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The Main Characters
This series showcases the Smith family. Stan is the main character. He is the head of the household and is a CIA secret agent and staunch Republican. He is a real man’s man. His wife is Francine, a stay-at-home mom with more than a few psychological issues. They have two children, Hayley, a girl who goes against everything her father stands for, and Steve, a nerdy boy in the most awkward stage of his life. The family is rounded out with Roger, an alien with an appetite for wine and afternoon television, and Klaus, a fish that has in it the brain of a German man. It’s funny to note that in both Seth shows, the most abnormal character is actually the most normal and the voice of reason, with Brian being that character in Family and Roger being that character here.
The Setting
Langley Falls, USA. It appears to be outside of Washingon DC, or thereabouts.
The Episodes
---Disc One---
1) Bush Comes to Dinner (21:53)
Original Airdate: 01/07/07
Stan writes an essay to meet President Bush but is interrupted by Hayley and her curfew breaking. He can’t finish the essay and thus doesn’t win. Boy, is he shocked when Bush actually shows up. It turns out the other guy plagiarized the essay and Bush is there. Stan has the time of his life, until Rogers accidentally gets Bush drunk, then Hayley takes Bush out for some fun and compromising photos are taken of him. For our B-story, Roger wants to buy Dollywood for some reason but can’t afford it. Roger then has a plan, he will find Osama Bin Laden (using clues from paper clippings) and he finds him! He lives nearby and they know where he works! Of course, it blows up in their face, but were they really wrong? The political commentary stuff was funny, and making Bush look stupid is always fun. Hayley may have been the star of the show here. The show has a good enough conclusion with Stan accepting Hayley, especially since at her age, the president was a lost cause as well. I’d call this a good way to start off the collection, with a funny, witty, story. It lacked a huge laugh-out-loud moment, but was a solid episode. B+.
2) American Dream Factory (21:52)
Original Airdate: 01/28/07
Stan finds out that his neighbors have an illegal immigrant working for them and he hates it, until they start working for him. His dream of working for himself becomes true when he hires illegal immigrants for his holiday celebeartion line, bears suited for the different holidays. One of the illegal immigrants was Hayley’s boyfriend who dumps her to work. Hayley is pissed, and calls INS (Immigration Service). Meanwhile, Steve’s band have been asked to play at a show but they need a new drummer. Roger takes over the role, then fires Steve, then takes a spot in the same show Steve was going to play at. This all ends with Stan trying to sneak the immigrants out of the country, getting caught by INS and then playing in Steve’s band to hide the fact they are immigrants. Stan and the family have a revelation about immigrants just wanting to live the american dream and free them. Another decent episode. B.
3) A.T. The Abusive Terrestrial (21:56)
Original Airdate: 02/11/07
Steve gets fed up with Roger and he tells Roger to buzz off. Roger laments about this, then finds another boy to hang out with. Unfortunately, this new pal is abusing Roger but Roger keeps coming back, reliving the Lifetime movies he watches on TV. Stan and Francine lament the fact that their favorite cola drink is being discontinued and try to save it. There wasn’t much to this episode, the Roger story was bland at best, and the back-up was even more boring. Not a memorable one by any means. C.
4) Black Mystery Month (21:51)
Original Airdate: 02/18/07
This National Treasure spoof is probably one of the best episodes American Dad has done. Steve has to do a book report for a notable African American for black history month and chooses George Washington Carver, the man who invented Peanut Butter. He starts noticing a strange marking on all the peanut butter jars and delves a little deeper, and finds an American conspiracy. Stan knows all about it and tries to stop his son from looking any further but the conspiracy is finally revealed and Stan stops treating him like a kid, and they try to solve the mystery. Basically, Abraham Lincoln’s wife invented it but they credited it to a black man to get appeal among the blacks. The plan ended when Booth got hold of the plan. It was resurrected later when Cleveland was given credit by Grover Cleveland. The Illumuti are the ones protecting the secret. This was just a fascinating spoof that pokes fun at National Treasure and the Dan Brown novels, to the silly in-jokes (The Cock Blocker internet blocker was hilarious, too, with a rooster blocking bad sites, and the Burger King ad, and the ending stab at Wikipedia) and you have just an awesome episode. A+.
