American Dad!
225px The Smith family (left to right): Roger, Francine, Stan, Klaus, Hayley and Steve.
Genre	Animated sitcom
Format	Black comedy Slapstick Political satire
Created by	Seth MacFarlane Mike Barker Matt Weitzman
Voices of	Seth MacFarlane Wendy Schaal Scott Grimes Rachael MacFarlane Dee Bradley Baker
Composer(s)	Walter Murphy Joel McNeely
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	133 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Seth MacFarlane Mike Barker Matt Weitzman Rick Wiener Kenny Schwartz Co-Executive Producers: Jonathan Fener Brian Boyle Judah Miller Murray Miller Erik Sommers
Producer(s)	Keith Heisler Kara Vallow Supervising Producers: Lesley Wake Webster Laura McCreary Erik Durbin
Editor(s)	Rob DeSales
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Fuzzy Door Productions Underdog Productions 20th Century Fox Television
Distributor	20th Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	480i (SDTV) (2005–2009) 720p (HDTV) (2010–present)
Original run	February 6, 2005 (2005-02-06) – present (present)
Chronology
Related shows	Family Guy The Cleveland Show
External links
Website

American Dad! is an American animated sitcom created by writers and executive producers Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Smiths, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Stan and Francine; their children Hayley and Steve; and their anthropomorphic pets Klaus and Roger. The show is set in the fictionalized version of the state Virginia. Unlike sister show Family Guy it doesn't exhibit its humor in the form of cutaway gags.

The family was conceived by MacFarlane after developing animated cartoon Family Guy for the Fox network.

Since its debut on February 6, 2005, the show has broadcast 133 episodes and the seventh season starting airing on September 25, 2011.

American Dad! has been nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy Award and 2 Annie Awards, in which the result was nominated. American Dad! has also received criticism, including unfavorable comparisons for its similarities to sister show Family Guy. American Dad! holds a TV-PG and TV-14 rating, with the latter being used more often.

Production[link]

Early history[link]

American Dad! officially premiered after Fox's broadcast of the Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005, alongside The Simpsons, with "Pilot". The show debuted to 15 million viewers,^[1] with 23 million viewers in overall, alongside The Simpsons with ratings.^[2] The show returned on May 1, 2005, with "Threat Levels", obtaining 9.47 million viewers, after the season premiere of the revival of Family Guy.^[3]

Summary[link]

American Dad! centers on the domestic life of its nominal title character, Stan Smith, a staunchly neoconservative, Republican, CIA agent and self-proclaimed patriot, though his conservatism is most often treated as buffoonish and self-abnegating. He is married to Francine Smith, a ditzy housewife who is trying to make up for a wild youth. Their two children are Hayley, a passionately liberal college-aged activist who Stan seems to be in tension with often, and Steve, a nerdy, wimpy high schooler who constantly attempts to live up to Stan's expectations but can never really measure up to the high standards in place for him. The Smith family is also in possession of two bizarre nonhumans — Roger, an escaped alien from Area 51 whom Stan is covertly housing in defiance of his employer due to the fact that Stan owes Roger a "life debt" (until he saves Roger's life and then admits he likes Roger), and Klaus, a goldfish whom the CIA implanted with the brain of an East German Olympic ski jumper, who often demonstrates a romantic interest in Francine.

The Smith family resides on 43 Cherry Street, in the fictional community of Langley Falls, Virginia in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The town name is a composite of Langley and Great Falls, two unincorporated communities located in Fairfax County.

Plots generally center on the misadventures of various family members in their respective realms. Recurring themes include Stan's desire to see Steve mature properly, Roger's desires to establish a life outside of the house, Francine's desire of breaking out of an overly structured lifestyle, Hayley's desire to rebel against her father's politics, and Steve's desire to finally become one of the cool kids and "get some boob".

Opening sequence[link]

American Dad! features a recurring gag in its opening sequence that is changed for every episode. Originally, this took the form of a newspaper headline, usually featuring a topical, satirical joke directed at the United States Government, the media, or current affairs. One exception is episode 14 of season 3, "Office Spaceman", where Stan picks up the paper to read the headline "Alien Spotted!"; the theme music abruptly stops and the episode begins.

As of Season 4, the opening sequence had been replaced, starting with the episode "1600 Candles". While featuring the same music, most of Stan's interaction with the family has been changed. Replacing the newspaper gag used in the first three seasons is Roger popping up next to Stan in the family's SUV to sing the final "Good Morning, USA!", wearing a different costume each episode. Roger's sudden appearance causes Stan to crash into the flagpole at the CIA building, thereby ending the sequence.

Voice cast[link]

MacFarlane voices Stan Smith and Roger.

Wendy Schaal voices Francine Smith, Stan's wife.

