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The Main Characters
This series showcases the Smith family. Stan is the main character. He is the head of the household and is a CIA secret agent and staunch Republican. He is a real man’s man. His wife is Francine, a stay-at-home mom with more than a few psychological issues. They have two children, Hayley, a girl who goes against everything her father stands for, and Steve, a nerdy boy in the most awkward stage of his life. The family is rounded out with Roger, an alien with an appetite for wine and afternoon television, and Klaus, a fish that has in it the brain of a German man.
The Setting
Langley Falls, USA. It appears to be outside of Washington DC, or thereabouts.
The Episodes
---Disc One---
1) Phantom of the Telethon (21:52)
Original Airdate: 11/30/08
When the CIA sees that their funding is being cut for torturing (all them damn Democrats in office now!), Stan hits upon the idea of a telethon to raise money! Of course, it was really Roger who came up with the idea and Stan just stole it from him. The telethon goes on and a jealous Roger tries to sabotage it a la Phantom of the Opera. Insane hi-jinx follows, including a terrorist being freed by Roger and Stan and Roger teaming up to stop him from blowing up the whole place. It was a big improvement over last week (although readers of the DVD review won’t care about the previous episode which will be on the Volume 4 DVD review), though still lacking that one funny moment that would put it over the top. B+.
2) Chimdale (21:47)
Original Airdate: 01/25/09
Steve needs to wear a metal back-support for his crooked back and suffers from severe depression and feelings of being an outsider, until he finds his father is bald. Yep, Stan has no hair. Stan tries to convince Steve he’ll go around without hair to make him feel better but of course lies. Steve finds out and heads to the spa (where Francine, Roger and Hayley are staying, and trying to get away with three people using two tickets) when the rest of the family admits that they knew Stan was always bald. I don’t know if the spa story was resolved, but this was a harmless enough episode to start off 2009 with. B.
3) Stan Time (21:52)
Original Airdate: 02/04/09
Stan doesn’t like that he doesn’t have any time for himself. He gets a pill from a friend at work that allows him to not sleep and viola; he can devote all his nights to Stan time. Of course, things fall apart when his family learns about the pills. Francine vows to not bother Stan and she actually becomes a noted marine biologist. It sort of reminds me of the episode of Seinfeld when George goes without sex and gets smarter. Soon Stan realizes he would rather be with Francine than have too much Stan time. The B-angle sees Roger and Steve writing a porn film together. The B-story sucked, but the main portion was quite good. B+.
4) Family Affair (21:53)
Original Airdate: 02/15/09
The Smiths don’t know why Roger ducked out on family game night, until he tells them of the play he’s in. So the Smiths decide to go see the play, against Roger’s wishes of course, and find out he was lying. Not only was he lying, but he was cheating on them with another family. Not only that but that he was cheating on them with multiple families. Luckily, a quick trip to the psychiatrist reveals that Roger is still harboring feelings of abandonment thanks to getting dumped by the first family he lived with years ago. Roger’s back to normal by the end of the episode. The running side-story sees Klaus getting pumped for a Fabulous Thunderbirds concert which the rest of the family could care less about, but one that Klaus ends up missing. The homeless Koala bear bit at the end was different. B+.
5) Live and Let Fry (21:52)
Original Airdate: 03/01/09
This is the problem with animation. While something may be timely when it is written, by the time it’s animated it’s a forgotten topic. In this case, Langley Falls bans Trans Fats and Stan doesn’t like this. So he purchases some illegal Trans fat for his family, then has Steve smuggle them in. Steve ends up getting the wrong message from Stan (stupid laws don’t have to be obeyed), which Stan regrets. There’s a b-plot that was utterly inane, and that’s saying something. This was a miss. C.
6) Roy Rogers McFreely (21:53)
Original Airdate: 03/08/09
Roger asks Stan to get something at the store, but Stan refuses to get it. Roger vows revenge and he gets it by becoming the chairperson of the Home Owner’s Association in Langley Falls. This actually puts Haley and Stan on the same side, going against the establishment and actually doing some “unplanned” maintenance. This leads to a war between Roger and Stan with Stan saying he’ll let Roger have some say in the house if he’ll resign. The Spanish song was just beyond silly (in a good way) and this was a very well-written episode. B+
---Disc Two---
7) Jack’s Back (21:53)
Original Airdate: 03/15/09
Stan refuses to ride bikes with Steve and gives him a BS story why. In actuality it was because he never learned from his wayward father. So Steve locates Stan’s father in jail and reunites them. Stan sees right through his father’s good intentions as a way to get him out of jail but Steve doesn’t and runs away with him. Soon, Stan’s father realizes his mistakes and turns himself in. This was a well-written touching story dealing with Stan’s daddy issues. This serious matter (with good bits of humor) is coupled with a hilarious Hayley/Roger internship story that sees them engage in a battle of costumes and characters that is just comedy gold. A.
