Inexplicable TV Review: American Dad, somehow the best MacFarlane project

The Smith family.

I’ve always had a soft spot for American Dad, the animated show that was Seth MacFarlane’s first sort of spin-off after the (eventual) success of Family Guy. But while I loved the initial pilot episode, with the world’s oldest dog, it sometimes slips from my attention, and then I scramble to catch up on episodes.

Unlike Family Guy, which has gotten more disgusting as its gone on, American Dad has mostly stayed at the same “ew” factor. Yes, there are lowlights, like when Roger decides he has to go live in the South to become a real country singer. But for the most part, the show stays focused on the Smith family’s exploits in the D.C. area.

It’s interesting how the two shows have developed. Family Guy is almost nihilistic in its pursuit of gags and jokes. There’s little continuity from episode to episode, and things just get more crude and “shocking” as time goes on.

The problem I’m alluding to from the quote usage there is that because you know the show is going to go for the most horrible thing, it’s seldom surprising when they actually do it. Family Guy has also shifted away from the experimental vibe it has a few years ago, when it was doing bottle episodes and murder mysteries. (By the way, it makes me feel old that I’ve been writing about this show on-and-off for six god damn years. Holy hell.)

American Dad has essentially slotted into the role that The Cleveland Show used to take, a show that I liked. There is just a bit more of a focus on character development vs. gross-out gags. It probably helps that American Dad is now on TBS, which cares a little bit less about ratings than a traditional broadcast network like FOX.

One trait from Family Guy that is still used strongly on American Dad though – unusual voice acting choices. You wouldn’t expect Patrick Stewart to be on this show, but he’s always great as CIA director Bullock, and they get him to say some ridiculous things. Then again, he was also great on Extras.

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Inexplicable TV Review: The Detour is actually good!

The summer of 2015 featured the release of Vacation, a movie starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate that was meant to be a potential reboot of that series. It pretty much flopped, as reviewers said it was mostly disgusting for the sake of being disgusting, and not all that funny.

However, a show that really captures that National Lampoon’s Vacation vibe to me has somewhat flown under the radar – The Detour, from Jason Jones and Samantha Bee. The Canadian couple created it as part of their deal for TBS to lure them from Comedy Central, with Jones in one of the four lead roles. He plays the head of household, with Natalie Zea as his snarky wife.

The standouts of the show are the kids though, played by Ashley Gerasimovich as Delilah and Liam Carroll as Jared. They’re twins, with Jared being a doofus, and Delilah being smart and snarky – both subtly take after their parents. Unlike many shows with Cute Kid characters, both have fully formed personalities that are fairly realistic for their ages. They are actual leads, not just there because they needed some kid actors for the show.

The show focuses on the four lead characters, but there are some strong guest appearances, although not on the level of other shows. Mindy Sterling, a.k.a. Frau from Austin Powers, pops up in the first episode as a trucker, and she’s good in about three minutes of screen time. The intros and outros of each episode are typically a police interrogation of Jason Jones that are wonderfully meta. There is also a midseason arc about an older gentleman and his Eastern European wife that is absolutely ridiculous.

However, again, the bread-and-butter of the show is its focus on the dynamics of the family. It’s a realistic portrayal, and on the mature and crude side without crossing over into farcical grossness. The first season is available On Demand for free under the ole TBS section, and I imagine it’ll migrate its way over to a streaming service soon enough. And thankfully, it’s already been renewed for a second season!

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Stay classy, United States!

Well, hey, it's the Fourth of July. Therefore, this entry shall be short. I'm not a big Fourth of July guy, or of holidays in general - Check this entry here for why I'm not a huge fan.

The one really positive thing about holidays is that a lot of normal programming is abandoned, and some sweet movies are shown instead. Specifically, today TBS is airing Anchorman and Starsky and Hutch, Spike has a Star Wars marathon going on, and WGN is showing The Goonies, Beetlejuice and Batman. Holy smokes, that's some good movies!

Therefore, my night is pretty set. Tomorrow's entry will be about another game show I watched today, Baggage, which is insane...ly awesome! zing!