American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series was moved to TBS in 2014 and continues to air new episodes to this day.[2][3] American Dad! is the first television series made to premiere on Fox's Animation Domination block.[4] The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the rest of the first season airing three months later beginning May 1, 2005.[5][6]
American Dad!
"Good Morning, USA"
by Seth MacFarlane
"Good Morning, USA"
(Instrumental)
- Walter Murphy
- Joel McNeely
- Ron Jones (seasons 1–4)
United States
English
20
366 (list of episodes)
- Seth MacFarlane
- Mike Barker (2005–2015)
- Matt Weitzman
- Brian Boyle (2013–present)
- Kenny Schwartz (2006–2013)
- Rick Wiener (2007–2013)
- David Zuckerman (2007–2009)
- Richard Appel (2009)
- Nahnatchka Khan (2011–2012)
- David A. Goodman (2013–2014)
- Erik Sommers (2013)
- Steve Callaghan (2014)
- Jordan Blum (2016)
- Zachary Rosenblatt (2021–present)
- Joe Chandler (2021–present)
- Nic Wegener (2021–present)
- Kara Vallow (2005–2020)
- Diana Ritchey (2019–present)
- Zac Moncrief (2014-present)
- Michael Rowe (2015-present)
- Brian LoSchiavo (2015-present)
Rob DeSales
21–24 minutes
- Underdog Productions
- Fuzzy Door Productions
- 20th Television[a] (seasons 1–18)
- 20th Television Animation[b] (season 19–present)
February 6, 2005 –
present
Creative direction of American Dad! had largely been guided by Barker (prior to his departure from the show in season 10) and Weitzman as opposed to MacFarlane, resulting in a series that is different from its counterparts.[7] Unlike MacFarlane's other shows, Family Guy and, to a lesser extent, The Cleveland Show, American Dad! does not lean as heavily on the use of cutaway gags, and is less concerned with conventional "setup-punchline" jokes,[3] instead deriving its humor mostly from the quirky characters, the relationships between family members, and the relatively relatable plots.[2] While the core issues and resolutions are relatable in most episodes, the show nonetheless weaves in fantastical elements, pitching the tone of the show somewhere between observational comedy and farce.[3] The plots are often absurd, but grounded by family stories and real-world issues.[3]
American Dad! has been nominated for numerous awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards. In June 2013, it was awarded as top television series by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Since its debut, American Dad! has broadcast 366 episodes (as of December 18, 2023). The total number of seasons and organization of episodes within those seasons are in dispute due to discrepancies in how official sources report this information. One model suggests the first season of American Dad! comprises the first 7 episodes, while another model suggests the first season comprises 23 episodes.[8]
Beginning on October 20, 2014, TBS picked up the series for the 12th season following the final 3 episodes airing on Fox as the 11th season. TBS, TruTV, and Adult Swim, (all owned by Warner Bros. Discovery), air reruns of the series.
