Current Events > What makes American Dad better than Family Guy?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I hear the gags are very different.
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Family Dad

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I believe Seth MacFarlane has a lot less involvement with it.

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The writing basically. Larger focus on situational comedy. American Dad is essentially absurdist King of the Hill

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Biggest way I can describe it is chemistry and focused character work. There are no cutaway gags and the episodes are far more plot focused and you are also rewarded for paying attention as the show sprinkles in tons of long-term gags throughout the seasons. It starts off a bit rough but I'd say by season 3 it's in full gear and consistently pretty fucking good. Unlike Family Guy, while there is animosity between the main cast what differentiates it is the fact it's dysfunction and not hatred, it's a more solid family unit even if everyone is driven by selfish desires and needs. It also has better side characters and it's edgyness is usually played for laughs than shock as it can get pretty gory. Stan being a CIA agent also puts him in far more interesting scenarios than Peter could ever get into.

I like both by the way I just consider American Dad to be a far superior show and that's including golden age Family Guy.

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They aren't even comparable really. Other than both being animated and having the same creator.


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No cutaway gags mean they can't take the easy way out to make a joke.

Family guy has become very insult heavy. I find it a negative show, like rick and morty

American dad is just kinda funny situations

Family Guy is random nonsense with no connecting threads. American Dad is random nonsense but it all fits together somehow.

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AirFresh posted...

Biggest way I can describe it is chemistry and focused character work. There are no cutaway gags and the episodes are far more plot focused and you are also rewarded for paying attention as the show sprinkles in tons of long-term gags throughout the seasons. It starts off a bit rough but I'd say by season 3 it's in full gear and consistently pretty fucking good. Unlike Family Guy, while there is animosity between the main cast what differentiates it is the fact it's dysfunction and not hatred, it's a more solid family unit even if everyone is driven by selfish desires and needs. It also has better side characters and it's edgyness is usually played for laughs than shock as it can get pretty gory. Stan being a CIA agent also puts him in far more interesting scenarios than Peter could ever get into.

I like both by the way I just consider American Dad to be a far superior show and that's including golden age Family Guy.

They're still going at it with the golden turd gag lol
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Peak Family Guy blows American Dad out of the water. I dont watch either anymore though.

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Family Guy is the most popular so internet people say American Dad is better. Literally the only reason.

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I dont watch either one anymore, but when I did I noticed that almost every character in Family Guy was Flanderized in the worst way possible. Peter has become much more extreme, Lois more morally nebulous, Stewie is a walking gay joke, Chris is a masturbation joke, Meg is a cutting, borderline suicidal punching-bag, Brians way more up-his-own-ass, etc. American Dads characters have stayed much more consistent and relatable.

The only AD character I dont like, Roger, has also been consistently annoying the whole time and seems like hed be at home in new Family Guy. The reason I stopped watching it was actually because Roger started to become the focus of too many episodes.

Awesker002 posted...

I believe Seth MacFarlane has a lot less involvement with it.

With Family Guy, yeah. He left FG's writing staff in 2010 to oversee AD full time. That's why the quality blew up around season 3.

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Steve singing

It isnt

It is. I fucking love American Dad

It's just better written.

Like just as an example, there's an episode where Stan makes fun of his son's girlfriend's weight. When his family points out that he himself has a bit of a gut, he decides to lose it. Despite dieting and working out, he actually ends up gaining and gaining weight. He starts to suspect his wife and daughter are sabotaging him in retaliation for mocking his son's girlfriend, and you do indeed see them secretly injecting lard into his celery. It gets to the point where he's suspended from the CIA because his "unhealthy weight" means he can't pass the physical.

The twist is that he was never gaining weight, he lost so much that he is now horrendously, unhealthily thin. What happened is that he developed anorexia, so he (and the audience) saw himself as disgustingly fat.

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

Family Guy is the most popular so internet people say American Dad is better. Literally the only reason.

And yet, within four posts in this very topic, somebody had a pretty good list of reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with popularity, and everything to do with the writing, the characters, and the setting.

Weird, eh?

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Peak American Dad (pre-TBS before Mike Barker left) beats peak Family Guy, and I'm someone who loved Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane was hands off with the show beyond the first season, letting Barker and Matt Weitzman do their own thing. The show was so much better for it and it really hit its stride somewhere in season 2 where it set itself apart from FG.

Once they toned down Stan's extremism and figured out how to properly use Roger really put the show over the top. He is the wildcard that can make any plot work with all of his personas and disguises. Then there are the great side characters (Greg & Terry, Steve's friends, etc.) and running gags (golden turd). The musical numbers are on par with FG, bolstered by Scott Grimes' great performances ("Daddy's Gone" for example). AD just had a different sense of humor that I found hilarious.

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Rogu is also a delight.
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AirFresh posted...

Biggest way I can describe it is chemistry and focused character work. There are no cutaway gags and the episodes are far more plot focused and you are also rewarded for paying attention as the show sprinkles in tons of long-term gags throughout the seasons. It starts off a bit rough but I'd say by season 3 it's in full gear and consistently pretty fucking good. Unlike Family Guy, while there is animosity between the main cast what differentiates it is the fact it's dysfunction and not hatred, it's a more solid family unit even if everyone is driven by selfish desires and needs. It also has better side characters and it's edgyness is usually played for laughs than shock as it can get pretty gory. Stan being a CIA agent also puts him in far more interesting scenarios than Peter could ever get into.

I like both by the way I just consider American Dad to be a far superior show and that's including golden age Family Guy.

This, though I personally put GD Family Guy (seasons 1-3) over American Dad, but American Dad is worlds better than Family Guy after that, especially with how grossly flanderized the Family Guy cast has gotten.

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I is smart posted...

Rogu is also a delight.

Rogu is fine, but that Billy kid is just trash "get this character off my tv screen" tier

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The alien is so stupid and lame and corny i cant make it through an episode....

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A lot of good points itt, I feel the best way I can sum it up is "best background noise". I'll watch both live but more often have them playing in the background and AD hits that sweet spot of caring enough about the characters while not having to catch every word.

I is smart posted...

They're still going at it with the golden turd gag lol

every time the black bars slowly fade in I know were about to go for a wild ride

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I hate Brian but family guy made my favorite episode by having Quagmire go off on Brian about him sucking.

I hate Roger.

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So the main cast in American Dad are better than Family guy? Can't imagine it's the same for the side characters though.
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AirFresh posted...

Biggest way I can describe it is chemistry and focused character work. There are no cutaway gags and the episodes are far more plot focused and you are also rewarded for paying attention as the show sprinkles in tons of long-term gags throughout the seasons. It starts off a bit rough but I'd say by season 3 it's in full gear and consistently pretty fucking good. Unlike Family Guy, while there is animosity between the main cast what differentiates it is the fact it's dysfunction and not hatred, it's a more solid family unit even if everyone is driven by selfish desires and needs. It also has better side characters and it's edgyness is usually played for laughs than shock as it can get pretty gory. Stan being a CIA agent also puts him in far more interesting scenarios than Peter could ever get into.

Basically this.

I hate Family Guy since it's just mainly low-effort slapstick and "being mean to everyone"-type comedy. And none of the characters are likeable.

While even characters like Klaus in American Dad can have funny moments because of how the comedy is written to be more character-centric.

LightningAce11 posted...

So the main cast in American Dad are better than Family guy? Can't imagine it's the same for the side characters though.

I unironically like a bunch of side characters in American Dad more than all of the main cast in Family Guy.

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Roger is better than half the cast of Family Guy.

Steve is a CEman.

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