American Dad!

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 | format =  Animated Sitcom
 | runtime = approx 21 Minutes 
 | creator = Seth MacFarlane
Mike Barker
Matt Weitzman
 | starring = Seth MacFarlane
Wendy Schaal
Rachael MacFarlane
Scott Grimes
Dee Bradley Baker
 | country = USA
 | network = FOX and Adult Swim
 | first_aired = February 6, 2005
 | last_aired = Present
 | num_episodes = 19

|}} American Dad! is an American animated television series produced by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions for 20th Century Fox created, in part, by Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy. The pilot episode aired in the United States on FOX on February 6, 2005 thirty minutes after the end of Super Bowl XXXIX; the regular series began May 1, 2005 after the season premiere of Family Guy. American Dad! follows the events of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Stan Smith and his family and is, to an extent, a satire of the United States' treatment of terrorist activity following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

1 Family Guy comparisons
2 Characters
3 Cast (Voices)
4 Crew
5 Show information
6 DVD Releases
7 See also
8 External links

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Family Guy comparisons

American Dad! was created during the immediate period after producer Seth MacFarlane's original series Family Guy had been cancelled by FOX (it has since been restored). As a result, the show's creators purposely attempted to re-create a Family Guy-esque dynamic that the existing writers and production team would be comfortable with.

Compared to Family Guy, which makes heavy use of non sequitur cutaways and nonsensical (nearly dadaist) humor, parodying celebrities and other pop culture icons, American Dad! follows a generally more coherent, linearly plot-driven storyline, and is easier to grasp without as much background information. Fans and critics alike have noted the similarities between the two. Even Seth MacFarlane himself (when questioned on The Late Show with David Letterman about how American Dad differed from Family Guy) remarked, "It's the same show." The nuclear family concept in both series is strongly conceived, with a father/mother/sister/brother in each. Both of the dads in the shows (Peter Griffin of Family Guy and Stan Smith of American Dad!) are portrayed as idiots. Some claim that Stan is essentially Joe Swanson with working legs or a buffed-up Glenn Quagmire, although neither is technically correct. Their respective wives are the voices of reason, and come from almost the exact opposite background as their husbands. The families each have a son (who try to follow in their father's footsteps), a daughter (who is considered a type of outcast: Meg - social outcast, Hayley - political outcast), and a talking pet. The only difference in the family structure is the inclusion of Stewie Griffin in Family Guy, whereas American Dad! has Roger, although both can be seen as science fiction type characters (talking baby genius - alien). And there's even a talking animal who is in love with the husband's wife. While Family Guy has Brian, the talking dog who loves Lois, Klaus the Goldfish whose brainwaves were switched with a human German skier of the same name, is infatuated with Francine.

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Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The show centers on the Smith family and the various creatures that Stan has encountered during his work for the CIA and has brought home to live with them. The family supposedly lives in the community of "Langley Falls," in Langley, Virginia. Langley, right outside the Washington, D.C. metro area, is where the headquarters of the CIA are located.

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Smith Family

Image:Bio-stan.jpg

Stan Smith: Has worked for the CIA since the 1980s as a weapons expert and is always on the alert for terrorist activity. As of the first episode of Season 2, he seems to be the "Deputy Deputy Director," which makes him the #3 guy in the CIA, although the official announcement of his promotion was not shown to viewers. He can be quite paranoid and protective: he has a terror-alert color code on his fridge, and is so high-strung as to shoot the toaster when the toast pops up. Stan is in almost top physical shape (though he has a bit of a gut) and is able to do moves like James Bond. He has no qualms about kidnapping, drugging, or tasering anybody, even family members, for his own selfish reasons. He is also not above insulting any friends of his family members. He called Steve's friend, Barry, "Fatty fat fat pants". In one episode, in which Steve cannot get a date, he kidnaps American actress and singer, Hilary Duff. He worships Ronald Reagan, quoting his speeches and picking a dog because he was alive during the Gipper's administration. He is startlingly out-of-touch with international events. Stan seems to genuinely love his family, however it often would appear that he does not.

Image:Bio-fran.jpg

Francine Smith: The sweet, loving, stereotypical model housewife of Stan Smith. She is 38, and she keeps her own opinions and party-hearty personality mostly to herself for the sake of her husband's ultra-conservative views, although she is not afraid to put him in his place. She rarely has any friends except for one closet lesbian (she has no career and Stan always scares the neighbors). However, in the 1980s, she slept with Adam Ant, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Dexy's Midnight Runners. She is more sympathetic to Hayley's ideas and Steve's geekiness than Stan is. Her housework is her life, although she has occasional longing for grander things. Francine is not a natural blonde and is in fact a brunette, which explains where Steve got his hair color. She once owned a muffin-selling kiosk at the mall, but it was destroyed in an explosion caused by extremist hippies.

Image:Bio-hayley.jpg

Hayley Smith: The ultra-liberal daughter of Stan and Francine. Because of her views, Stan distrusts her more than her brother. She is eighteen and goes to community college. She partakes in recreational marijuana, usually with her boyfriend, Jeff, and goes hiking with him. They are both vegetarians. In one episode, she dropped Jeff to sleep with her father's boss, CIA Deputy Director Bullock, because she was looking for a guy who "can stand up to her." After Stan's intervention, she dumped Bullock and went back to her hippie boyfriend Jeff. In Saudi Arabia she slept with a Shawarma King guy because she was impressed by his (false) claim about being a tormented, conflicted member of Al Qaeda, but did not tell Jeff of her infidelity.

