TV Thursday, 5/28/26: In Praise of American Dad!

With nothing particular on my mind this week, I decided to do an overview and sales pitch for a show I think has largely maintained a consistent level of quality, always delivering and remaining funny on rewatches.

Thesis, please

Even now it’s easy to overlook American Dad!, which at its premiere (all the way back in the third week of George W. Bush’s second term) seemed like a reskinned Family Guy— a show that itself was revived the same year— even down to the cast formula. That said, it didn’t take long to figure out a better formula than either its progenitor (which came back not nearly as funny as it was before its initial cancellation) or its original concept, and after a few seasons reached a level of quality that it has managed to maintain; it’s still remarkably strong and funny after at least 20 seasons¹, a run that’s arguably never been achieved at that level of quality.² I decided to write this because I still feel like the show is overlooked (at least by most people I know), so I wanted to write something to encourage readers to give the show a shot.

The show was originally conceived with an All in the Family-esque dynamic of conservative CIA agent patriarch Stan conflicting with his rebellious liberal 19-year-old daughter Hayley. This element started to fade pretty quickly (as did the cutaway gags that are Family Guy‘s hallmark), and two other characters really broke out: Hayley’s little brother Steve, a hapless nerd, and Roger the alien. (Also in the main cast: Stan’s wife Francine and talking German fish Klaus³. Hayley’s eventual husband Jeff, an affable and very dim stoner, joins the family as well once they’re married.)

In particular, the way the show handled Roger’s change was inspired: He’s an alien who lives in the Smiths’ attic and who when the show starts can’t go outside, but then the writers had the idea to give Roger a series of disguises (and matching personas) that nobody but the Smiths can tell he’s not a human. With that change, Roger essentially becomes the show’s Bender, a comic sociopath with easily hurt feelings who constantly causes chaos, except he can do so as anyone in any environment. (It’s also a good running gag that every time Roger sends one of the Smiths to a specialist for their problem, it’s going to always— well, almost always— be Roger in disguise.)

Related to this, the show’s equivalent to what TV Tropes calls “Growing the Beard” might be called “Rogering the Credits” – around season 4 or 5⁴, the opening credits change slightly, with the recurring gag newspaper headline being replaced by Roger popping up in Stan’s car on the way to work in one of his disguises.

Anyway, American Dad! doesn’t rely on cutaway gags or shock humor nearly as much as absurd and surreal character humor and farce (although, between Stan and Roger, there is still a lot of cartoon violence). The show tells such a wide variety of stories, able to focus on each member of the family, and with Roger’s personas giving the show a much wider range of possibilities in its storytelling. And that’s before I get to any longer arcs inside the show, or the show’s recurring Christmas mythology, or the high-concept episodes that riff on everything from The Warriors to The Twilight Zone to Lovecraft.

I’ve done my best to give you a sampling of episodes to check out the show and see if it’s for you, with a few recommendations if you liked something in particular. This turned out to be a more daunting task than I envisioned, because I forgot the show has nearly 400 episodes to comb through, and limiting myself to ten didn’t give me enough to make sure I featured every significant character and recurring concept.

Using Wikipedia for season numbering since that’s my resource here:

Ten Twelve to watch

“Roy Rogers McFreely” (Season 5, Episode 12)

The first episode that made me really get into the show, a great example of an “ordinary” plot, and, as I discovered in my research, a fan favorite beyond just me. Stan, of course, loves order, conformity, and getting his way. When he intentionally doesn’t buy Roger grenadine at the grocery store, Roger decides to get in character as “Roy Rogers McFreely” and take over the Homeowners Association, using it to mess with Stan both passively (non-standard lawns and house colors) and actively (a fire hydrant at the driveway curb for an excuse to tow Stan’s car, scheduling garbage collection at 3 AM every morning exclusively for their house). An escalating feud ensues— with the exact character details that make this show such a delight. Hayley also has to explain to Stan that in this struggle, he is part of the counterculture, a little nod to the show’s roots. Not sure if it’s more of a Stan or Roger episode, but it’s a great example of the show’s ability to take a mundane plot into the hilariously absurd.

• similar episodes: “The Vacation Goo” (S4E1), “My Morning Straitjacket” (S6E7), “Morning Mimosa”⁵ (S12E8)

“Ricky Spanish” (Season 8, Episode 17)

In many ways the culmination of Roger’s disguises, he finds an old costume in his closet he can’t remember which of his characters it belongs to… until the reactions he gets on the street make him realize the costume belongs to Ricky Spanish, his most evil persona, who’s given everyone in town a reason to hate him (and which we often see in flashback with the whispered Riiicky Spaaanish over it). Steve tries to convince him to rehabilitate Ricky Spanish; if you’re familiar with the show, you know this will end badly for Steve, and if you aren’t, the fact that it will end badly for Steve sums up Roger in a nutshell. And whether or not you are, you may already know this one as “The One with Werner Herzog.”

