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|  #1 Posted on 6.2.05 2257.43
Reposted on: 6.2.12 2259.01 | You know, I certainly wasn't expecting anything up to the level of "Family Guy", but that was quite possibly the least funny half-hour of television I've ever sat through. Not a laugh to be found anywhere - even the jokes about Dubya fell flat with me.
Hell, even following the lamest, most phoned-in episode of "The Simpsons" in several years - I suppose trying to shoehorn in a half-dozen celebrity cameos, a "torn from the headlines" subplot and a Super Bowl reference doesn't leave room for a coherent plotline or, you know, jokes - "American Dad" was still miserably awful. | Promote this thread! |             | Freeway
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|  #2 Posted on 6.2.05 2301.03
Reposted on: 6.2.12 2304.39 | Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastard
You know, I certainly wasn't expecting anything up to the level of "Family Guy", but that was quite possibly the least funny half-hour of television I've ever sat through. Not a laugh to be found anywhere - even the jokes about Dubya fell flat with me.
Hell, even following the lamest, most phoned-in episode of "The Simpsons" in several years - I suppose trying to shoehorn in a half-dozen celebrity cameos, a "torn from the headlines" subplot and a Super Bowl reference doesn't leave room for a coherent plotline or, you know, jokes - "American Dad" was still miserably awful.
Agreed. Unsympathetic and unlikable characters, nonsensical twists and dated topical humor don't make for a good new show. The Simpsons didn't start doing that until the 12th or 13th season.
The writers don't seem to understand the basic concept that made the Simpsons work: the characters were likable. The early Simpsons episodes had a good heart at the core of them, which meant that in later seasons when zany things happened, the happenings MATTERED because they happened to characters that mattered to us. Family Guy and American Dad have no such emotional core. | Hurrikane757k
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| #3 Posted on 6.2.05 2313.35
Reposted on: 6.2.12 2314.34 | | It's basically Family Guy with different characters and a more politically focused sense of humor. I want to enjoy it, I really do, but it's just so apparent that the creators didn't deviate that much from FG both graphically and in the delivery of the jokes that there isn't much to get excited about. | CRZ
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| #4 Posted on 6.2.05 2316.35
Reposted on: 6.2.12 2317.48 | | Maybe it was just the buzz of the home-brewed beer, but our group got yuks out of both shows tonight. Of course, I'll readily admit that the biggest reaction during the half hour of "American Dad" was the "NEW Family Guy May 1!" spot. | Jaguar
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| #5 Posted on 7.2.05 0014.13
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0014.14 | The only part that I truly enjoyed was, "You can read! The system WORKS!" Other than that, it was pretty lame. In Family Guy, Stewie makes a nice side-addition to the plots, and Brian provides the voice of reason. Exchange a talking baby and a talking dog for a talking fish and a talking alien... and yet neither of those characters served any purpose (though the Fish/Ski Jump thing was amusing).
Also, I just don't find the Osama thing funny. If the CIA thing gets a bit more time and development it could be funny... if they stick with "Up Osama's pooper!" I'll stick to Comedy Central.
-Jag | estragand
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| #6 Posted on 7.2.05 0016.52
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0018.15 | I thought the Simpsons started out fine, but kinda' lost momentum when all the celebrities popped in.
I didn't find "American Dad" enjoyable at all. I felt like the creators were saying "look! Aren't we so witty and clever with our snide remarks and political satire!?" Almost seemed to be jumping into "That's My Bush" areas.
But the monkey commercials made me laugh...so don't put too much weight in my opinion. | edoug
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| #7 Posted on 7.2.05 0048.20
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0049.30 | | They killed off the best character.I think working on two shows, especially animated shows, may be more than Macfarlane can handle. | Wolfram J. Paulovich
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| #8 Posted on 7.2.05 0240.48
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0243.09 | I had about ten people over for my Super Bowl party. We had an almost 50-50 ratio of drunks to drivers. So it wasn't like it was an audience of people who were all totally hammered when The Simpsons came on, but everyone lost it for the Donkey Kong/Mario reference. Just peals of laughter. And it went on from there. We all agreed that the third act was kind of anticlimactic, but we all gave the show a "good-but-not-great episode" thumbs up, despite being bitter old bastards who were watching The Simpsons bring their A-game when we were in high school.
American Dad, though? Tanked. Most of the people with me were actually big Family Guy fans, and wanted to like the show. But none of us laughed until about 15 minutes in. Even the FG fans started complaining about it. Specifically: Macfarlane is just okay at doing voices, and that's fine on FG. But he's recycled staple FG voices for another show. The similarities got worse from there. A buddy of mine who was really defending FG before American Dad came on finally threw up his hands and basically said:
"Okay: talking drinking dog on FG; talking eating alien on American Dad.
"Talking baby that tries to kill Lois; talking fish that tries to nail... uh, Lois.
"Impulsive nutty dad; impulsuve nutty dad."
Most of the people in the room were in the same boat as CRZ: they were most entertained by the Family Guy/Law & Order-parody promo. In fact, one of my friends was just begging that it was a "We fooled ya!" gag from the Family Guy people -- like they wrote this elaborate prank where they pretended to give America a new TV show that was ripping off the old one, then said, "Just kidding. It was a tease. Here's Family Guy!" | It's False
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| #9 Posted on 7.2.05 0258.25
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0259.01 | The roommates and I were starting to really get into The Simpsons...until it ended. Like certain wrestling matches, this one was just too short. As soon as the closing credits came up, one of the roommates said, "Wait...that's it?" Didn't help that it was also kind of an awkward point to end the episode.
