American Dad!

American Dad
From left: Roger, Klaus (the fish), Francine, Stan, Hayley and Steve.
Genre	Animated Comedy Adult animation Satire
Created by	Seth MacFarlane Mike Barker Matt Weitzman
Starring	Seth MacFarlane Wendy Schaal Scott Grimes Rachael MacFarlane Dee Bradley Baker
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	89 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	21 minutes
Production company(s)	Fuzzy Door Productions Underdog Productions 20th Century Fox Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	480i (SDTV) (2005-2009) 720p (HDTV) (2010-present)
Original run	February 6, 2005 (2005-02-06) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Family Guy
External links
Official website

American Dad! is a satirical American animated series owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions and produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television.

It was created by Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, as well as two former Family Guy writers, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman. The pilot episode aired in the United States on Fox on February 6, 2005, thirty minutes after the end of Super Bowl XXXIX; the regular series began May 1, 2005, after the season premiere of Family Guy. American Dad follows the events of CIA agent Stan Smith and his family.

The series is currently in its fifth season, which premiered on September 27, 2009. It has been officially renewed for a sixth season on October 29, 2009.^[1]

Opening sequence

Similar to other animated shows' opening sequences, American Dad! features a recurring gag that is changed for every episode, except for "Office Spaceman", which started with the sequence interrupted early although it can make some laugh many have deemed it 'unfunny and offensive to asian people'. After Stan wakes up singing "Good Morning, U.S.A." and has breakfast with his family, he heads out his front door and picks up the newspaper waiting on his front porch. He then cartwheels into his car and drives to his CIA office. The newspaper's front-page headline is different for each episode, like in The Simpsons' couch gag and Bart Simpson's chalkboard punishments. It is usually a topical, satirical joke directed at the United States Government, the media, or current affairs such as "Child obesity up, pedophilia down" ("Four Little Words"), "Economy turns corner, falls down stairs" ("Roger Codger"), or "Bush finally gets joke about last name" ("Deacon Stan, Jesus Man"). A notable exception is the episode "Office Spaceman", which has the headline, "ALIEN SPOTTED!" (featuring a picture of Roger on the front page) that shifts the sequence directly into the episode itself.

As of season 4, the opening sequence has been replaced with a new one, starting with the episode "1600 Candles". While featuring the same music, most of the 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, U.S.A.!", wearing a different costume each time. Roger's sudden appearance causes Stan to end the sequence by crashing into the flagpole at the C.I.A. building.

Crossovers with Family Guy

Certain characters and locations have been featured in some episodes of Family Guy, another animated comedy created and produced by Seth MacFarlane.

• "Meet the Quagmires" - Roger makes a last-minute cameo asking the Griffins, "Who ate all the Pecan Sandies?". His line is a reference to a line he said early in the American Dad! pilot episode, asking Francine if she bought Pecan Sandies while she was out shopping.
• "Blue Harvest" - Roger appears in the cantina scene socializing and sipping red wine with a glass in each hand. Also in Blue Harvest, Terry plays an Imperial officer in Blue Harvest, and was referred to as Terry.
• "Lois Kills Stewie" - Stan and Avery meet Stewie who calls Stan "Joe", then explains that he looks like someone he knows. It should be noted that this was, however, a non-canon crossover.
• "The Man With Two Brians" - Carol Alt is told she was mocked in an episode of "The Family Man", alluding to Family Guy, which she enquires "the one with the fish?", she is then informed "no that's American Boy" alluding to American Dad! and the similarities between both Family Guy and American Dad!
• "We Have A Bad Feeling About This" The upcoming Return Of The Jedi hour-long parody episode, will feature Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show characters, marking the first time the three shows will have crossed over together

Main cast

Main cast members
Seth MacFarlane (Stan and Roger)	Wendy Schaal (Francine)	Scott Grimes (Steve)	Rachael MacFarlane (Hayley)	Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus)

Episodes

Television ratings

DVD releases

• 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 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.

References

External links

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

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