Since it began in 2005, American Dad has produced 20 seasons packed full of cultural satire and sci-fi misadventure, and the best seasons are full of unforgettable episodes. When it first started, American Dad was faced with the challenge of distinguishing itself from Seth MacFarlane’s other wildly popular animated sitcom, Family Guy. The Smith family had a talking goldfish, an alien in the attic, and access to the CIA’s fanciful high-tech equipment, but many of their early adventures could have taken place in any number of adult animations. The excellent writing sustained the show for a while, but it wouldn’t find its unique voice for a season or two.
All long-running shows are bound to change in some way, and American Dad is no exception. The writers pulled away from focusing on Stan and Haley’s political disagreements and satirizing the American psyche, and moved toward madcap comedy with a healthy dose of sci-fi. Roger became much more pivotal, but the entire Smith family developed beyond their simplistic stereotypes. Francine is no longer merely a dissatisfied homemaker, and Steve isn’t just an unpopular nerd. The show has fluctuated in quality over the years, but even its worst seasons produce some hilarious episodes. American Dad‘s best seasons, on the other hand, are filled with classic episodes that are always worth rewatching.
20 Season 11
2014
There are two different ways of counting how many seasons American Dad has. One model says there are only 18 seasons, because the first and second should be seen as one, and season 11 should count as a continuation of season 10. In the second model – the one being referred to in this article – season 11 consists of just three unaired episodes which were released on Fox just before the show moved to TBS. This truncated season falls to the bottom of the ranking by default. Although none of the episodes are outstanding, they would have fit in nicely with the rest of season 10.
19 Season 20
2023
The latest season of American Dad is unfortunately one of the show’s weakest so far. The season opener at least sets things off very strongly. “Fellow Traveler” is an experimental episode which delves into Roger’s mysterious past on Earth, as he lands in Roswell, New Mexico. The episode has a lot of laughs, but it also incorporates elements of mystery and magical realism as Roger meets a strange family living in the desert. The rest of the season doesn’t maintain this high standard. Once the show returns to normal proceedings, there are more misses than hits. Jeff’s stretchy legging pyramid scheme is one example of a particularly lifeless episode.
18 Season 17
2020
Season 17 doesn’t often hit the heights that the show is capable of, but it does resolve one of American Dad‘s wildest story lines. The excellent 300th episode, aptly titled “300,” focuses on the saga of Roger’s jewel-encrusted excrement, which pops up every few years to drive people crazy with jealousy and greed. In other episodes, Roger’s brief romance with Dick and Stan’s attempt to become a professional gamer contribute to a rather lackluster season. Season 17 doesn’t experiment with the show’s format and characters as much as other recent seasons, and some of these more straightforward episodes rely too much on gross-out humor.
17 Season 19
2022
Season 19 leans into self-parody, with some of Roger’s story lines in particular showing how absurd and untethered the show can be. “Jambalaya” best represents this idea, as Roger commandeers the family home to start a jambalaya restaurant with his pet alligator. When American Dad is at its best, its bizarre plots still have a sense of danger and drama, but Roger’s blasé attitude reflects that there is no real urgency when his alligator is kidnapped, and he has to infiltrate a cocaine refinery alongside a gun-toting John Cena. The season highlight is “Gold Top Nuts,” in which the Smiths lose their memory on a strange island.
16 Season 12
2014-2015
American Dad‘s first season on TBS marked a choppy transition. The best episode sees Jeff finally returning from his intergalactic adventure under mysterious circumstances, and this combines some great humor with a compelling mystery. “LGBSteve,” in which Steve joins Haley’s all-female roller derby team, is another superb episode, but the season’s best moments are weighed down by “American Fung,” widely considered to be the worst episode in the history of American Dad. Seemingly an absurdist meta reference to the show’s cancelation, “American Fung” is a half-baked idea executed poorly, although that might even be the point. It’s bizarre pacing is just one problem.
