American Dad!

HIGHLY underrated show. Top 3 funniest animated shows out there, if not, #1 for comedy in an animated series.

At first glance this show may look like a dodgy Family Guy copy but with different characters but it is far from that. American Dad focuses more on political humor and jokes that never fall flat. In a way it is Seth McFarlanes' Futurama. By this I mean its a show made by him that looks like his other show but has a completely different vibe. Fans of Family Guy constantly hate on this show because it has a different style of humour and tone. It still has curses, crude humor, violence and sexual references like Family Guy but focuses on making fun of political situations and current events. I say definitely check out American Dad if you want a nice satisfying half an hour of comedy. It is well worth watching.

American Dad! Is one of the best animated shows of all-time. It's created by Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Ted, The Orville) so you know it's hilarious. Everything MacFarlane touches turns to gold. He just hits home run after home run. What makes this show stick out more than others is that every character on the show is equally funny. They all have their moments that'll make you laugh out loud. I'd have to say that American Dad! Is easily one of the most under appreciated animated shows ever. It's prob on my Top 5. It's been on since 2005 so it's changed with the times and still been just as funny as the early seasons.

They are currently in season 14 and this show somehow still makes me laugh out loud more than almost any other show on TV.

I took a break from the show a couple of years ago, as around season 11 it seemed to be showing signs of wear, but wow did they course-correct.

Seasons 13 and 14 are among some of the best ever, and the writing is outstanding. They are still packing every episode with an insane amount of jokes, even on the level of <10 Simpsons. Also, this show somehow manages to tackle very common and complex human behavior in the most outlandish ways.

The fact that this show has been hilarious for 14 straight years is a feat I don't think any other show outside of South Park has achieved.

I really hope time helps more people find this absolute gem of a show.

On first glance, American Dad looks like a carbon copy of Seth MacFarlane's "other" show Family Guy. The animation is near identical, the lead character Stan Smith's knuckle headed optimism and in-your-face presentation doesn't so much recall Peter Griffin as grab you by the throat and scream in your face and Roger the alien and Klaus the goldfish work in much the same way Stewie and Brian do in the previous show. So far so very familiar, as though MacFarlane dressed up his fourth FG series with different characters when it was initially cancelled so as to stay on the air but stick with it, and American Dad will eventually reveal itself as a superior cartoon to it's predecessor.

Sure, the humour is once again a mixture of insightful witticisms, biting satire and odd bursts into toilet humour but rather than the chaos of Family Guy where the plot seems to revolve round the jokes, here the opposite is true. The flashbacks are almost totally absent and instead each episode features a structure and character development that is normally missing from the first show. Okay some of the episodes fall a bit flat but nevertheless, there are considerably more hits than there are misses and when it's good, it's brilliant. "A Smith In The Hand" for example is in this writer's humble opinion, the funniest thing MacFarlane and his team have ever produced.

What's more, American Dad is considerably more politically-orientated and everything you could conceive about the USA's current state of fear mongering and distrust is put beneath a microscope and parodied mercilessly. Stan Smith is a boorish depiction of all that paranoia rolled into one and some of his outbursts and overreactions are hilarious. Take the scene where he locks up his new Arab neighbours in his back garden for instance in a moment that scarily recalls the nightmarish conditions of Guantanamo bay yet still manages to be side splittingly funny or any of his numerous conceited one-liners ("only women have emotions son, they come from their ovaries").

Only time will tell if American Dad can outlive the shadow of it's far more successful big brother, but like the relationship between Futurama and the Simpsons beforehand, it's often a far funnier and considerably more focused show that deserves a wider audience. Highly recommended.