• similar episodes: “Cops and Roger” (S6E14)⁶, “Great Space Roaster” (S6E18), “News Glance with Genevieve Vavance” (S10E19)

“Rabbit Ears” (Season 16, Episode 4)

American Dad!‘s lengthy run has given the writers the chance to experiment in odd genres, including Lovecraftian horror and Twilight Zone horror. The latter is on display here: Stan finds an old giant CRT TV on heavy trash day and drags it to the basement. There he discovers a show called “Nighthawks Hideaway,” a Playboy After Dark-esque show with Alistair Covax (Chris Pine!) leading a televised postwar-era jazz-and-cocktails lounge party. Stan can’t find any information on the show, and the local TV director insists it’s never existed, but he does turn Stan on to a support group for people who think it did… consisting entirely of recurring neighbor Tuttle (Richard Kind). From there, Stan obsessively catalogues each episode he sees, noting the minor differences even though the show otherwise appears to be repeating the same episode, until he thinks he sees Tuttle in the show… and that’s where the Twilight Zone horror begins. Just a killer episode that was not only terrific entertainment but firmly demonstrated the show could be at its very best even as late as 2019.

• similar episodes: “Gold Top Nuts” (S19E10), “Echoes” (S19E21), “The Clearview Motel” (S21E13)

“American Dad Graffito” (Season 19, Episode 6)

It’s one of my favorites in the last few seasons, and while it could fit in either the “Stan gets out of hand with a simple idea” or “Homage to some specific film or story” categories, I’m gonna use this to talk about Hayley. Some of the best Hayley episodes involve her challenging herself to be more than a slacker and channeling her talent and ambition into a goal— which makes her more like Stan than either one would want to admit. In this one, after Stan has been berating Hayley for her lack of ambition, he takes her on his morning walk to Johnny 50s, a nostalgic diner (“Soak up all that authentic 1990s-style 50s atmosphere”). Stan learns the diner is closing— and while Hayley uses the opportunity to pitch her bosses a new SubHub location with her as the manager, Stan desperately wants to save the diner. Not by eating there or sending them business, of course, but by trying to spark and/or impose 50s nostalgia on the entire town. This involves a lot of dangerous cars, asbestos, and swallowed toothpicks. Never fails to crack me up, and it even ties back into the Stan-Hayley relationship, which doesn’t get too much focus these days, though when it does it’s more about Stan’s nostalgia for when Hayley was his little girl and less about their political conflicts. Also features Roger as the Wolfman Jack-style DJ who can’t remember his own name. (“Wolfboy… George?”)

• similar… well, let’s go with focused on Hayley episodes: “Pulling Double Booty” (S5E6), “Hayley Smith, Seal Team Six” (S13E3), “The Mystery of the Missing Bazooka Shark Babe” (S21E16)

“Escape From Pearl Bailey” (Season 5, Episode 5)

One of the first major Steve-centric episodes that really launched him as a breakout character, Steve gets revenge on the popular girls at school for making fun of his girlfriend… or so he thinks. He pisses off the entire school, and he and his friends have to get out safely in a Warriors homage (with the batshit Principal Lewis serving as announcer). Can the four misfit nerds survive the various gangs cliques and escape to the safety of Francine picking them up? More of a Steve and friends episode than a Steve and family episode, though the latter provide tons of good plots too (and we’ll get to some soon enough).

• similar (i.e. Steve and Friends) episodes: “Jenny Fromdabloc” (S7E16), “The Unincludeds” (S13E11), “The Witches of Langley” (S14E9)

“Lost in Space” (Season 9, Episode 18)

The rare Jeff-centric episode is, in this case, also one of the rare high-concept episodes. Due to the events of “Naked to the Limit, One More Time” earlier in the season, Jeff is stuck on a spaceship full of Roger’s species, where the Emperor tells him he can return home if he can prove that what he and Hayley has is true love. This involves a memory-reading monster alien called The Majestic (and a song by Wax Fang of the same name), and Jeff uncovering a secret about both The Majestic and the Emperor, with a little help from Sinbad. Jeff is so often portrayed as childlike and possibly too dumb to live, so it’s refreshing when an episode focuses on him to see that he’s capable in his own way and can kick some ass. Also one of the most vibrantly animated episodes of the series.

