Steve and Roger… TWINS?  Well, maybe a bit of a stretch, but there is precedent here:  in S07 E14, Roger pretends to be Steve when Stan needs Steve to go to a private school to which powerful, well-connected Senator Buckingham … Continue reading “Twinanigans” American Dad! S15 E18

American Dad! is on a roll.  This season has been almost as great as the golden age of seasons 4 through 8.  And it’s great seeing Tuttle (Richard Kind) in a more prominent role.  (Oh yeah, and holy shit the … Continue reading “The Legend of Old Ulysses” American Dad! S15 E17

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 13 Mean Francine Grade: B+ I wasn’t on board with either the A or B-plots this episode, but the show won me over. Janitor Roger was a delight, and even though I’d rather have seen … Continue reading “Mean Francine” American Dad! S15 E13

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 12 OreTron Trail Grade: A Roger revealing a second family made sense, as with all his identities and the apparent time turner he has to live out all those lives at once, that’s hardly novel, but … Continue reading “OreTron Trail” American Dad! S15 E12

Hey folks!  Dik here, subbing for Aranaktu, and what a great episode to step in for.  I’ve said it time and again, it still boggles my mind that the show can still turn out good stuff after 15 seasons, and … Continue reading “My Purity Ball and Chain” American Dad! S15 E11

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 10 The Never-Ending Stories Grade: A American Dad does Marge vs. the Monorail in the age of Trump and actually does really well with it. And hey! Reginald is back alive for some reason! Putting Roger in … Continue reading “Railroaded” American Dad! S15 E10

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 9 The Never-Ending Stories Grade: B+ A great Stan monologue with his family desperate to escape him was a fabulous intro to the episode. Tasering Steve… spider eye… great stuff. Stan’s weaponized, (horrifyingly) boring life paid … Continue reading “The Never-Ending Stories” American Dad! S15 E9

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 8 Death by Dinner Party Grade: B+ Theme episodes are usually American Dad!’s strong point, and tonight was no exception. The Colonel (of the ‘yup, been here this whole time’ variety) was an inspired touch. … Continue reading “Death by Dinner Party” American Dad! S15 E8

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 7 Klaustastrophe.TV Grade: A A little meta referential humor and serial killer Klaus goes a long way, I’ve found. I even liked the senseless violence this week. The dialogue about how the rest of the … Continue reading “Klaustastrophe.TV” American Dad! S15 E7

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 6 The Mural of the Story Grade: B- A Breaking Bad reverse-watch leads to a scavenger hunt while Haley fights the CIA in a series of near-miss jokes and sub-plots that *almost* but not quite, … Continue reading “(You Gotta) Strike for Your Right” American Dad! S15 E6

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 5 The Mural of the Story Grade: D A largely laugh-free American Dad! split its time between Roger’s Whiplash clown parody and Stan’s raging narcissism in an inexplicable low. Nothing was really working tonight, with … Continue reading “The Mural of the Story” American Dad! S15 E5

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 4 Shell Game Grade: A+ All the individual segments of American Dad were firing on all cylinders tonight, with Rogers getting to preform an exotic madness, and Steve somehow bringing together a triangle of grim … Continue reading “Shell Game” American Dad! S15 E4

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 3 The Census of the Lambs Grade: B For an episode premised on a throwaway Hannibal Lecter line, confused with Buffalo Bill, and further confused with Law & Order, the themes it had mostly worked. … Continue reading “The Census of the Lambs” American Dad! S15 E3

American Dad! Season 15 Episode 2 Paranoid Frandroid Grade: A- The first regular season episode of American Dad! this year opens on a perfunctory note, with a fairly basic plot. Nevertheless, the overall episode quality was quite good, from Stan … Continue reading “Paranoid Frandroid” American Dad! S15 E2

American Dad! Season 14 Episode 22 West to Mexico Grade: A The kind of episode you could see the show ending on, the full commit to characters having new roles in such a complicated script reminded me of “Blood Crieth … Continue reading “West to Mexico” American Dad! S14 E22

American Dad! Season 14 Episode 21 The Talented Mr. Dingleberry Grade: B A weird cold open (seemed like part of a longer bit or an outtake) and a laggy middle couldn’t sink some great jokes. Roger being accepted as a … Continue reading “The Talented Mr. Dingleberry” American Dad S14 E21

American Dad! Season 14 Episode 20 Garbage Stan Grade: A- Was this… was this the same show as last week? Because there was more humor in the cold open than in the entirety of last week’s show. Now this was the … Continue reading “Garbage Stan” American Dad! S14 E20

American Dad! Season 14 Episode 19 Kloger Grade: F Oh God why. Between the product placement (eHarmony)and the sex scenes that seemed like something out of the dark corners of the animation internet (hitting incest, bestiality, rape…), this is the … Continue reading “Kloger” American Dad! S14 E19

American Dad! Season 14 Episode 18 The Long Bomb Grade: C+ The stadium. Why did it have to be the stadium. And a lukewarm Die Hard play by the numbers. Some of the bits in the mid-section (the hot dog, … Continue reading “The Long Bomb” American Dad! S14 E18

American Dad! Season 14 Episode 17 Family Plan Grade: C- None of this worked very well. I chuckled over the expectations game about which gag they’d go with or at the stupidity of the gags, but that’s about it. Oh, … Continue reading “Family Plan” American Dad! S14 E17

American Dad! Season 14 Episode 16 The Bitchin’ Race Grade: B+ I can dock this one down to a C+ for the ‘alpha/beta’ reference/dynamic, stupid recurring villain, and dumb race TV show conceit with no payoff to Dick’s party, or … Continue reading “The Bitchin’ Race” American Dad! S14 E16