American Dad!

"AD!" redirects here. For the Latin for "In the Year of (Our) Lord", see Anno Domini. For other uses, see AD (disambiguation).

American Dad
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 (entire run) Ron Jones (seasons 1-4) Joel McNeely (season 4-present)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	126 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Seth MacFarlane Mike Barker Matt Weitzman
Producer(s)	Kara Vallow
Editor(s)	Mike Elias (early season 1) Bobby Gibis (seasons 1-2) Kirk Benson (late season 2-4) Rob DeSales (season 5-present)
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
Chronology
Related shows	Family Guy The Cleveland Show
External links
Website

American Dad! is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show is owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Creators and main directors, MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy) as well as two former Family Guy writers, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman aired the pilot episode 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. Unlike Family Guy, American Dad! does not heavily rely on cutaway gags but instead focuses more on situational humor and non sequiturs.

American Dad! was officially renewed for a seventh season, bringing the series through the 2011–12 season. On September 20, 2010, TBS began re-running American Dad!, and now airs the series weekdays at 1ET. Fox also began syndicating American Dad! reruns to local stations in September 2010, with those episodes airing on weekends but as of September 19, 2011 it now airs weekdays. American Dad! is shown on FX and BBC Three in the UK and 3e in the Republic of Ireland.

Summary

American Dad! centers on the domestic life of its nominal title character, Stan Smith, a staunchly conservative, 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, an anthropomorphic goldfish whom the CIA implanted with the brain of an East German Olympic ski jumper, who seems to have 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

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 5 of Season 4, "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

See also: List of American Dad! characters

MacFarlane voices Stan Smith and Roger. For Stan, MacFarlane uses the same voice that he uses for Family Guy characters Carter Pewterschmidt and Dr. Hartman.

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

American Dad! has received generally positive reviews from critics and scoring an average user score of 7.2/10 on Metacritic. 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. The majority of episodes from recent seasons of American Dad! have been significantly more acclaimed by critics than recent episodes of Family Guy.

Episodes

Main article: List of American Dad! episodes

Television ratings

Season	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1	February 6, 2005	May 14, 2006	2005–2006	#85	7.1
2	September 10, 2006	May 20, 2007	2006–2007	#79	7.6
3	September 30, 2007	May 18, 2008	2007–2008	#105	6.6
4	September 28, 2008	May 17, 2009	2008–2009	#96	5.5
5	September 27, 2009	May 16, 2010	2009–2010	#84	5.9
6	October 3, 2010	May 22, 2011	2010–2011	#111	4.7
7	September 25, 2011	Spring 2012	2011–2012	TBA	5.83

Crossovers with other shows

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

• 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. 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.

Family Guy

• Brian Griffin has made brief cameos 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 an episode 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 like we all are 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 Family Guy episode, Lois Kills Stewie. Stewie mistakes Stan for Joe Swanson.
• In The Worst Stan, Steve and Roger are watching an unknown 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 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. Elsewhere in the episode, Klaus plays Admiral Ackbar.

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.

DVD releases

DVD Name	Release dates			Ep #	BBFC/IFCO/ACB rating	Additional Information
	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Volume One	April 25, 2006	April 24, 2006	May 24, 2006	13	12/15/M	This 3 disc boxset includes the first 13 episodes from Season 1 (Pilot – Stan of Arabia: Part 2). Special features include commentaries, featurettes, and animatics. It was renamed 'Season 1' on region 2 and 4. When a compilation comprising Volumes 1–3 were released in the UK, Season 1 was renamed to Volume 1 much like its US counterpart.
Volume Two	May 15, 2007	May 28, 2007	May 21, 2007	19	12/15/M	This 3 disc boxset includes the remaining 10 episodes from Season 1 and the first 9 episodes from Season 2 (Stannie Get Your Gun – The Best Christmas Story Never). Special features include commentaries on all episodes, featurettes, multi-angle scene studies, and deleted scenes. An uncensored audio track is also available on the episode "Tears of a Clooney".
Volume Three	April 15, 2008	May 12, 2008	May 14, 2008	18	15/15/M	This 3 disc boxset includes the remaining 10 episodes from Season 2 and 8 of the first 9 episodes from Season 3 (Bush Comes to Dinner – Frannie 911), though "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" does not appear on the DVD. Special features include commentaries on all episodes, unrated audio, table read, and deleted scenes.
Volume Four	April 28, 2009	April 20, 2009	November 18, 2009	14	15/15/M	This 3 disc boxset includes the remaining 8 episodes of Season 3 (including The Most Adequate Christmas Ever) and the first 6 episodes of Season 4. Bonus features include commentary on every episode, storyboards/animatics, multi-angle scene studios, deleted scenes and optional censored audio. On the Region 2 DVD release a typo was made on the back cover.*
Volume Five	June 15, 2010	June 14, 2010	November 3, 2010	14	15/15/M	This 3 disc boxset includes the remaining 14 episodes from Season 4. Special features include commentaries on all episodes, deleted scenes, and a Power Hour Drinking Game.
Volume Six	April 19, 2011	June 27, 2011	July 13, 2011	18	TBA	This 3 disc boxset includes all 18 episodes from Season 5. Special features include commentaries on selected episodes, deleted scenes, and the making of the episode Rapture's Delight.
Volume Seven	April 17, 2012	May 28, 2012	May 16, 2012	19	TBA	This set includes all 19 episodes from Season 6. Special features yet to be announced.

• 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.

International broadcasting

Country	Network
United States	Fox (new episodes, 2005-) TBS (reruns, 2010-) Adult Swim (reruns, 2010-) Syndication (reruns, 2010-)
Canada	Teletoon at Night (English) Télétoon la nuit (Quebec French) Global (English) (New episodes)
India	Fox
United Kingdom	BBC Three (New episodes and re-runs) FX (New episodes and re-runs)
Ireland	3e
Australia	Seven Network (2005-2010) 7mate (new episodes and reruns) Fox8 (new episodes) The Comedy Channel (reruns)
New Zealand	FOUR
Netherlands	Comedy Central
Israel	Hot
Hungary	Viasat 6
Poland	Canal+ Fox
Philippines	Jack TV
France	Canal + NRJ 12
Italy	Fox Italia 1 Italia 2
Germany	Comedy Central Germany
Latvia	MTV Latvia
Lithuania	MTV Lithuania
Spain	Neox
Brazil	FX
Chile	FX
Russia	2x2
Portugal	Fox
Sweden	MTV Sweden
Turkey	Comedymax

See also

• Animation Domination

References

Notes

External links

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

Preceded by Survivor: All-Stars 2004

Super Bowl lead-out program The Simpsons alongside American Dad! 2005

Succeeded by Grey's Anatomy 2006