Image:Bio-steve.jpg

Steve Smith: Geeky little brother of Hayley and son of Stan and Francine. Roger seems to be his best friend. He goes to extreme measures to raise his social status and get dates, yet he actually knows very little about sex. Although he was stereotypically whiny in the pilot episode, in the regular series he is confident and smart, but still a dork. He plays Dungeons & Dragons with his three best human friends. He's fourteen years old, reads Elvish, and believes that like raisins, women should have wrinkles. In the episode "Con Heir" he fell for an elderly lady named Gretchen. But soon discovered that she was cheating on him with his friend Snot. When they decided not to let a women ever get between them again a senior citizen passed by. They both ran after her. This adds more evidence to the theory that Steve can only achieve amorous feelings around older women, but many contradict this theory.

Image:Bio-klaus.jpg

Klaus the Talking Fish: The result of the CIA swapping an East German Olympic ski-jumper's brain (actually his brainwaves) with that of a goldfish in order to prevent him from winning the gold medal. This libidinous fish manifests some sadistic tendencies ("I'm German!" he offers as explanation) and lusts after Francine. In one episode, Klaus switched his goldfish body for that of a black man's, and almost ran off with Francine, but the body was destroyed in the aftermath of an explosion at the mall and his brain was placed in another goldfish's body. He is extremely tolerant of water conditions; while the average goldfish will die even in tapwater, Klaus has swum in a washing machine and a Thermos of coffee, and frequently perches himself out of the water. Klaus's brain swap was said to be during the 1986 Winter Olympics, an event that did not actually take place. His voice is modeled after Peter Lorre's.

Image:Bio-roger.jpg

Roger the Alien: The sarcastic, surly, lonely, and effeminate space alien who saved Stan's life in Area 51. He spends his time eating (mainly junk foods), smoking, and drinking. He is not allowed to leave the house and the family has to conceal his existence, although he has left on a few occasions in various disguises including a frilly dress, gloves and hat which caused him to be mistaken for a senior citizen. His voice is modeled after Paul Lynde's.

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Smith Relatives

Jack Smith: Stan's father. For most of his life, Stan believed his father to be a top secret agent in "The Scarlet Alliance". In reality, he was a jewel thief. After the man Stan paid to pretend to be his father died, the real Jack dropped in on the family. Roger developed a "boy crush" on Jack but the other family members remained wary of him. Jack has grey hair and is missing an eye, based on the traditional look of Marvel Comics' super-spy Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., but resembles Stan. His voice was done by Daran Norris.

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Other characters

In addition to the Smith family, there are numerous minor characters which have appeared, or have plans to appear, in multiple episodes.

Avery Bullock: Deputy Director of the CIA, and Stan's boss. He is as high-strung as Stan, but considerably less paranoid and usually more competent. He is voiced by (and resembles) Patrick Stewart. He once had an intimate relationship with Hayley, revealing that he is an ephebophile.
Greg Corbin: local News Anchor, Terry's co-anchor and domestic partner. Also Stan's neighbor. Afraid to tell his father he's gay. He and Terry had a penchant for minor bickering, however, they are a complete antithesis of Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons of Family Guy.
Dick and Jackson: two CIA colleagues of Stan.
Terry Bates: Local News Anchor, Greg's co-anchor and domestic partner. Also Stan's neighbor. Stan is completely unaware of the fact that his neighbors are homosexual, and merely considers them nice young men that just happen to live together.
Jeff Fisher: Hayley's stoner boyfriend. Hayley dumped him in the 1st season, because he agreed with people very easily, until Stan taught him to "stand up for himself" (by beating, electrocuting, and entombing him). He and Hayley got back together. Loves events like Burning Man. In one episode, he was bleeding and twitching on the floor of a diner after being thrown head-first into a wall by Bullock. Jeff appears to have made a full recovery since then.
Snot: Steve's acne covered friend (voiced by Curtis Armstrong. Snot is a parody of Armstrong's role of "Booger" in Revenge of the Nerds). He speaks Klingon, and seems to read Elvish. Like Steve, he has a fetish for older (octogenarian) women.
Barry: Steve's obese friend. Stan hates him, but doesn't know why. He also speaks Klingon, and seems to read Elvish.
Toshi: Steve's Japanese friend. He only speaks Japanese (his dialogue appears in subtitles), which his friends usually misunderstand, though he understands English perfectly. He believes that Japan (or possibly Asian people in general) will rule the world in the next century. He also seems to read Elvish (which incidentally appeared as nonsensical Japanese text in that particular episode).
Bob Memari: Is the Iranian neighbor of Stan. Stan initially distrusts Bob because of his ethnic background. He has a wife, Linda, and it is later revealed that he is a racist.
Linda Memari: Is the wife of Bob and close friend to Francine. In season one Linda saves Francine from the Lady Bugs, a social group for women who cheat on their husbands, by kissing her. Linda is a lesbian, which her husband knows, and one must wonder about the circumstances of their marriage of convenience. In an attempt to hit on Francine, she rearranged her clothes to make her bust more prominent and knocked on the Smith Family door (prompting a drunk Stan to comment "Where did those come from"). After thinking that Stan was beating Fran, she makes an awkward excuse to leave. Fran then says, "She's a weird chick". Her husband is apparently resigned to her preferences, and asks if he can at least watch "this time", in a defeated voice, when he sees Linda eyeing Francine.
Chuck White: Stan's gloating arch-enemy, who has stuff so much better than him. However, he is over-protective of his daughter, forcing her to do gymnastics and keeping her away from boys because he believes they will get her pregnant. He ends each sentence with a mocking laugh, ie "Looks like you're parking in the sun again, ha-ha!"
Lt. Nathan Goldberg: Police officer whose father was killed during the Holocaust. His last wish to him was to go to America and become a prominent police officer.