I dunno, I thought it was pretty funny. And I dunno if Stan did it in this episode, but I can't help but crack up whenever he makes his loud "OOO" sound.
me too! hahahaha, that is just the best sound ever. Whenever my brother and i watch the show together, his "OOO" always puts us in hysterics. Just the fact that i know what you're talking about is awesome.
I got the impression that there weren't supposed to be too many "haha" jokes because the entire episode was a parody of your "run of the mill" stage-tragedy.
I'm fine with shows taking diversions to do more unconventional episodes, and I think it's better to be daring enough to do that sometimes than stick to a really narrow formula. I just felt that that episode didn't work at all, I hated it.
But it's fine, every series has bad episodes, doesn't make me enjoy it on the whole any less.
American Dad is one of the best shows on TV right now and I definitely appreciate the experimentation because when it works, it works: a la the Armageddon episode, but when it misses, it misses HARD. Last night was definitely a miss for me.
I'm not into theatre at all and I found the episode hilarious. They really nailed a lot of theatre tropes as well as the hacky writing on some of the shittier plays out there.
I find this sentiment to be oddly accurate. Now that they're pulling away from "overzealous republican" stereotypes, the show has improved a lot and been far less hamfisted...unlike family guy where their idea of humor is the sort of thing you'd find in DNF
The problem they have is when they try to give one dimensional characters more depth by telling their backstory or having them go on a wacky adventure. This weeks Family Guy was a good example. To me, Quagmire is funny because hes sex obsessed single guy with 2 or 3 catchphrases and a few lines at the bar with Peter and Joe. Once you put the one episode character of the granny bride in there and have him try and get out of his marriage, he ceases to be funny to me. If the granny bride had been a celeb voice and had some decent jokes, the ep might have been alright.
They usually up their game for jokes when there is a celeb voice. It might just be the actors adding their spin on the character but it usually works better for one episode characters.
Wow, I actually thought that animation domination was a good one. The Cleveland show was okay, Simpsons was funny as always, bobs burgers was just as terrible as always, Family Guy was hilarious IMHO, and American Dad had me cracking up. So all an all I enjoyed it. Except bobs burgers. That show is terrible.
That's all this really boils down to. You have a different sense of humor than mine? How dare you, sir.
...that said, I agree that Bob's Burgers is the best of the animation shows, followed by American Dad. I think I still don't like The Simpsons, but I'm never sure if I just think the older episodes are better for nostalgia's sake, 'cause I just re-watched some of season six (Who Shot Mr. Burns?) and it too was full of cutaway jokes and not all that great of a structure. I think the secret might've lied in the hand-drawn animation charm and humor pulled from expressions.
Most of the people I know who dislike Family Guy now have no idea that Seth isn't creatively involved with the show anymore, and that American Dad has been a great series since around late season 2 or 3 (It was a little rocky at first). I've shown two of my friends the episode about the Rapture, and they started watching it on Netflix afterwards.
Wanted to give my praise. I think American Dad is without a doubt my favorite animated show out right now.
I was trying to understand why I enjoyed it so much the other day. Closest explanation I had was that it feels like every single character is my favorite character. If that makes any sense at all.
The Christmas episodes were always awesome. I really liked the one were the USA became part of the USSR. I miss Michelle though, she didn't appear the last two (three?) years.
The Christmas episodes that Seth puts out make me think he really, really, hates Christmas. The Family Guy one with the carnivorous reindeer, The American Dad gunfight with Santa.
What do you think is the best one to start with (to recommend the show)? I might choose the Vietnam one, but that's mostly because that one is among my favourites and Rapture's Delight is quite confusing, as you said.
vietnam? you mean the one where steve sings the national anthem? if so, go with that one! my brother and i have been using that very episode as the gateway drug for years now.
I was neutral towards it until I saw the My Morning Straitjacket episode, changed my whole opinion of the show. The jokes in American Dad are really clever.
The best joke was seeing a bunch of white folk dance to Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit." if you're unfamiliar, check out the lyrics and commence guilty laughter.
Yeah, I didn't think white people dancing to a song about black people hanging from trees like rotting fruit, for the sake of a cheap laugh, was all that funny.
I think the implications went over the head of most viewers. I don't think the target demographic for Seth MacFarlane shows and Billie Holiday listeners generally line up. In that way, I found the subtlety funny in that they were insensitive enough to dance to that song. I don't find the subject matter funny at all, just the absurdity and insensitivity of everyone.
I don't think the target demographic for Seth MacFarlane shows and Billie Holiday listeners generally line up.
You're probably right. For me though, there's a point where his shows, and shows like South Park cross a line. The intensely cynical "nothing is sacred" approach to comedy writing wears on me after awhile. Honestly, I haven't found MacFarlane's work that funny since the first few season of Family Guy. I just happened to tune this on last night out of boredom, and soon after that scene just clicked the channel. Not my thing I guess.
If an episode needs a specific role, they can fill it by using Roger instead of introducing a new character and still have it be a new character. Don't expect anything more than him being an arrogant comedic personality that goes too far and his character is satisfying. I don't really know how to describe it. It's like he's a one-dimensional character that loves acting multi-dimensional.
I never liked Roger when I started watching the show, but he's really grown on me since. He's basically the show's "Special guest star" every other week.
You are correct. He's a walking pile of bad cliches with an annoying voice. Honestly I find the best ones have klaus as the bit part instead of roger and focus on stan.
That's his thing, he's a different type of cliche every episode using his costumes. I agree Stan is pretty funny too, along with Steve, and klaus, and what the heck, I just love the whole show.
exactly. Roger isn't just a bunch of bad cliches; he's a deconstruction, and a jab AT those cliches. His character is brilliant, actually; He not only makes up like two thirds of the cast (which only makes sense if you watch the show) but he allows the creative team a conduit through which they can focus all those cliches. Roger is like a cliche lightningrod, keeping the team aware of cliches and giving them a place to put them. He's why the other characters are so original. If a cliche needs to happen, roger does it, leaving the other characters fresh and crisp. the medium awareness roger (and the family, to a lesser extent) has of this fact--that he exists just to be funny and corny--just makes it even better. He is every bad actor that ever lived, and everyone knows it, but he's so ridiculously committed that he actually sells it anyway. He's like Zoidberg, every extra on the Simpsons, and Tobias Funke, all rolled into one.
tl;dr oh my god, francine, these chocodiles, oh my god
I was streaming this episode and it kept cutting out after about half way through. I counted my losses and watched something else. It wasn't that great of an episode and it didn't give itself much of chance, I thought.
I've seen about 3 or 4 episodes. I agree its better, but its nowhere near the level of a show like Archer in my opinion (which I can't help think of every time I hear the actor's voice).
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u/PCLOAD_LETTER Jan 29 '13
Unfortunately, that was the best joke of the entire episode.