Seth MacFarlane will go down as one of the most important figures in adult animation. While the man has contributed to entertainment in many ways (directing movies, starring in live-action series, producing music, etc) his claim to fame will always be cartoons.
Family Guy is MacFarlane's longest-running show, and most consider it his crown jewel. Nevertheless, he has certainly created other content that could give Family Guy a run for its money. If one series has the chops to rival Family Guy, it's American Dad, the cartoon that MacFarlane started in 2005 and continues with to this day. Here are five reasons Family Guy is Seth MacFarlane's best show, and five others suggesting that American Dad takes the title.
Family Guy: Humor
The humor on Family Guy is absolutely uproarious. Practically every line in the series is a joke, creating an avalanche of nonstop laughs across each episode. Family Guy accents the humor with its signature cut-away gags, where the writers and animators are free to recreate reference material and break away from the main storyline in the name of comedy. After eighteen seasons, perhaps a few of Family Guy's comedic tropes have become predictable. Nevertheless, it remains one of the funniest shows to ever air on television and is far more hilarious than the more measured American Dad.
American Dad: Originality
Even though Family Guy debuted six years before American Dad, the former show is essentially a typical family sitcom that takes advantage of its animated medium's potential for the absurd. It is basically an updated and more outrageous version of The Simpsons.
American Dad, however, is a bit more original. The characters are somewhat more complex, and the satirical premise of having an all-American CIA Republican father raising his motley family (which features a pet alien and a talking goldfish), is something we truly can't find anywhere else on television.
Family Guy: Influence
Although American Dad wins top points for originality, Family Guy is doubtlessly still the more influential of Seth MacFarlane's series. Before Family Guy, The Simpsons was one of the only mainstream animated series on air for adults. Family Guy heralded in a new era for television at the turn of the millennium, pressing the boundaries of what could and couldn't be said or shown while simultaneously inspiring a long line of animated programs to come. The show also has an enormous fan following and has ingrained itself in our culture with unmistakable characters, timeless quotes, and a number of contemporary cartoons that follow in its footsteps. Without Family Guy, there probably wouldn't even be an American Dad.
American Dad: Consistency
Both Family Guy and American Dad have been on TV for over a dozen seasons. Naturally, a lot of people think that both shows are past their peak. However, Family Guy has received noticeably more flack on this front than American Dad. After the eighteenth season, Family Guy has become somewhat hackneyed. Its once unmatched hilarity is now replicated on several shows, and for some, its novelty has worn off. In recent seasons, Family Guy episodes have admittedly been a little formulaic and exhaustive, and some of the jokes have aged dubiously. American Dad, on the other hand, has not faced as much scrutiny when it comes to consistency. Despite the occasional dud, it continues to keep its viewers amused.
Family Guy: Characters
Luckily, both Family Guy and American Dad have excellent, strikingly original character casts. Family Guy's Griffin family and American Dad's Smith family are practically tied in terms of appeal, so the decider must come from the supporting lineups. While American Dad has a few outstanding side-characters, they are no match for Family Guy's boisterous Quahog residents.
The show's supporting lineup probably shines best through Peter's drinking buddies. Glenn Quagmire, Joe Swanson, and Cleveland Brown are all gems, and the third even received his own spinoff series, The Cleveland Show. Family Guy's secondary characters are a treasure trove, and that's not even to mention primary staples like Peter, Stewie, and Brian, all of whom are household names at this point.
American Dad: Relevancy
Ever since its pilot aired in 1999, Family Guy has stood out with its references to old movies, TV shows, and pop-culture relics. This makes for great humor, but it is certainly not the most culturally in-tune. Although Family Guy is not afraid to throw in an occasional reference to current events, it focuses on a different brand of comedy while American Dad is a transparent satire on American conservatism. American Dad may have grown less political over the years, but it started as a comedic commentary on the then-ongoing Bush era, and it still retains that hint of contemporary relevancy to this day.
Family Guy: Cast
Seth MacFarlane is the star of both shows, voicing Peter, Stewie, Brian, and Quagmire amongst others on Family Guy and Stan and Roger on American Dad. While American Dad has a few noteworthy names in its supporting cast (Patrick Stewart, Scott Grimes, Dee Bradley Baker to name a few), Family Guy's cast runs deep. Mila Kunis is the voice of Meg, Seth Green the voice of Chris, and Patrick Warburton the voice of Joe. Carrie Fisher and Adam West also had consistent roles on the show before their untimely deaths. The latter even played a hysterical caricature of himself as Quahog's Mayor.
American Dad: Wholesomeness
American Dad and Family Guy can both get a little bit raunchy. Neither show is very family-friendly, but if we had to watch one with our grandmother, American Dad would probably be the safer bet. Family Guy is known to push the envelope, getting explicit and graphic in matters of sex, drugs, and social issues. American Dad is a tad less radical on those fronts. Plus, American Dad does not use Family Guy's cut-away method as often, so we're less likely to get ambushed by an uncomfortable (albeit very funny) scene. Overall, American Dad can be inappropriate, but it is less erratically or ruthlessly so than Seth MacFarlane's first series.
Family Guy: Animation Effects
The animation on both shows is of a similar, almost identical style. Because Family Guy is so much more popular, though, it reasonably has a larger budget than American Dad. Therefore, even though the two series look pretty much the same on the surface, Family Guy has the resources to be more elaborate, extravagant, and visually striking. This appears most prominently in the show's fight scenes, cut-aways, and special episodes, where animators are known to play around with their craft. It is best demonstrated in the season 8 episode "Road To The Multiverse," where Stewie and Brian traverse through many realities, each of a different aesthetic.
American Dad: Animation Design
While Family Guy can get more extravagant in terms of special effects, American Dad takes the win for design. This means that the actual drawings, character sketches, and finer-detailed looks of American Dad are more impressive than those of its predecessor. Most of the American Dad characters have more detailed outfits and appearances. This shines brightest through Roger, who wears a different disguise every time he leaves the house to hide his alien form. This recurring gimmick not only offers viewers a lot of fresh humor, but it delivers a vast array of diverse looks for Roger on a regular basis, requiring consistent creativity from the show's artists.