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)