After his Fox sitcom Family Guy
underwent the fitful throes of its initial cancellation, creator Seth
MacFarlane and several writers moved on to a new animated series titled
American Dad!, a show whose kinship was on display for all to
see in the similarly sarcastically doting title. While the former
series has returned to the air stronger than ever, American Dad!
has in turn held on tightly to the coattails of the Griffin family,
while also trying to put an anarchic, post-Sept. 11 comedic spin on the
American family. It’s not cynical posturing, either — MacFarlane was
initially scheduled to be on American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston,
one of the airplanes that hit the World Trade Center.
American Dad!
centers around Stan Smith (voiced by MacFarlane), a super-conservative
CIA operative whose headstrong dedication to his country leads him to
read everything through Threat Level Red glasses — everyone’s a
terrorist and everything is a potential threat to national security.
His family consists of his wife Francine (voiced by Wendy Schaal); his
brainiac, lockstep son Steve (voiced by Scott Grimes); his daughter
Hayley (voiced by Rachel MacFarlane); and Roger (Seth MacFarlane
again), an alcoholic extraterrestrial living with the family. Yes, you
read that right. Oh, there’s also Klaus (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker),
a snippy goldfish with a German Olympian’s brain.
While its overall penchant for whimsical indulgence is definitely
cut from the cloth of MacFarlane’s other show, some other points of
character comparison are easy. Klaus is obviously to American Dad! what Stewie is to Family Guy,
namely a self-involved voicebox for ankle-nipping asides and
non-sequiturs; Roger, meanwhile, recalls Brian, both in his tipsiness
and status as sardonic family outsider. Tonally, there’s a good bit of
groping in the dark here, as the series oscillates early on between
overtly topical humor and the sort of serial mayhem and silliness (sans
extended chicken fights, however) that is both Family Guy’s
strongest selling point and Achilles heel at times. To me, the
characters aren’t as strongly sketched, but some of its newsworthy
jokes score. Thankfully, as things progress, Francine’s relationship to
Stan and Hayley’s disagreement with her father’s obstinate politics
become more pronounced and better sketched. Still, the show is pretty
out there (in Saudi Arabia, the family is sentenced to death by the
Office of Vice and Virtue), so it’s mostly fans of absurdist tangential
humor who will find something here to enjoy.
MacFarlane’s Family Guy was, of course, legendarily
resuscitated by DVD, and subsequent releases have similarly gone the
extra mile to provide fans with a value-added experience, so it’s no
surprise that this release of American Dad! likewise takes full
advantage of the format. Housed in three slimline cases in a cardboard
slipcase, the series’ 13 episodes are presented in 1.33:1 full screen
with an English 5.1 Dolby surround mix and subtitles in English,
Spanish and French — the latter no doubt particularly disappointing to
Stan.
Genial audio-commentary tracks from MacFarlane and the writers
and voice cast stud all but one episode, and table reads and animatics
are also included.
The real boon, though, comes in the form of a whopping 42 deleted
scenes, totaling around 15 minutes. A making-of featurette, extended
promo spot and more only further extend the set’s exploration and
replay value. Many commercial releases of the DVD will apparently
include a bonus disc, “Family Guy: Off the Cutting Room Floor,”
which includes more than two dozen deleted scenes from the fourth
season of that show. Check your local paper’s fliers and advertisements
for store-to-store availability. C+ (Show) A (Disc)