5) An Apocalypse to Remember (21:52)
Original Airdate: 03/25/07
Stan and his family attend a Minorities in America event (black-tie) but Stan goofs and goes black-face, causing them to be run out of the party. Stan is embarrassed and learns this family thinks he’s stupid. He compounds it a little further when he goes to work during a test nuclear drill but he doesn’t know it’s a test and escapes with his family into the wilderness. They meet a mountain man and Stan doesn’t like him getting the attention. In the back-up, Roger’s blender breaks so he goes on J-date to marry some woman so he can create a wedding registry to get a new blender. You can probably figure out when both events combine at the end (in true Seinfeldian fashion). The Roger story was tops here, and the whole thing was funny. B+.
6) Four Little Words (21:54)
Original Airdate: 04/01/07
Stan has to set up his boss, Bullock, on a date and asks for Francine’s help. Francine reluctantly does it but almost tells Stan, “I told you so,” the four words he doesn’t want to hear again. The date goes well, until Bullock kills his date. Bullock tells Stan he must cover this up for him. So Stan tries to convince Francine that she actually killed her friend in order to clear up the whole mess. Of course, Francine leaves to Africa. Stan eventually finds out he can stave off the four words by admitting sorrow and brings his wife home. Roger doesn’t like that he was made fun of for not having a nose and gets a celebrity nose, looking like Kevin Bacon and taking advantage of it, until he’s involved in a hit and run and the real Bacon takes the fall. Decent episode. B.
7) When A Stan Loves A Woman (21:54)
Original Airdate: 04/29/07
Francine plants a rose bush in Stan’s honor. In fact, she’s planted one for every man she’s slept with and it is the biggest rose bush sex garden in the world! Stan doesn’t like her promiscuity and can’t perform in bed. So Francine suggest he sleeps with someone else. Stan refuses to break his marriage vow so they divorce and Stan tries to hook up in a bar (and does so quite embarrassingly so, in a true laugh-out-loud moment) until finding a woman he starts dating. Of course, Francine gets jealous but can’t stop and Stan and the other woman get married. Francine tries to stop them from consumating their marriage but fails. She is dejected in the bar when Stan comes back to her! She’s happy he’s back but Stan said he had meaningless sex with her (5 times) and goes back to Francine, who is still pissed. In the B-story, Steve gets hooked on Cougar juice, an energy drink and it gets so bad he sells his friends fake tickets just to get more to drink. This was a touching, sweet, funny episode. A.
8) I Can’t Stan You (21:54)
Original Airdate: 05/06/07
The FBI needs to bring illegal things home since they are being investigated. Stan takes home a listening device. He uses the device and finds that no one in the neighborhood likes him. So he gets them all evicted thanks to a CIA loophole, then finds he really likes his neighbors. The B-story sees Roger using Steve as a whipping post in order to swindle people out of money. It turns into a little Matchstick Men type spoof. The story wasn’t resolved by the end of the episode, so call it an average one. You know what, this sort of reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode, “It’s A Good Life,” where the kid (Billy Mumy) would banish people to the cornfields if they disagreed or criticized him. B.
---Disc Two---
9) The Magnificent Steven (21:53)
Original Airdate: 05/13/07
Stan is shocked at the nature of Steve’s gym class, playing tickle fighting and not being men. So he tries to turn them into men by playing football, then by being ranchers! He makes the fat kid kill the cow he loves but only Stan eats the meat. Turns out, the cows had mad cow disease and the government needs to get the cows back. Stan goes mad, but Steve and his friends save him from death and send the cows to slaughter, leading the whole beef supply to be destroyed and Stan is brought up on charges. The b-story features Roger trying to get the attention of the liquor woman by using Hayley as a ruse. Of course, Roger starts to fall in love with Hayley. Soon Francine gets jealous of Roger fawning over Hayley and the two competing over Roger, leading to a catfight between the two, which was all a set-up by Roger for a T-shirt. Both stories were actually very fun and led to a good finish, and more importantly, funny. B+
10) Joint Custody (21:54)
Original Airdate: 05/20/07
This is the last of whatever season it was (tv.com says it is Season 2). So Stan wants to get rid of Jeff (Hayley’s boyfriend) from his yard and destroys his van. Soon, Jeff starts staying in the house. Roger can’t meet him since he won’t wear a costume and starts looking up on him in the Internet and finds he’s wanted in Florida. So Stan tries to bring him in and Jeff escapes, and it leads to a pretty fun chase where Stan tries to bring him in, with Roger following, and Hayley, Francine and Steve trying to catch up with him. Klaus is playing both sides, and Jeff’s dad is more involved than we think. The chase is fun enough, but Roger and Stan absolutely stoned was hilarious. Very fun episode. B+.
