I've been waiting to write about American Dad
until I could form a fair and accurate opinion. Although I have referred
to it in previous articles (see the article on The
Simpsons), I knew that to do it justice, I would have
to wait until I had a few episodes under my belt.
So with cautious optimism I hereby announce:
American Dad Has Huge Potential
Last night as I sat down to watch what may be my new favorite hour of TV
starting at 9:00 on FOX, with the knowledge that I would be writing about
American Dad soon after, I was highly skeptical. During the commercials
for The Family Guy an ad for the new animated show ran in which
the announcer proudly stated the praise heaped upon the show by the critics
(or at least one critic). I mildly scowled. Heretofore the show had seemed
as quaint, passable fun: not thrilling, not terrible. Surely this critic
had watched something else.
Barely a half an hour later I stood (or rather I sat on my K-Mart special futon) corrected. The show had turned me from a glum denouncer into a cheery hopeful.
The same style of humor we grew to know and love from The Family Guy
appears also in American Dad. Although to repeat a style seems
ill fated, two factors contribute to the show that allow for success.
First, the humor in The Family Guy is
so amazing that more of it in any capacity inevitably leads to a few guffaws
(more than most sitcoms will provide).
The second, and more convincing, factor comes from the slightly different
focus of the humor. While The Family Guy functions as a social
satire, with the tremendous boob as the patriarch, the overweight and dysfunctional
children, and the family dog who outsmarts even the clever mother, American
Dad acts as a political satire. The almost-missed jokes about awkward
social behavior in The Family Guy exist also in American Dad.
When Stan kidnaps Hayeley he tells her he "liberated," not "abducted" her.
The not-so-subtle anti-Bush humor found only rarely on the earlier show,
headlines the new.
Ultimately, American Dad is a good companion for The Family
Guy. The shows are (to reuse an overly-used cliché) two sides of the
same coin, or perhaps (here comes the hate mail) the Old Testament and the
New Testament. They compliment each other. If American Dad stands
the test of time as its predecessor has, it may be as great.
American Dad
Add to Heffee!