8) Bar Mitzvah Shuffle (21:54)
Original Airdate: 03/22/09
Steve meets his match when a Jewish guy starts hitting on his girl, Debbie. Debbie dumps him and Steve wants revenge. The way Steve plans his revenge is really cool, he has an elaborate scheme to steal the kid’s envelopes full of money. Of course, things blow up in his face when Snot is framed for the robbery. The ending is as expected, with Steve coming clean. It was a really good A-storyline. The B-storyline is absurd and never paid off, it just shows Stan walking offstage in a cute bit. American Dad is better than Family Guy by far right now. B+.
9) Wife Insurance (21:54)
Original Airdate: 03/29/09
Stan goes out on a mission with a partner, and gets captured. When Stan does get home Francine is very relieved. She tells Stan that she couldn’t find love without him and asks what would happen if she were gone. Stan says he would marry his back-up wife! So Francine gets back at him by getting a back-up husband. Meanwhile, Steve and Roger become wheels & legs (their detective group) to find out who took Haley’s I-Pod. So Stan breaks it off with his replacement wife and tells Francine’s replacement husband to break it off. He doesn’t and kicks Stan out of a helicopter. This leads to huge fight between Stan, Francine and both back-ups, which is pretty ridiculous and funny. This was another solid episode for American Dad. A-.
10) Delorean Story-An (21:53)
Original Airdate: 04/19/09
Stan has been secretly building a Delorean behind the family’s back, even foregoing Francine’s shoulder surgery to work on the car. Steve wants to get involved and finds a part Stan needs in Arizona. Stan drives there and Francine forces him to bring Steve. They struggle to have any type of father-son relationship. Soon they end up having their own adventure where they lose their car; Stan loses his wallet, and his pants. Their adventure continues, they bond, and the story is wrapped up nicely. The b-story sees Hayley, Francine and Roger trying to think of an adventure of their own but Francine and Roger have their own fun without Hayley but she ends up having more fun than them. American Dad always delivers. It wasn’t as funny as Family Guy this week but is still continuing its trend of very enjoyable and watchable episodes. B+.
11) Every Which Way But Lose (21:56)
Original Airdate: 04/26/09
Steve is not getting any attention from his father so he decides to join a football team. Stan ends up coaching it, and cuts Steve because he’s a loser. So Roger and Steve plan to get back at his father, by making him lose the football game. The b-plot features Francine and Hayley in a pie bake-off. So Stan loses and hangs himself. So, Steve gets Stan to show his emotions by crying. For the first time in a while, this was weak episode of American Dad. There wasn’t anything terribly funny and it was just a huge miss compared to the greatness of other episodes this season. C.
12) The Weiner of Discontent (21:52)
Original Airdate: 05/03/09
Roger’s lived his whole life saying he’s important. One day, Stan gets fed up and tells him he’s worthless. That is when Roger tells him he’s the decider and he gets to decide if the Earth lives or dies and thanks to Stan’s unkind words he has decided they shall die. He goes to his secret base, which Stan doesn’t believe exists, and astonishingly, it does exist! Roger puts some code into his plane but nothing happens and Stan finds out that Roger was really just a crash test dummy. Roger’s completely discouraged and after moping gets a job, hoping to become a decider again. He starts working at a hot dog shack and when he’s in charge of bad hot dogs that will kill; he keeps them to decide if they should be thrown away. This actually comes back to the b-plot, of Steve insulting Toshi and being challenged to a hot dog eating contest. Guess which hot dogs were about to be used? Luckily, the hot dogs aren’t used and they are destroyed. Roger is again discouraged until Stan realizes why he’s treating Roger the way he is, since he got looked over for something at work. He puts him in charge of his allergy medicine and all is right with the world. The bumper at the end is hilarious, too. Just a wonderfully well-written episode. It was actually Seinfeld-ish, where they tie together both stories. To boot, it was actually funny. Clearly American Dad is in another league compared to Family Guy. A.