11) The Vacation Goo (21:53)
Original Airdate: 09/30/07
This is the season 3 premiere episode. The family goes out on vacation but Roger (trying to be an actor) reveals to them that they are actually in vacation goo and that Stan programs a vacation for them so Stan can watch sports and just relax. Soon, Steve uses the goo to get his own vacation away from the family, then Hayley uses it, then Francine forces them to go on a cruise. The vacation is so good that Francine thinks they are in the goo and goes mad and jumps off the ship. The family has to rescue her and get stranded. Roger (who ended up singing on the boat) gets kicked off and ends up stripping at a Puerto Rican club. The payoff to the Smith vacation was great, and even though Roger’s story wasn’t concluded, you have a funny episode on your hands. A-.
12) Meter Made (21:53)
Original Airdate: 10/07/07
I don’t know if I ever saw this one when it aired. I am sure I taped it but just never got around to watching it. Actually, I think I did. Hayley poses nude for an art class which Roger attends. This goes badly for Hayley, as Steve takes it into the bathroom with him and a box of tissues. So both Hayley and Steve bid for it. Meanwhile, after Stan fails Francine at the parade of homes and at a restaurant, he overhears Francine talking about Stan being a nobody. Stan takes it out on a meter maid giving him a ticket, he gets arrested and must perform community service as a meter maid. Stan thinks it’s a humiliating job, until he sees the power of blackmail that goes with it. This is a straight-up Goodfellas spoof, and was funny all the way. A-.
13) Dope & Faith (21:52)
Original Airdate: 10/14/07
Stan realizes he has no friends and when he can’t find one, he does what any good person would, he prays for one. So someone walks into church as he praying for a new friend and its friendship at first sight. He is just as judgmental as Stan is and the friendship couldn’t go better, until Stan finds out his new friend is an atheist. So Stan tries to turn his friend to God, and since people only turn to God in times of distress, he is going to wreck his friend’s life! He ends up killing himself, and turning to Satan in a funny turn. In the hilarious B-story, Roger is pissed that Steve calls him ordinary so he makes Steve believe he has been accepted into Hogwarts. Steve goes to the US Hogwarts (which is really a crackhouse). This was quite a good episode, with the Steve story ruling all this episode. A+.
14) Big Trouble In Little Langley (21:53)
Original Airdate: 11/04/07
Francine’s parents show up and we viewers are shocked to see they are oriental. You see, Francine is adopted. Stan hates them and so he goes out and tries to find her real parents. The stuff with Francine’s parents gets old pretty quickly, and Steve’s story of trying to woo the hot girl was funny, especially when he blew his finger off. Not a terribly interesting episode, though Stan troubleshooting the printer was pretty funny. B-.
15) Haylias (21:52)
Original Airdate: 11/11/07
This is one I am fairly certain I am seeing for the first time. The description doesn’t remind me of any episode. This has the short opening, the first time they’ve used that since the first few episodes of season 1. It has a very Prisoner like opening, where Hayley is in a creepy classroom being brainwashed into being American. Hayley decides to leave for France and start anew. Of course, that dream is not a dream, but something real where Stan brainwashed his kid to be a sleeper cell. Stan tries everything to stop Hayley from leaving, even trying to set her up with the Senator’s son (who is very reminiscent of Truman Capote). It doesn’t work so Stan uses the secret words to unlock Hayley’s programming. Stan fails at deactivating her daughter, and learns that Hayley will turn on her handler and kill him. Steve and Roger try to imitate the sleuths they see on TV and start their own detective agency, but both end up with the same gimmick (being in wheelchairs). Stan talking to Klaus was just classic, and you know what, I have seen this episode. It is a shame I don’t remember it because it was just great, from the Klaus/Stan bit, to the funny b-story, to a fight that would rival anything between Peter and the Chicken, this is another winner for volume 3. A+.
16) The 42-Year-Old Virgin (21:46)
Original Airdate: 11/18/07
Stan kills his 14th victim on a recent bust and he is adored by Steve and Klaus (but not Hayley). So Stan goes out to play poker with some friends from work (with Roger in disguise), and Stan finally lets loose that he never killed anyone! It is very much like the 40-year-old virgin reveal. We see that Stan’s first was a disaster, with the agent he was tracking even telling him he was terrible at it. From here, Stan tries to lose his murder virginity. He can’t do it at all, until he gets the perfect opportunity, a sex offender who moved in next door and has taken Steve and his friends to a water park. This was another excellent episode in a row, where the jokes and gags were built around an actual story that was followed through the whole 22 minutes. A+.
