If I was asked this question a couple of years ago, I would have said Family Guy, but American Dad does have the upper-hand for me.
Family Guy has gone downhill in recent years. While I don't watch either regularly, if I watch one it would probably be American Dad on Adult Swim late nights. But overall I'd say Family Guy is the better show, and I have good memories of it at least. It was the original, American Dad (and The Cleveland Show) are just Seth MacFarlane ripping off his own show and milking more money out of the networks.
I find the dad in American Dad kind of obnoxious... Although Peter isn't much better, in my book, family guy wins. I'm also convinced that Meg is a lesbian. ride:
Stewie's gay too, it's been confirmed by MacFarlane. I think the more I've watched over the last few years, the funnier American Dad! gets. It's a better show simply because it has a plot...the story is more cohesive and I think it allows for more character development than Family Guy, which relies on the same characteristics in every episode. And now I sound like a pretentious asshole so I'll stop. But American Dad! is better. In my opinion. Roger and Stan are the best.
I don't like American Dad, and I don't like pretty much any of the Family Guy episodes that have been produced since American Dad started. I did like the pre-AD episodes though, so I voted for Family Guy.
I see both Family Guy and American Dad both as Seth McFarlane's attempts to paint a certain picture about American culture through parody. I think American Dad does it much better for the following reasons: 1. It covers more topics 2. It accurately covers history 3. Nobody says the same thing all the time (eg. Peter's "Shut up Meg") 4. All the characters are equally flawed, as opposed to in Family Guy where Bryan had very few flaws. 5. Politics are very real in the show, where as they were just a bunch of inaccurate jokes that inaccurately stereotyped everything they touched in Family Guy. The Simpsons was good at what American Dad does now, but the main difference is that American Dad is geared towards our culture today, where as The Simpsons was geared toward the same group of people in the 90's/00's, when things were quiet a bit different. And an LGBT character... Hm.. Stewie? Meg? Steve? PPPFFFFFFFFFFSSSSHHH
I like American Dad better. Stan is a very well-developed character with lots of opinions and believable flaws (one per every few episodes is shared in a crowning moment of heartwarming), whereas Peter from FG is mostly just retarded. I also relate pretty well to Steve, and despite Haley's extreme liberalism, I think she's cute and like her well enough hehe. Francine's okay I guess, Klaus is cool for his German accent and sarcasm, and I love Roger for his costumes and incessant pop-culture references despite being an alien.
As you can see from my avatar, this is clearly a very serious topic. Family Guy never aimed to be highbrow, I don't think the simplification of politics or historical inaccuracies make it a total write off. What killed Family Guy was the inevitable decline in material, which resulted in recycled gags and parodies of itself. Considering FG was doing what The Simpsons had already been doing for 11 years, there's only a finite amount of shenanigans your 'typical American family' with an idiot as the father can get into. American Dad has been a higher quality show since it's inception. Reasons have already been covered. However, to me, the first three seasons of Family Guy are some of the best animated comedy to be produced.
Family Guys always been better for me not that I don't like American Dad Family Guy just makes me laugh more.
Family guy, Because it is so absurd, Come on a swearing gay baby determined to kill his mother An alcoholic dog that has trouble finding someone to date A fat idiot dad, a fat idiot son that is somehow insightful A daughter that is a walking punch line because nobody likes her And the most understanding mom/wife ever That is a recipe for good ol slap stic comedy. And it had great fight scenes too remember: peter vs the chicken stewie vs lois stew vs brian
Both are hilarious. I like American Dad more. It's darker and smarter. And Roger and Steve get way more laughs out of me than Brian and Stewie. I find everyone a bit more likable on AD. I like the confident kids more than the dumb/rejected kids. I like the underappreciated fish a little more than the evil baby. And I like the smart, but does stupid things Dad more a bit more than the blatant idiot Dad. You know, looking back at the early FG stuff it seems like before Peter became clinically an idiot, he was more like Stan, a regular guy that did extremely dumb things, but was still all there in the head. Then at some point Peter became an overgrown toddler and that became his running joke. It's still funny and entertaining to me, but I do like a non toddler acting grownup more. So yeah...over answer? :lol:
