In which Stan and Francine get heated… The Stan/Francine marriage dynamic is one that feels well explored because it’s one that has been done on American Dad’s contemporaries, such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. However, often times they’ll throw … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 8 “A Song of Knives and Fire”

In which Klaus maybe isn’t’ the worst?… Klaus is designed to be the punching bag. The one everyone hates because it’s easy to be mean to a man in a fish. The show and its characters can score easy jokes … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 7 “Beyond the Alcove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Klaus”

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 … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 6 “American Dad Graffito”

In which Stan tries to hold on to his memories… Stan is a person defined by his traumatic childhood. He has a father who abandoned him, and a mother who needed the attention after her husband left. So Stan often … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 5 “Epic Powder Dump”

In which Steve and Snot try to hold it together… The Steve and Snot friendship is always one that seems to be teetering on the brink of disaster. From “Jenny Fromdablock” to “Steve’s Franken Out” there always seems to be … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 4 “A Roger Story”

In which Stan can’t chop it… Stan Smith is a man out of place in the world, whether it was the original conception of the show where he was a Conservative butting up against a liberal world, or just a … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 3 “The Book of Fischer”

In which Stan gets a new look… The immutable nature of episodic television means that the characters can almost never change from episode to episode (both metaphorically personally and literally physically whether it be clothes or body). We’ve seen AD! … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 2 “Dressed Down”

In which Francine and Roger are reality TV stars… Like the progenitors of American Dad! (The Simpsons and Family Guy specifically) the long running nature of the show and the malleability of some of its characters means that in order … Continue reading American Dad! Season 19, Ep. 1 “Langley Dollar Listings”

In which Steve tries to keep a friendship alive… While not as sacred as Treehouse of Horror, nor as critically well received as AD!s own Christmas episodes, American Dad! actually does have a history of horror tinged episodes (“Best Little … Continue reading American Dad! Season 18, Ep. 22 “Steve’s Franken Out”