On January 15, 2020, TBS renewed the series for both 18th and 19th seasons.[9] The 19th season premiered on January 24, 2022.[10] On December 16, 2021, the series was renewed for seasons 20 and 21. The 20th season premiered on March 27, 2023.[11]
On May 12, 2023, it was announced that the showrunners of American Dad, including Seth MacFarlane and his other show Family Guy, would temporarily leave the show as a result of the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike. They returned to the show on September 27, 2023, once the strike was declared to be over.[12]
Production[edit]
Origins and comparison with Family Guy and All in the Family[edit]
When asked what first spurred the idea for American Dad! Seth MacFarlane answered, "It was right after the [2000] election, and me and co-creator Matt Weitzman were so frustrated with the Bush administration that we would just spend days bitching and complaining, and we figured we should channel this into something creative and hopefully profitable."[7][8] In early February 2005, Barker stated, "About a year and a half ago, Seth called and asked if Matt and I would be interested in working on a show about a right-wing CIA agent and his liberal daughter. It was right up our alley, and everything just fell into place."[5][8][15] On September 14, 2003, Variety reported that Fox Broadcasting had ordered a pilot presentation of the then tentatively titled American Dad! and "If greenlit, American Dad! could launch as early as fall 2004." At the time, Fox was aiming to develop a new lineup of adult animated sitcoms.[16]
Plot techniques[edit]
Farces[edit]
American Dad! has commonly made use of farces as most of the predicaments that befall the main characters have escalated into the extremes, to the point of getting outrageously out of hand.[3][31][32] For example, in the episode "Home Wrecker", Stan and Francine's marital harmony breaks down from a difference of opinion on remodeling the house. It gets to the point where they divide the house in two, each decorating their half of the house in their desired fashion. Still not satisfied with this, they both attempt to drive the other out of the home and eventually erect a colossal block wall, dividing the two halves of the house. The rest of the family members are forced to spend one holiday after the next alternating between Fran's and Stan's place (the sides of the house treated as distinct homes). As another example, in the episode "Stan's Food Restaurant", Stan asks for Roger's help in starting a restaurant. As things progress, Roger makes heavy changes in the layout, eventually kicking Stan out of the project. Stan retaliates by opening another restaurant next door, which becomes a smashing success. Roger responds by blowing up Stan's restaurant but destroying his own in the process. Stan threatens to kill Roger, but backs down after Roger pulls a gun on him and tells him to relax.[32]
Surreal humor[edit]
American Dad! plots are generally teeming with surrealism and nonsensical elements.[33] Many of the occurrences, circumstances, and behaviors are unrestrainedly preposterous, senseless, and illogical.[3]
As further examples of surrealism on American Dad!—in the episode "Hurricane!", a ferocious bear pauses in his attack, lowers his eyelids halfway, and repeatedly shakes his head horizontally, shaming Stan for missing him in a harpoon shot and instead spearing Francine into a wall; in the episode "Why Can't We Be Friends?", the hallways of the Smith house transform into dark and dangerous alleyways every time Roger pays Jeff then ambushes him (in disguise) to steal the money back. He even tries to forcibly rape Jeff;[34] in the episode "The Missing Kink", Steve and family fish Klaus are shown competing in a one-on-one basketball game between each other, the score nearly tied at 11 to 10; also in the "Missing Kink" episode, the Smith house is shown to consist of a never-before-seen underworld to which various friends and acquaintances of the Smiths party and frolic; in the episode "The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith", Stan has a never-before-seen secret control room hidden underground just beside the house. The control room door's exterior side is camouflaged with the grass surrounding it. The room is filled with highly advanced, state-of-the-art equipment. Access to the control room is achieved through a handprint reading device that extends from the ground when Stan extends his arm/hand at it; etc.[33]
Non sequitur/story within a story[edit]
Among the many forms of surreal humor and nonsense elements that have been used by American Dad! is the non sequitur/story within a story technique. This arises when the show's focus becomes sidetracked by entirely unknown and unrelated characters in circumstances that are irrelevant to the episode's main plot. Typically when this happens, it is after the show has maintained focus on its main characters for much of the episode; following this, the scenes randomly lose focus and become deeply wrapped up into the lives of never-before-seen characters who are non-central to the plot. A prime example of this is in the episode "Homeland Insecurity". As opposed to scenes focusing on main characters, attention is redirected deep into the lives of unknown characters who gain possession of Roger's gem-encrusted golden feces - this storyline of the dramas resulting from "The Golden Turd" continues in later episodes. As another example, in the episode "The Missing Kink", the show's focus is sporadically sidetracked with brief scenes revolving around the life of a drug abusing bird and Francine's inexplicable ability to both understand and communicate with the bird's chirping.[33][35]
