Season Review: American Dad – Season 12

Almost two years ago Fox intended to cancel the long running show “American Dad” after the conclusion of it’s tenth season. Additionally Fox put out three episodes that for all intents and purposes was the show’s eleventh season. It didn’t take long for TBS to swoop in and save the day for American Dad fans, as they ordered a season that would begin airing in the Fall of 2014. Fans were divided. Many were upset it would be another nail in the coffin for Fox’s Sunday night “Animation Domination” block. Others were just happy to know that the show would live to see another day. Personally, I thought American Dad would only last one more season over on TBS, and that would be it. But with a relatively small, but steady following, TBS has ordered American Dad for yet another season. But how was this twelfth season for the show? Did moving to TBS breathe new life into American Dad? Or are they just prolonging the inevitable? That’s what I’ll be delving into with this season review of American Dad.

It’s impossible to keep something fresh forever. This is especially true for television. Many diehard fans of The Simpsons debate when the show began to decline in quality, most saying it was around the tenth season. Ten seasons is still a long time to be on air, and the show continues on till this very day. American Dad is certainly nowhere near as popular as The Simpsons, but with a following of it’s own, it still has a fair amount of steam past it’s tenth season. In my mind season twelve seemed liked it would be the one that would decide how much longer we would get with the Smith family. TBS rolled the dice on the show, and it seemed to pay off.

Fortunately for fans, this new season was packed with plenty of strong episodes. It certainly wasn’t without it’s duds, but overall there were a lot of memorable episodes that show that American Dad is still very much capable of remaining relevant. I gave the majority of the episodes a favorable review. Things I liked about this season were that the stories were engaging. Usually with enough thought you can gauge the direction that an episode is going, but because so many of the episodes felt like unique stories with some thought behind them, things barely ever felt predictable. The jokes throughout the season were also very clever. The show doesn’t hold the audiences hand when it comes to jokes. Sometimes the humor can go over some people’s heads, but there was still plenty of low-brow jokes for everybody to enjoy.

This season had a lot of focus on different characters. Often times a show will force feed you the most popular characters in the show, while the others slowly fade into the background. I didn’t notice this happen much on American Dad this season, I felt I got to see every character in a unique and interesting story of their own.

The season started off pretty slow, we had six episodes then went on break for over two months. After that break we had a very consistent flow of episodes, getting five in March alone. After their break, there were a couple of episodes that I didn’t find appealing. I gave “LGBSteve” a good enough review, but after going back and watching it again, I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking. If I were to review that episode today, I would have given it a five or six. I may have just been excited for the show to be back on. “Morning Mimosa” was probably my least favorite episode of the season. I gave it a three and I still agree with that score. I’ve given this season’s episodes a lot of eights, which is a very good score in my book. It’s probably the highest score I will give unless an episode does something very special.

I felt this season should have brought something new to the table. There are plans to bring Jeff back to the show, but I felt after he left they should have introduced a new character. It didn’t necessarily need to be a new love interest for Hayley, just somebody who could bring a new dynamic to the show. One of the things that most excited me about Cleveland Show being cancelled was the possibility of the new and improved Brown family being able to share stories with my favorite characters in Quahog. Stewie and Rallo going on an adventure, Cleveland.Jr hanging out with Chris. It was an opportunity to test new relationships. When Stewie was paired with Brian and people loved it, suddenly they were together all of the time. This is something I would have loved to see on American Dad this season. Bring somebody new into the mix that could add something different. Maybe even develop a relationship that could potentially be popular with audiences. Easier said than done, sure, but I always give points for effort.

Something that also could have improved this season would be visiting new ideas for stories. This season had a lot of original stories, but there were a few that I felt like I have seen a million times. Example: Stan is a selfish husband and takes Francine for granted, realizes how much of an ass he is at the end of the episode. It’s been done too many times. Something I did likes this season was the cooperation between Stan and Francine where they bully their handyman, who is actually Jesus. I found that to be unique and funny. They also did it again in “My Affair Lady” when they pick on Steve.

Overall, I must say I’m very impressed with this season as a whole. It’s probably my favorite season in the last four or five. I think moving to TBS may be a blessing in disguise, it may come with less viewers, but it’s a chance to explore new avenues and be more creative. I hope they keep up this level of work next season, reviewing the show is much more enjoyable when I get to say nice things. Things I’m hoping for next season is continuing to be more inventive with their story-telling, introduce a new character, push the limits with their comedy. At the end of every episode this season, we’re told to tune in next week for an “edgier” episode. I don’t think they’re being as edgy as they can be.  But it was a great season to review for the most part, I already can’t wait for the next.

How did you enjoy season twelve of American Dad? Did you enjoy it? Not so much? What do you hope to see from the show moving forward, or would you prefer they call it quits? Let us know your thoughts!