No family is perfect, and the tale of the perfect family wouldn't make great television. Instead, the most entertaining television families deal with some kind of friction such as lack of communication, criticism, neglect, or emotional detachment. Family conflicts create the kind of drama that makes a story interesting.

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While the dysfunctional family trope is prevalent across many genres, animated shows approach the interpersonal conflicts of flawed families with humor while also delivering social commentary through a comedic lens. Shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy represent family bonds that persist despite the sometimes toxic and defective relationships between the members.

The Turners (The Fairly OddParents)

Timmy and his parents in The Fairly OddParents

One of the best shows from Nickelodeon in the 2000s, The Fairly OddParents is equally fun for kids and adults, following the magic-fueled exploits of ten-year-old Timmy Turner.

Timmy's parents are kind but neglectful, often treating him as a household accessory rather than a family member. They often leave him in the hands of Vicky, the evil, brace-faced babysitter, who makes his life miserable. Enter Wanda and Cosmo, a pair of wacky fairies creating crazy adventures by granting his wishes and acting as magical surrogate parental figures for Timmy.

The Smiths (American Dad!)

The Smith family together having a BBQ in American Dad

The long-running Seth McFarlane creation, American Dad! shares some similarities with Family Guy, but it isn’t as crude and relies a little more on plot than the joke-driven Family Guy.

Dad Stan Smith is a CIA agent and family man focused on keeping up the appearance of the American dream. Most American families don’t have an emotionally needy alien living in their attic, or a talking goldfish with the brain of a German Olympic skier. Rounding out the family are flighty wife Francine, hippie activist daughter Hayley (who serves as a great foil to Stan’s government devotion), and awkward hormonal teenage son Steve.

The Freemans (The Boondocks)

The Freeman family from the adult comedy series The Boondocks.

Alongside other classics like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Robot Chicken, The Boondocks is one of Adult Swim's best shows. Ripe with cutting social and political commentary, the show addresses the culture clash resulting from a move to the suburbs for brothers Huey and Riley (both voiced by the magnificent Regina King) and their guardian grandfather.

Huey is an intellectual and budding political activist, and the younger Riley is strongly influenced by rap culture. Their family dynamic with Granddad verges on abusive, as Granddad is more interested in his various schemes and harbors an antiquated belief in corporal punishment.

The Marshes (South Park)

The Marsh family in a refugee camp in South Park

South Park, Colorado is home to a lot of dysfunctional families and eccentric characters (like Cartman and his inexplicably devoted mother), but the Marsh family are the worst of the bunch, mainly due to narcissistic dad Randy.

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Randy’s delusions of grandeur make for a strained family relationship, often causing him to lose his temper. Randy had a wide variety of strange careers, resulting in endless embarrassment for his son, Stan. Fans who watched the recent South Park: Post Covid are familiar with how Randy’s job choices affect his relationship with Stan in the long term.

The Murphys (F Is For Family)

Murphy Family in F is for Family Season 5

A typical middle-class family in the 1970s, the fictional Murphy family do their best to get by with Frank as the breadwinner and wife Sue as a mostly stay-at-home mom. Frank suffers from feelings of inadequacy and goes into rages similar to Red from That '70s Show, berating the kids rather than acknowledging failures and helping to find solutions.

Bill Burr’s Netflix series is loosely inspired by his life as a child (the red-headed son is even named Bill). Burr has often been vocal in his standup about his own father’s temper and emotional inaccessibility.

The Simpsons (The Simpsons)

The Simpsons family and pets

On the surface, The Simpsons are a traditional nuclear family. A trailblazing comedy, The Simpsons changed TV and subverts the American dream like other '90s shows such as Roseanne and Married With Children, touching on socio-economic stresses on family life.

Homer is an underachieving, beer-guzzling father who frequently strangles Bart in rage. Marge gave up her dreams to be an under-appreciated housewife whose infrequent attempts to shine end up failures due to Homer’s insecurities. Smart, talented Lisa is often forced to fight for artistic experiences that will help her succeed in the future, and Maggie may well be a murderer.

The Griffins (Family Guy)

The Griffins watching Tv in Family Guy

Often compared to The Simpsons, Family Guy takes a raunchier, non-sequitur comedic approach to middle-class American family life. The farcical song-and-dance opening sequence espouses “good old-fashioned values” which are entirely nonexistent in the show.

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Peter Griffin is a giant man-child who is easily distracted by various wacky escapades, and his wife Lois is caustic and apathetic. The Griffins as a family unit are often downright mean to each other, including daughter Meg being the constant butt of every joke. Even infant Stewie dislikes his family, frequently plotting to murder his mother, Lois. The most reasonable family member is Brian, and he’s a dog.

The Archers (Archer)

H Jon Benjamin as Sterling Archer and Jessica Walter as Malory Archer in Archer Season 12 Episode 3

Life as an international spy isn’t all riches and glamour, as Sterling and Malory Archer have shown on Archer. An absentee parent, Malory spent much of Archer’s youth on elaborate spy missions, leaving him to be raised by Woodhouse, their faithful manservant.

Even as an adult, Malory continues her tradition of emotional abuse, leaving Sterling with serious mommy issues while he constantly fights for her approval. Both have issues with alcohol abuse, and neither has been able to maintain relationships long-term. Archer’s relationship with Lana in particular suffers from Malory’s overarching presence and biting criticism.

The Cuylers (Squidbillies)

The Cuylers in a car in Squidbillies

Like its cohort The Boondocks, the long-running Squidbillies tops the list of best Adult Swim shows and references social and cultural stereotypes. In Squidbillies' case, the cliché of deep-south redneck culture is poked fun at through the lens of anthropomorphic hillbilly squids.

Early Cuyler is an abusive ex-con father to the more kind-hearted Rusty, imparting on him questionable life lessons while wearing offensive trucker hats. Senile nymphomaniac Granny Cuyler, hanging precariously from a walker, has the foulest mouth of the family. Many episodes feature Granny suffering various injuries at the hands of Early and Rusty’s destructive exploits.

The Smiths (Rick And Morty)

Rick's Ship and The Smith Family on Rick and Morty

As far as dysfunctional families go, the Smith/Sanchez clan of Rick and Morty is hard to beat. Beth and Jerry have a rocky relationship, often treating each other poorly and even going through a separation. Their kids, Summer and Morty, have a typical competitive sibling relationship, but Summer often feels left out of Morty’s adventures with their alcoholic, dimension-hopping scientist and Doctor Who wanna-be grandpa, Rick.

Though the whole family eventually is included in some of the exploits, Beth harbors resentment that Rick has a closer relationship with her children than with her. The sci-fi escapades both escalate family drama and offer situations that lead to relationship resolutions through trauma bonding.

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