American Dad

Reviewed by:
Patrick Richardson

With a preview in the drunkest time slot of the year, American Dad gets the same fighting chance as its predecessor, Family Guy, to make a splash, get canceled, and eventually become a hit on DVD. The show follows Stan Smith, a right-wing Republican and trigger-happy CIA agent paranoid about terrorists and rabid about protecting his family, which includes a German-speaking goldfish and a sugar-addicted space alien who sounds eerily like Paul Lynde. As you can imagine, the show targets American politics and takes ruthless aim at everything from President Bush's relationship with God to the Second Amendment. But since this pilot was assembled long before airing, the political jokes are mostly broad swipes that land just beside their intended targets. Still, the voice and look are nearly identical to Seth MacFarlane's first foray into animation, Family Guy, and, in time, American Dad could compete with that show's rapid-fire one-liners, random pop-culture references, and non sequiturs. But watch now, before they replace it with another Andy Richter sitcom.

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