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AMERICAN DAD! Vol. #4

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Wendy Schaal, Rachael MacFarlane, Scott Grimes, Dee Bradley Baker

Created by: Seth MacFarlane

Unrated

By John Delia

I laughed, no I howled, and loved every minute of American Dad volume four. The very edgy show pulls no punches when it comes to poking fun at ethnic groups, government, movie stars, terrorists and anything else that may get a laugh. I found myself watching some episodes twice. The sitcom is aimed at adults and contains a lot of mature content.

If you know the animated Fox sitcom then I really don’t have to go into the characters. But for those that are American Dad deprived because their service doesn’t get local stations the show revolves around a very weird family. Stan Smith (Seth MacFarlane) a CIA agent who is dedicated to his profession has a lovely wife Francine (Schaal), a nerdy daughter (Rachael MacFarlane) who doesn’t understand why her schoolmates shun her, and Scott (Grimes) his pubescent son. But, that isn’t all, he has adopted an alien named Roger who lives with the family and wears a lot of disguises so he can go out in the world and cause a lot of mischief.

Each of the 13 episodes in the volume has strange titles including Oedipal Panties, Stanny Slackers II: The Legend of Ollie’s Gold, Escape From Pearl Bailey, Pulling Double Booty and many more. Those that carry the most hilarity includes Tearjerker where Stan does a 007-spy episode that had me laughing from beginning to end. In the show he is called upon to stop a diabolical film producer who has invented celebrity robots.

Another top episode Widowmaker centers on Stan who has accidentally killed Francine’s best friend’s husband who also works for the CIA. The twist ending was a lot of fun. Choosey Wives Choose Smith involves Stan competing for his wife’s affections after she finds out her first lover is still alive. The incident on a special island in this one contains some extra special dialogue.

Every episode has laughter and you can turn on the audio commentary for each one. But, take my word for it, the commentary sucks, so you best just watch the shows and avoid the boredom. There are some deleted scenes that are fun to watch and three featurettes. The funniest featurette involves Roger and his disguises.

American Dad contains some profanity, incidental nudity and other adult content so I suggest you watch the DVD after the kiddies go to bed.

FINAL ANLAYSIS: A very good animated comedy that provides a lot of laughs. (4 of 5 Palm Trees)