Seth MacFarlane has embedded himself as one of the most iconic voice actors of all time and a prolific show runner and producer. He has created a handful of extremely popular and acclaimed TV shows, such as Family Guy and The Orville. He even has delved into movies with a lot of success with Ted. In a media landscape littered with copycats and unoriginality, MacFarlane has brought a unique, quirky sense of humor that can be divisive but has helped him stand out among the rest. Whether you love or hate his humor, MacFarlane is not going anywhere!
With that said, here's our ranking of every TV show and movie by Seth MacFarlane.
13 The Winner
The Winner revolves around a successful man who takes a look back at his time spent living with his parents in his thirties. With a great cast, it had potential, but overall, the writing fell short, and the overuse of a laugh track really hurt it. It didn't take long for the show to be canceled, making this sitcom very short-lived.
12 Dads
Dads is about two best friends who came up with an idea for a video game company in college and grew up to be successful co-founders of that video game company. One has a fantastic home with a wife, two kids, and two dogs; the other is a single anxious, massive stoner. Things get out of hand when each of their fathers moves in with them. Dads is fun and funny at times and had a lot of potential.
The cast was great, with Seth Green and Giovani Ribiso, but unfortunately, in the end, the script and the overuse of the laugh track were so bad no amount of talent or potential could have kept this show afloat.
11 A Million Ways to Die in the West
A Million Ways to Die in the West, starring MacFarlane as Albert, was Seth MacFarlane's second feature-length film after he made Ted. It was a parody Western film, much like Blazing Saddles, but it fell short. The humor is crude and often offensive, and it has that classic MacFarlane feel (in this case, in doesn't work). Riding on Ted's momentum, MacFarlane got a star-studded cast, including Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, and more. Whereas Ted was huge, A million Ways to Die in the West suffered from a lack of unity and polish. As Brian Tallerico of RagerEbert.com said, A Million Ways to Die in the West is "a byproduct of a man-child allowed to do whatever he wants because it worked last time."
10 Bordertown
Family Guy writer Mark Hentemann created Bordertown, and Seth MacFarlane jumped on to produce it. The show centers on neighboring families who live in the fictional town of Mexifornia. The show had some laughs for what it was but was limited to crude humor, a litany of Mexican stereotypes. It received some pushback from audiences for being too political in nature, but the reality is this show's downfall was weak writing and its inability to land a joke consistently.
9 The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is a spin-off of Family Guy that revolves around the Family Guy supporting character, Cleveland Brown. The show was a fun idea, and plenty of laughs can be found in it, but it fell short of McFarlane's other animated sitcoms because it was too much like Family Guy. It also struggled because the characters that took on the supporting roles around Cleveland didn't create the fantastic comedic dynamics of all the classic characters that made Family Guy so much fun. Due to a lack of originality, The Cleveland Show struggles to keep up with the others.
8 Ted 2
As most comedy movies struggle with critical acclaim, they often find support from the audience. However, Ted 2 did not find either. Ted was such a hit that Ted 2 was almost guaranteed not to live up to its original. The film delves into concepts such as identity and mortality as Ted is on trial to determine if he should be treated as a toy someone could own or a person. It's a great premise, but the overindulgence of sophomoric humor dumb down any educational value Macfarlane wanted to sprinkle in. Despite Ted 2's generally poor reception, it does have some hysterical moments that remain quotable and make this film a fun watch, even if it isn't the most polished comedy MacFarlane has conjured up.
7 Blunt Talk
Blunt Talk stars the legendary Sir Patrick Stewart, who plays a character far from his usual repertoire. He is a narcissistic newscaster from Britain who is attempting to prove himself in LA. He is excellent, as he always is, but many fans felt he often missed the mark as this leading man in a comedy. This show received mixed critical reception, but its audience scores were much higher. It is perhaps littered with a bit too much of that same old MacFarlane humor that can feel a bit random and like it's just trying to get a gasp. MacFarlane's comedy style works well sometimes in the context of an animated sitcom but in live-action, it is not always received as well. This is a likely contributor to its low viewership resulting in it being canceled after only two seasons.
