Been watching All In the Family and stumbled on the very epi

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Been watching All In the Family and stumbled on the very episode pic related was stolen from. I'm sure they prefer to say 'inspired by'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bON_UKpLug4

It's sad how blatantly Seth Macfarlane wishes he were Norman Lear. You can tell he wishes he had a show like All in the Family, or another of his favourites; Star Trek The Next Generation, to give him a platform to discuss social issues.

He had that briefly with American Dad which started out with the premise of a conservative CIA father but quickly devolved into typical Macfarlance zany shenanigans.

The difference is Lear always worked on developing characters and making sure everything they said was in character, and since he wanted a show with sociopolitical themes he created Archie, the conservative working class WWII vet, and Meathead the self righteous college liberal.

This episode really shows us the differences. In 'Twos a Crowd' we learn from a drunken Archie that although his father physically abused him, he still loved him and believed everything he ever taught him. This gives Mike some insight into why Archie is who he is.

In 'Brian and Stewie' there's a similar revelation, that Brian has considered suicide, but is followed by a bland reaffirmation by Stewie that "he'd miss him, so don't do it!". There's also a scene of Brian eating Stewies shit from one of his diapers.

Seth, you aren't Frank Sinatra and you sure aren't Norman Lear. Stop trying to elevate this show with pretentious 'dramatic' episodes when you never bothered to write characters in the first place. Accept your fate as millionaire who writes fart and vomit jokes. It could be worse!