• similar (or at least Jeff-centric) episodes: “Jeff and the Dank Ass Weed Factory” (S16E5), “Wild Women Do”⁷ (S16E10), “Shakedown Steve” (S18E4)

“The Two Hundred” (Season 13, Episode 10)

Not all of the American Dad! one-offs are purely horror. Sometimes you get specific homages to, say, James Bond, or even more esoteric and seemingly nonsensical homages for a cartoon show. “The Two Hundred” turns Langley Falls into a post-apocalyptic hell, where Stan, Roger, and Stan’s neighbor Greg set out to find the rest of the Smith family, without crossing the paths of the rest of the town’s citizens, who have gone savage, largely under the leadership of Principal Lewis (who didn’t really need much of a push to get there).

• similar episodes, insofar as they are also non-canonical homages, weird or otherwise: “Tearjerker” (S4E10), “Blood Crieth Unto Heaven”⁸ (S9E10), “Hot Water” (S8E1)⁹

“Beyond the Alcove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Klaus” (Season 19, Episode 7)

It took the show a while to get a handle on what made Klaus great for comedy. It turns out, the answer is, “the worst kind of douchebag that nobody likes.” He’s a hot couch guy in fish form. (Or worse, Elon Musk without the money.) The guy who always talks about his “bros,” whose ideal decor involves neon Budweiser signs, who always has an ulterior motive with people¹⁰. Anyway, in this episode, Francine is trying to prevent Klaus from ruining her dinner party, and it turns out… everyone is enjoying Klaus’ company? But Klaus sucks! What’s going on? Klaus tells Francine he’s been working on himself, and she can too… only to reveal that he’s actually hypnotized the whole town into worshiping him, and it’s up to Francine to break the spell. Thankfully, Klaus has left enough of a record of his douchebaggery in the form of his podcast “Klaus of Hearts” for her to do so.

• similar episodes with that fucking fish: “Kloger” (S14E19), “Klaustastrophe.tv” (S15E7), “No Weddings and a Funeral” (S16E18)

“Paranoid Frandroid” (Season 15, Episode 2)

Well, I put this one under Francine, because she is the main character, although it could’ve reasonably fit as a Klaus or a Steve and friends or a CIA episode as well. Anyway, Francine takes a break from watching Morning Mimosa to visit Roger’s conspiracy convention in the attic. And while she’s a little skeptical at first, she follows Stan one day and discovers he’s been producing Morning Mimosa for the sole purpose of keeping her docile and uneducated about the outside world. This leads Francine to start a radio show where she starts spouting conspiracy theories… and when she accidentally lands on a real one, the CIA is charged with suppressing her. And while it doesn’t capture Francine’s wild side as much as the aforementioned “Wild Women Do” or a few of these other episodes, it is a good balance of a lot of the things that make the show fun.

Meanwhile, Snot’s mom has a new boyfriend, Del, and he lets Snot have the basement in his new condo as his own room… which Klaus encourages them to decorate in the sleazy, aforementioned Klaus way to get chicks. Unfortunately, this only seems to have an effect on Snot’s mom.

• other Francine episodes: “White Rice” (S7E5), “Fart-break Hotel” (S7E9), “Crotchwalkers” (S10E4)

“CIAPOW” (Season 12, Episode 2)

You can’t cover this show without mentioning the CIA, not only since Stan ostensibly works there, but also because the show’s portrayal of them is so funny: A bunch of excitable, demented man-children, none more than director Avery Bullock, played by Patrick Stewart with all the sense of fun, if not more, of his Extras appearance or the “Sexy Cakes” sketch— and he’s one of the most frequently recurring cast members as well.¹¹ In this episode, Bullock starts using military drones instead of agents on missions, and Stan sets out to prove he and the rest of the CIA team can do better than any machines… where they promptly get captured on a mission to Thailand.

• other CIA / Bullock episodes: “Flirting with Disaster” (S7E18), “The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith” (S9E17), “She Swill Survive”¹² (S10E16)

“For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls” (Season 7, Episode 8)

The American Dad! Christmas episodes have created a wild and consistent lore of their own, and this one is not only one of the best, but it introduces the Smith family’s running blood feud with Santa Claus (who in the show’s universe is… well, an evil, violent maniac). Stan plans to get Steve his first gun for Christmas, until Francine makes him promise not to do that… so Stan gifts Steve an AK-47 for Wednesday. Stan takes Steve shooting and he loses control of the gun, accidentally killing a mall Santa, which the two of them (and Francine) bury in the woods to never speak of again. Surprise, surprise, it’s not a mall Santa, yada yada, yada, the Smiths have to defend their cabin from Santa and wave after wave of elves, holding out long enough to make it to Christmas Day. Also, Stan learns a lesson about how Hayley’s husband Jeff is part of the family now or something. It wasn’t the original violent-mayhem American Dad! Christmas, and the previous season’s Christmas episode is a common choice for the best, but it is the episode that kicked off the most consistent thread of the AD! Christmas mythology… um… thing that you weave.

