This new series from Seth MacFarlane features an ultra-conservative dad and his equally liberal daughter, plus other family members which include a fugitive alien. EW describes it as All in the Family meets Alias. I predict it'll last three episodes after Fox gets done screwing with the schedule.

I'm just afraid Seth will be too influenced by Family Guy. Think about it: 6 members in the family. 2 members talking who definitely shouldn't be. The "pet" type seeming to be in love with the mother & wife. Cutaways (Seth said they'll relate to the episode of AD they're in, but still).

Heh, word.

I'm really excited about this show, but I second both of your fears of cancellation and being too similar to FG.

Do the voices in this one all seem to be "B" voices to anyone else?

Kind of like Family Guy contained all the voices that came easily, and these almost sound forced?

To me Stan is a cross between Mr. Pewterschmidt and Joe. The alien didn't seem particularly forced to me, but then again I've only seen the 6-minute pilot thing, so. I guess we'll find out Sunday.

It actually got a pretty good write up in EW so we'll see.

Haha, really??? EW?? Aren't they notorious for hating FG?

There was a not-too-favorable Variety review on American Dad.

Somebody, PLEASE stop Seth McFarlane. You don't have to be gentle.

Is this show supposed to be a spin-off of Family Guy or something, all the characters I've seen look very close to Family Guy...maybe it's the same animator or something.

"
Ladies and gentlemen, Canadian Tyler just validated my fears. I love Family Guy and the whole she-bang, but I rillllly don't want it to be like Family Guy's kid brother or something.

I think it was stated that this was to come out when FG was cancelled and never to return. AD (hmm, lucky initials?) has about the same makeup as FG, but the story line is a bit different. I think they'll be a little more political where FG is pure pop culture satire.

At least I hope so.

And, there was one reviewer at EW that hated FG, but I think the mag as a whole loves it.

I've never been a fan of Family Guy, but the AD scene where the Dad gets the "gay call" is going to make me tune in for the premiere.

That, and anything with the initials AD can't be all that bad.

Word! I really hope I like it, but the increasing amount of reviews/press/etc. I've been reading say it's just a pale imitation of FG. I pray they are wrong. Fingers crossed.

The first time I saw AD (I was suckered into buying the Freakin' Sweet DVD) I said, "Oh look, Joe can walk!" It looked exactly like Family Guy and I found myself anxious for Peter, Brian and Stewie to randomly appear. I think this show was created to replace FG, but now that FG is back it has no purpose. I did however laugh outloud when he launched the gum across the street thinking it was a bomb, I'll give them that.

Yeah, me too (about the gum).

Stan actually reminds me more of Quagmire than Joe. I think it's the shape of his head or something. He's got that big ass-looking chin (versus the usual testicle-looking chin).

The show was made before FG's renewal, so the similarities may have been out of Seth's desire to make more FG. Hopefully when the production of episodes catches up to when FOX renewed FG, Seth will have done something to differentiate the two shows.

Hmm, I was just basing that on the fact that Seth/FG has taken several jabs at EW.

From what I've heard, the show is supposed to be a more political FG, like FG meets All in the Family. Anyway, I'm gonna give it at least a few eps, because I love FG and besides, I'm already watching FOX Sunday nights anyway. :D

(I've taken to calling it ADad myself, just to eliminate confusion between American Dad and the other (inevitably better) AD.)

Given Seth MacFarlane's lack of talent (he does everything, but badly), I'm not optimistic, but Fox always treats his shows with kid gloves -- eg renewing Family Guy for 50 episodes despite the terrible ratings -- so ADad is likely to get lots of promotion and probably stick around a couple of seasons. But the whole FG cult-phenomenon thing isn't likely to happen again.

It was Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly's TV critic, who hated Family Guy. (FG was even going to do a scene where Peter said "up yours, Ken Tucker," but it got cut.) He's no longer at EW, so the magazine doesn't bash the show as much. Though it should.

[Entirely off topic]
What's the "other" AD? Arrested Development or something?
[/cipot ffo yleritne]

I'm just gonna have to disagree with you there. Whatever you may thing about the rest of his work, he has a wonderful singing voice.


Yep. You should watch it. :) [/shameless plug]

<Channeling Loretta's voice>Mm-hmm.
One of the greatest examples is in Brian Wallows And Peter's Swallows, in the "You've Got A Lot To Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" song.

And I think Seth himself said it best: "People either love [Family Guy and his style of animation], or they completely hate it. There's no middle ground."

I may end up liking this show, but to me, it'll never be as good as the original.

When did he leave EW? Last I read there was an article by him.

I love FG and think that if they take this show in the right direction, it will thrive. Love Seth and think he can almost do no wrong.

Yeah, the family make up is entirely too much like Family Guy. You have the father, mother (who for all intents and purposes looks like she'll act in pretty much the exact same manner as Lois) liberal older daughter, younger dorky son, and then a sarcastic, mature talking alien that looks to be a clone of Brian, as well as the evil goldfish who seems to be the same mold as Stewie. It should do okay for awhile, but once FG starts up again, I predict that it will go on Seth's backburner and die out.

Heh, Sars would be so proud!

I had a comepletely different take on the family which may be why this show might work.

Dad - Joe
Mom - A little more Bonnie than Lois
Son - Neil Goldman
Daughter - we were actually together, only she's nothing like Meg to me.
Fish - Brian/Quagmire
Alien - Stewie

This is of course only because of the FS preview.

Also, on the FS collection, I couldn't sit through the Season 4 highlight thing, does he ever talk about season 4?

