American Dad! Repatriates to TBS

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American Dad, "Blonde Ambition"

American Dad!, the irrverent comedy from Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman which follows the clueless patriotic CIA Agent, Stan Smith (MacFarlane), is leaving FOX and making the transition over to TBS. That means cable, which means things can get even more wild than they did before.

As a sendup, the opening episode, "Blonde Ambition," finds Stan and his son Steve (Scott Grimes) exploring a move to a new home in a gated community, where they share a bonding moment while fending off overeager pit bulls. The story's title comes from the frustrations of Stan's activist daughter, Hayley (Rachael MacFarlane), who learns that blondes not only have more fun, but they garner more signatures on petitions. Hayley's foray into the world of blondedom sweeps her into the wave of celebrity charity causes, along with her alien friend Roger (MacFarlane), creates some disillusionment and it's up to mom Francine (Wendy Schaal) to take an unconventional approach to bring her daughter back to reality.

The second episode of the debut series finds Stan and his CIA partners in Thailand, where they face the problem of having their jobs outsourced to machines. Their attempts to prove that some jobs can only be done by human beings lands them in a high-tech Thai prison, where a stereotypical Asian warlord tortures them for information. And while Stan's away, the rest of the family decides to do absolutely nothing -- and then falls into a competition to see which of them can do the most nothing, resulting in a slow-motion race where the last one across the finish line is the winner.

American Dad! makes its TBS debut officially on Monday, October 20, at 10/9c.

Grade: 
4.0 / 5.0