---Disc Three--
17) Surro-Gate (21:52)
Original Airdate: 12/02/07
Stan’s gay neighbors (Terry and Greg) ask Francine to be a surrogate mother. Stan is outraged. Little does he know, Francine offered to be their surrogate! Stan’s ignorance to this (calling Francine fat and looking at thin women online) is hysterical. When he finds out that Francine is pregnant, he goes to fight the duo who start dancing to West Side Story. Stan decides (after being yelled by Haley) to help Francine through it. Of course, once the baby is born, Stan takes her and says he will find her a good home. A big chase ensues as Stan tries to go to Nebraska where gays have no rights. The Rainbow trucker’s brigade is out to get them, though. Stan eventually runs out and is saved by a nice woman. Of course, when Stan finds out that the boy has gay parents, he kidnaps the kids and runs out. He eventually sees they are normal, and that gay parents aren’t that bad. Meanwhile, Steve and Roger go to a closed water park (that still has all its water) and sends Klaus down a water tube. Klaus threatens them and the two are scared shitless. They don’t sleep and start getting very paranoid. It was a good back-up. The main story had some funny moments, and the liberal message was read loud and clear, but it just wasn’t enough to maintain the high standard of the previous two episodes. B+.
18) Franny 911 (21:52)
Original Airdate: 01/06/08
Stan gets pissed at Roger (again) that Roger turned Stan’s office into a study. Roger hides under Francine’s skirt. Stan tells Roger he’s done with him, and Roger now yearns for Stan’s affection. So Francine unhatches a plot to try and show Roger that Stan loves him. She pretends that Roger has been abducted and Stan just doesn’t care. Of course, Francine called from their own phone (with caller ID) and the reveal to Francine is great. Francine lays it down to Roger that he needs to be nice or he won’t be in the family. So Roger starts acting nice, and it is slowly killing him. He just doesn’t have it in him to be nice. Meanwhile, Klaus and Hayley play Dare or Dare and Steve tries to be a background dancer. Those two points enable Roger to revive and it’s a serviceable episode. Roger’s banter at the end was funny. B+.
Season Review
This was a fun collection, filled with a couple of really great episodes, but also with a few downers as well. It stands up to the first two collections very well as Seth and company really hit their stride both in terms of story lines and voice delivery. If you can believe it, it stays more grounded in reality (with a talking fish and an alien) than Family Guy does as this actually keeps a plot going from start to finish instead of Family Guy usually having a story run from one act to the other but rarely being relevent for the whole episode. I think this may be my favorite all around collection. It doesn’t have my favorite episodes, but from start to finish you will be entertained by the 18 episodes.
DVD Features
A) Extras
---Disc One---
1) Uncensored Episodes
---A) Bush Comes to Dinner
---B) American Dream Factory
---C) When A Stan Loves A Woman
The uncensored or unrated episodes just include things they can’t show on network TV, like cursing and the such. It’s really nothing to make a deal out of. The only thing different in the American Dream Factory is Steve flipping off Roger. Don’t know why they needed the rated version, to be honest.
2) Audio Commentaries
---A) Bush Comes to Dinner
Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Rachel MacFarlane, Mike Kim and Wendy Schaal recorded commentary for this episode. Rachel does the voice of Hayley, Wendy is Francine, and Seth is Stan, pretty much the whole family. They joke about Stan’s scream and liken it to the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Not a terribly interesting commentary.
---B) American Dream Factory
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Nahnatchka Khan, Rodney Clouden, Erik Durbin and Matt Fusfel recorded commentary for this episode. They say this commentary isn’t available on rated version. Efram Ramirez played the voice of Paco and you may remember him as Pedro in Napolean Dynamite. They really don’t mention too many interesting things other than that.
---C) A.T. The Abusive Terrestrial
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Dan Vebber, Joe Daniello, Scott Grimes and Shawn Murray recorded commentary for this episode. Scott is the voice of Steve, and does the voice for a second before realizing it got annoying. Another boring one.
