[Exclusive Interview] American Dad Showrunner Matt Weitzman Talks About His long-running series’ new season and the superhero actor he’d love on his show
Good morning, USA!
American Dad has entered its 18th season and has shown no signs of slowing down. With well over 300 episodes under its belt, the parody of an overly patriotic patriarch is as wacky and irreverent as ever. Taking place in fictional Langley Falls, the cartoon follows the exploits of Agent Stan Smith, an employee of the CIA who just might love his country more than his own family. But that probably is not saying much. His wife Francine and kids Haley and Steve often make Stan’s life a non-stop adventure, though their shenanigans pale in comparison to the always scheming Roger the alien.
Created by Seth MacFarlane, Matt Weitzman, and Mike Barker in 2005, American Dad is one of the longest-running animated shows currently on TV. The show stars Wendy Schaal, Scott Grimes, Rachel MacFarlane, Dee Bradley Baker, Jeff Fischer, and Patrick Stewart. Seth MacFarlane also lends his talents to voice characters Stan and Roger Smith.
Weitzman, who serves as American Dad’s current showrunner, sat down to talk about the show’s legacy, the future that is in store for his animated series, and which celebrity guest star he’d love to have on the show.
Matthew Swigonski: You are already a few episodes into your newest season and American Dad’s climbing the ranks as one of the longest-running animated shows of all time. If the 2005 version of Matt Weitzman was told that you would be up over 300 episodes in the year 2023, do you think he’d believe that?
Matt Weitzman: Uhhhhh no. (Laughs) No, I remember when we got our second season and I was just over the moon giddy and grateful that I was able to make this TV show that I love doing, and that I love the process of, and I love the people I was working with, and I love the product that we are making. It’s been challenging along the way, between changing networks and the things that we’ve had to kind of jump through. The fact that while everybody is focused on the season that’s on the air, there’s another season I’m making right now and the idea that by the time I’m done with that season, I’ll have 388 episodes is absolutely mind-boggling. I think that as long as people keep liking that, I’ll keep doing it.
Matthew Swigonski: What do you think the show would look like if it was created in 2023? Do you think it would be affected at all?
Matt Weitzman: Oh, yeah. If you go look at some of the jokes that we did back then…those are really inappropriate. “Oh, say you can’t say now?” I have a new staff if you will. From the beginning to now the show has evolved and changed. And we didn’t know whether we were gonna get picked up at times and people went to other shows. I’ll say jokes [to the other writers] that I think are funny and they’re like “Matt, we can’t do that joke.” And I’m like “We can’t do that joke?” Which is amazing because there are jaw-dropping jokes that we still do. What I think got us here would not be acceptable to our audience now and that’s okay, you know? The world changes and we probably shouldn’t always do some of those jokes now. But they were fun and I don’t regret them. Evolution is natural and change is natural. So I don’t know what it would look like if we started today. I guess it would still look like a version of us now. It took a while to figure out how to be ourselves and there’s certainly a weird factor that goes along with American Dad. When it started out, we were exploring the political world and now it’s more family and science fiction based and it’s certainly evolved and if we started today I don’t know what it would evolve to. I like to think that we would still be successful but I do wonder what that would look like if we started today rather than 18 years ago.
Matthew Swigonski: You talked a lot about evolving. If you had to pick out a character on the show that has evolved the most since 2005, who would it be?
Matt Weitzman: There are a lot of characters that have evolved. Haley is not this crazy, environmental girl that she was. Klaus is no longer this lascivious guy. He’s more desperate for connection. Stan is a more open character than he was, you know? I mean, his outlooks are still this deep-rooted conservatism but I think that he’s more open to things like you about the world, the gay world, and just in general. Steve has probably been maybe the most consistent and then there’s Roger. When we started the show we thought that he was going to stay at home the whole time and that obviously has not happened.
Matthew Swigonski: How do you guys even come up with all of Roger’s personas or his crazy schemes? Do you just have a giant wheel you spin with random scenarios?
Matt Weitzman: (laughs) Well you grab things from your own life and somehow you try to turn it into something that maybe Roger can play a part in. He’s such a chameleon that it’s just fun to write for him. At times I have to kind of say “Can we maybe not do another Roger story?” because it’s so easy to dip into that world. Seth does such a fantastic job with him. The character itself is just a lot of fun to write for. I think it’s important to expand our universe and play with characters that we haven’t seen as much of. While Roger is great, it can be too much of a good thing.
Matthew Swigonski: I mean, yeah…I guess.
Matt Weitzman: (laughs) You don’t agree? That’s okay. I feel like you’re a big Roger fan.
Matthew Swigonski: Is anyone not a big Roger fan?
Matt Weitzman: If they aren’t, I don’t want to meet them.
Matthew Swigonski: Going back to Seth, the cast and the voice talent is amazing. How does that feel, knowing that you have this type of talent behind each character where they’re going to put their all into every performance?
