American Dad has the ingredients to be another cutting-edge series like The Simpsons. It aims to push buttons but instead falls flat and is more likely to fall back on some predictable toilet humor, and it’s not for kids any more than Family Guy is. However, the show's greatest fault is that it's just not as funny as McFarlane's other series. Über-patriot Stan Smith could be a hilarious figure, a red, white, and blue Homer Simpson. Yet the Smith family is less endearing than the Griffins of Family Guy. This gives the audience less reason to laugh and less reason to care. The slapstick is less witty, the characters are underdeveloped, and overall the show feels forced. Thus the attempts to shock and the resulting laughs don't add up. Ultimately, American Dad is just another unremarkable sitcom.