A few nights ago I was up  surfing through the late television line-up and was terribly bored. It’s a draw in the fight for my attention between some celebritarian news outlet, “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and “Family Guy.” I, of course, chose “Family Guy.”

I began watching during a Stewie segment. He is upstairs and his mom Lois calls him, declaring that the brownies are ready. Stewie insists he must hurry downstairs lest he miss the show. He makes it to the kitchen where he finds that Lois has eaten the entire batch of brownies. She is sobbing, scolding herself and she induces herself to vomit on the kitchen table.

Something about that scene really struck a chord with me, I found no humor in it. It was just sad.

“Family Guy” has always been a clever satire of pop culture and the way many Americans view the world; however, the show is coming to a point that is no longer satirical but rather mean-spirited. The show is making a shift from outlandish situations to peppering very real and complicated issues with fart jokes.

Consider the widely panned episode “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q” from season 10. The episode revolves around the abuse of Quagmire’s sister at the hands of her spouse. Brenda’s character suffers from a very graphic and realistic depiction of domestic abuse and is treated as an idiot for her justification of her maltreatment.

The gang decides that the best way to deal with the abusive spouse is to simply kill him. The proceeding violence is realistic and terribly graphic. There is no warning, just graphic murder and a closing joke about a hankering to murder again.

“Family Guy” was made to push the boundaries of comedy. That was what made the show so interesting and fresh, but it has gotten to the point that humor is sprinkled around controversy rather than the other way around.

I love cartoons. I love the way in which they can strike current affairs with satirical scorn. I am aware that not every episode is like the one described above, but I am horrified by the thought of this style of “satire” becoming common place.

Consider the target audience of “Family Guy”: relatively young boys.  I do not believe that viewing these images will cause kids to go out and commit similar acts, but it will convince them that things like domestic violence and rape are funny.

I’ve been that boy before, laughing at the casual out-of-context rape joke.

I am not trying to rally hate against “Family Guy,” it’s just that I am genuinely confused about who these scenarios are supposed to be fun for.