---Disc Three---
13) Daddy Queerest (21:53)
Original Airdate: 05/10/09
Stan is embarrassed bringing Francine to parties because she is so socially awkward, laughing at the wrong times and talking about things she doesn’t know. That’s just the set-up for the gay couple, Terry & Greg, dropping off their child at the Smiths because Terry’s father, a famous football player, doesn’t know he’s gay. So Terry decides to tell his father he’s gay, but chickens out at the last minute and says he’s married to Francine and Stan is the gay one with Greg. Greg stays with Stan and they go out to dinner, where Bullock shows up and Stan is actually invited to one of his party’s, something he never got with Francine. So Stan goes and he realizes that he is Greg’s Francine. So Stan gets drunk and gets Francine back and tells Terry’s father that Terry is gay. Everyone’s mad at Stan, who tries to fix everything. Everything is fixed by the end. True love conquers all. The b-story sees Steve trying to buy liquor from a guy behind the store, and that guy is Roger. So Steve gets drunk and makes out with perhaps the ugliest beast that has ever walked Langley Falls so Roger prevents further alcohol use by showing the pictures of Steve and the ugly woman. What a great episode. They don’t need the cutaway scenes here like Family Guy does, and the show is better for it. A.
14) Stan’s Night Out (21:45)
Original Airdate: 05/17/09
Stan spends a night out with his friends and it ends badly when his friends hit another man’s car and knock him out and take him hostage. This leads to a wild night of people getting knocked out by Stan’s friends, including the cheating wife of one, a cop, and a guy whose car they hit. Stan is further scandalized by hookers being brought to their office and their car being stolen with the people in the back. So they end up at the home of a terrible, murdering, drug dealer. We don’t see how that turns out but we know Stan got out of it alright. Sometimes it’s not about how it ends; it’s about how you get there. The b-story sees Roger and Hayley try and see who is more attractive to the guys and Roger wins! Unfortunately, he finds out it is a “pig party,” where only the girls meet. So he brings Hayley there to try and win the contest for bringing the ugliest girl. That was a funny ending to that storyline. The ending to the main story was just hysterical, too. Another solid episode from American Dad, and another B+ to end the season on a high note.
Collection Review
There’s a really good collection of episodes here. There were only two episodes on here I gave less than a B (Live and Let Fry and Every Which Way But Lose). That shows there is some real quality here. American Dad has consistently been the best show of Animation Domination for the better part of this year because it has a great group of writers. Cleveland Show is still trying to find its way but has fallen flat in the eyes of many. The writers of Family Guy sometimes seem like they are phoning it in and the South Park gag seems closer to home than some may care to admit. American Dad features something neither of the other two shows has. They have an actual story. It’s a three-act story that usually delivers on the humorous moments. There are some great episodes here; like Jack’s Back, Wife Insurance, Delorean Story-An, Weiner of Discontent and Daddy Queerest. This is just a fantastic collection of episodes.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc One---
1) Audio Commentaries
---A) Phantom of the Telethon
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Brent Woods, Chris Bennett and Jordan Blum recorded this commentary. They joke about the Top Gun volleyball scene and they ask the storyboard artist (a male) if he could draw with an erection. That was really funny. They mention the cameos of previous characters (some woman from Tears of a Clooney and the mountain man from the Apocalypse episode). After that this was just boring.
---B) Chimdale
Mike, Matt, Brent, Keith Heisler, Pam Cooke and Jansen Yee recorded this commentary. Roger’s look for this episode was influenced by Borat. Again, not too much else going on here.
---C) Stan Time
Matt, Jordan, Jonathan Fener, Joe Daniello and Wendy Schall recorded this commentary. Wendy is the voice of Francine for those who didn’t know. Jordan talks about being promoted since this episode and Wendy asks how she’ll be promoted. One of them says she can be Stan. John, who did the voice of the porn director, says people didn’t believe he voiced the character. Wendy says that when she first heard the show she thought she was replaced! Wendy talks about looking at a picture of Francine and coming up with the voice. They also joke about Francine being one of the hottest TV cartoon women and she immediately mentions that Marge was on Playboy! Wendy made this enjoyable.
