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Adult cartoon shows do not undermine cultural values. What they do, however, is expose a lot of inappropriate cultural values in a satirizing and important way. Good comedy, like the Simpsons and to a lesser extent Family Guy, takes the ridiculousness of the real world, and uses that information to make a statement within a fictional context.

When we see Homer getting drunk and forgetting Maggie's existence, we recognize that he is a bad father and a horrible role-model. We should understand that while we like Homer, and he is a likable guy (even if he is a complete buffoon), there is no way that we are expected to emulate his behavior. The writers are demonstrating a real life concern (drunk, abusive father) in a satirist fashion, i.e. they are calling attention to the lack of values in our culture and admonishing us with it. We miss the point though, and call the show preposterous, awful, of the devil, because the writers make it humorous, and as Mary Poppins says: "A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down."

So no, shows like the Simpsons, or the Boondocks, do not undermine cultural values. They do bring harmful values to light, and through mockery and humor they hope to highlight these problems in an attempt to get people to start solving them. It might work too if adults starting acting more like adults and started using their cognitive powers of reasoning to understand the messages in these cartoons instead of just condemning them because they can, at times, be offensive. But that's the most important thing about comedy: its ability to offend while making a valid point.

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