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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Dear FOX, stop letting monkeys plan your television schedule.

Generally, I like FOX. Well, not their news product, or their tendency to cancel great shows even if their ratings haven't caught up to where they should be. (I did think that Alyssa Rosenberg brought up a good point on her blog when she noted that FOX gives chances to a ton of weird shows that the networks don't want to touch, so they are going to have a higher cancel rate as well. I'm not sure when she said this, so instead, let me just plug her blog in general here.) But in general, I like several of their programs.

I do not like their scheduling habits though. I'm not sure why, but they consider it a good idea to air a couple episodes, then take three weeks off. I imagine that this practice started because, back in the day, FOX aired a lot more live sports in the middle of the week, when they had less live programming. They still don't run a full programming slate, since they aren't active in the 10 p.m. hour, or late night.

Also, this practice was more defensible in the past because it allowed people to catch up on shows if they missed some episodes. For example, if you did miss the wonderful first four episodes of Glee this year, they are being replayed in repeats now. However, you could have just watched them on Hulu or downloaded them from iTunes or... uh... other sources. In this wonderful digital age, you don't really have to wait for shows to be re-broadcast.

With that in mind, FOX, here is what I suggest - Just run shows in order from start to finish. The only exception should be if there is a holiday, in which case, sure, run a repeat or a holiday special. Let me actually see new episodes of Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and Glee in proper order instead of breaking them up with repeats. Thanks!

Note: I included random pictures from Robot Chicken because I like Robot Chicken. Deal with it!

Jonesing with Family Guy, gambling with Cleveland and Kanye

Sunday's Family Guy had an interesting feel to it, as Peter, Joe and Quagmire attempted to find the source of all the world's dirty jokes. I felt like I was watching a cross between one of the better Indiana Jones movies, because of the feel of adventure to it, and Stand By Me, because Peter was providing (funny) narration.

The episode also provided a bit of a compromise between the normal comedy of the previous week's episode, and the poignancy of two weeks ago. There were less "manatee jokes" and cutaways, although there was still plenty of random humor. (My favorite of which is represented by the picture to the right, when the gang somehow traces the origin of a dirty joke at one point to Bender from Futurama. p.s. New episodes of Futurama start in June on Comedy Central!)

Anyway, the gang traces the joke back to Virginia, and then eventually, to Cleveland. And by that, I mean the black dude who used to be on the show, not the city that will be losing Lebron James. (Okay, I'm sorry Cleveland - That was a low blow.) As I've done at the top of this entry, Peter bitterly complains that FOX ruined the surprise by featuring Cleveland in all of the promos for this week's episode.

Most of the show is vintage Family Guy - inappropriate jokes about the Vietnam War, the March of Dimes and stabbings. If you're usually a fan though, this is one of the season's better episodes, mostly because it isn't jerking around the perspective and timeline constantly with cuts to other action.

Grade: A-


Although it doesn't receive as much attention as Family Guy, either from myself or critics, I do follow The Cleveland Show consistently. While this week's episode wasn't anything super special, it did feature one really great visual - Tim, a usually mild bear that acts like Steve Martin's "wild and crazy guy" character from Saturday Night Live, went on a rampage when the riverboat casino the guys were out ran out of buffet food.

However, the bigger shock to me came from the previous week's episode. In that one, Cleveland Jr. tries to gain the heart of a classmate with the help of Rollo, only to find out that she already has a man, Kenny. As I was watching, I thought, "This Kenny sounds like a spot on clone of Kanye West..." Uh, whoops.

I was stunned that West voiced himself, because outside of a Saturday Night Live skit with Mike Myers, he doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor about himself. He's also apparently already signed up for an episode in the second season, so I'm looking forward to that as well. His appearance on the show only added to my appreciation of an already-solid episode. While The Cleveland Show is still just a more wholesome, derivative version of Family Guy, it is worth the 30-minute investment each week.

Season grade: B+

The picture of Kanye in animated form is from this site.

The evolution, kind of, of Family Guy vs. The Cleveland Show

After exchanging a few Twitter comments with Ethan Winters, I decided to give some of my thoughts about the initial episodes of The Cleveland Show, and the evolution of Family Guy.

To start with, The Cleveland Show is oddly compelling, and I can't quite explain why. It is essentially a new version of Family Guy; the tone and music feels very similar, unlike American Dad, which is more like its own show. Cleveland is surprisingly fleshed out as a full character, and the show is a lot more wholesome than Family Guy. Granted, that isn't saying much, but Cleveland is a surprisingly decent role model for the other family members.

The supporting characters also make the show better, which is nice. Cleveland has a weird bear neighbor that's hilarious, as is the Stewie-like Rollo, another little kid who talks like an adult. There are a lot of little similarities between The Cleveland Show and Family Guy, but enough differences that I'll probably watch both.

Referencing back to the other point of this post, it is weird to watch some earlier episodes of Family Guy - especially the pre-cancellation episodes - and note how they have changed in tone. The early episodes mostly focused on Peter and Lois' relationship, and their relationship with other members of the family.

The newer episodes are guilty (although I still like them) of what South Park accused them of a couple years ago - Nothing but asides and random jokes and plotless episodes. The best examples are the episodes focused solely on Stewie and Brian, of which there are two to six a year now, it seems. This seems like a few too many, and I'd like to see the show do a couple more episodes on other characters.

Heck, the original plan of the show was to not be like The Simpsons, and to have the characters age and take new jobs and what not. With that spirit in mind, why not have Meg and Chris move up a grade in school? Or have Meg go to college, or have Peter get yet another new job, or have Lois do some weird Lois thing.

The picture from The Cleveland Show is a still from this site.