Change Your Image
![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjQ4MTY5NzU2M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDc5NTgwMTI@._V1_SY100_SX100_.jpg)
koepfer
Reviews
American Dad!: The Pleasanting at Smith House (2023)
Why the hate? The main story line was hilarious!
I really hope the 3 star rating crowd will leave in time before the show gets cancelled. There is a quality to American Dad which apparently not everyone can appreciate.
For a seasoned series like AD the current creativity levels are fairly astonishing. There's no cheap shots, no flat character (well, except for Tuttle) while every protagonist gets their episodes and a reasonable development in the confines of the show's premise.
I really hope American Dad keeps going. It's the only cartoon for an adult audience far and wide which can keep balance between light, interesting and creative, while not dipping into political tropes.
It's really obnoxious how ever more often the writers of other shows appear to be in need for a quick political jerk-off. There is a world beyond the staccato of social media think and I'm glad American Dad is representing it.
American Dad!: Fellow Traveler (2023)
Yet another different take on the show; American Dad keeps evolving
It's remarkable how American Dad manages to break out of its confines once or twice every season. This episode is one such occasion and it over-delivered if you have a sense for fiction that is more than just the silly 2-dimensional laugh track wrapped into a 20 minute cartoon.
The episode is a deep dive into Roger's origins on earth. It blanks out the Smiths and every rule established about the universe of the show. The humor is there and keeps dripping throughout the episode, but it is dialed down and remains behind the plot only supporting it when needed.
I love these expansions, which are the only way of keeping a fictional series of this kind alive. It has to break with its own conventions at one point. Otherwise it falls into a feedback loop of vapid repetition. Few others manage a similar turn and renewal, Archer would be one such current example, South Park as its own category another.
Others though, from The Simpsons, to Family Guy and increasingly even Rick and Morty fail in this evolution. The audience of American Dad may be smaller than theirs, but those who understand and appreciate the creativity behind the show's takes and perspectives will certainly stay and applaud.
American Dad!: Echoes (2022)
You Have To Watch It Twice
Another episode focusing on Steve with a funny but kind of neglected sub-plot with Roger doing some whipping. Things get turbulent, but with a happy ending, sort of.
The plot is well thought out and most jokes sit well. Most importantly, you have to watch the episode twice in a row to really understand the meaning of some of the passages.
Overall, the episode showed another intelligent take on life's decisions and how crazy things can get based only on one tiny and seemingly random choice.
American Dad is consistently better than Family Guy, which unfortunately does not reflect in the ratings. And now you better get ready to lick some crack!
American Dad!: Gernot and Strudel (2022)
Gernot and Strudel is another great American Dad episode. Unfortunately and given the meager rating this episode got so far, the plot appears to be flying to high for most vie
Gernot and Strudel is another great American Dad episode. Unfortunately and given the meager rating this episode got so far, the plot appears to be flying to high for most viewers. This episode was by no means a mocking of Klaus or German culture. It was much more a mockery of Communism and more precisely the Socialism of the former Eastern Block, especially Eastern Germany.
I am not sure to what extent this was the intention by the writers, it may very well be a lucky shot intending to characterize something completely else. One indicator would be that it was about a German children's show and not about an Eastern German one. Irrespective the intentions: What you see in the episode is Eastern Germany in a nutshell. The place was exactly like that including the character deficits it created among its citizens.
Klaus' inability to share was the last thing I expected to see on a show like American Dad. But I myself being born shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in Western Germany, have made plenty of experiences with Eastern Germans who were socialized in Eastern Germany and who showed exactly that: The inability to share even simple material things. It was particularly the generation born between around 1965 and 1975 which had this defect and who couldn't just overcome after the end of Communism. Those born before were socialized into a society that still wasn't 100% on line. Those who were born after were young enough to change their way.
It may seem crazy - and it certainly was, after all we're talking about a closed mental asylum with psychotic house rule(r)s - but since the lack of even simple material things like pens or scratchpads was normal in Communist countries, owning such a consumer item was equal to money. Accordingly, if you took the pen to write a note with it without asking for permission prior to that, they were as angry and possessive as if you just took their wallet and bought something for yourself. Even after the reunion of Germany with consumer goods flooding Eastern Germany's shelves, they still couldn't overcome the reflex of protecting what little was theirs.
Interestingly, this reflex was not universal. There were plenty of goods that were as abundant as in Western Germany. Cigarettes and alcohol for example. You would expect those to be items as or even more precious than a simple pen. But since they were deemed essential by the leadership to have their subjects escape a little from their life of low expectations, a shortage of (cheap & tasteful as dirt) alcohol and tobacco was never in sight.
