Seth MacFarlane is one of Fox’s most trusted producers. With hits like “Family Guy” and “American Dad” performing well and “Ted,” MacFarlane’s film directorial debut, now the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time, it makes sense the network picked up his newest venture, “Dads.” This does not, however, mean that “Dads” will be a hit.

The show stars Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi as two business partners (the details of their career were not made specific in the pilot episode, however they were trying to get a few Chinese businessmen to invest in their video game called “Kill Hitler 2”). Both characters have a father who has obvious flaws, and by the episode’s conclusion, each character has agreed to let his respective father move in for the time being.

Green and Ribisi, as well as Peter Riegert and Martin Mull who play the fathers, deserve better than to be tied down to this show, which relies on racist jokes and lazy humor to carry the half hour. Case in point: Brenda Song, the office assistant, dresses up as a Japanese school girl in an attempt to persuade the investors to fund the project. She receives an inappropriate picture from one of the investors, and the episode closes with the main cast gathered around the phone poking fun at the man’s shortcomings. It wasn’t funny, it was just sad.

However, don’t expect “Dads” to be the first comedy canceled. As stated above, MacFarlane’s name does pull some weight at Fox. The network will probably run all 13 of the episodes it has already ordered. Whether or not it orders more after that remains to be seen.

0.5/4