"American Dad!" (2005)TV series 2005-????

Creators:

Mike Barker
Seth MacFarlane
Matt Weitzman

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | unknown

Release Date:

6 February 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Tagline:

From the creator of "Family Guy" comes a man who will stop at nothing to protect his country.

Plot:

The random escapades of Stan Smith, an extreme right wing CIA agent dealing with family life and keeping America safe, all in the most absurdist way possible.

Plot Keywords:

Post 911 | Stay At Home Mom | Dysfunctional Family | Talking Pet | Actor Playing Multiple Roles

Awards:

6 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. May 18	9:30 PM	Fox	Spring Breakup
Sun. May 18	10:00 PM	TOON	Stanny Slickers II: The Legend of Ollie's Gold	#3.15

Cast

Seth MacFarlane	...	Stan Smith / ... (53 episodes, 2005-2008)
Wendy Schaal	...	Francine Smith (53 episodes, 2005-2008)
Rachael MacFarlane	...	Hayley Smith / ... (52 episodes, 2005-2008)
Scott Grimes	...	Steve Smith / ... (51 episodes, 2005-2008)
Dee Bradley Baker	...	Klaus / ... (51 episodes, 2005-2008)
Mike Barker	...	Terry / ... (22 episodes, 2005-2007)

Runtime:

30 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:12 | New Zealand:M (season 3) | Australia:PG | Ireland:15 (some episodes) | USA:TV-14 (some episodes) | Australia:M (some episodes) | Ireland:12 (some episodes) | Finland:K-13 (DVD) | Argentina:13 | Canada:G (Quebec) | USA:TV-PG

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The final frame of the introduction was changed for seasons beyond the first. At the end of the credits in the first season, all that could be seen was a big "American Dad!" logo in front of the American Flag. In all subsequent scenes, this logo was shrunk to fit the names to the series creators on the same screen.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the first episode, the man whose brain was switched with Klaus's is shown at the 1986 Winter Olympics. There was no Winter Olympics in 1986; Winter Olympics were held in the same years as Summer Olympics (for example, 1984 in Sarajevo, and 1988 in Calgary) until 1994.

Quotes:

Newspaper Headline: President finally gets joke about his last name.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "My Gym Partner's a Monkey: The Frog Principal/Meet the Spidermonkeys (#4.1)" (2007)

More "Family" in American Dad than there is in Family Guy

Ignore any naysayers who base their criticism on the fact that American Dad is too similar Family Guy. I find American Dad's jokes and gags to be far more refreshing and focused than those of the new Family Guy. And whereas Family Guy tends to satire pop culture, American Dad does the same with politics, society and family life (which Family Guy has drastically steered away from since the first season). Personally, I feel as if American Dad presents incisive and relevant humor whereas I have to mine ancient pop culture or celebrity news to appreciate new episodes of Family Guy.

Even without considering the fact that American Dad was meant to be Seth MacFarlane's main project in the wake of the Family Guy's premature cancellation, the show is a highly enjoyable, standalone evolution on a winning formula of non-sequiters, incisive satire and bawdy humor. On Sunday nights, you can expect me to be parked in front of my TV sitting through Family Guy to make sure I don't miss a second of American Dad.