In which Stan tries to save a restaurant…

As originally conceived, American Dad! was animated All in the Family with Family Guy sensibilities. That is to say, an arch-Conservative father butting heads with his liberal hippy daughter. The show has moved past that thankfully but we still often see the DNA of that idea in the stories, like this week’s entry.

Stan drags Hayley along to one of his early morning walks to inspire her to work harder. Along the way he spots his one of his favorite restaurants Johnny 50s a retro diner, and learns it is going to be closing. Marshalling everybody he can, including the owner of the diner (Sal, who Stan keeps calling Johnny), and a few Fonzie impersonators, he’s convinced he can bring back 50s nostalgia to save the diner.

However, Stan has inspired Hayley to actually work hard and that means getting the new Sub Hub open where Johnny 50s is currently. Hayley convinces Sub Hub to do this in two days, which forces Stan to work fast to implement his plan. He convinces everyone in the town to support the diner which forces Sub Hub to abandon their plans. Stan wins but Hayley challenges Stan to a drag race.

Stan and Hayley race but as Stan looks back fondly over his time at the diner, he realizes that it’s because of his love of spending time with Hayley. He attempts to Fonzie his way out of the race but ends up crashing his car into the diner. Hayley and Stan makeup and look fondly onto their table as Johnny 50s burns down.

The only real B-Plot, which is more of a running gag, is Roger trying to remember his Wolfman Jack name. It ultimately goes nowhere

Stray Observations

• Stan wrote down “Places where the Beaver can leave it”
• The various fifty references include: Grease, Fonzie, James Dean and Rebel without a Cause, Marilyn Monroe and The Seven Year Itch, Wolfman Jack, And of course the title is a refence to American Graffiti.
• Greg pops up at the observatory after what seems like a long absence.
• Another non-standard opening for the show which seem to be more frequent in the TBS era.

Thoughts: Good episode. I enjoyed the various gags where random citizens got hurt.