---D) Black Mystery Month
Mike Barker, Matt McKenna, Laura McCreary, Erik Durbin, Brent Woods and Chris Bennett recorded commentary for this episode. Matt had the idea for the story. They mention that the second National Treasure movie dealt with a Lincoln/Booth conspiracy. The strip club has the members of the A-Team, and the van is actually in the parking lot. That’s pretty cool. Definitely the best commentary so far, but that is not saying much.
---E) An Apocalypse to Remember
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Erik Durbin, Matt McKenna, Josh Aoshima and Bob Bowen recorded commentary for this episode. Again, not too much went on this commentary, as it has been one yawner after the other. It doesn’t help that the volume is way low on these. They don’t even mention who the dedicated fella is at the end.
---F) Four Little Words
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, David Zuckerman, Chris McKenna, and Jonathan Fener recorded commentary for this episode. They joke around a lot (including about Family Guy, and the audience not having seen Footloose). One of the guys say they should take over a station and make it wildly successful, and joke it was the plot to UHF. Kevin Bacon turned down the $700 to record for this episode, which they say is what every guest star makes. This was a lot better, maybe because I could hear it better (I altered the sound so I coul hear them) but I won’t be listening to the rest of them again.
---G) When A Stan Loves A Woman
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Rick Wiener, Matt McKenna, Rodney Clouden, Jennifer Graves and Matt Fusfeld recorded commentary for this episode. These guys actually mention the scenes that are only in the DVD, though they disagree as to what was in the original broadcast. Average commentary.
---H) I Can’t Stan You
Pam Cooke, Ron Hughart, Amy Reynolds, Glenn Buswell, Jansen Yee and Jim Feely recorded commentary for this episode. This is a whole bunch of the production crew peeps. They talk about the Pats on their way to their fourth Super Bowl win, which didn’t happen. Let’s Go Giants! They talk about how the episode is worked on before network delivery. The guys never touch on the Twilight Zone episode that this episode borrowed from.
---Disc Two---
1) Uncensored Episodes: The 42-Year-Old Virgin
The uncensored scenes occurs after Francine goes to bed early, disappointed that Stan didn’t kill anybody. She turns on a “pencil sharpener” to sharpen her pencil and it has a weird buzzing sound. For those who don’t get it, it was a vibrator.
2) Audio Commentaries
---A) The Magnificent Steven
The commentary was recorded by Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Dan Vebber, Mike Kim and Scott Grimes. Scott Grimes is the voice of Steve. Dan is not returning for the fourth season, as he’s doing something else. They mention the strike so it may be that this was recorded late in 2007? Scott notices a hair color issue in one of the scenes. They joke that Hayley looks like Christina Ricci and one of them joke about whacking off to it and it not being as bad jerking it to a cartoon if his wife catches him. Another guy says the girl from Juno (Ellen Page) should be Hayley.
---B) Joint Custody
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Keith Keisler, Chris McKenna, Joe Daniello and Shawn Murray recorded this commentary. The episode started as a continuation of the Golden Turd (seen in previous seasons) but the episode became too big the Turd was cut out. Fun commentary, the second in a row!
---C) The Vacation Goo
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Chris McKenna, Josh Bycel, Jonathan Fener, and Albert Calleros recorded this commentary. The original team that Stan was going to be rooted was Virginia Tech but the slaughter happened before it was supposed to air and so they pulled it from the schedule and changed it to Hoyas. Mike Barker made an appearance in the cartoon, as the one Roger punches in the nuts. They mention on of the hunters show resembling Kraven the Hunter from Marvel Comics. Fun commentary.
---D) Meter Made
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Dan Vebber, Bob Bowen and Scott Grimes recorded this commentary. Dan and Bob wrote and directed this episode. They mention that Forest Whitaker is actually the agent who investigated Stan’s quarter loss. They also marvel that Fox didn’t promote that at all. They mention the writer’s strike at the conclusion of the commentary, too.
---E) Dope & Faith
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Ron Hughart, Dan Vebber, and Scott Grimes recorded this commentary. Wow, Scott has recorded a bunch of these. They said when writing this episode they didn’t know what to do with the third act. Not too much to the commentary, but it was fun to listen to.
---F) Big Trouble In Little Langley
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Matt Fusfeld, Rick Wiener, John Aoshima and Josue Cervantes recorded this commentary. This was not a great commentary, but you can hear the uncensored Klaus at the end of the episode which you don’t hear in the network version, and an uncensored version is not available.
