Why hasn't American Dad caught on?

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aj.moonstar

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I like American Dad. It isn't better than Family Guy, but it's still good. So, why is it ignored by the public? I read somewhere that its the lowest rated show on Fox's Sunday night schedule. That means that Family Guy, Simpsons, and King of the Hill do better.

Is it because people think its like Family Guy? Well, its similar but different at the same time. Stan Smith isn't as dumb, lazy, and worthless as Peter Griffin. Francine is a bit more goofy and dumb blonde than Lois. Steve is WAY better than Chris. Chris is kinda boring. Steve atleast has a personality. Haylay actually gets laid unlike Meg. As for Roger and Klaus...they are NOTHING like Brian and/or Stewie.

Humor-wise the show is different. It doesn't rely on "like that time..." type jokes thats the bread and butter of Family Guy. With all the complains Family Guy gets about those jokes these days you'd think people would watch American Dad since it doesn't have those.
 
Probably because the show is very hit or miss. Some episodes are put so well together, like Tearjerker, but tonights episode about ice skating was just plain dull and unimaginative.
 
I'm not sure why American Dad hasn't caught on the way Family Guy has (In all honesty,I find it funnier than FG,and the characters are more likeable,with the possible exception of Haley)....If I had to make a guess,it'd be that it's another Simpsons/Futurama situation.....At first,Futurama wasn't that popular,because even though it came from many of the same creators,it wasn't a whole lot like The Simpsons,and people either wanted or expected it to be,without seeing the show for its own merits(and again,I think Futurama's a much better show than The Simpsons,which preceded it)...
People expect American Dad to be like Family Guy,and stop watching when they realize it's not...
 
Because the characters are horribly unlikeable. Yeah, the characters in Family Guy may be somewhat unlikeable as well, but Family Guy is mostly a series of cut away gags. It doesn't really matter if a character does something repulsive, because it's forgotten about in the next scene. But, in American Dad the characters have to deal with their actions for the entire episode, making the ick factor greater. Also, the show just isn't that funny.



Intelligent humor? On American Dad?
 
Master Moron may have been a bit harsh in his criticism, but I believe he made a valid point. I watch the series on occasion, but I really don’t care that much about the characters; I don’t find them very appealing.
 
I love American Dad! :D I think it's way better than the current crop of Family Guy episodes! I love the fact that, despite the show's premise, it doesn't sacrifice comedy for the sake of shoving a political view down the audiences' collective throat.

I wanted to hate the show when it premiered (it seemed like it would be a cheap clone of Family Guy with dated anti-Bush dogma thrown in for good measure) and I was pleasantly surprised when the show turned out to be so much fun to watch.


I find the American Dad characters appealing mainly because they have distinct personalities. It's fun to watch them play off each other and react to different situations.
 
I don't think the AD characters are unlikeable at all. Anytime any of them do anything, with maybe the exception of Roger, it's for a semi-valid reason, and if it turns out to be the wrong choice they end up better for it by episode end, or if it's a clever twist on the "lesson learned" I just laugh it off.
 
I had never really watched American Dad and last week when I did I really enjoyed it. It reminds me in some ways of Family Guy but in some ways not. A reason people might not like it is because it was created by the creator of Family Guy making people think it's a rip off of Family Guy. But it's definitely not though.
 
That, and its often even more off the wall than family guy. I still can't believe they made an episode about Stan and his wife trying to save Mr. Pibb from being discontinued. Because without it the spark would be gone from their marriage! Comedies that are stupid for its own sake are really starting to wear thin.

Granted, it will age better than FG since it lacks the legion of pop culture jokes that will date it horribly over time, but its still not that good.
 
I think the writing is much better than Family Guy. Sure, there are some episodes that aren't that great and some that are fantastic, but not every show is going to have a pure-perfect episode run. I find the characters very likeable. Not every single one, but we all have our opinions. Like like Stan, Klaus and Steve whereas most of the audience loves Roger.

To me, if Family Guy was written the way American Dad was where it stuck with the plot until the end, or even the way they wrote their Star Wars special with no flashback jokes (None that I can remember of), I would probably watch a lot more of it.
 
When i first saw American Dad, i did think it was inferior to Family Guy in terms of the humour and characters. But over the last couple of seasons, the show has really improved to the point where I feel that it is perhaps better than Family Guy, more so in terms of a consistant pace of storyline. There's no denying that the two shows are going to appeal to different audiences so there's bound to be some people who like one of Seth's shows, but not the other.



I'd say that does have something to do with it. Futurama suffered the very same fate, notably at the hands of the network executives, who thought that Matt Groening was going to deliver them another Simpsons. Which obviously wasn't the case and they ended up treating the show like crap.
 
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