---D) Family Affair
Matt, Erik Durbin, Tim Parsons and Kevin Thresher lent their talents for this commentary. Roger went to different families in the episode and one of them was the Griffin Family, although that was cut. This was another dry commentary. They had a lot of in-jokes between the guys talking and you could tell they had fun palling around but it didn’t come across well on the commentary.
---E) Live and Let Fry
This commentary was recorded by Matt, Jordan, Laura McCreery, Albert Calleros and Nahnatchka Khan. They talk about the Forrest Whitaker character, the trans-fat stuff and little small bits that are in here that make the show interesting. There’s not much else to this commentary. So far we are 0/5 on the commentaries.
---F) Roy Rogers McFreely
Mike, Jordan, Richard Appel, Brian Boyle and Bob Bowen recorded this commentary together. Blum is pronounced Bloom and he says the two dots over the U was taken away at Ellis Island. Another very dull commentary that just died right out of the opening gate.
---Disc Two---
1) Audio Commentaries
---A) Jack’s Back
Matt, Jordan, Kevin, Chris Robertson and Rodney Clouden recorded the commentary for this one. They ask if Jack was modeled after Nick Fury and they say he was. Jack’s prison # is also the episode number. They also talk about M Night’s movies and someone mentions The Last Airbender and how they like the show. Someone tells him that he should be prepared to be disappointed. This was definitely the best commentary so far because the guys speaking were actually funny and entertaining to listen to.
---B) Bar Mitzvah Hustle
Mike, Jordan, Brent, Chris, Matt McKenna and Matt Fusfeld worked on this commentary. The guys are watching with the pop-up trivia, though I have it off right now. This was a really entertaining commentary, too. The story of the Bar Mitzvah gone wrong (recently divorced father shows up, gets smashed, younger brother passes out from wine) was great and definitely makes this one to listen to.
---C) Wife Insurance
Mike, Richard, Erik Sommers, John Aoshima, Josue Cervantes and Matt Fusfeld all lent their thoughts to this commentary. The pixilated balls from the televised version were because the balls were too big according to Standards. This was another enjoyable commentary, even though I didn’t write too much about it.
---D) Delorean Story-An
This commentary was recorded by a bunch of people: Mike, Richard, Matt F, Joe, Jordan, Alex Cuthbertson, Shawn Murray and Shawn Ian Kerkhoff. There’s a crazy story here about two of the writers owning Deloreans and a story about them purchasing a door. This was one of the better commentaries of the disc. The Delorean talk was great.
---E) Every Which Way But Lose
Matt, Pam, Jansen, Jonathan, Matt F and Walter Murphy recorded this commentary. Walter Murphy talks about American Dad being one of the few shows that uses an orchestra (including the other two Seth shows, the Simpsons and Dancing With The Stars). This was an entertaining commentary but I couldn’t even tell you what they all said minutes after watching it. It was good as background voices but little in the way of actual content.
---F) The Weiner of Discontent
Mike, Laura, Tim Parsons, Jennifer Graves and Eli Dolleman recorded this commentary. Laura says that she went to high school (or college, I forget which) went to school with Rachael Ray.
2) Pop-Up Trivia for Bar Mitzvah Hustle (21:54)
This is an interesting idea for an extra. There are some cool facts in the beginning and pertaining to the background characters, especially the store owner in the background who had to be redesigned because he looked too pervy. They also note that the writers were Catholic even though most of the people were Jewish. There was a John Cougar joke that was cut (Steve doesn’t know what Hurts So Good meant). The B-story with Stan walking off-camera was supposed to be extended but it was cut. This was an awesome addition and really it should be included for at least one episode per season across all the Seth shows. It added a lot to the enjoyment of the episode.
---Disc Three---
1) Audio Commentaries
---A) Daddy Queerest
Matt, Nahnatchka, Albert and Jordan ganged up for this commentary. One of the guys says he’s seen people transcribe the commentaries. Sorry, I will never be going that. Nahn says she knew gay people and she doesn’t like any of them so this was getting back at them. The “gay establishment” were also upset that one of the characters was carrying a purse. They have a discussion about Lacy Chabert and one of them mentions she was the first Meg. Nahn never even knew that. There is a weird situation with legal that they could say Redskins but they couldn’t show the logo. Nahn thinks it is because they are 3-9. I thought this was an exceptional commentary. The commentaries started off weakly but seem to be ending strongly.