---G) Haylias
Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Brent Woods, Rachel MacFarlane and Wendy Schaal recorded this commentary, giving us the voices of Roger, Stan, Francine and Hayley on one commentary! Seth jokes that if McCain is president, he asks what we did, saying we will regret it. They talk about the strike in Hollywood at the time, too. They joke about King of the Hill being an ugly presentation on TV. He says Simpsons looks nice on TV (being overly saturated) leaving Wendy with a question which Seth ignores, leading to a funny conversation. This is Wendy’s first commentary they say, and she says she is dressed really nice. She sounds a lot like the character she plays on TV, right to the ditziness. Best commentary of the collection so far, by far.
---H) The 42-Year-Old Virgin
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Nahnatchka Khan, Erik Durbin, Pam Cooke, Jansen Yee and Shawn Kerkhoff recorded this commentary. One of them says that a friend thought there was a new writer because the episode was so good, which the writer took offense to. One of them says that joke was Caroline in the City funny. Enjoyable commentary.
---Disc Three---
1) Uncensored Episode: Surro-Gate
This is here for the one cuss word Stan says in the episode. We didn’t get to see Hayley naked at all in the second episode, though.
2) Audio Commentary
---A) Surro-gate
Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Nahnatchka Khan, Erik Durbin, Tim Parsons and Jennifer Graves recorded commentary for this episode. They say this is day 39 of the writer’s strike. The moves that Greg and Terry do had to be borrowed legally from West Side Story. Mike Barker says he would like to see Cleveland from Family Guy in his own show, which we know is something that actually happened and has been announced as of this time. He says they have leverage now because of the strike. They wanted to call the child mentally retarded but S&P said it would be changed to slow, and since they were on strike, they couldn’t fight it.
---B) Franny 911
This commentary was recorded by Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, Brian Boyle, Rachel MacFarlane and Wendy Schaal. Wendy says she doesn’t read fast enough to catch the headlines leading someone to say they are changing the opening title sequence. This was the last episode they completely finished before the strike. Wendy says this episode is most like her (her character that is). They do the commentary in different language, and joke about how offensive they are. Rachel does an impression of her brother and the gang loves it.
3) Deleted Scenes (25:33)
Most of this stuff is just a line thrown away, and if it warrants a mention, I’ll mention it. Otherwise, you’re not missing much.
---I) Lost Cause (0:18)
---II) Foul Mouthed Kids (0:15)
---III) Presidential Euphemisms (0:23)
Bush does more of his euphemisms for taking a crap. (Insurgency to quell).
---IV) Dinner with the President (0:24)
Francine feeds a drugged Hayley.
---V) America Don’t Like Me (0:14)
---VI) Bathroom Office (0:21)
---VII) Patti LaBelle (0:46)
Stan meets LaBelle and can’t think of any of her songs, and LaBelle talks about how rich she is and Stan wants to kiss her on the lips.
---VIII) Build My Bears (0:26)
Seth compares the Mexicans to the Chinese building the railroads in the 1800’s.
---IX) No Roger! (0:26)
---X) My Very Own Alien (0:24)
---XI) Trippin Your Nads Off (0:26)
Roger tells the kid he’s trippin his nads off.
---XII) You’re All I Have (0:28)
The kid tells Roger he’s all he has while crying.
---XIII) He’s Mine Now (0:26)
---XIV) Mr. Pibb (0:15)
---XV) Jenga & Goals Achieved (0:21)
Francine gets another goal achieved and gets another bottle of wine.
---XVI) Lincoln Flashback (0:19)
---XVII) Strippers’ Pole (0:16)
---XVIII) Catch-22 (0:15)
---XVIV) Internet Porn (0:19)
---XX) Meeting Denzel (0:16)
---XXI) Gotta Go Back (0:12)
---XXII) Looking for Peaches (0:35)
Stan worries about being called a boob by his family.
---XXIII) Silent But Deadly (0:17)
---XXIV) Not the End of the World (0:19)
---XXV) Amazing Treehouse (0:16)
---XXVI) Pinecone Clock (0:14)
---XXVII) No One’s Listening (0:14)
---XXVIII) Bad Liar (1:13)
Stan tries to lie his way out of Bullock killing Francine’s friend and Stan not being able to lie under pressure since he missed a meeting on it.
