I say South Park, and I'll explain why.
Matt and Trey are doing South Park on their own terms. The show represents their beliefs, values, fears, prejudices and loves. Making that show could be seen as cathartic for them. Getting what they feel out there on television keeps them from obsessing over it in their heads. And when they are
n't poking cruelly at hypocritical liberals (more on that below), the episodes are surprisingly joyful and poignant. Think of when Butters talked how much he loved life at the end of "Raisins" or the entire episode "Breast Cancer Show". That to me is true art: getting your feelings out there and not seconding guessing yourself. What Matt and Trey say I may not always agree with, but I respect their freedom to speak it with clarity.
Family Guy, on the other hand, is made by committee. So many hands play a part in its writing and development, you often never know how a joke was meant to be received. So, it's possible that genuinely hateful messages may slipped in. Think about it. South Park saves its venom for hypocritical "role models" (I must say that the very notion of
a movie actor or director being a role model for the masses is something most artists aren't up to, and as a result, idol worship is in a way suffocating America), but when it comes to more genuinely sensitive issues, it usually comes off more lighthearted (and before anyone asks, "Cripple Fight" was more about the hypocrisies regarding the "politically correct" treatment of homosexuals and force-fed "pro-social messages" than it was about two crippled kids beating it other up. That's the thing about South Park, it challenges it's audience). But Family Guy is at its most vicious attacking etchic minorities and women. Bottom line, I think Seth MacFarlane is a way a sell-out. If he isn't in charge of either Family Guy, American Dad, OR the Cleveland Show, then what does he get paid the biggest salary in TV history to do? Be in charge of the universally-despised (even by the most loyal Family Guy fans) Cartoon Calvacade? Engage in the kind debauchery that Matt and Trey have admitted that they don't have time for?
Bottom line, when watching South Park, I can tell what Trey and Matt are feeling, and I usually enjoy listening to them. With Family Guy, I more often than can't get any kind of emotional connection, which means it fails IMHO to be art.