American Dad

I'm still of the opinion that Futurama is one of the best comedies of the last decade. Yes, its true that you have to be a real geek to understand all of the jokes, but even then they are often so clever as to make the braniest of the bunch have to think a bit to see what's going on. The "simpsons wannabe" was in truth anything but, and it still saddens me to see that it never got a second chance (I'm not waiting out for those rumored movies).

Now most Futurama fans would continue this tirade by complaining about how wrong it was Family Guy that got renewed instead. As much as I dislike that show, I can understand the reasoning - ratings numbers are very easy to read after all. Instead I'm going to ponder an even worse show; American Dad.

I just watched a full episode last week, and I'm left simply puzzled. There is so much wrong with the show I often wonder if it is serious. It takes the same setup as Family Guy - crazy father and talking nonhuman pal on wild adventures - and takes it even further by making the rest of the characters even more worthless. The jokes are the scraps of pop culture quibbles that weren't good enough for Family Guy, and the "crazy ignorant American" schtick that the show seemed to be based upon was hardly in effect that night. It quite literally feels like the dumping ground for all the bad ideas Seth McFarlane throws away, and despite what some TV critics might say, that's not at all better than the output from other shows.

Let's put it this way - American Dad reminds me of the show "That's my Bush", a show made from the South Park fellas for shits and giggles, not to shake the ratings world by storm. It got canceled, and somehow I believe that was the whole damn point. How American Dad avoided this fate is a mystery.