---XXIX) Another Bad Liar (0:21)
---XXX) Simple Admission (0:14)
---XXXI) Going to India (0:11)
---XXXII) Cougar Boost (0:16)
---XXXIII) Permission to Cheat (0:29)
---XXXIV) Stuff Like That (0:20)
---XXXV) Old Coot (0:42)
The old guy tells Steve to make love to a chubby Korean mail woman.
---XXXVI) Norwegian Lover (0:46)
---XXXVII) Stan Hears Too Much (0:37)
---XXXVIII) Pocket Rocks (0:48)
---XXXIX) Whore Reimbursement (0:18)
---XL) Stan’s Lost It (0:30)
---XLI) Panasonic Jones (0:39)
---XLII) Boy’s Butt (0:06)
---XLIII) Everyone Hates Everyone (1:15)
Stan learns that everyone hates everyone by listening to people’s conversations.
---XLIV) Gymnasium (0:13)
---XLV) Allergies (0:16)
---XLVI) Bake a Souffle (0:19)
---XLVII) Yard Work (0:10)
---XLVIII) Kill Rosie (0:12)
---XLIX) 500 A Head (0:21)
---L) Prettiest One (0:16)
---LI) Charges Dropped (0:19)
---LII) Wedding Dowry (0:22)
---LIII) Baseball Game (0:14)
---LIV) Not Your Dad (0:45)
---LV) Leprechaun Whistle (0:24)
---LVII) Missing Keys (0:25)
---LVIII) Couldn’t Hold It (0:32)
---LIX) The Gift (0:28)
---LX) Free Cat Food (0:13)
---LXI) Innocent Man Hippie (0:19)
---LXII) Scuba Dive? (0:05)
---LXIII) Neither? (0:08)
---LXIV) Lifeboat (0:27)
---LXV) Dying Virgin (0:10)
---LXVI) Indescriminate Boner (0:30)
---LXVII) Jimmy Buffet’s Most Dangerous Game Family Retreat (0:11)
4) Comic-Con Table Read (53:07)
This would be the San Diego Comic-Con, the 2007 version I believe. Matt Weitzman does the introductions of the cast. Seth gets a great ovation. They do a cast read of, “The 42-Year-Old Virgin.” Seth fills in for the voice of Patrick Stewart. They show the actual clips from the episode dealing with the people Stan really didn’t kill. It was a lot of fun watching Wendy to the reading in front of everyone using the “pencil sharpener.” If you watched the uncensored version, you’ll know what I am talking about. They finished the read about 36 minutes in, and the last 15 minutes feature Ron Hughart and one of the producers (didn’t catch their name) coming out and fielding questions from the crowd. A fan asks about a Family Guy/American Dad movie and about a movie. Crossover has been talked about but nothing concrete at the time, same with the movie. Seth marvels that a girl is there asking a question. The question was asked why American Dad was started and Seth says they hated Bush. Seth says his writing involvement in American Dad is limited compared to Family Guy. Seth talks about his work on Johnny Bravo and about Adam Corolla coming back. A fan salutes Seth’s work against the FCC. Someone asks about the Golden Turd, which is coming fourth season, and Seth is asked about his musical theatre roots and finally they make fun of a guy who stutters and can’t spit out a question, and the time has ended. Fun segment.
B) Audio/Video
The video is presented in widescreen format and the audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The video transfer was actually excellent and I think it’s better than what was done on the Family Guy DVD sets. The colors are bright and clear and there are no instances where the picture pixelates at all. The sound is what you’d expect from a TV show but still good.
C) Packaging / Liner Notes
The collection comes in the standard Fox slimline cases, which is housed in a slipcase. There are no liner notes pertaining to American Dad (all the information is on the back of the case), and not even the traditional Fox DVD booklet, either.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
One gripe I had is that the Commentary is mixed very low compared to the actual show. I can hear the audio perfectly fine on Windows Media Player at less than 50 with my headphones on, but can barely hear the commentary when its maxed out. Another gripe is that the extras claim there is a uncensored version of Surro-Gate, though there is no option for it on its menu, unless you go to the language options. For the other uncensored episodes you could acces it from the episode’s main menu. The DVD collection itself is surprisingly sparse. There are the commentaries, but most of them were unspectacular. The Comic-Con feature was great, but the deleted scenes were mostly miss. I have to say, this was one of the worst collections in terms of special features and commentary quality, but it is one of the best collections in terms of episode quality. Still, the reason you get these are in part for the special features and the features aren’t as good as previous collections, but the episodes really carry the collection.
Overall Rating
8.5
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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