---B) Stan’s Night Out
Bob Bowen, Jim Feeley, Ron Hughart, John O’Day and Kevin T recorded this commentary. The guys really just talk about the pixilation of the old man’s dick and we end the commentaries on a bad note.
2) Deleted Scenes
---A) Chimdale (5:42)
There are 14 Deleted Scenes for this episode. I wonder why they didn’t just put them into the original episode since they were all fully animated. Most of these deleted scenes deal with Steve getting his back brace and the story at the spa. Stan gets a good line about not marrying the fat girl he had deep conversations because who cares about what is on the inside. Roger reveals that he has a third wrist-band and the girls weren’t too happy.
---B) Stan Time (2:09)
There were 6 deleted scenes for this episode. The highlight was Klaus getting mad at Francine and telling her never to talk about fish again so Francine will study fish that aren’t complete assholes.
---C) Family Affair (4:40)
There are 11 scenes here. Stan bought the cell phone plan because a commercial had a black family smiling. There’s an extended scene of Roger naming acting families. Roger complains about a running shirt that makes his nipples bleed. That’s actually a problem I have sometime.
---D) Live and Let Fry (5:02)
There’s another 11 scenes here. There’s a funny Zinger badge that he earned and it has Dane Cook on it. Hayley throws the bad laws back in Stan’s face by smoking pot.
---E) Roy Rogers McFreely (3:05)
There are 6 scenes here. There’s a good one with Stan being taught by Haley how to say Power to the People.
---F) Jack’s Back (4:01)
There are 8 scenes from this episode. Stan has a funny line about picking up habits as kid, like another language or smoking.
---G) Bar Mitzvah Hustle
There’re another 7 deleted scenes. Stan and Francine come home and are upset about having to make 2 million units. The cell was lost because Reginald took the phone. The Debbie/Steve thing was also resolved here.
---H) Wife Insurance (4:46)
There are 6 more scenes here. There’s a funny scene of Francine talking to her mother while the mother is at the theater. It was actually pretty funny.
---I) The Delorean Story-An (4:29)
There are 9 scenes here. There’s a Gas of the Mohican’s sight-gag which I chuckled at. Haley also records porn with hair-lipped people and Roger does the same to himself so he can drink with them.
---J) Every Which Way But Lose (5:15)
This is another 7 deleted scenes. Most of this just has more scenes of Roger as dysfunctional coach. There’s an extended scene of Stan at the carnival.
---K) The Weiner of Discontent (3:58)
We have 8 deleted scenes here, mostly dealing with Roger finding out he’s a crash test dummy and his insecurity with that.
---L) Daddy Queerest (3:09)
We end with 8 scenes. The first is the 8 Penis Wonders of the World. I thought that was funny.
3) The Power Hour Drinking Game (1:03:29)
This is a collection of 60 one-minute clips. Every time you see Roger you take a shot. This is what they got together for the DVD?
B) Audio/Video
The video is presented in widescreen format and the audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The video transfer was actually excellent and I think it’s better than what was done on the Family Guy DVD sets. The colors are bright and clear and there are no instances where the picture pixelates at all. The sound is what you’d expect from a TV show but still good.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
This is a single DVD clam-shell case and it is following a trend set forth by the last few Family Guy DVD releases. So all three DVD’s are in the single case and not much else is included. There’s a one page ad for all the American Dad and Family Guy DVD’s. All the information you need for the shows is on the interior of the DVD cover that you can see through the clear clamshell.
Overall Review
We start with 1:08 of ads for Cleveland Show and Family Guy. There’s a funny thing about this collection. The episodes were great but the commentaries were just dreary. Most of the 14 commentaries on here didn’t offer much in the way of content and if you avoided them altogether you wouldn’t miss much. For a collection that sells itself on the commentaries that is a big problem. I don’t know what they could do to make them more entertaining. I think maybe having some of the actual voice talent on here would help. Wendy Schaal is the only star voice-over actor on here on the commentaries. That needs to be changed for Volume 5 (or since this ends as the season ended let’s make these full season sets now). Other than the commentaries (which came off altogether as just average) you have deleted scenes and a hastily thrown-together drinking game that is neither fun nor original. It just shows old scenes of the show in an effort to get something on here to fill space. How about a Comic-Con panel to fill up that extra hour instead of clips of Roger? The episodes were very good, but the extras really bring this collection down.
Overall Rating
6.5
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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