| A Monumental Epic Series : Better than "Family Guy" |
Creator Seth McFarlane is a genius. After the brilliance of his "Family Guy", he gives us "American Dad" - which I can only call the twisted, darker, and more bizarre cousin of "Family Guy". Incidentally, this is all you need to know if at all you want to decide whether to buy this on DVD or not. You need to be a little 'out there' to appreciate it, and if you like "Ren & Stimpy" and "Little Britain", you will gravitate toward this almost immediately - such is the impact of its' hilarious one liners.
Of course, you probably know what American Dad is all about - an all-American conservative Republican father who harbors a very decidedly insane family - his petulant blonde wife who vacillates between political beliefs, his democratic liberal daughter, his annoyingly sweet son, their resident Roswell-Alien, and a talking German Goldfish called Klaus. Put these characters together and you have sheer magic.
The one-liners are what will get you - Roger the Alien has the BEST one-liners. There is so much the writers could do with this character, and they go all out - everytime you think they couldn't get stranger, Roger ups the ante and does something even more ludicrous (as an example : one episode has the entire family milking Roger the Alien, and using his breast-milk as the 'secret ingredient' in the mashed potatoes they serve their Church Congregation!). Its this sort of 'far out' humor that contributes to the magnetic appeal this show has.
Also, there is a lot of 'adult' humor - particularly in the episode where the lead character wants his son to stay away from "the pleasures of the hand", but instead becomes a masturbation-addict himself. Then there is controversial 2-part episode where the entire family is send to Saudi Arabia, and the novel take on Islam and terrorism might alienate you here, if you are at all 'sensitive'. For regular viewers of the show however, this is a breeze.
Note that the following subjects are all dealt with on the show, albeit in extremely honest & tongue-in-cheek ways : incest, homosexuality, abortion, pregnancy, inter-species relationships, the death penalty, Islam, terrorism, religious fanaticism, Christianity, Satan Worship, and alternative lifestyle propaganda. If any of this is "not your bag", then American Dad might shock you!
Five Stars. This is animation television at its' best, and at least three times as good as "Family Guy" (I find the dialog and writing on American Dad to be more fresh and inspired than Family Guy) |
5 Rating
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