American Dad!

Steve joins a junior football team to make Stan proud. However, when a hyper-competitive Stan assumes the position of head coach, Steve gets kicked off the team for not being good enough. Out for revenge, Steve and Roger recruit a new team of misfits who threaten Stan's perfect season. Meanwhile, Francine and Hayley compete for a blue ribbon at the Langley County Fair.
overall a poor episode

4 out of 10

What I liked: Steve telling Roger to meet him under the bleachers, and Roger thinking he wanted to make out with him, Steve getting Stan to cry at the end, Steve coming up with the plan to make sure his team would win, amongst other things.



Good enough episode. I really liked a lot of the first half, but for me it went down when Stan tried to hang himself. I don't know why, I guess it fits his character because of how much he hates losing, but… I don't know if I could see him killing himself over that. But the rest of the episode was pretty good and as such my grade is a low B, which I think is fair.

After yet another lame half-hour of Family Guy, American Dad proves once again that it's better than the show that bore it by this father-son bonding fake out. Gods, I love the fake out episodes; Those episodes that make you think that you're watching a show about one thing only to find out it's about something else. This is the classic shift; Steve wants to make his dad cry by beating him, only to turn him suicidal because of his loserphobia! It's not the best shift episode they've done (that one goes to the eating disorder episode) but it's notable, funny, and yes - even touching in its own strange way.

Following on from last week's father/son episode, this week we see a similar theme developed and taken in a completely different angle. This time we see Steve try to make his father cry when Stan does the same thing to his troubled loser of a son. Overall, it's not quite as amusing or moving as Dolorean provided last week, but nevertheless offers a handful of laughs most of which involve Stan and sometimes some Steve and Roger too. There's also the b-story involving Francine and Hailey as thy compete to win some sort of baking contest, but it's a complete dud. A fine outing for the most part however, and does well not to tread on ground that is overly familiar despite the themes of father/son relations being explored often during the series.

This episode is hillarious and Stan was hillarious like when he disn't care that Steve came in 78th place just because he didn't win and when he punched Steve in the cup for ruining a father son moment and the wooden cup gave him splinters. Also it was hillarious when the really good kid just threw the weak kid so he could get a touchdown and when Stan always made Roger cry was hillarious. Also it was very funny when Roger yelled at the doll in his dollhouse for letting herself go and it was very funny when Roger did all that stuff in the car and he walked out and said I wonder who's car that is and it was hillarious when Roger and Steve were trying to make Stan cry and Roger slapped him and Stan hit him with a chair. Also this was better then Stewroids the Family Guy episode that aired on the same night as this.

Didn't they do this one last week? I know Stan disregarding Steve is a common theme on the show, it's pretty much American Dad's version of Peter and Meg, but there were a number of ways to handle this instead of doing something so similar to last week's episode. I did like this show though. Stan was absolutely hilarious throughout and the storyline with Steve being cut by his own father was something straight out of a 70's sitcom, so that was a nostalgic moment for me. Even Roger wasn't terrible here, but the goo over his body was a little too disturbing for me.

Steve isn't exactly a winner, and of course to Stan if you aren't a winner then you are a loser. To be a winner in his dad's eyes, he decides to join the school 'footballs' team. Stan is proud of his son and when offered the job of coach he accepts. Unforntuately, when it becomes apperant that Steve on the team might lead to the team losing, Stan cuts Steve from the team. Roger and Steve then try to turn a misfit team of players into a team and try to win the championship and of course they fail and have yet to win a game. At least until they face off against Stan's team. With the help of alien goo and a magician, the Replicants (awesome name) are able to win the game. Of course losing proves to be a little too much for Stan and he tries to kill himself.



It was a good story, but there are several problems that I have with it. I'm pretty sure that Stan has at least cried in at least one other episode. In addition, the last episode, which was slightly better then this one, also focused on Stan and Steve trying to become closer. Of course scripts are written long in advance so I'm sure it's just accidental that the two episodes aired one right after another. There were some great moments in this episode and Roger was hilarious as usual. Roger setting things on fire, and the things that he did in the car were fairly funny as well, not to mention his attempts at inspirational coaching. The B story was okay. Francine was busy baking pies to enter in the county fair to beat the person who wins every year. Little does she realize that it was Hayley who had been making those pies. There weren't a lot of jokes to be made in this story but there was a surprise ending when we learn that Roger actually won the competition (by actually putting edible things into a pie). This was a good episode, but it's a topic that has been used a lot in the series. I know that Steve is always going to disappoint his Dad, and I might view this episode more favorably if it didn't air right after an episode that contained the same story, just done differently. Having said that, there are still some laughs to be had in this episode.