'Family Guy' fracas

I was alarmed by some nasty turns in the show "Family Guy."

You must forgive me, though, because I watch the show on three different networks -- TBS, FOX and Cartoon Network -- and I'm not sure which shows are new and which ones I just missed in the past year. In fact, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network said it had a premiere of a "Family Guy" episode, but I had seen it already on FOX.

Anyway, in the episode that bothered me, Brian the dog bet $50 that Mike Tyson would defeat Carol Channing in a Celebrity Boxing event. Stewie the baby was the betting house on this, so, when Carol Channing won, he was to collect the cash from Brian.

Sidenote: In this episode, Peter Griffin made a joke about Mike Tyson's abuse of his wife. I did not like this jab at all. Some things, like domestic violence and the Holocaust, you can't make fun of.

Back to the plot: Brian didn't have the money, and Stewie was going to collect no matter what. In the first scene, Brian is getting out of the shower and Stewie has a glass of orange juice. He shoves the glass -- which shatters -- into Brian's face then beats him with a towel rod. I assume this is a reference to some mob movie, but I don't watch those (more on that in a minute).

Stewie also sets Brian on fire to get the money.

This type of graphic violence is a sudden shift for the show. There was plenty of violence before -- come on, Stewie has been trying to kill his mother since Day 1 of the series -- but this has been over-the-top material. The whole Freudian thing of hating your mother is funny and Stewie's murder plots were Rube Goldberg-like (remember the hypnosis device and the time machine?). Now, it's turned darker, not funnier.

This bothers me, as does the sharp change in the jokes about the Griffins' daughter, Meg. I was always uncomfortable with the humor related to her character -- that her parents ignored her in their good moments and poked fun at her in their worst. Now, the writers are making her into a sex fiend (she was trying to get two burglars to rape her) and the jokes are becoming more cruel.

It's all a shame, really. The show was cutting edge enough and doesn't need to go to more senseless (and not funny) violence. Graphic violence in a comedy is the sign the show is failing, like using a crotch kick to get laughs. Signs of a decaying show.

(OK, "The Simpsons" used the crotch kick well once and only once, when they made the George C. Scott film, "Man Hit in Groin with Football." Also, "Robot Chicken" used it in an over-the-top "Ode to the Nut Shot" skit that was hilarious. But these were actually making fun of the crotch shot, not using them as a cheap laugh to all the Beavis and Butthead fools out there.)

An offer I can refuse

About the mafia movies:

I generally don't watch mob movies. I've never liked the violence. I think it's too real, too graphic. However, I did like the death scene of Marlon Brando in "The Godfather." The tomato patch and child just ooze with symbolism, but, as Peter Griffin said in his ultimate admission to his family as he was on the verge of death:

"I never liked 'The Godfather.'"

I did like "Prizzi's Honor" (funny) and "The Untouchables" (really a comic book film).

Thought: Oh, please don't point out the contradiction that I consider "The Road Warrior" a great film and watch war movies and Westerns.