Rewatching starting from season 5 after rewatching the last few seasons, the only real differences I see in the show are the animation and sound quality improvements and the characters have become more flanderized (which I don't think is an issue for Family Guy's disjointed humor). Stylistically it seems basically the same.

I get if people like pre cancellation family guy more (I personally don't, it felt like a Simpsons knock off with no real identity) as that had a very different feel to what post cancellation Family Guy became.

Maybe it's because Seth MacFarlane isn't the show runner after like season 10? But I don't see that much difference in how the show is written or presented; this isn't a clear change in quality like The Simpsons post season 9, how South Park changed when it started serializing the show for a number of seasons and the focus turned to the parents as opposed to the kids, or post cancellation Futurama.

I kind of like the newer episodes more, especially family guy being such a topical show a lot of the old episodes have dated jokes that don't elicit the same laughs out of me now. I enjoy the characters being more extreme in their personalities especially with how brilliant the voice cast is they really sell the craziness.

And the later seasons I believe have had some of the best episodes they've ever made: The Emmy episode, back to the pilot, yug ylimaf, Dog bites bear, The Stewie therapy episode, and yes the Simpsons crossover (honestly think it's one of the best crossover episodes I've seen). And in general I like they try changing the typical episode formula more than they used to.

I can agree the older seasons had more classic episodes, but I don't think it means that the later ones are bad, just maybe didn't hit that highest level of creative work as often, but the general show is still as good to me.

I feel like it has more to do with what ages the viewers were when they watched it. If they were teenagers during the 2000s maybe they're just nostalgic for how it used to make them feel? Though I've been watching Family Guy since the early 00s.

I don't know, can anyone explain on a logistical level what changed?