American Dad went over well on this front. It wasn't exceptionally great, but then again, neither was the Simpsons, Futurama, or King of the Hill upon their first outings. I think this show deserves a second chance and could be a good follow-up to Family Guy.
(edited by It's False on 7.2.05 0059) | Roy.
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| #10 Posted on 7.2.05 0550.10
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0550.52 | Call me crazy, but I liked it. I'd be disappointed if it were the only thing McFarlane was doing, but thank God for Family Guy.
The IKEA/Iraq joke worked for me, as did the Paul Lynde alien, "Osama, is that you?", and the dog peeing dust. I wish they'd dump the talking German fish, however. Not a blockbuster debut or anything, but I was amused by the show. | Mayhem
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| #11 Posted on 7.2.05 0724.08
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0725.03 |
Now granted it was no Family Guy, but I enjoyed the show. I enjoyed Roger the alien and his needing his sugar fix.
But May 1st, baby ... | TheCow
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| #12 Posted on 7.2.05 0800.48
Reposted on: 7.2.12 0801.06 | Amazingly enough, the Family Guy promo didn't draw a whole lot of attention where I was. Maybe everyone missed it entirely (or, more likely, missed the L&O reference), but it was kind of surprising.
Group's take? Amusing, but not at a FG level. Personally, I thought that it definitely needs some work (hence, the sneak preview part of it), but it has some potential. It had some good moments (the fish was a lowbrow comedy highlight), but they also seemed to be in a "let's explain why everyone is here" mode for those first 10 minutes or so, which utterly killed any flow the show could have realistically gotten. of course, I'm not sure how else they could have done it. | geemoney
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| #13 Posted on 7.2.05 1129.26
Reposted on: 7.2.12 1129.30 | I thought The Simpsons was okay- and of course, the big news being the revealing of Comic Book Guy's real name (Jeff Albertson?!?!). Tom Brady did the best job in his celebrity voice role, IMO. And the endzone dances were pretty funny.
I was not very amused by American Dad however. The best jokes were the ones we saw in the commercials for the show. Being a big FG fan, I'll certainly give it another chance come May 1st.
(edited by geemoney on 7.2.05 1236) | Wpob
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| #14 Posted on 8.2.05 0749.21
Reposted on: 8.2.12 0752.02 | I thought American Dad was awful. I had high expectations and it did not even come close to meeting them. I hope that they make some major changes. I would dump the fish and the alien. I thought both of them were particularly unfunny.
Just a bad show for now. Right up there with Father of the Pride. | emma
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| #15 Posted on 8.2.05 1332.32
Reposted on: 8.2.12 1333.13 | Originally posted by Freeway420
Unsympathetic and unlikable characters, nonsensical twists and dated topical humor don't make for a good new show. The Simpsons didn't start doing that until the 12th or 13th season.
The writers don't seem to understand the basic concept that made the Simpsons work: the characters were likable. The early Simpsons episodes had a good heart at the core of them, which meant that in later seasons when zany things happened, the happenings MATTERED because they happened to characters that mattered to us. Family Guy and American Dad have no such emotional core.
I do like Family Guy, & didn't like American Dad at all. Freeway is dead on that the characters need to be sympathetic, likeable &/or in some way resonate with the viewer. (I'm thinking that perhaps Freeway is insufficiently alcoholic, snide & megalomaniacal to relate to Brian & Stewie; & even more likely he's never been the long-suffering wife/girlfriend of a stupid-but-kinda-sweet guy. :-) ) The characters in American Dad were flat, annoying, blandly bizarre versions of their counterparts on Family Guy. | Mr Shh
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| #16 Posted on 8.2.05 1407.27
Reposted on: 8.2.12 1407.32 | | If you're going to talk about character development, then the first American Dad had just as much as the first Family Guy. By the end of the first Family Guy, Lois, Chris and Meg were still only just wife, son and daughter. I didn't like American Dad cause the jokes just weren't funny. | Alessandro
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| #17 Posted on 8.2.05 1542.41
Reposted on: 8.2.12 1543.07 | Sounds to me like watching Family Guy has "ruined" American Dad for everyone here ... Me? Like someone else said, I thought it was Family Guy-style characters with a more political bent, but it still made me laugh.
I'll keep watching once the season starts in May ...
| JustinShapiro
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| #18 Posted on 9.2.05 1433.30
Reposted on: 9.2.12 1433.32 | | This show went from being crap to doing my life outright harm, and I will do everything in my power -- posting about it on the internet -- to see its demise. | CRZ
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| #19 Posted on 9.2.05 1456.05
Reposted on: 9.2.12 1456.39 | Originally posted by JustinShapiro
This show went from being crap to doing my life outright harm, and I will do everything in my power -- posting about it on the internet -- to see its demise.
Geez, way to give it a CHANCE. | SchippeWreck
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| #20 Posted on 9.2.05 1520.51
Reposted on: 9.2.12 1521.01 | Originally posted by CRZ
Originally posted by JustinShapiro
This show went from being crap to doing my life outright harm, and I will do everything in my power -- posting about it on the internet -- to see its demise.
Geez, way to give it a CHANCE.
No, he's mad about this. (zap2it.com)
(edited by SchippeWreck on 9.2.05 1322) |
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