American Dad!

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American Dad!

From left: Roger, Francine, Stan, Klaus, Hayley, and Steve
Format Animated sitcom
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 3
No. of episodes 58 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 21 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel FOX
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Original run February 6, 2005 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

American Dad! is a satirical American animated series produced by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions for 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 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Stan Smith and his family.

Contents

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of American Dad! characters

The show centers on the Smith family and the various obstacles Stan, a CIA employee, encounters with his immediate family and in his efforts to ensure the safety of his country. The Smith family lives in the fictional community of Langley Falls, Virginia in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The town name is a composite of Langley, a community located in McLean, and Great Falls, two unincorporated communities located in Fairfax County. Langley is also the real-life location of CIA headquarters.

[edit] 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. As Stan is singing "Good Morning, U.S.A." he heads out his front door and picks up the newspaper waiting on his front porch. The front page headline is different for each episode, like in The Simpsons (e.g. couch gags, Bart's chalkboard gags or Lisa Simpson's saxophone piece). It is usually a topical joke such as "Child obesity up, pedophilia down" or "Iran changes flag to middle finger" and "Israel pulls out of Gaza, Gaza not pregnant". These headlines are satirical in nature, usually directed at the United States Government, the media, or current affairs. The current opening sequence has, however, been spoken of, by the show's creators on commentary for volume 3, to be changed in the upcoming series.

[edit] Ratings

While the show has succeeded in being renewed, it has not matched Family Guy in ratings success. On a typical Sunday, American Dad! has slightly more than half the viewers and share of the Simpsons and Family Guy episodes that follow it on Fox. Its ratings are typically similar to the King of the Hill episode that precedes it.[1][2] For the week ending April 6th, 2008, American Dad was the Fox's least viewed primetime program.[3] However it does much better in the ratings following Family Guy than King of the Hill as it did during this time. Fox has ordered more episodes of all four comedy cartoon programs for the 2008 summer season.[4]

[edit] Appearance outside American Dad!

Some American Dad! characters have had some appearance or cameo outside the show. These include:

  • In The Simpsons episode "The Italian Bob" in a book of criminal suspects owned by Italian guards, Peter Griffin of Family Guy is dubbed as "Plagiarismo" (faux-Italian for "Plagiarism", indicating the belief that Family Guy is a ripoff of The Simpsons) and Stan Smith "Plagiarismo di Plagiarismo" (faux-Italian for "Plagiarism of a Plagiarism", indicating that American Dad! itself is a ripoff of Family Guy which is a ripoff of The Simpsons).
  • Certain characters and locations have been featured in select episodes of Family Guy, another animated comedy created and produced by Seth McFarlane.
    • Roger makes a last-minute cameo in the episode "Meet the Quagmires", 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.
    • Roger can also be seen in the hour-long Star Wars parody "Blue Harvest" in the cantina scene, socializing and sipping red wine.
    • Stan Smith and Avery Bullock, as well as the CIA Headquarters, appear in the episode "Lois Kills Stewie". When they meet, Stewie accidentally calls him "Joe", then explains that he looks like Joe Swanson; this is a reference to the similarities in animation and character designs between the two shows. Although this instance was actually part of a virtual reality simulation, it does seem to imply that the two shows share the same fictitious universe.

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Crew

[edit] International broadcasters

Country TV network(s) Weekly schedule (local time)
Flag of Australia Australia Seven Network (free-to-air) and FOX8 (subscription based) 11:00pm Thursdays (Seven Network)

Sundays 9:30pm & Mondays 2:30pm (FOX8)
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom FX (First run rights) and BBC Three (Terrestrial rights) Thursdays, 10:00pm (2 episodes) FX

Monday - Sunday, various times, 2 episodes BBC Three
Flag of Austria Austria MTV Austria Mondays, 10:30pm - Tuesdays, 10:30pm - Wednesdays, 11:00pm (2 episodes)
Flag of Canada Canada Global TV Coincides with the American broadcast
Flag of Estonia Estonia MTV Eesti
Flag of South Africa South Africa FOX South Africa Mondays, 7:30pm - Tuesdays, 7:30pm - Wednesdays, 7:00pm (2 episodes)
Flag of Ireland Ireland Channel 6 Tuesdays, 10:25pm
Flag of Mexico Mexico FX Sunday, 10:30pm - Tuesday 11:30pm (In English and Spanish)
Flag of Latvia Latvia MTV Latvija
Flag of Lithuania Lithuania MTV Lithuania
Flag of Norway Norway Viasat 4 Monday-Friday, 6:00pm
Flag of Thailand Thailand TrueVisions Saturday, 9:30pm
Flag of Turkey Turkey ComedyMax Every day
Flag of the Philippines Philippines Jack TV
Flag of Belgium Belgium JIM TV (Dutch)
Flag of Israel Israel Xtra HOT Thursdays
Flag of New Zealand New Zealand C4 Thursdays, 7:30pm
Flag of Brazil Brazil FX Sundays 9:30pm and Fridays 9:30pm (reprise)
Flag of Portugal Portugal SIC Radical
FOX Portugal

[edit] DVD releases

DVD Name Release dates Ep # BBFC/IFCO/OFLC Rating Additional Information
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Volume One April 25, 2006 April 24, 2006 May 24, 2006 13 12/15/M(NOTE: Discs 1 and 2 have got a 12 certificate in Ireland, same as the UK but the content of the third disc raises the certificate up to a 15, the 12 certificate in the UK remains though) 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. In Germany it was shortly rerenamed to Volume One, 2 weeks before the release. In the UK when the Boxset of Volumes 1-3 was released, the Season One discs were labelled Volume One.
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(Rated 15 in the UK due to the Table Read and some of the commentaries, actual episodes on the set are rated 12 excluding The 42 Year Old Virgin) 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.[5] Special features include commentaries on all episodes, unrated audio, table read, and deleted scenes.[6]
  • 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 fans to believe they had been excerpted from the release.
  • The name of the Region 2 and 4 DVDs of Volume 2 was not renamed to Season 2 and instead kept the title 'Volume 2'.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of American Dad! episodes

[edit] References

  1. ^ Berman, Marc. THE PROGRAMMING INSIDER, March 31, 2008
  2. ^ Viewers abandon Sunday Night, TV by the Numbers, April 6, 2008
  3. ^ Gorman Bill. Top Fox Primetime Shows, March 31 - April 6, TV by the Numbers, April 7, 2008
  4. ^ Stelter, Brian. Fox Renews King of the Hill, The New York Times, April 4, 2008
  5. ^ American Dad DVD news: Details for American Dad - Volume 3 | TVShowsOnDVD.com
  6. ^ American Dad DVD news: Press Release for American Dad - Volume 3 | TVShowsOnDVD.com

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
Survivor: All Stars
2004		 Super Bowl
lead-out program
2005		 Succeeded by
Grey's Anatomy
2006
v • d • e
American Dad!
Episodes • DVDs
Characters
Actors
Other
v • d • e
Family Guy
Characters · Criticism · Episode list · DVDs · History · Quotes · Places · Voice actors · Guest stars
Griffin family
Peter · Lois · Meg · Chris · Stewie · Brian
Recurring characters
Cast
Films and music
Games
Books
Related series and spinoffs