American Dad I gave up after three or four episodes, it was a huge disappointment in my eyes.
The South Park/Chef episode in question is fantastic, but you really need to watch the episode that made Hayes leave in the first place, Trapped in the Closet, from season 9 (we're on 10 now, right?
)South Park recently did a double-episode about Family Guy, actually, called Cartoon Wars. While they weren't as funny as South Park frequently is, it felt "important" somehow. In this two-parter, Family Guy tries to show a cartoon Mohammed, but is censored... and all hell breaks loose.
While they DO bash Family Guy (and made me notice the things that have been annoying me about FG lately), that's not the important point; censorship is. And at the end of part 2, you see what South Park got away with showing, and what they didn't get away with showing. It's quite extraordinary.
despite the unconventional use of "real people" rather than traditional animation. season 5 has a slightly different feel to it than all the earlier ones, but is still quality.
especially now we finally have a dvd burner so storage space is less of an issue (just 'cos you buy a 250gig hard drive doesn't mean it's not full all the damn time 
). i do hear that the simpsons has gone downhill a bit in recent years, but it's such an ingrained part of modern society that as long as it's still "good" even if not "classic", then i'd be happy for them to keep making it & i'd keep watching it. like i still watch neighbours as a built-in part of life in general, even tho it's never been particularly stunning. i'd understand if people feel otherwise tho, that's just how i see the simpsons because it's been around for so long, but other people might feel about the simpsons how i'd feel if they churned out series after series (sorry, season