15 Season 15
2017-2019
Season 15 is uneven, but it does produce some hilarious episodes. “Persona Assistant” sees Stan taking over Roger’s many alternate personalities and failing to cope with the exhausting demands of being so many people at once. It’s a fun way of pointing out the surreal world that the show has made for itself. On the other hand, American Dad‘s surreal “Flavortown” episode is an example of when the show’s plots can stray too far into absurdity. In the American Dad universe, Guy Fieri is an eternal demon who captures Jeff’s soul in search of a successor, but the episode isn’t compelling enough to make this premise more than a tired meme-adjacent gag.
14 Season 18
2021
There are a couple of episodes which drag down the average success rate of season 18, most notably “Klaus and Rogu in Thank God for Loose Rock: An American Dad! Adventure”. Klaus and Rogu are both good characters when they are used as a punchline, but they aren’t among the funniest characters in American Dad, and an entire episode about them instead of the Smith family is a long slog. Season 18 has plenty of fantastic moments, though, such as the time-traveling adventure “Stan & Francine & Stan & Francine & Radika,” which borrows young versions of the same characters and a distinctive retro charm from the 1990s.
13 Season 13
2016
Season 13 is a consistent collection of episodes, with no egregious slip-ups. There are a couple of outstanding episodes, which mostly come about when American Dad pushes its own limits and experiments with different story lines. “The Two Hundred” is the 200th episode of the show, and it sees Stan journey through a postapocalyptic wasteland to find his family. The episode uses an anthology style, with Stan’s tattoos sparking different memories about his family. It’s a unique approach to a fairly standard sitcom episode format, and the overarching story is entertaining. Another outstanding episode, “The Unincludeds,” features one of Roger’s darkest subplots.
12 Season 14
2016-2017
Season 14 is mostly great, but it’s marred by some parody episodes which fall flat. American Dad has some hilarious parodies, but the show does these best when it uses the parody to serve an original story. Broad genre parodies are often best for this, so season 14’s ultra-specific spoofs of Knight Rider, Die Hard and Storage Wars don’t work quite as well. Still, season 14 has several highlights, like “Father’s Daze,” in which Stan keeps wiping his family’s memories until he can have the perfect Father’s Day. “Father’s Daze” shows American Dad‘s trademark humor in an outlandish sci-fi premise, which is what the show does best.
11 Season 9
2012-2013
Season 9’s best episode sends Jeff to space, and he has to navigate a ship teeming with strange life forms and deadly gladiatorial bouts. There are shades of Star Wars and about a dozen other sci-fi classics, but the episode stays focused on Jeff’s story, rather than getting too deep into pastiches and in-jokes. Another episode,”Blood Crieth Unto Heaven,” is a bold experiment, even if it doesn’t land perfectly. Season 9 shows that American Dad is willing to take big swings, even if not all of them will connect. It also sees the return of the brilliant James Bond parody “Tearjerker,” although the second version doesn’t stack up to the first.
10 Season 1
2005
Looking back on the first season of American Dad shows how much the show has changed in its 20 seasons so far. Although it only has seven episodes, season 1 is a remarkably self-assured debut with an impressive rate of laugh-out-loud moments. The cast of American Dad are the same as always, but the show is still a little different. A lot of the humor focuses on Stan and Haley’s conflicting political views, but the biggest difference is how Roger’s character hasn’t fully formed yet. Roger doesn’t have his many personas yet, as he stays inside the Smith family home to hide from the government.
9 Season 16
2019-2020
American Dad‘s best season since moving from Fox to TBS has plenty of memorable episodes, like “Enter Stanman,” which sees Stan invading Francine’s dreams, and “Stan and Francine and Connie and Ted,” which provides a peek into Barry’s home life. Not every episode is faultless, but season 16 makes up for a few duds with “Rabbit Ears”. One of the very best episodes of American Dad follows Stan as he becomes obsessed with a mysterious 1960s talk show. “Rabbit Ears” has obvious allusions to The Twilight Zone, but it’s still a genuinely gripping mystery, told with all the atmospheric swagger of mid-century cocktail evenings and smooth jazz.
8 Season 5
2008-2009
Season 5 comes right in the middle of American Dad‘s best years. The show had figured out what made it special at this point, and there are plenty of unique sci-fi plots coupled with the more grounded family dynamics of the Smiths. One good example is “The One That Got Away,” in which Roger discovers that one of his personas has taken on a life of his own and is gaining free will. However, this psychological thriller is undercut by the B-plot, with the Smith family becoming obsessed with playing Simon, the 1970s game. American Dad is adept with both absurd and mundane plots.
