AlthoughAmerican Dad’s return to Fox does guarantee that the animated cartoon comedy will survive another few seasons, this switch also runs the risk of killing the very thing that has accommodated the show’s longevity.American Dadis a unique series. LikeKing of the HillandFamily Guybefore it, the Seth MacFarlane series is often accused of copyingThe Simpsons.
In fact,The Simpsonsitself lobbed this allegation atAmerican Dadearly in its run, in season 17, episode 9, “The Italian Bob.” There, Homer encountered an image ofFamily Guy’s Peter Griffin as an example of plagiarism, and then saw a picture ofAmerican Dad’s patriarch Stan Smith labeled as plagiarism of a plagiarism.
While this was an amusing gag, it was one that rang progressively less true asAmerican Dadcontinued. WhileBob’s Burgersoften borrows fromThe Simpsons, as it is a more family-friendly, warmer comedy series, the surreal andstrangeAmerican Dadabandoned its original premiseto become an entirely unique TV offering.
American Dadbegan as a broad satirical parody of classic sitcoms, with Stan Smith acting as the show’s conservative, traditional father figure. Stan’s more liberal daughter Haley often argued with him on a range of social, cultural, and political issues, forcing the Bush-era CIA agent to question his worldview. However, this premise didn’t last all that long.
The Show’s TBS Era Was Defined By Wildly Unpredictable Plots
By as early asAmerican Dad’s season 3 finale “Joint Custody,” the family’s “Pet” alien Roger was dressing up as a bounty hunter and joining Stan on a cross-country manhunt for his son-in-law that soon saw the duo get high by burning down a marijuana farm. The shift from political satire to absurdism was gradual, but definitive.
To underline the impact of this shift, it is worth noting that season 1 of the series barely cracked the top ten in aranking ofAmerican Dadseasons. Dropping the focus on pointed political satire made the series less topical and timely, and centering the show instead on character comedy opened up new avenues for more surreal storytelling and absurd gags.
Moving to the cable network TBS in 2014 allowedAmerican Dadeven more creative freedom than before, resulting in some of its most experimental efforts to date.
Unfortunately, all of this may come to an end in the near future.American Dadseason 22 will see the show return to its original network, Fox, meaning the series may revert to the style that it boasted during its first fourteen seasons. To be fair, many ofAmerican Dad’s strongest outings came from this era.
However, moving to the cable network TBS in 2014 allowedAmerican Dadeven more creative freedom than before, resulting in some of its most experimental efforts to date. Among the most notable of these are season 16, episode 4, “Rabbit Ears,” and season 15, episode 15, “Flavortown.”
It doesn’t necessarily bode well for the series to return to its original network in season 22, as this would bring with it a return to its early-season sensibilities.
The series never lacked an absurd edge, but some of thebest episodes ofAmerican Dadgained their creative freedom from the show’s departure from Fox. As such, it doesn’t necessarily bode well for the series to return to its original network in season 22, as this would bring with it a return to its early-season sensibilities.
The Animated Sitcom Started Out As A Straightforward Political Satire
American Dadwas never a realistic show, but its first season was grounded in comparison toFamily Guy,The Simpsons, orSouth Park. By season 4, the show had largely disregarded its original focus on real-life political issues, but the series was still more interested in straightforward edgy humor than outright absurdism or experimental plotting.
Season 6, episode 9, “Rapture’s Delight,” marked something of a turning point, as the ambitious outing saw the Rapture bring most of the cast up to Heaven while Stan, Francine, and Jesus Christ were left behind on Earth. This spawneda tradition ofAmerican DadChristmas episodesthat grew progressively stranger, edgier, and more ambitiously weird.
TBS really ramped up the absurdity from season 12 onwards.
To be fair to Fox, the show did produce some truly bizarre episodes while still airing on the network, including a loose adaptation of the playAugust Osage Countyin season 9, episode 10, “Blood Crieth Unto Heaven.” However, TBS really ramped up the absurdity from season 12 onward.
The infamous season 12, episode 14, “American Fung,” was a bizarre meta-episode where a Chinese billionaire ostensibly purchased the episode to promote himself viaAmerican Dad. Season 16, episode 22, “Cheek to Cheek: A Stripper’s Story,” devoted most of its runtime to a parody of the uber-bleak ‘60s dramaMidnight Cowboy.
American Dadis available to stream on Hulu.
Season 18, episode 14, “Flush After Reading,” saw Francine use Roger’s unexplained supernatural powers to disappear into books she was reading, while season 20, episode 22, “Into the Jingleverse,” was a timeline-scrambling Christmas sci-fi epic.
American Dadhas essentially been given free rein to tell all manner of absurd stories for the last decade, and it is hard to imagine that Fox won’t change that setup.
Compared toFamily Guyseason 23’s episodes, which aired on Fox, these plot summaries paint a picture.American Dadhas essentially been given free rein to tell all manner of absurd stories for the last decade, and it is hard to imagine that Fox won’t change that setup, considering how much more groundedFamily GuyandThe Simpsonsare.
The Network Generally Allows Family Guy and The Simpsons A Lot of Creative Freedom
Typically, a sitcom switching networks can be a cause for concern when it comes to censorship. Different networks have different censorship norms, andAmerican Dadfeatured far more swearing in its later TBS seasons than its original Fox run. However, interestingly enough, this isn’t the main issue with the show’s move.
American Dadseason 21 premiered on June 09, 2025.
It isAmerican Dad’s freedom to be surreal and wacky, rather than the show’s ability to depict violent, obscene, or sexual content, that matters here.Family Guy’s recent episodesprove that the show is more pointedly transgressive thanAmerican Dad, but not as bizarre, trippy, and experimental.
American Dadmay struggle to maintain its counter-cultural appeal when the series moves back to Fox for season 22, as the network could expect something closer to the more conventional storytelling found in seasons 1-11. Thus, the show’s many storylines that are abandoned mid-episode, its meta-jokes, and its bizarre non-sequiturs could be a thing of the past.
That said, it is worth remembering thatThe SimpsonsandFamily Guyhave gone through numerous distinct stylistic changes while at Fox, and the network has seemingly supported them, provided viewers continue tuning in.Fox’sGrimsburgseason 2is arguably as chaotic and absurd as much of theAmerican DadTBS era, so hopefully the transition won’t cost the show its unique voice.