Overall, I cannot but give this episode 10 stars. Picking up such a tiny detail and turn it into the main plot for an episode deserves nothing less. And while Family Guy keeps shooting low politically, American Dad holds up the torch lighting out the dark corners in society's underbelly. I hope more viewers will appreciate this effort, while even be decently funny.
American Dad!: You Are Here (2022)
Why The Low Ratings?
The beginning of the episode had a strong whiff of Rabid Ears, one of my all time favorites of Seth MacFarlane's shows. Unfortunately, the pace changes quickly, but the story remains rooted in the realm of surrealism. Overall, it's a solid episode with plenty of laughs with the former American center of social life - the mall - getting its final eulogy.
Generally, I'm beginning to like American Dad more than Family Guy. At least because of the absence of partisan political tropes that nobody is interested beyond US borders - or what is left of them. *buuuurn*
While Family Guy repeatedly fails to stand beyond the day-to-day business of opinionating, American Dad stories are of a much broader character portraying the effects of the ongoing downfall of the USA as a nation and cultural realm. It highlights the failing individual trapped inside and believing in a system with multiple individual failings.
That is where Family Guy most often fails, but American Dad more often than not can excel - and this including this episodes.
Casablanca (1942)
Nasty Propaganda Flick On Par With Jud Süß
Have you ever noticed that Casablanca is not a French city, but a Moroccan one?
Morocco was occupied by France since 1912. It was only the French defeat in World War Two which marked the end of the French colonial supremacy over the country.
It takes a big load of brazenness to write a script which forces a Moroccan band in Morocco to play the French national anthem to give beaten French nationals a moment of patriotic salvation.
This is bad taste even after the standards of that particular time.
At the end, you get a propaganda flick that isn't worth the plot, but it's pitfalls to observe. If it only was at least technically or in terms of acting a good movie to watch. It isn't.
If you look for a high quality WW2 propaganda movie, you're better served with Jud Süß.
Family Guy: A Wife-Changing Experience (2022)
Too Much Partisan American Politics For A Global Audience
You always know when Ramadan is, because that's the time of the year when every supermarket has a mean looking security guy at the entrance.
You always know when there's an upcoming election in the USA, because that's when Family Guy episode are sprinkled with political bias.
I would have given the episode 7 stars. It's 4 stars, because of the needless US-centric political bias that nobody outside the USA cares for.
**Remember, you are catering to a global audience.**
And yes, we do have stuff like electricity and fridges, too, which means we have money and can pay for TV shows as well.
Please try a little harder.
American Dad!: Smooshed: A Love Story (2022)
A Bit Bumpy, But Also Kind Of OK
The plot line was almost entirely focused on Steve with no real side plot. It seems the latter only existed to get all protagonists* into the episode. They were both diverting and unnecessary. The episode would have been better without them.
In terms of structure, I really liked how the plot was built by sprinkling in some incomplete information about the arc ahead. The episode's writer Nicole Shabtai needs a little more refinement, but the talent is clearly there. Looking forward to more from her.
As of the rest of the episode, there were funny moments that I really liked. Steve definitively deserved his arc. The same goes for Snot, who got lucky for once. Even if it was only in the Paris of the New World...lol.
*Klaus was missing, despite being close to the principal who played an important side role and also despite of the backyard pool being mentioned in a scene. Not even Meg is forgotten in such a way. Tsss...
The Orville: From Unknown Graves (2022)
Superb: Slapstick is back; Storytelling remains strong
For those who missed the humor in the first episode of this season: It's back!
On top of that, critique of our precious zeitgeist remains strong and equally unexpected as the last couple of times (although less on the nose).
And beyond that, the universe of The Orville keeps expanding. We learn more and more.
The different elements of the episode were so well balanced, I give it a 10/10.
Thank you again Mr MacFalane. And may the union's force be with you!
The Orville: A Tale of Two Topas (2022)
Drama in the disguise of a Scifi show
While I wasn't all too convinced about last weeks episode, this one completely sucked me in. Especially the first half, in which the drama unfolds was one of the strongest or perhaps the strongest plot lines of The Orville so far. Everything was perfect about it. I totally forgot that it was a Scifi show that I was watching. The pace was perfect, while the acting by Kelly and Topah was absolutely sublime.
It was only in the 2nd half of the episode where I was shortly put off by Claire's opinion that the surgery was "just a small thing". In a future scenario that may be, but since it was a social commentary, maybe it was a little bit much. The plot could have proceeded without that insistence. It also raises the question whether it would have been possible to do the surgery as a temporary test and revert it again - perhaps even every time they meet a Moclan ship.
Overall, The Orville keeps hitting the mark and - see all the comments - sparks intense moral debates among its viewers. That is Scifi as it should be. I wished, the makers of certain other shows of the genre still had the same feeling for how to push the buttons in a way that everyone can draw something from it. So, thank you Seth MacFarlane once again!