Plot twists and unexpected elements[edit]
The series has abounded with random, unexpected occurrences and surprise plot twists as result of the characters and the very makeup of the program.[36] For example, in the episode "The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith", Steve refers to Roger for help in dealing with a school bully, Luiz. Because Steve is able to correctly predict Roger's original game plan of handling the situation himself under an alter ego, Roger throws him a curveball: he not only hires Stelio Kontos (from the episode "Bully for Steve") who was Stan's bully, to handle the matter, but hires him to bully Steve so Steve's original bully Luiz won't want another bully's sloppy seconds. Then Luiz, encouraged by Steve, goes to beat up the guy that beat him up yet learns that it is Stelio Kontos and the two bullies team up along with Roger to target Steve. The Stelio Kontos's song sounds, revamped by Roger adding "and Luiz ". As another example, in the episode "The Vacation Goo", Francine becomes frustrated that she cannot get the family together for Sunday night dinner. For family time, Stan suggests a vacation, and the Smiths have a great time in Maui as a family. This is up until Roger shuts down the mechanism Francine and the kids are all attached to so as to believe they are all on vacation. Francine and the kids then learn that Stan has been programming a pseudo-vacation every year in a contraption dubbed "the goo chambers". After learning of this, Francine demands they go on a real vacation. Twice they appear to do so, first skiing, then to Italy, until it is ultimately revealed that they are in the "goo chambers" all along, with Steve and then Hayley having programmed the vacations, respectively. In the episode "Spelling Bee My Baby", Steve deliberately misspells his words in a spelling bee so as to express his love for Akiko (who is also competing), instead spelling random Tyler Perry/Madea films.[36]
Story arc use[edit]
Another technique used by American Dad! is the story arc. On several occasions, a circumstance expands and progresses across a collection of episodes.[3][15] As an example, one of Hayley's temporary breakups with Jeff expanded across a string of episodes, in which she instead temporarily dated a black man in a koala body, Reginald Koala—known for his very urban mannerisms and behaviors. As another example, since the 9th season episode "Naked to the Limit, One More Time", Jeff Fischer has been absent from the Smith house and planet Earth altogether. In that episode, Jeff is blindsided when Roger hurls him into a spaceship. This spacecraft belongs to Roger's race of aliens and was intended to return him back to his birth planet; Roger remains behind after casting Jeff into the spaceship. The spaceship immediately takes off and Jeff is not seen until several episodes later, the episode "Lost in Space". During episodes that aired between the two aforementioned episodes, allusions to the ongoing plot line are made. For example, in the episode "Spelling Bee My Baby", Hayley is shown holding out hope for Jeff's return. In the episode, Roger and Stan attempt to rush Hayley through her grieving process so she will be willing to be their tennis official.[3][31] In the episode "The Longest Distance Relationship" Jeff gets in touch with Hayley via a radio and ultimately tells her not to wait for him and to move on with her life. This story arc is finally resolved in the episode "Holy Shit, Jeff's Back!"; Jeff supposedly returns to Earth but turns out to be an alien called Zebleer masquerading as Jeff and the real Jeff has been dissected. Jeff's brain is transplanted into Zebleer's body allowing the real Jeff to live, after which Stan and Hayley's memories are wiped, leaving them unaware that Jeff is no longer entirely human. This plot point is continued at the end of "Bahama Mama", where Roger mentions Jeff cannot get Hayley pregnant because he has an alien body, so he agrees to rebirth Jeff in "Roger's Baby". By the end of the episode, Jeff is human again and with Hayley on Earth. Another example of the usage of story arcs are the Christmas Specials, starting with the Season 7 episode "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls", Santa Claus became the main antagonist of the arc, vowing to get revenge on The Smiths after nearly being killed by Steve in the aforementioned episode.[37] The storyline expands in the Season 10 episode "Minstrel Krampus", the episode concludes with a small change to the status quo, Stan's Father Jack fuses with Krampus' soul and becomes the new Krampus, up until his death in Season 17.[38] Santa returns in the Season 14 episode "Ninety North, Zero West", where Santa kidnaps Steve to take over the world by unleashing an ancient god in the North Pole. He is seemingly killed off by falling off a cliff and breaking his neck.[39] The storyline continues in the following Season 15 episode "Santa, Schmanta", albeit not directly related to the story arc, it does explain Santa's death and reveals be was revived at the end of the episode.[40]
In discussing the cartoon's distinguishing story arc element, co-creator Mike Barker explained:
Adjustments in on-air presentation, production, and broadcasts[edit]
The unaired precursory pilot[edit]
While the series premiere of American Dad! is titled "Pilot", "Pilot" is not the show's actual pilot presentation. The actual pilot is a 6-minute version of the first 6 minutes in the series premiere. This precursory pilot was used by MacFarlane, Barker, and Weitzman to sell American Dad! to Fox and was never aired along with the rest of the series.