Scott Grimes voices Steve Smith (Stan and Francine's son).

Rachael MacFarlane voices Hayley Smith (Stan and Francine's daughter).

Dee Bradley Baker voices the Smiths' anthropomorphic fish Klaus Heissler.

Jeff Fischer voices Hayley's stoner boyfriend (and later husband) Jeff Fischer.

Patrick Stewart voices Stan's boss Avery Bullock.

Seth MacFarlane	Wendy Schaal	Scott Grimes	Rachael MacFarlane	Dee Bradley Baker
Stan Smith and Roger	Francine Smith	Steve Smith	Hayley Smith	Klaus Heissler

Reception[link]

American Dad! has received generally positive reviews from critics and scoring an average user score of 7.2/10 on Metacritic.^[4] Critics of the show initially focused on the similarities of the show's format and characters to Family Guy, but have also praised the show's more relaxed, approachable tone.

Episodes[link]

Television ratings[link]

Crossovers with other shows[link]

Characters from Family Guy and The Cleveland Show have made crossover appearances in American Dad! and vice versa.

Family Guy

• Brian Griffin makes a brief cameo in "The People vs. Martin Sugar" as Stan's #1 Fictional Dog. Brian carelessly asks Stan, "Do I know you?" before walking away and Stan shouts, "Stop pretending I don't exist!"
• Brian has an epiphany in the episode "Excellence in Broadcasting" where he changes his political views to Republican Conservatism. Once he realizes this, a cut away shows Stan Smith sitting on the couch supposedly watching Brian and says, "Good. Good for Brian."
• During the credits of "The Unbrave One", Glenn Quagmire is revealed to be Dr. Vadgers.
• Stan and Deputy Director Avery Bullock attempt to catch Stewie after he breaks into the CIA in the "Lois Kills Stewie". Stewie mistakes Stan for Joe Swanson.
• In The Worst Stan, Steve and Roger are watching a fictitious episode of Family Guy featuring Stewie and Brian going to Miami to enroll in Florida State University, with Steve questioning how a baby and a dog were able to get on an airplane.
• At the end of the Family Guy episode "Meet the Quagmires", Peter is commenting that everything is back to normal when Roger enters the living room and says, "Who ate all the pecan sandies?".
• In the first Family Guy Star Wars special Blue Harvest, Roger is seen as one of the various aliens in the Mos Eisley cantina.
• In the third Family Guy Star Wars special It's a Trap!, Roger makes a cameo as an Imperial Officer sent to meet Darth Vader (played by Stewie) when he arrives at the second Death Star and Stewie remarks "Did we run out of our own characters?" Elsewhere in the episode, Klaus plays Admiral Ackbar.
• In "Killer Queen" Barry is shown as one of the fat kids that is sitting next to Peter Griffin.

The Cleveland Show

• In "Gone with the Wind", Quagmire tells Cleveland that after he drops Loretta's coffin at the funeral home, he is heading to Langley Falls for a background gag in a bachelor party scene in American Dad!.
• In "Ain't Nothin' but Mutton Bustin'", Rallo has a belt buckle of Roger that he was looking to replace after winning his first mutton busting competition at the fair.
• Roger is shown on a stained glass window in "Jesus Walks".

The first ever crossover with all three MacFarlane series occurs in Night of the Hurricane, with a hurricane storming through the towns of Stoolbend, Quahog and Langley Falls. In the first part of the crossover, "The Hurricane!", Channel 6 News reporter Larvell makes a meta-reference to the event stating that the hurricane will make its way through Stoolbend, Quahog and Langley Falls (which is referred to as "American Dad town"). The actual crossover of the event takes place at the end of the final part – the American Dad! episode, "Hurricane!", when Stan faces Cleveland Brown and Peter Griffin in a standoff after the hurricane has passed.

DVD releases[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (March 2012)

• The Volume One release was retitled Season One for the Region 2 and 4 releases, however the subsequent releases retained the Volume titles.
• On the packaging for the Season 1 release on Region 2 DVD, there was no mention of audio commentaries or some of the bonus features whatsoever, leading many to (incorrectly) believe they had been omitted from the release.
• The Region 2 and 4 DVDs do not have censored audio tracks on any episodes, although Volume 3 has so called "uncensored tracks" on the set, which was probably an error from the transfer because the tracks are already automatically uncensored on the set.
• The Volume 4 DVD release blurb contained information on the episode "Phantom of the Telethon", which was instead featured on Volume 5.
• On Volume 6, despite claims of being uncensored, the bleeps from "Home Adrone", "My Morning Straitjacket", and "G-String Circus" are not removed.

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See also[link]

• Animation Domination

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: American Dad!

• Official website
• American Dad! at the Internet Movie Database
• American Dad! at TV.com