# American Dad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744 "2005-02-07T02:50:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/61 "2005-02-07T19:46:00Z")
Horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/62 "2005-02-07T22:16:23Z")
The thing that bothered me the most was the similarity in appearance to Family Guy. It kept me looking for Family Guyish jokes. However this series seems more like a current events shtick rather than the 70-80s nastalgia gags of the Fmaily Guy. I’m going to give it more time. My favorite gag was the “we’re on Terror Alert level orange, which means something, migh happen somewhere, maybe…” which sounded like something I’d hear here. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/63 "2005-02-07T23:15:00Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > Jack-in-the-Box is a hamburger restaurant on the West Coast who is well-known for its speaker boxes which are shaped like clown heads. Their advertising features a man named Jack who is a human with a clown head. > > Chocodiles are a Hostess product sold only on the West Coast. They are basically Twinkies covered in chocolate. > > (I have only heard of the two, and have never eaten either.) Jack In the Boxes have been in the South for over 15 years at least. I had thought they had expanded nationally. It is a shame because they have the funniest fast food commercials you’ll ever see. I am not sure about Chocodiles (sounds familiar, but not something I have bought regularly), but I was able to pick that one up on context alone. ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/64 "2005-02-07T23:48:33Z")
When I watched it, I wondered if I didn’t find it particularly funny because I wasn’t a lefty (I also thought, though, that the same sort of show with some ultra-bleeding heart stereotype and running that joke into the ground, would have gotten the same lack of laughter from me), but I’m glad I wasn’t being politically biased in thinking it was awful! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/65 "2005-02-07T23:58:08Z")
Well, maybe on reflection, awful was too strong a word, but it certainly wasn’t all that good. (Ohh, and I’m a person who absolutely cracked up at the first episode of Family Guy, probably because of the blatant political incorrectness in the show, which AD just doesn’t have…) ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/66 "2005-02-08T00:14:20Z")
They _used_ to sell Chocodiles in the East. I ate them in NY in the 80s or so all the time. They sold them one at a time for 25 cents. The show? Yuck yuck yuck. And not the laughing kind of yuck, which I spell yuk. ---
**Author:** ![Jeeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@Jeeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeeves)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/67 "2005-02-08T01:49:14Z")
Yeah, that was painful. I was drunk, so at least I got the laugh value out of it being so awful. At one point, the people watching it with me posited that Seth M deliberately made it awful just to tweak Fox. I miss Family Guy and Futurama. The ressurected FG will hopefully last, and be better than that awful drek AD. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/68 "2005-02-08T02:06:01Z")
[All states with Jack-in-the-box locations](http://www.jackinthebox.com/locations/index.php). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/69 "2005-02-08T02:57:51Z")
Looks like this year’s Super Bowl had a _humour_ malfunction. I watched to the first commercial break and gave up. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/70 "2005-02-08T03:26:50Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > [All states with Jack-in-the-box locations](http://www.jackinthebox.com/locations/index.php). A weird hijack, but I wonder why they haven’t gone national? Excellent by fast food standards. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/71 "2005-02-08T03:41:33Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > It’s a bad thing because the evidence suggests that MacFarlane can’t do it. Ah, okay. Yes, the evidence does suggest that. > [@](#): > > And as for reigning it in, if you don’t think a network has ever said that they love characteristic of a show at the exact same time that they say it needs to be toned down, you’re not listening to enough DVD commentaries. And I plan to keep it that way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/72 "2005-02-08T03:48:21Z")
Hmmn… I wonder if being a fan of the Family Guy taints your perception? Because I never got into Family Guy, but I did watch American Dad, and I thought it was pretty good. The old dog gag was hilarious, and I liked how they kept dragging the dog back into scenes until the overkill threshold was reached. The fish/skiier flopping down the ski run was hilarious. I loved when the Dad told his son he’d pretend to snatch a purse and the kid could be a hero by catching him, then went absolutely bananas. There were a few more gags that went over pretty well, and how much more can you expect in a half-hour show that is busy introducing characters? I give it a thumbs up, at least for a pilot. Ten episodes in we’ll know if it’s a dud or not. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/73 "2005-02-08T04:14:49Z")
Fan of Family Guy–hated it, especially the fish. I couldn’t continue after the first commercial break. After watching AD, I’m a bit worried about how the new episodes of Family Guy are going to turn out. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/74 "2005-02-08T04:17:58Z")
I’m one of those “can take or leave Family Guy” types and I’d say the same for this show. Probably won’t be on my viewing list. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/75 "2005-02-08T05:20:20Z")
I think they should re-dub the show with the voices of the Family Guy Characters. But I think Stewie should be the fish, and Brian should be the alien. In fact, I think I’ll turn the sound off and read the lines from the closed-captioning next time it shows up. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/76 "2005-02-08T05:24:04Z")
Does anybody know how Seth Mcflarne is going to go about making both of these shows at once? Is American Dad going to get a brand new writing team of it’s own, or is Family Guy’s writing team getting divided up into two teams? American Dad got a few laughs from me, but I wasn’t too impressed. If the quality doesn’t improve, this one is getting cancelled. I’d hate to see Family Guy’s quality decline as a result of Seth Mcflarne biting off more than he can chew. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/77 "2005-02-08T05:34:51Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > Does anybody know how Seth Mcflarne is going to go about making both of these shows at once? Is American Dad going to get a brand new writing team of it’s own, or is Family Guy’s writing team getting divided up into two teams? > > American Dad got a few laughs from me, but I wasn’t too impressed. If the quality doesn’t improve, this one is getting cancelled. I’d hate to see Family Guy’s quality decline as a result of Seth Mcflarne biting off more than he can chew. Maybe the whole thing is a big hoax, like _Squidbillies_ on AS, and he’s really just going to be doing _Family Guy_. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/78 "2005-02-08T05:37:21Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > Does anybody know how Seth Mcflarne is going to go about making both of these shows at once? Is American Dad going to get a brand new writing team of it’s own, or is Family Guy’s writing team getting divided up into two teams? I’m sure it’ll have its own writers; that would just create problems for everybody. MacFarlane is probably an actor and producer. According to IMDB he didn’t write many episodes of Family Guy (they list two) and I don’t know if he wrote the pilot for American Dad. It doesn’t include his name and I don’t think he’ll write. He’s listed as a producer of Family Guy and director of the American Dad pilot. He created both shows and is involved with them at a high end, I don’t think he’s “making” either show. ---
**Author:** ![JoeSki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b487fb/32.png) [@JoeSki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeSki)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/79 "2005-02-08T07:17:22Z")
I see. Thanks for the answers 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744/80 "2005-02-08T08:56:20Z")
I liked parts. There were definitely flaws, but well it’s a cartoon that I watched to laugh. the Dad’s fascination with the Osama pencil was great. As was his getting carried away purse-snatching, and subsequent apology. Call from God gets a thumbs up, as does the German Fish skier The alien diet arc didn’t do much for me, and neither did the cheerleader/school president thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-dad/288744.md?page=5)