6 Ted
Ted was Macfarlane's first venture into making a movie. He had established himself in the world of television and wanted to go for the big screen. Ted focuses on John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), who makes a wish that his childhood teddy bear, Ted (MacFarlane), would come to life. Well, it works, and Ted aint so cute and cuddly. Well, he looks cute, but once he starts talking, that perception dissipates quickly. Ted was hilarious, quotable, and unique, much like everything else Macfarlane had touched before it. It was a huge hit and propelled his career to giving him the freedom to go on and make Ted 2 and A million ways to Die in the West.
5 The End is Nye
Macfarlane is a huge proponent of scientific literacy and education. He is a big sci-fi fan as well. The End is Nye, much like his other sci-fi endeavor Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, drastically deviates from anything he's ever done. The show is hosted by the one the only Bill Nye. Many from the '90s know him as Bill Nye the Science Guy. The show unravels what goes on within the most significant natural and unnatural disasters that could happen. Bill Nye digs deep into how these catastrophes could occur and how they could be prevented and dealt with. The show is terrifying and inspiring, and Bill Nye is entertaining, as always.
4 The Orville
The Orville is where Macfarlane is able to intertwine his love for sci-fi and comedies and his desire to be a leading man. He plays Capt. Ed Mercer of the spaceship the U.S.S. Orville. The show is a direct spoof of Star Trek that was not received too well early on. However, as the show pressed on, it gained a loving fan base. As Orvile's last season, season three, received excellent reviews, there will likely be a season four, but it is still pending.
3 Family Guy
Here is the big one, the show that propelled Macfarlane into the annals of animated sitcom history as a legend; Family Guy. Some may wonder why this doesn't top the list, but despite being his most popular show, contributing to an entire generation of people growing up quoting Quagmire and trying to talk with a whistle like Herbert the Pervert, Family Guy is divisive among animated sitcom fans and critics alike. This is where Macfarlane establishes his stylistic humor of jumping around to very random cut scenes and trying to get laughs with jokes just from shock value.
Much of the criticism stems from a purported lack of cleverness and attention to narrative, unlike many animated sitcoms such as The Simpsons or Southpark, but others would argue that Family Guy was never intended to play on the same field as other sitcoms that imbue their well-crafted narratives with moral lessons or clever commentary on society. Family Guy does indeed have social commentary and can be very satirical, but it is blunt, sporadic, and obscene. While it borrows heavily from many animated family-based sitcoms that came before it, it has its own unique take on the genre and developed a die-hard fan base that has seen it have 409 episodes and be renewed through 2025.
2 American Dad!
American Dad! was first chalked up to being a lazy rehashing of Family Guy. Similar family dynamics, the same tone and mood, the same type of humor. Why watch it? Well, as the show revealed more and more of itself to the world, it came to light that something was unique within all that similarities. The show follows CIA agent Stan Smith and his family. There's the housewife, the son, the daughter, and instead of a talking dog, there is a goldfish with the mind of a German Olympic ski jumper and Rodger and an Alien who escaped from Area 51.
American Dad! is hailed by many Macfarlane fans as his best show. It relies less on randomness and shock value and is noted as being much more intelligent and creative. It gets progressively better and better as many fans feel Family Guy has been going downhill for quite some time. One could say that Family Guy was Macfarlane's passion project that holds all of his love and essence of who he is, and American Dad! is a slightly more polished and refined version of that.
1 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
If you are wondering what the hell, is this sci-fi show above Family Guy and American Dad!? You're probably not alone. But often, comedies are up against a lot more critical criticism than other genres, so take this with a grain of salt as being his number one top rated. As stated before, MacFarlane is a huge proponent of scientific literacy and education.
The original Cosmos: a Personal Odyssey was hosted by the late great Carl Sagan and was a staple of sci-fi and science enthusiasts. The show did an exceptional job reaching those with curious minds but may not be enthusiastic about science yet. There was not just a niche audience but also a wide appeal because Cosmos showed the universe in a light that invoked awe and wonderment in even the most incurious of minds. Given that times and science have changed, it was time for an update.
Macfarlane helped make this happen and brought us the new Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, hosted by the brilliant and charismatic astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson. It received an outstanding reception from critics and audiences alike. If you love science and sci-fi as much as Macfarlane, it is an absolute must-watch.