The Smith family in "American Dad" is essentially the Griffins (from "Guy") with minor changes. Stan, the American dad in question, is a flamboyantly conservative CIA agent. He is introduced as an overly paranoid patriot; in the first scene he ends up unloading his handgun into a toaster. This sort of random and excessive gag is one of first signs that the show is robbing from "Family Guy" instead of finding its own niche. Among the humans in the cast, Stan is the only character I would consider funny, and that's only because he shares Peter Griffin's idiotically (hilarious) tendencies. Stan's wife Francine is pretty much a non-entity, though she has one stand-out scene in which she broadcasts her surprisingly dirty past over a loudspeaker. Still, this episode is not entirely different from Lois's raunchy escapades in "Guy." Joining Stan and Francine are their two teenage kids: Hayley, a rebellious liberal and Steve, a formulaic high school loser. Both are seemingly identical to their "Guy" counterparts, though Hayley has the potential to be an interesting foil for her ultraconservative father.
Replacing Brian, the dog, from "Guy" is another talking pet, a goldfish named Klaus. Despite his stereotypical German drawl, Klaus is undoubtedly the most appealing character in the pilot. Unfortunately, he only has about 60 seconds of dialogue. The explanation for Klaus' ability to speak delivers the biggest laughs in the episode, but again, this scene is depressingly short.
The final and most unnecessary character in the family is Roger the alien. If you're expecting him to be a worthy replacement for Stewie, the talking infant from "Guy," think again. Roger is the most thinly drawn character I've ever witnessed in an animated prime-time show. He has a weight problem, loves sweets and occasionally excretes green mucus from his body (a gag used three times too many in this episode). With Stewie, we enjoy the character so much that we never question his ability to speak or his motivation to kill his mother. Stewie seems to belong on "Guy" solely for his ability to entertain. In contrast, Roger never justifies his existence on the show, and he certainly doesn't help his case with dialogue like "Kudos on the biatch." His character almost feels like a joke being played on the audience by MacFarlane and his writers-it's as if they wanted to see how well they could sell us a poorly written character.
The fact that the show's characters don't work poses a problem for the series since so much of its humor is character-centered. If you've seen "Family Guy," then you know the sort of humor "Dad" tries to pull off, and you'll either love it or hate it. The main stylistic similarity is the randomness of the humor. Both shows seem to love jumping out of context to further a gag. In "Family Guy" this is often handled with aplomb, but in "Dad" it seems more like the producers are trying to prove that the new show can be just as funny as "Guy." Sadly, it isn't, and "American Dad" ends up resembling the more recent (and horrifically bad) "The Simpsons" episodes. It's as though both shows feel like they must try to surpass what came before (with "Simpsons," it's the '90s heyday of the series), but all that effort just makes them look like they're overcompensating.
At this point "American Dad" has proven itself to be nothing more than "Family Guy Lite." We have already seen everything it currently offers in some form or another either from "Family Guy" or any of the other Fox animated shows like "The Simpsons" (in its heyday) or "Futurama." It probably would have been a bearable alternative if "Family Guy" had remained cancelled, but since FOX has recently ordered new episodes of "Guy" (due to the popularity of the DVD box set and its Cartoon Network ratings), "Dad" simply has no place on television. "American Dad" will officially launch on May 1, and I estimate most who saw the pilot will be watching their "Family Guy" DVDs instead.