LOL really? Is there any comparison as to how much trash has been talked about her? Goes around comes around. Riiiight.

Personally I think FOX has got to be pretty much the worst major network around. They really don't seem to care who they hurt or offend as long as it helps them in the ratings. It was FOX that started the masked magician shows as well.
Bob.

Did you know that the skin of the average poster on Magic Café is as thin as an onion's?

Lots of righteousness being exhibited here. How many here from either side of this issue would back up their indignation or opinions selflessly?

Family Guy has some of the dullest obvious pedestrian writing and flat delivery not to mention uninspired art work of most any show ever. At least that's MY opinion.
But how many here would turn down the scripts if given the oportunity to be paid mucho dinero to voice the show?? Are the principles being expressed here backed up by action IF that was the situation? Or are we just talking? Only curious as to what the answers would be.

I saw the episode. As much as a fan I am of Family Guy, I felt a little twinge when the down syndrome girl announced that her mother was the former Governor of Alaska. I was a little uncomfortable and actually felt sympathetic to Palin (who I do not support politically). I could sense the backlash that might ensue, and I had a feeling that this was "crossing the line."

HOWEVER... if I was to defend the show, I would point out that the Chris character really likes her - he actually says so, and calls her "sweet." When they are having dinner together in the restaurant and she says her mom is the former Gov of Alaska, he responds, "Oh that's cool!" And she agrees - "It's real cool!" No attacks are made of Sarah Palin. So we have a typical (but demanding) teenage girl who just happens to have DS, and is seen as quite the catch by Chris. Hooray for DS people!

So I could see both sides of the argument. And as others have said, it is Family Guy after all. They make a living crossing all sorts of boundaries. But, still a tough call. If it was up to me I would have probably not wanted to go there.

Oh... as an aside, go back and watch the the "Italian guy" segment at about the 3:00 minute mark of Balducci's 3rd link. LMAO! (and by the way, are any Italians offended by that?)

Ron

Hey, I'm an Absurdist; I'd voice a character for the show in a heartbeat.

I have to agree that Palin gets more trash talk. But that's only because she (either openly or unwittingly) invites it.

Ron

I don't find anything remotely contradictory about that, if that's your suggestion. Similarly, I imagine reports about "N-Bombs" dropped at a KKK meeting would probably most offend people who didn't/wouldn't attend such meetings.

Of course, for most people (by which I mean nobody specifically here at TMC), the answer comes down not to priniciple, but to politics. People who don't like Palin's think it's fine, and people who do think it's unfine. Big surprise.

Family Guy offends me (mostly because of its stupidity).

However ... Sarah ... if you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch. Please.

Since the character's disability wasn't mocked, she was a character who just happened to have DS, do the people who object to this "Family Guy" episode object to any depiction of people with any disabilities in any the media at any time? Or do you just object to people with DS being depicted in the media?

R* - they aren't reading, or watching, considering or caring about the topic at hand - just writing about their issues.

Not one of the critters here has addressed the stoner humor of non-sequitors much less the bit where a supposed infant addresses the audience for a quiz.

So what that Palin has issues about her kid - a kick in the gut - how Freudian. And not one of the critters here commented about that either.

Can you see yourself yet?

I absolutely agree with Ron (RS) and his description of the show.

We used to eat regularly at a Lyon's restaurant in Soth Lake Tahoe. The hostess was a DS girl. High functioning, very funny, always bright and cheerful and must have been well paid as she was always dressed to the nines. She was in a word, a delightful person.

As I watched the scenes, I thought of her and in no way would she have been or felt denegrated.

I don't give 2 bits for this show BUT I thought it was pretty cool they way it was depicted. and the rumpas around it is rather silly. Palin has her view which she has every right to have but I think the sensitivity level on this issue is a bit high and somewhat misplaced.

Just a way to keep one's personna out front for public consumption.

So what's new? IMHO, on many issues her sensitivity level is a bit high and somewhat misplaced.

In a 2008 episode of Family Guy, "Stewie and Brian steal some Nazi uniforms and find a lapel button promoting the McCain-Palin campaign".

Curiously, I don't recall any complaints from Palin at the time about that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIWTB8POnkg

Wait a minute... two FOX players are at odds and getting great press for both their shows? Hmmmm... A little obvious?

It appears the actress who voiced the character in the Family Guy episode who had Down Syndrome in fact has Down Syndrome and has a rather interesting take on the whole "controversy"

"My name is Andrea Fay Friedman. I was born with Down syndrome. I played the role of Ellen on the "Extra Large Medium" episode of Family Guy that was broadcast on Valentine's day. Although they gave me red hair on the show, I am really a blonde. I also wore a red wig for my role in " Smudge" but I was a blonde in "Life Goes On". I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line "I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska" was very funny. I think the word is "sarcasm".

In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes."

Payne, here's the link to Andrea's letter. (I hopped on here to post it, and, surprisingly enough, you were already talking about it.)

http://palingates.blogspot.com/2010/02/a......ord.html

Goodness, that's just too fabulous for words. Well played, Family Guy.