REVIEW - American Dad S08E05

In 'Ad-Ventures in Hayleysitting', Amercan Dad! teaches us how to travel from place to place using only a bottle of lubricant and that horses are the best aphrodesiac ever.

This lesson is tacked on to a plot about Hayley trying to prove she's responsible while Steve tries to prove he's not a 'dweeb'. It's always a surprise to see the ultra-liberal take the forefront given her lack of focus over the years.

While she was once the foil to ultra-conservative Stan, we don't see as much of Hayley Smith-Fischer in the later seasons. I've never been sure if this is a good thing or not given the shift from political sattire to the bizarre family slice-of-life we love, but I have a hard time not comparing her to Meg of Family Guy.

Even though the episode has her name in the title, Hayley isn't as prominent as Stan and Steve. Yes, we see her searching town for Steve and trying to prove she's responsible, but most of the screentime is allocated to Steve trying to prove to his sister he isn't a dweeb and Stan and Francine trying to get to a horse show.

It makes me wonder if maybe Seth MacFarlane should have written her out of the series via having her and Jeff move out upon getting married. It means they can still drop by and visit if they want to use her plus I'm not sure that many would notice her absence.

This said, we still get the screwball humour we know and love with plenty of heartwarming moments. This episode has Steve and Hayley together more than usual. It's rare to see them working together instead of against each other (or, more commonly, not interacting at all); this made the somewhat-predictable conclusion of the episode all the sweeter.

However, this is American Dad! so I have to answer this question: was it funny?

Yes and no - the sequences with the babysitter (particularly the conclusion of her mini arc) felt very tacked on and were more dragged out than the usual gags the series has. The humour in this episode is the strongest when either focusing on Roger (whose only purpose in this episode was getting Stan and Francine to the horse show) or Steve's attempts to rebel against Hayley. I couldn't help but snicker as Steve proudly declared that he was making pasta sauce from scratch.

Also, in my unprofessional opinion, any episode where Jeff's around is bound to make you chuckle at least once.

This episode might be a bit hit and miss at points, but it's still worth a shot. I feel that Hayley didn't see as much use as I might've expected in an episode focused on her, but it's good to see the Smith children trying to understand one another.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - American Dad! S8E04

It’s impossible to discuss a Seth MacFarlane show like American Dad! without bringing up the formula that lurks in every work he’s released over the past eleven or so years. For those of you unfamiliar with it, many of Seth MacFarlane’s shows (and the movie Ted) resemble sitcoms of the early nineties and eighties with some generous helpings of black comedy and pop culture references. Despite this, he’s still able to produce entertaining content, even if some of it provokes eye rolling.

The episode ‘American Stepdad’ is one such episode.

Roger, after seven years of living in the attic, is finally being kicked out.

He’s being moved into the basement so Stan’s recently widowed mother can live in the attic instead.

Over the course of the series, we’ve come to learn that Roger is a manipulative little grey man who does things for two purposes alone:

1. His own amusement
2. To maintain his current lifestyle

I could probably write an essay on Roger’s behaviour if I had the time and the knowledge, but for the sake of this review I’ll summarise him as the character (since I’m not sure person would apply to this extra-terrestrial) with the most horrible personality on the show.

The audience knows this. Seth MacFarlane and his writing staff know this.

More importantly, Stan knows this.

Naturally, he doesn’t take Roger’s sudden marriage to his mother very well.

The episode that proceeds to unfold is one that has Stan struggling to get past his huge mistrust of Roger—to be honest, I couldn’t blame him for his behaviour at the start of the episode. Like Family Guy, American Dad! is prone to ‘snap backs’. Any time that Roger has tried to become a better person (either on purpose or by accident), he reverts to his usual self by the end of the episode.

You’ll likely mutter ‘this isn’t going to last’ as the episode goes on and Stan gradually grows to trust Roger and starts calling him ‘Dad’. You might be tempted to call out what’s going to happen before it happens, like I did. After all, you’ll be able to call most of the moments before they happen.

There is heavy emphasis on the ‘most’ in that sentence.

Like I mentioned before, Seth MacFarlane does have a formula that lurks in all his works—I somehow doubt that he and that merry team of writers failed to notice that. As the seasons of Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show roll on, there’s more and more pressure to do something new and unexpected.

Although they may not always succeed, we have got some spectacular episodes and interesting surprises from these shows (‘For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls’ and ‘Back to the Pilot’, anyone?). This might not be a standout episode, but the twist inside is still pretty good. You’ll get a few laughs out of it (even though the Fast & Furious related subplot fell a little short) and there’s enough warm fuzzy stuff in there to make you smile. I’d definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Review by Greta Rehak

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