At the end he does, he talks about upcoming storylines and stuff.

If you go to fox.com they have some more clips of ADad (not like it's airing tomorrow or anything...) but anyway, they've changed the voice and design of Steve from what's on the FS collection. ...I think I like the first one better, but hey, any show that blows up Hilary Duff is cool by me.

After checking out those show clips, ADad does seem to be like FG's little brother. But I guess I'll make my final assessment tomorrow after it airs. If all goes well, this can tie me over until FG returns.

I think the son's cute, even though he does remind one of Neil Goldman. He's nerdy, but not in a Napoleon Dynamite mouth breather kind of way.

BTW, I like the ADad abbreviation. It's like A-Rod, but a billion times cooler.

The clips at the AD site are hilarious - "Don't play coy with me, you cardiganed jezebel! I have photographic evidence of you having sexual relations with the Creature from the Black Lagoon!" [cue photo with girl's head taped onto actual photo of woman in bed with Creature from the Black Lagoon]

I don't care about the similarities, I think it looks fucking priceless. Cannot.wait.

Hehe, but unfortunately the actual ADad season doesn't start until May 1, when FG returns, and making the most bitchingly awesome hour and a half of programming ever.

Dang, so it's just a sneak preview. Thanks for clearing that up, RabidChipmnk.

The alien (Roger) sounds a little too much like Snagglepuss, to make a non-FG comparison.

So do we have a time on when its sneak peek is airing today?

The latest I heard is after the Super Bowl.

They are estimating Simpsons around 10:00 EST and ADad 10:30 or so. Just depending on when the game is over and how long they can physcially prolong the postgame show.

This show's pretty good. The George W. talking to God on the phone part was funny. Joe's paranoia might get old though. Also, I'm not sure if I like the goldfish character, although I did like the story of his origin.

They replaced the Creature from the Black Lagoon reference/picture with Jack in the Box. I think that was better.

Me no like. Brutally unfunny.

Clous and Roger are my new favorites. "No, Francine turn away turn away." *Puts fish food in* "Oooo, happy time."

It was awful. I am horribly disappointed, and hope that this isn't an indication of what FG's new episodes will be like.

Oh, and Francine looked like a character from Garfield and didn't seem to belong in this show.

That? Was terrible. Stop the production now and do twice as many Family Guys instead.

Slow start, but it got better slightly. I loved God's phonecall to Bush. And the "For the love of Allah! Put on some clothes!" scene was pretty funny.

Not feeling the characters too much, but the alien might be my early "fave."

I agree, stop production and make Family Guy twice as excellent.

"All I know is that he's Jewish, but I might be able to stretch that into twelve pages."

Sounds like way too many of my high school papers. I liked it.

Well, I say:High-larious!

Well that was . . . a show. I laughed at the fish nuzzling in the Mom's chest and I liked God calling G.W..

Terrible. Maybe if it had a different animation style than Family Guy it might be decent, but it looks simply like Family Guy with a different skin on it.

The major difference i found was that Family Guy mocks typical sitcoms while this tries to be a typical sitcom.

Not as great as it could have been, but it gradually got better as the episode went on. I have a feeling that fish character is gonna seriously grate as the show goes on. Did anyone find the mom awfully one dimensional?

Wow... it was if like Joe from the Family Guy had functional legs... and had no redeeming qualities and was as funny as fourth stage cancer (actually it wasn't even that funny).

The gay-voiced alien was weak. The goldfish just was not funny. The daughter was obnoxious as she tried to be oh so liberal and conflicting with her conservative father. The mother was non-existant and then they tried to make her funny in the end but it failed. GW Bush jokes are old and not new so that wasn't even funny, just a cheap attempt.

The only amusing bit was the near dead dog.

Stick to the Family Guy and focus on keeping that fresh because this show will be lucky if it even shows up in May.

Well,ceralboxkiller,Lois isn't really multi-dimensional herself.Especially in the beginning of the series. With most pilot's, I love to point out that it is a pilot. It's not really an overall indication of how the show will be. I found the show really funny. I'll wait to see how it stacks up against Family Guy in may though.

My laugh out load moments:
1.When the Dad stole the purse and kept running.

2.The first time the alien squirted the ooze.

3.The dad holding the girl at gunpoint.

4.The son riding the buffalo.

5.When the alien couldnt get enough of that new snack.

I dont see why people found it so horrible. It had a real fun and out there feeling like Family Guy does. Flashbacks and all. Hey,you can't please them all though.

I liked it, especially the G-dub/God phone call and blowing up Hilary Duff (there's something I could get behind as a weekly event... they could do Paris, Ashlee, Britney... the list goes on). But yeah, I think the show has a lot of potential, and IMO FG started out only okay and got progressively better as they went along. I'm not giving up hope.

I loved the Buffalo, the Jack-In-The Box man (formerly the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but this and the cutaway were funnier) , Francine's whole soliloquy over the megaphone, the dog pissing dust, Stan with shards in his face...but I'm easy to please.

Well, from what I understand, McFarlane does voices and exec produces, but let his two partners handle writing so he can focus on FG.

Yeah, the dad gets extra-paranoia on top of the usual sitcom dad assy-ness, and what does the mom get? Characterized as a bimbo.

The geeky brother reminds me of the high school AV guy from Family Guy (the one who had a thing for Meg).

The fat alien has a good point about all the anorexic aliens we see in movies.

From what I've heard they're going to give her a wild past. I think it's too early in the game to make judgments about character development.