American Dad!

Loved the return of Old Ulysses. This show is nerdy about its canon in a way Family Guy is not.

Stan may be the worst husband ever. But in fairness, Francine's the worst wife ever, so they're a good match.

I liked it. ****.

Stan still has CIA connections? Do tell. Because the show seems to have forgotten he works there.

Pitbull's real name is Armando. Roger looked him up.

I love that everybody is impressed that Jeff robbed a bank. It's funny that it occurs off-screen and we just hear about it after the fact.

This show is both stupid and weird. And I mean that as the highest compliment. ***1/2.

The pay-off of Roger being found in the last scene was pitch perfect. Outside of that and his place in the theme song he is not in the episode at all. Stan confusing a spider, a rat, and a lawnmower for Roger suggests Roger's personas are getting a bit out of hand.

Should also note this is the first episode in years where Roger is JUST an alien and not doing a persona.

I'm going to give the show a compliment I never thought I'd give it. They had Klaus acknowledge (in a bored manner) he used to be obsessed with Francine. That early years running gag simply did NOT work, and was clearly only done to mirror the fact that Stewie irrationally hated Lois on Family Guy, to weirdly both differentiate the shows, and make them similar to each other at the same time. But the show dropped the terrible idea quietly somewhere around the second season, and pretty much never brought it up again. I never thought they ever would, and it would just be one of those weird early show things that most long running series simply ignore. Major credit from me for that.

Patrick Stewart is still on call for the show so that's good.

I love the fact that Jeff is miffed when Stan leaves the room. "He stretched my shirt! He owes me a new shirt!" And I think that's the way all people should react whenever Stan Smith leaves the room. The moment was so funny because it was realistic in a show that never is. And it's great it was given to Jeff of all people.

I thought that was solid week. ****.

Also Hayley supposedly slept with Reginald? When did THAT happen?

Weak week. *1 removed link

Robert Wuhl and his potato salad. He's a good sport.

For the record, Gallagher DID actually die during the production of this episode so it's in poor taste. On the other hand in his later years he turned into a conspiracy theory crank and polluted his comedy shows with his toxic opinions, so screw him. The episode actually acting like he was ever funny is higher praise than he actually deserved.

I love Lewis calling Billy "our weird monster kid". Is there actual love in that statement? Maybe. It's a whole lot less impersonal than referring to him as THAT weird monster kid.

The shingle thing is random and unfunny which is why it's charming. Naming the episode after it is why American Dad is quirky and weird, as is making it an entire C story.

All right, but it didn't close strong. ***.

The strain of performing Stan has clearly gotten to Seth MacFarlane. Maybe it's best if the show IS canceled. That character might be too much for him. He seemed to blow out his voice a couple of years ago and his characters haven't sounded the same since.

Roger's plot was terrible. For the record, out of all the characters MacFarlane voices, Roger sounds the most different with his blown-out voice. It hit Stan hard too (because Stan is the voice that puts the most physical strain on MacFarlane) but Roger is nearly unrecognizable now.

Bad, bad episode. *.

The reverse Werewolf thing was great too.

I think the thing I liked about the tire story with Jeff and Hayley is that it didn't go South. They had a nice thing and were allowed to enjoy it. And pass it on to someone else. There aren't enough nice things on this show. I want and like nice things.

Pretty good. 3 1/2 stars.

I love how the episode resolved the mystery for both Hayley and the viewer. And I think it held up. Also Roger is a moron.

Rogu shout-out.

And this being this show it subversively suggested an ending that is in reality horrific, is a happy ending. And it kind of is.

I am very glad we did not seeing quickly growing armpit and leg hair on Francine. Knowing this show, we could have. Her plot was still totally gross anyways, by the way. Almost forgot to mention that.

I'm glad the show is back. 4 stars.

Calling retcon on the Mamaris. Not only did the Smiths like them, but they moved in before Greg and Terry.

The Kite persona could have been fun, but the idea of Roger doing it because it was depressing made it less so.

This show is nuts. 3 stars.

No Toshi? Weird.

Also who is Buckle's new ladyfriend? Did he finally get out from under Shari?

Jeff and Barry's project is a WEIRD callback.

Always fun to see more Morning Mimosa.

Funny week. But bizarre. 3 1/2 stars.

Shaggy, huh? They should have brought Reggie back for that.

Lewis remains one of the best characters on this show. They are always finding new ways for him to both surprise me and make me laugh.

Fun episode. 4 1/2 stars.

It's a pitch-perfect Scooby Doo parody. Most spoofs are not this in-depth or knowledgeable of the tropes. It's literally the first spoof I've seen of the painting with the moving eyes, which can never be explained on Scooby Doo itself. The bit with Klaus and Jeff in the copy room with the monster is also another bit you don't see spoofed: Scooby and Shaggy weirdly forgetting they are scared of the monster and just d-wording with it randomly for no reason whatsoever (and even fewer laughs). I also loved Jeff asking how he was supposed to eat the sandwich.