While much of the dialogue and general scenery were simply redone between the precursory pilot and the following series premiere, there are sharp distinctions between the two. Differences also exist between the precursory pilot and the official series as a whole. Most of these are in the pictorial technique. For example, scenes from the pilot are drawn in a rougher, more cursory fashion with weaker coloration than scenes from the official series. Most prominently, Steve's physical design and outfit in the predecessor greatly contrast from his official design and outfit. In addition, Steve is voiced by Ricky Blitt in the precursory pilot but by Scott Grimes in the official series. There are also variations in Steve's personality.[55][56]
Characterization[edit]
Early episodes of the series featured political banter between the conservative Stan and liberal Hayley. However, the creators learned quickly that this had only "a limited shelf life" and did not provide them as much as they originally thought it would. Said co-creator Matt Weitzman, "There are times when we still have that kind of dynamic between them, but not nearly what it was in the first season. And I think the show, honestly, has grown and benefited from it, because that would have gotten boring after a while."[3]
Roger was enhanced by being provided with a running gag of alternate disguises and freedom to exist outside of the Smith house. The show's original concept basically portrayed him as being similar to ALF, having him sit in the house all day while commenting on life. The creators, however, have stated that the character was far too much fun to keep restricted to the house, and having him interact with different people provided for much material. The creators have further appreciated the direction of Roger for the fact that he almost serves as a different guest star for each episode what with his many alter egos. The show's staff believe this element of the show highlights MacFarlane's versatility as he voices Roger and his countless alter egos.[3]
There have been three versions of the "Steve" character, the creators having twice made considerable adjustments to his design. Steve's initial design ended up being a one-off execution limited to the unaired precursory pilot (not to be confused with the series premiere, titled "Pilot"). By the season premiere, Scott Grimes had begun voicing Steve, and his design was made taller, more filled out, and less geeky. After early seasons of the series, Steve was remodeled again. This time he was made softer, more emotional, cuter and more endearing, creating a sharper contrast to his father Stan's ruggedness and machismo.[57]
Between the eighth and ninth seasons, there were significant changes in the show's writing staff. Mike Barker mentions (with one-season-less numbering) "We lost some animators, and we lost a lot of writers. Season eight, our writing staff is about 65–70 percent new."[3]
Network relocation from Fox to TBS[edit]
On July 16, 2013, it was announced that American Dad! had been cancelled by Fox. Shortly thereafter, however, the cable station TBS picked up the show for a 15-episode 11th season, which premiered on October 20, 2014.[58][59] Along with airing original episodes, TBS also airs reruns of American Dad! in syndication.[60] The tenth season was initially to be the final one on Fox; however, on July 20, 2014, it was announced that Fox had three unaired episodes left for broadcast. Two of the three aired back-to-back on September 14, 2014, and the final one aired on September 21, 2014. Reports from Fox seemed to imply that these three episodes constituted a season of their own, season 10. Among multiple discrepant reports from TBS however, one indicated that the three episodes were the beginning of the 11th season to resume on their network.[61] TBS actually debuted their first episode through social media websites YouTube and Facebook on October 13, 2014; the October 20, 2014, date applies to the linear television debut.[62]
On the show's network relocation, Mike Barker has stated, "It's going to be the same American Dad!, just in a different place." Barker also joked that the network relocation was to execute a Tyler Perry crossover they [Barker and American Dad! production staff] had long aspired to.[63]
Mike Barker's exit[edit]
On November 4, 2013, it was announced that Mike Barker had departed American Dad![64] Barker had served for ten seasons as the show's co-creator/executive and producer/co-showrunner. Matt Weitzman is now serving as the show's sole showrunner. The news came as early production for season 11 commenced. As of November 2013, the show's production crew was developing its first four episodes for season 11, slated to begin airing on October 20, 2014, when American Dad! moved to TBS. Barker remained under an overall contract with 20th Century Fox Television.[65][66]
Following Mike Barker's exit, Brian Boyle replaced him as the showrunner for the television series.[67]