• similar, by which I mean my other favorite Christmas, episodes: “Rapture’s Delight” (S6E9), “Ninety North, Zero West” (S14E7), “Yule. Tide. Repeat.” (S17E22)

“In Country… Club” (Season 6, Episode 1)

One recurring theme of Stan-Steve episodes is the ultra-macho Stan’s desire to toughen up Steve or make him more of a man, or at least more like Stan (or who Stan thinks he is). This time around, Stan thinks Steve’s national anthem¹³ isn’t energetic enough, so Stan tries to spark Steve’s sense of patriotism by signing the two of them up for a Vietnam War reenactment at the local golf course. Steve ends up with PTSD and flashbacks, before snapping and returning to the scene of the reenactment, while Stan has to talk him back to reality. Also introduces one of the show’s weird one-off side ideas.

• similar episodes: “Bully For Steve” (S6E16), “Son of Stan” (S7E2), “Stanny Tendergrass” (S8E9)

You know how deep this show is? I didn’t even get to mention Turlington, the detective who occasionally shows up and was for a few episodes voiced by Forest Whitaker (and was definitely an homage to Kavanaugh, or at least, the timeline matches in such a way that The Shield probably gave the writers the idea). Or any of the Halloween episodes.

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In memoriam

Grizzwald “Grizz” Chapman, best known from 30 Rock as one half of Tracy’s permanent entourage (along with Kevin “Dot Com” Brown), passed away Friday, May 22 at the age of 52. Though he doesn’t have a lot of other credits to his name, he and Brown legitimately knew Tracy Morgan when he was coming up in the comedy world. (Chapman met Morgan when he was bouncing at a strip club.)

This 2024 Cracked interview with Chapman and Brown has a lot of detail that I don’t think I’d ever read before, particularly in both how they met Tracy Morgan and how 30 Rock changed their lives. I recommend it if you haven’t yet.

Grizz is survived by his wife and two children.¹⁴

On the actual schedule

Since I last wrote, Elsbeth‘s season wrapped and Rick and Morty‘s premiered. Hacks airs its final episode tonight. The Four Seasons comes out on Netflix today.

Next Week

I don’t know. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but as always, this space is open for anyone who has other, better ideas. Any idea that requires less work from me is a better idea.

What did you watch?

1. Due to how episodes were aired, and in particular with the show leaving FOX for TBS in 2014 (then coming back this year), you may find that the current season is recognized as either 20 (what Hulu shows), 21, or 22 (Wikipedia). Hulu combines Wikipedia’s season 1 and 2 into one season, as well as seasons 11 and 12. (Season 11 does only have three episodes, but those were the final three aired on Fox before the show moved to TBS, and were produced alongside the previous season.) ↩︎
2. You could argue it for The Simpsons, Family Guy, or South Park, I suppose. I don’t know why you would. ↩︎
3. Apparently Klaus was designed to be the breakout character in the way Roger actually would be. ↩︎
4. Again, depending on your numbering system. ↩︎
5. More of a Steve and Francine episode, but it is pretty domestic, and Stan’s B-plot is one of my favorites the show did for him. ↩︎
6. “Oh, my God, Roger’s a dirty cop! …He’s been on the force for three hours!” ↩︎
7. Also a Francine episode, but I wanted to include other episodes in that section, and also there aren’t as many Jeff episodes. ↩︎
8. This one is an homage to, mostly, August: Osage County. Yes, this is what I was thinking of when I said “esoteric and seemingly nonsensical… for a cartoon show.” Also, what a great fake name for a play. ↩︎
9. I was pretty sure the 10th episode of each season wasn’t reserved for a strange non-canonical episode, but I was getting worried there. ↩︎
10. Klaus’ favorite show is probably Family Guy. ↩︎
11. Outside of the six main family members (voiced by five people, as Seth himself does both Stan and Roger), only Jeff and Snot have appeared more often than Bullock. ↩︎
12. Also a Hayley episode, but Bullock figures prominently and it’s a good one, so I’m including it. ↩︎
13. Did you know Scott Grimes is also a singer-songwriter? The writers know this, so they give Steve plenty of opportunities to sing. ↩︎
14. Calling him “Chapman” yet again just felt wrong. He’s Grizz in all of our hearts. ↩︎