American Dad!


American Dad! is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the rest of the first season airing from May 1 of the same year. The show centers around the Smiths, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Stan and Francine, their children, Hayley and Steve, as well as a goldfish named Klaus and an extraterrestrial named Roger. In the seventh season, Hayley's boyfriend Jeff Fischer joined the main cast, followed by Rogu, Roger's neoplastic son who joined in the fifteenth season. Unlike MacFarlane's other show, Family Guy, American Dad! does not lean as heavily on the use of cutaway gags, instead deriving its humor mostly from the quirky characters and their relationships.
The show was conceived by MacFarlane and Weitzman after the two were inspired by the 2000 United States presidential election, and Fox Broadcasting ordered a pilot presentation of the series in September 2003. American Dad! was the first series made specifically for Fox's Animation Domination block. The series moved to TBS for its twelfth season in 2014 until the conclusion of its twenty-first season in March 2025. It will return to Fox for its twenty-second season on February 22, 2026. In addition, the show has been renewed through its twenty-fifth season on the network.
American Dad! has received generally positive reviews and has been nominated for numerous awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards. In June 2013, it was awarded as top television series by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Premise

The series focuses on the eccentric upper middle class Smith family in the fictional town of Langley Falls and their four housemates: father, husband, CIA agent, Republican, and breadwinner Stan; his wife and homemaker/housewife Francine; their liberal, hippie, college-aged daughter Hayley; and their dorky high-school-aged son Steve. There are four additional main characters, including Jeff Fischer, Hayley's dimwitted boyfriend and later husband; Klaus, the family's unusual goldfish who has the brain of an East German athlete; Roger, an alien who is a flamboyant, hedonistic, self-serving master of disguise; and Rogu, Roger's ex-tumor son. Stan's boss Avery Bullock, the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is a recurring character as is Steve's incredibly unprofessional and hedonistic Principal Brian Lewis. Also recurring are Steve's best friends, Snot, Toshi, and Barry.

Main characters

American Dad! centers on the absurd circumstances, adventures and domestic life of its title character
Stan Smith, his immediate family, and their four housemates. Adding to all the ridiculousness and absurdity are the various personality traits of all the show's eccentric main characters, listed as follows:

Origins and comparison with ''Family Guy'' and ''All in the Family''

was inspired by the 2000 election for the show, noting: "me and co-creator Matt Weitzman were so frustrated with the Bush administration that we would just spend days bitching and complaining, and we figured we should channel this into something creative and hopefully profitable." In early February 2005, Barker stated, "About a year and a half ago, Seth called and asked if Matt and I would be interested in working on a show about a right-wing CIA agent and his liberal daughter. It was right up our alley, and everything just fell into place." On September 14, 2003, Variety reported that Fox Broadcasting had ordered a pilot presentation of the then tentatively titled American Dad! and "If greenlit, American Dad! could launch as early as fall 2004." At the time, Fox was aiming to develop a new lineup of adult animated sitcoms.
American Dad! had a mid-season debut. Its first episode, titled "Pilot", was originally shown directly following Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005. The rest of the first season, however, would not launch until May 1, 2005, as part of the debut of Fox's Animation Domination lineup. Initially, it was a replacement for the originally failed series Family Guy. American Dad! was originally intended to be Fox's answer to the hordes of fans left behind from the original failure of MacFarlane's previous animated venture. Just three short months after American Dad!s debut however, Family Guy was revived, leaving American Dad! with a formidable expectation: whether the series could distinguish itself from its counterpart and succeed on its own merits. Instead of taking over creative direction of the series, MacFarlane left the job largely in the hands of Barker and Weitzman so as to distinguish American Dad!
In its early going, American Dad! brought in strong ratings but fought an uphill battle in gaining widespread acceptance and approval from viewers and critics alike. The popularity of MacFarlane and his involvement with Family Guy had led to foregone conclusions and prejudices against American Dad! as a rip-off of the predecessor and some critics had already written off American Dad! prior to its birth as nothing more than a pale imitation of Family Guy and MacFarlane's attempts to get his old show back on the air. One example, prior to the American Dad! series debut, a writer of The Washington Post published a piece that reads "But those same executives have also given MacFarlane a whole new animated half-hour to play with in the disappointing American Dad! The new series officially premieres in May but has a sneak preview tomorrow night in the coveted post-Super Bowl time period ... The look and pace of American Dad! is the same as Family Guy."
In actuality, however, the program's beginnings take cues from the TV series All in the Family, almost a farcical animated version of the live action sitcom. Both shows make use of political satire, bigotry, ludicrous expressions of conservatism from their paternal main character, and equally ludicrous expressions of liberalism from their daughter character. Moreover, the daughter in both series each have a liberal hippie boyfriend turned husband to whom the daughter's conservative father is antagonistic. Also in both, the daughter lives in her parents' home with her boyfriend turned husband as a housemate. American Dad! in its original form was even said to have been inspired by All in the Family.

