a dad, mom, son, daughter, baby, and pet of some sort. It's worked for over twenty years for the Simpsons. Family Guy uses it. As far as I can tell (because I don't actually know), American Dad and the Cleveland Show also use it. In my opinion, it's getting kinda boring - which is another reason to love Futurama!
Combine that with the fact that modern comedy's love to designate one or two stupid characters (even Futurama) and we somehow get a growing stereotype of dumb dads on television. The two most prominent are obvious - Homer Simpson and Peter Griffon. However, the list goes on and on. Ray Romano (Everybody loves him), Gob Bluth (Arrested Development), and Arthur Spooner (King of Queens) all make the list.
Whatever happened to the days of Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver? Are fathers now portrayed as stupid because society gives them less credit or is it the other way around? What do you think?
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