7 Season 10
2013-2014
Haley and Steve mostly switch between bickering or ignoring one another, but “Faking Bad” gives them a rare opportunity to work on the same team. The episode sees them running a business selling fake IDs, and naturally, they come into competition with one of Roger’s personas. Other great stories from season 10 include a Disneyland-inspired battle royale scenario, and Steve and Snot co-opting some CIA cloning technology. There are no terrible episodes. Even the episodes which rely heavily on parody are capable of producing hilarious moments created by the characters, rather than just the premise.
6 Season 2
2005-2006
After a solid first outing, American Dad kicked things up a notch for season 2, producing the show’s first few classic episodes. “With Friends Like Steve’s” reveals Barry’s hidden side as an evil genius, and “Tears of a Clooney” shows Francine’s hilariously irrational hatred for George Clooney. While most of the plots, but not all, conform to more traditional family-based sitcom story lines, American Dad does these better than most other shows. When it decides to tip the scales toward sci-fi and away from political and cultural satire, American Dad season 2 really begins to show its full potential.
5 Season 8
2011-2012
Season 8 gives some brilliant story lines to characters who aren’t really their own characters. Wheels and the Legman have their greatest adventure in “Wheels & the Legman and the Case of Grandpa’s Key”. Roger should be happy that he has someone to share his fantasy world with, but his crime-fighting partnership with Steve inevitably leads to them constantly arguing. American Dad introduces Ricky Spanish in season 8 too. He’s Roger’s most hated persona, a troublemaker who ruins people’s days just for fun. Season 8 starts to push the limits of Roger’s different characters, not just with “Ricky Spanish,” but also with “Stanny Tendergrass”.
4 Season 3
2006-2007
Season 3 is when American Dad starts to really hit its stride. It also marks a transition from the political satire of the early seasons toward sci-fi capers and high-tech plot devices. Season 3 has great episodes featuring both. Stan finally gets to meet his idol, President George W. Bush, and he and Steve uncover a National Treasure-style conspiracy involving peanuts. Both of these stories lampoon Stan’s narrow-minded belief in American exceptionalism, but there are other episodes that have very little to do with politics. Season 3 also features one of American Dad‘s funniest Christmas episodes, with a parody of It’s A Wonderful Life that makes fun of time travel paradoxes.
3 Season 7
2010-2011
Season 3’s Christmas episode is excellent, but season 7’s “For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls” is even better. When the Smith family accidentally kill Santa Claus, it sets in motion a hilarious seasons-long arc. American Dad also has an unforgettable Halloween episode in season 7, as Stan accidentally unleashes some of America’s deadliest serial killers on the neighborhood. Season 7 also introduces one of Roger’s most memorable characters. In “The People vs. Martin Sugar,” he plays an affable industrialist who runs a sweatshop. Stan plays out his own miniature version of 12 Angry Men, except that he is bent on finding the defendant guilty.
2 Season 4
2007-2008
Season 4 features American Dad‘s first, and best, James Bond parody. “Tearjerker” expertly takes down the campy absurdity of the Bond franchise in the 1970s and 1980s, but it does it in a way no other show could, using Roger and Stan in particular to full effect. Other classic episodes see Stan trying to convert his atheist friend, and Francine discovering that all of her vacation memories have been falsely implanted by Stan. These episodes and others dig deep into who Stan is as a character, which is something the first two or three seasons hadn’t quite figured out precisely. Stan’s evolution from a conservative stereotype makes him much funnier.
1 Season 6
2009-2010
The best season of American Dad balances out the show’s discordant ideas perfectly. It blends political satire with sci-fi adventures, and it features entertaining plots that can either be extremely detailed or more expansive. Each character gets plenty of chances to shine. Roger mimics a dictator in “Moon Over Isla Island,” Steve gets a taste of war in “In Country… Club,” and Francine has to reckon with Roger’s actions in “Merlot Down Dirty Shame.” The best episode of the season, and possibly the best American Dad episode ever, is “Rapture’s Delight,” which leaves Stan and Francine on Earth after the rapture.
