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R.J. Godinez
Prof. Jackie
English 101
November 3, 2015
Is That the One With the Talking Fish?
A drunk alien and a nerdy teenage boy take a bus to Miami with magical shorts. A talking dog
and a genius baby travel to the North Pole to talk to Santa Claus. Both cases seem whimsically
chimerical. The television shows Family Guy and American Dad! are both systematically
comedic, satirical, and allure to a broad audience. Although some favor one over the other, each
show is uniquely different in its own nature. Their styles of humor differentiate between celebrity
satire and political references. Family Guy has cut away sequences that contain a joke apart from
the story, whereas American Dad does not. Viewers love the characters from each show
especially Stewie the baby and Roger the alien. Overall, American Dad is a better, more
perfectly-executed show that has variety in its jokes and interesting character archetypes that
keep the show interesting and lively.
Family Guy has an edgy humor with mainstream appeal, but American Dad has caustic,
more adult humor with more frequent political references. Family Guys humor can tend to be a
little taboo or offensive. For example, in one episode of Family Guy, at one point the main
character (Peter Griffin) is going through an airport security check. The TSA officer takes a look
at him and stops him, while holding up a card with different skin tones. The lighter skin tones are
under the word Okay and the darker skin tones are under the words Not Okay. All in all,
there are numerous examples where Family Guy does push boundaries and attempting humor,
which in some cases could make audiences uncomfortable. American Dad however commonly
makes jokes about the characters themselves as opposed to racial groups or religions. Although,
oftentimes, when a satirical joke is made, it can be risqu, but it comes from a character who is
not accustomed to human cultures (Roger the alien). For example, in one episode Roger says,

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Ah! I love your religionfor the crazy! Virgin birth, water into wine; its like Harry Potter but
it causes genocide and bad folk music, as he refers to Christianity. A great deal of what Roger
says is a mockery of humans in general, which, because he is an alien, is comical.
Sometimes, though, both shows lean away from comedy and touch on other emotions to elicit
an emotional impact from the audience. For example, in Family Guy, Stewie and Brian
oftentimes go on adventures together, traveling through time, or to different parts of the world.
Over the seasons, the audience sees the bond of friendship that these two share. In season 12 of
Family Guy, however, they almost ruined the space time continuum, making Stewie nervous
about time traveling again. Stewie destroys the time machine he built in order to not tamper with
time anymore. But, his best friend, Brian gets hit by a car and is in critical condition and even
though the audience hopes that Brian will make it, Brian says, Youve given me a wonderful
life. I love you all. Then Brian dies. Now, of course with the sad music undertones and the
family around him crying, its hard to imagine that this show is known for its comedy. In
American Dad, they havent quite hit a peak quite as dramatic, yet. But there have been some
instances where even in the heat of the comedy, the characters feel an emotional impact on what
is going on. As soon as the characters start to feel a certain way about something in the show, it is
common for a viewer to feel similarly. For instance, Jeff and Haley (the daughter) are husband
and wife, but Jeff doesnt know that Roger is an alien, because if he did, hed blab and the C.I.A.
would kill Stan, the father. In one episode, Jeff finds out, and the family is faced with killing Jeff
or Roger. Roger comes up with an alternative: leaving Earth and returning to his home planet.
When it is time for Roger to leave, there is a flashback of a bunch of funny moments Roger has
had with the family over the years and how even though Roger gets into a lot of trouble by being
himself, the family still loves him.

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Family Guy has cut away sequences during the show. A common Family Guy cut away
begins with a character saying a line like That was worse than the time which is often
followed up with a cut away showing what the character just referenced and then a cut back to
the story. This can be seen in the first few episodes of American Dad, but in order to not be
completely like Family Guy, American Dad quickly did away with these nonsensical story
distractors. American Dad focuses on the story and the quality of the characters rather than the
cut away sequences. Some viewers have said that the cut aways, as they are referred to by the
common audience, serve no purpose to the overall story and plotline. What doesnt make sense
is why the writers would want to distract the audience from what they came to watch with
something that may or may not make them laugh, but is more often than not, a waste of time.
Although, both shows are looked upon with great acclaim, an aspect of both of the shows is
what makes them thrive or failthe characters. Each character is essential to the story, and
drives it forward. But over the years, some of the characters in Family Guy have lost their
original flavor. For example, some of Stewies early dialogue included big words and sounded
more sophisticated. Good God, man. One can only imagine what foul regions that finger has
erstwhile probed! And in recent seasons, Stewie sounds more lax and a little bit homosexual.
Hey, Lois. A little less yakkity yak, a little more cutting up my banana. What am I supposed to
do? Stick the whole thing in my mouth? I meanOh! Hello! This last part is said as if he
enjoys it. This is only one drastic change in character on Family Guy, but there are a few others.
Brian, the talking dog starts out as the voice of reason, and currently from time to time tends to
be a liberalist who speaks his mind. American Dad, however, has tried to stay true to the
character archetypes that began the show back in 2005, as opposed to tweaking them slightly
over the years resulting in a drastic comparison from the beginning to now. Roger started out as a
whiny complaining alien, and he has maintained that throughout the shows running. Steve

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started out as a nerdy teenager and has also kept that archetype strong. Each American Dad
character has indubitably kept their given character figments and flaws, which makes the show
appreciative and wonderful.
Family Guy and American Dad both focus on comedy as their main points, but execute their
jokes differently. A plethora of differences can be found in each show but what makes the shows
unique to their own is the comedy. There is also a serious sort of light to both shows every now
and again. We can see this when Brian dies and when Roger is forced to leave Earth. All in all,
what really makes or breaks the comedy is the cut away sequences. Some audience members
really have grown to love and appreciate them, while others cant stand to sit through another
one. American Dads complex storyline doesnt tamper with the use of cut aways in order to not
distract the viewer from the overall plotline. And finally, each character in American Dad has
upheld their character status quo. Family Guy, on the other hand, begun with interesting
character archetypes, but modified them into something that is not unusual, but not common
either. Most importantly, the qualities of a good show are found in both shows, but are more
obvious in American Dad.

Works Cited
Becker-Patron, Brad. "How Family Guy Gets the Comedic Cutaway So Wrong." Splitsider.
Comedy Film School, 13 Feb. 2014. Web.
Bozell, Brent. "Fox's "Comedic Genius"" Townhall.com. Townhall Media, 10 Apr. 2009. Web.