The solution sounds... convoluted. Which is vintage Scooby Doo. Stephen Hawking might have been a fan, but the mysteries themselves make little sense if you think hard on them.

My theory that Stan and Roger are getting a bit tough for Seth MacFarlane to voice since he blew out his vocal chords a couple of years back is given additional credence here. For the record, Roger's brief stuff in London was funny, as was the gag closing on him being stowed away with the pets.

A lot of shows that have been on the air this long struggle. Why is American Dad still this consistently good? 4 1/2 stars.

Not feeling this week. 1 1/2 stars.

I think the premise is not just long overdue. It's long overdue for Family Guy too. The difference being the Griffins would never be able to fake a normal night. The Smiths were barely able to do it.

Yeah, I liked it a lot. 4 1/2 stars.

The thing I loved about the episode is it did things the show should not do. Roger should not go back to space, see a member of his family or other aliens of his species, at least not until the movie. But the show knows there WON'T be a movie, and just has stopped caring about that.

The narrative choice at the beginning to suggest the episode took place after the episode where Jeff lost his hat but before the one he got it back is also a no-no in telling us he gets it back immediately. And yeah, the anticlimax of the ending was great and lived up to that narrative no-no.

I love that the Ricky Spanish lady was busy getting cloved (whatever that means).

Timeline question. I THINK, but I could be wrong, Twill Ogdenbone is a persona Roger created in an episode AFTER Jeff lost his hat. Unless that do a vague disclaimer that THAT one was set before both episodes too. And the writers ARE enough of a bunch of boogersnots to do that. The fact that they didn't makes it an actual error instead.

The Twill episode was also unusual in it was another episode Roger was trying to better himself.

We got a little more context for Roger's relationship with Bullock. It's creepy. And what's awful is that almost all of the creepiness is on Bullock's end. Knowing Roger, it shouldn't be. That SAYS something about Avery that HE'S the degenerate when he and Roger hang out.

Did not like the kid getting eaten. The kid's part was funny, but since they couldn't think of a different resolution out of it, it was probably a bad idea.

Emmys are considered valuable in the galaxy at large? Do they not understand that the fact that Murphy Brown and David E Kelly have won multiple statuettes means they are worthless instead? I'm said before that Murphy and Kelley's win are about as embarrassing for pop-culture as if Joe Eszterhaz routinely won Oscars.

I HATE Forrest Gump. I think it sucks. But I get the logic of a manipulative piece of drivel like it winning an Oscar, even against Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption, if only because of Tom Hanks. It was a terrible win, maybe the worst in Oscar history, but it was an honest one, and that film WAS the favorite going in at the time. There is literally nothing about Murphy Brown or L.A. Law / Picket Fences / Ally McBeal / The Practice that could EVER justify a group of sane adults declaring those pieces of dren the best pieces of television the years they aired during, much less multiple times. I'm wondering if the gag is the cheap shot it is because the show thinks that award is as worthless as I do. I wonder.

You must be THIS drunk to enter the Morning Mimosa studio audience. I told you we were.

I love the lady at Lids asking if that fish just talked. I'm pretty sure they've done that joke before, but not so often that it isn't funny whenever it happens, and it always makes me think, "I keep forgetting how weird this show is on paper." Also in practice.

What the was the TV executive's name? Vengeance something? I thought she was great. She seemed to be on drugs, she was so wired and weird, but that is never speculated on, which is fun. She might simply be honestly insane. Let's leave it up to the scholars to debate 500 years from now.

I think the reason this show doesn't suck or get long in the tooth very often is because it doesn't just try new things. It refuses to fit into television's easy mold, and do what a long-running series is SUPPOSED to do after being on the air for a couple of decades. I'm not saying it takes chances. It's more like it's stopped giving a crap about conventional TV wisdom and will tell the story any damn way it pleases, including informing us in the beginning this episode picks up directly from a long-ago previous episode's joke cliffhanger, and then immediately spoiling that the crisis is going to be resolved / fixed by the end of THIS episode. Or not making a federal case of seeing Roger's uncle or Roger in space. As the series is winding down, it's stopped being the show people always thought it was and should be, and just is whatever the writers WANT to it to be. That's not a solid way to write a drama, honestly. You will alienate a bunch of viewers that way, and will almost certainly make things worse. A long running animated edgy comedy? It actually makes things better. If I didn't believe that before tonight, this exact episode proves the thesis. It's in the pudding as they say. 4 1/2 stars.

No Stan lends credence to my theory the character is too big of a strain on Seth MacFarlane's vocal chords.

Good to hear Toshi again.

Callback to when Steve had boobs! Nice!

I actually liked the girl who liked Steve. I was rooting for Steve for that reason. I know they can't let Steve get laid, but I thought that would be a reasonable compromise. Oh well. 4 stars.