Have the main plot run every episode with various comments leading to flashbacks of random sketches that have no real place in the episode other than to be completely absurd.
Monty Python's Flying Circus and Robot Chicken were sketch shows, the whole point of those shows is that each "episode" is really 5-10 episodes that are just being broadcast together. That's not the same thing as family guy where each episode has an overall plot but is filled with random gags that have nothing to do with the actual story being told.
"The main plot" is the important part of that. Those two used stuff like "this reminds of the time..." to get their random sketches in there while the normal plot was still going. The episode's main plot would still follow cause and effect without being disjointed.
If you took a Family Guy episode, let it establish the premise, then cut out everything that wasn't a flashback, it would have been hard to watch.
That's what Family Guy was.
Have the main plot run every episode with various comments leading to flashbacks of random sketches that have no real place in the episode other than to be completely absurd.
How I Met Your Mother did the same.
It worked for Monty Python's Flying Circus and Robot Chicken?
Monty Python's Flying Circus and Robot Chicken were sketch shows, the whole point of those shows is that each "episode" is really 5-10 episodes that are just being broadcast together. That's not the same thing as family guy where each episode has an overall plot but is filled with random gags that have nothing to do with the actual story being told.
"The main plot" is the important part of that. Those two used stuff like "this reminds of the time..." to get their random sketches in there while the normal plot was still going. The episode's main plot would still follow cause and effect without being disjointed.
If you took a Family Guy episode, let it establish the premise, then cut out everything that wasn't a flashback, it would have been hard to watch.