Matt Weitzman: I can’t be more grateful to have the cast that we have. They make straight lines funny. They sell the hell out of everything that we write. If something isn’t working there’s no complaining. They just do their job with a smile on their face. I can’t tell you how often I have these giant episodes and they’re like “Okay, let’s just do it again. Let’s do it again. Let’s do it again. Let’s get it right!” It’s great. They’ve always been this way and it hasn’t changed over time either. They are always willing to do it. Always willing to do what is best for the show. The fact that nobody has become any sort of prima donna is super. Except for Dee. He has always been and always will be a prima donna. (laughs) That’s just a joke obviously.
Matthew Swigonski: Continuing with the voice talent, the guest stars are always amazing on your show and this upcoming season is no exception. There’s Pete Davidson and Angelica Huston…how does that feel to draw that type of talent onto your show?
Matt Weitzman: Well it’s just the fact that they want to do it. Some of them are true fans. We got Pete Davidson because one of our former writers works with him on a regular basis. Juda Miller who is executive producing Pete Davidson’s new show said “Pete’s a big fan of the show if you want to use him.” I was like “Oh, my God! Really?” So it’s fantastic. And he was great. His attitude was great and he just walked in and did a great job. It’s always fun when people want to do it and it’s not just a job. They actually like the show and want to do their best. Even The Weeknd, was a fan. He came in and wanted it to be good. He wanted to do anything he could to make it good and took the time and was really happy to do it and came back again and again for whatever changes we needed. When we get actors who are fans, it’s the best. Not that everybody needs to be a fan to do the show. I don’t know how many episodes Angelica Huston has seen of American Dad but it was fantastic to have that kind of legend working on the show. I’m just full of gratitude to anybody who wants to be a part of it.
Matthew Swigonski: Is there a special guest star, maybe a dream guest star of yours that you wish would join the show that you haven’t been able to get yet?
Matt Weitzman: Oh gosh, I haven’t really thought about that question. Let me think about it as you keep on asking more questions and maybe I’ll come up with an answer for that (laughs). I feel like I should shoot for the moon.
Matthew Swigonski: What are some of the animated shows that inspired you the most?
Matt Weitzman: I’ve always loved cartoons. I’m a little older, so I was a big Underdog fan, which is maybe why our production company is called Underdog Productions. But I watched everything. I watched Felix the Cat, really old-school stuff I was enamored by as a little kid. I also remember watching Droopy Dog with my brother. And I remember we were watching the show on our parent’s bed and we were falling off the bed laughing so hard. When I was given the opportunity to do Family Guy in the beginning and I saw the pilot that Seth had done, it looked like Schoolhouse Rock to me. I was like “Oh my god, I want to do the show so badly!” We didn’t know what it was going to be. Seth had drawn everything and it was all hand done. It was kind of a bit crude but so funny and fun. It was really appealing to me and we were able to do some good stuff on Family Guy. And then when Family Guy kind of dissolved for a minute Seth came to us and said “Do you want to do this other show that I have in my head?” We jumped at the chance and it’s worked out pretty well.
Matthew Swigonski: What are some things that viewers can look forward to in this new season that you can maybe tease without giving anything away?
Matt Weitzman: I don’t mind even saying we’re doing this. I mean I’m really excited. I just did the final audio for a Halloween episode where the family is dressed up as Scooby-Doo characters. They end up discovering that Stan is missing and so in that Scooby-Doo world they go to the CIA and try and find Stan. Francine is dressed as Daphne, Steve is dressed as Velma, Haley is dressed as Fred, Klaus is Scooby, and Jeff is Shaggy. We were able to capture it so well and the music sounds so much like the show. I think that people are just gonna go gaga over this homage that we’ve done. It was a lot of fun. We’re doing another Christmas episode where we end up going into the Metaverse and we see our characters in 3D. It’s a really crude 3D that Santa has created. There’s an episode where it looks like Steve is going to get taken by Child Services and so the family has to pretend like everything is fine and there’s all this kind of craziness that happens along the way. But you know, it’s just a family story that is fun and they’re all trying to save each other and it’s sweet but there’s this insanity that we like to do. As long as I keep on getting surprised by what the writers bring to me, I’m happy. You know. After all this time, if you can still surprise me, that’s all I can ask for, and if I’m surprised I think the audience will be surprised. I don’t want people to just tune in out of obligation because they’ve watched so many episodes so they’re just going to keep watching, I want them to watch because we’re still telling stories that are making them laugh. But I’m still trying to think of who I want on the show.
Matthew Swigonski: It’s a straightforward question, just answer the question!
Matt Weitzman: I know, I know. It’s not going away! Iron Man, [Robert Downey Jr.] I’m a big fan of his.
Matthew Swigonski: Okay, that’s a good one to wait for and hype up. Thank you.
Matt Weitzman: It’s my pleasure.
New episodes of American Dad air on TBS on Mondays at 10 PM (EST).