Development of ''American Dad!''s individuality

In American Dad!s initial seasons MacFarlane was described as focusing more attention on his coexisting obligation of Family Guy. This was to the extent that American Dad! was completely secondary to him, and he did not understand the show. Because he was not getting the show at the time, he was described as "just going along for the ride". Likewise, the rest of the show's creators Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman were also trying to figure out the show and where it was going.
After American Dad!s initial couple of seasons and as it progressed, the show began to increasingly develop its very own distinct approach and identity, becoming more and more distinguished from all other programs on the air. Standing out from its counterparts increasingly with each passing season, the series has been described as eventually becoming the weirdest show in network prime time. It has been characterized as serving up distinguishing blasts of surrealism. As the series progressed, MacFarlane realized that Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman were on to something uniquely appealing; moreover, he realized they were on to something that sharply contrasted from Family Guy, which audiences appreciated.
After the show's first several seasons, MacFarlane not only came to fully understand and appreciate American Dad!s value but also came to consider himself a huge fan of the series. Taking note of his Twitter followers' increased fanaticism and excitement over American Dad! and the "Roger" character, MacFarlane began putting considerable amounts of his time and efforts into the series, more so in the last several seasons than ever before. In describing American Dad! comedy styles, Barker noted that it is not as reference-laden as Family Guy or South Park. He added that American Dad!s humor more frequently derives from "the human condition and emotions that everyone can relate to: ego, the feds, etc. And for that reason, I think our humor is a little more evergreen."

Developing plot lines and scripts

On developing scripts for American Dad! episodes, co-creator Mike Barker revealed that he and the rest of the show's staff never know when and from where plot line ideas will emerge. "Just as an example," Barker explained, "All About Steve" is an episode where Stan wants his son to be more of a jock and more like he was when he was his age. That whole episode came about from one of our writers Dave Hemingson coming into our office, telling us he just visited the dentist and he may need to get braces. And the idea of a grown man with braces appealed to us, and we just decided what if we put Stan in braces, and he understands for the first time what it's like to feel like a geek."
During the 2012–13 season, Barker revealed that much of his inspiration for American Dad! plots came through listening to music. Barker's revelation to use music as a muse for his American Dad! writing came from attending the 2008 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. During that event, he watched the rock band My Morning Jacket perform a four-hour set in the rain and realized from the experience that he could generate ideas for American Dad! by tapping into music: "From that point on, I realized that music should be playing a bigger role in my writing", Barker told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "Writing is hard for me, and when you hear music that inspires good ideas, you're really grateful." The beginning of the show's theme song, "Good Morning USA", uses the introduction to "Stars and Stripes Forever".
In particular, Barker has credited music from Wax Fang for his inspiration in writing certain American Dad! plots. Said Barker, "There's just something so inherently cinematic about Wax Fang's music. Carney's voice is stunningly clear and dramatic. And his lyrics are specific enough to build stories around while staying flexible enough for different interpretations." Barker added that through listening to the Wax Fang track Majestic, he was able to come up with major plot elements for the episode "Lost in Space".
Barker has stated that once he and the rest of the show's staff get the idea for the plot line, they spend a couple of weeks in a room with all the screenwriters. There, they break the story and make sure that each act of the two act breaks are strong. As another procedure, Barker stated that they make a point of twisting the story in such a way so as to make audiences come back for more after the commercial break.
"The final process," Barker explained, "is sending a screenwriter out to write the script. The screenwriter gets two weeks to write the script. The script then comes back." Barker explained that they then all edit and rewrite it, "hopefully keeping as much of the first draft as we can and punching the jokes and making sure all the motivations are there, and then we take it to the table and read it."
In February 2005, Barker stated that as creative directors, all decisions made about the plot line and direction of the series go through himself and Weitzman. He explained that the show had reflected their point of view since the beginning. Barker has also credited the program's other staff beyond himself, Weitzman, and MacFarlane, remarking "We couldn't have made it all happen without them." At the time, it was noted that the series had a staff of 17 writers, which was described as "a big undertaking".
When Barker was asked what his favorite part was of the American Dad! pre-production process, he answered, "I like the story breaking process, personally—coming up with the stories. To me, that's the most gratifying."
Barker and Matt Weitzman have stated that they are accustomed to feeling scruples with adding certain material into the plots, but always follow this up by going ahead with incorporating the material anyway. They added that their goal is to create laughs combined with groans and going over the line.