AMERICAN DAD , REVIEW OF AN AMERICAN ANIMATED SITCOM - CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

AMERICAN DAD ,  REVIEW OF AN AMERICAN ANIMATED SITCOM - CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

"The Simpsons" does NOT amuse the common yank any more.

I had put a review of The Simpsons before in one of my posts.  You can read it if you punch into Google search MATT GROENING , THE UNSUNG GENIUS  VADAKAYIL

The step in sitcom "Family Guy" has run aground.

So enter the new sitcom "American Dad"-again of a dysfunctional all American family.. It started around 2005.

This one is teeming with sex, violence, toilet humor, non-sequiturs, "just for laughs" morbid absurdities, racial gags and "nothing off limits" biting satire, 

The language pushes the envelope on social acceptability, making it a less-than-ideal choice for young women and teens. 

American Dad pushes that morbid vulgarity envelope so hard , in fact, that the Parents Television Council recently asked its members to complain to the Federal Communications Commission, hoping to get the series sanctioned or fined.

  

There are no good messages or role models in American dad. 

Yet, if you understand the characters , an adult will find it hilarious. If you do NOT have an insight into the characters it is your own fault.

For example Dada Kondke's famous creepy dialogue ANDHERI RAAT MEIN DIYA TERI HAAT MEIN, must be understood for what it is.  

If you think it is about a young girl holding the lamp instead of "you know what"-- who is to blame?

Ditto with American dad. 

Being a sailor for 40 years I can tell you that our party jokes are NON-vegetarian. 

Sex takes preponderance. If not, even sh#t or fart will do.  And believe me, if you are not too prudish they can be down right funny.

Example?

Ram and Shyam , two bhaiyyas go for a crap in an open field after consuming lot of bhang ( marijuana in milk ) . 

Both are stoned . 

After the solemn deed , Ram instead of washing his own ass , starts washing Shyam's ass. ( We dont use toilet paper in Indian villages ) .

Shyam is now confused. 

He asks Ram " Abhe Raame , tum kiska gaand dho raha hai re?" ( Hey, Ram whose ass are you washing ?).

Ram replies knee jerk " Are, Saame , mein apna gaand dho raha hoon !" ( Shyam buddy , I am washing mE own ass !)

Ram is now confused and ponders for a while and cries out in deep distress--  " Fir hamara gaand kidhar hai?" (  If indeed so, pray, where in mE ass?" )

End of story-- 

This NON-veg joke is best told in Bhojpuri.

Let me describe the characters of American dad.

STAN—  Stan Smith works for the CIA at Langley falls Virginia Washington DC .

This all American dad with a gargantuan chin, , who fumbles more often than he scores.   He is ze typical Yank cowboy. Cowboys never hunted the outlaw alone,  they always rode with a posse for moral support . ( Even in modern wars they have ze coalition and ze allies-- it is gang bashing and bullying. )

But our man Stan is a lone ranger, who is always on red alert for terrorist activity  .

He can  go to any extreme to keep his beloved America from harm’s way.  Protecting USA in a most gung ho and ridiculous manner  is his life’s only mission.  

He has the terror-alert color code on his fridge, and has this knee-jerk reaction of shooting holes in the toaster whenever the toast pops up—what more evidence of paranoia do you want? 

He is THE staunchly neoconservative right wing Republican  and self-proclaimed American patriot who sees a deadly assassin on the grassy knoll in even the most innocent of situations. 

His conservatism is deliberately treated in the show as severe intolerance .  Stan  is on constant self imposed alert and hence is  emotionally disconnected from his family . He uses his warped idea of patriotism to justify obnoxious ( and hilariously!? for the Yanks )  bad behavior. 

He's shoot-first-ask-later attitude that gets him into severe trouble in just about every episode.  His typical knuckle headed optimism is hilarious.

FRANCINE— is Stan’s hot and sexy wife  who met him after college.

Poles apart from Stan she is level headed and loves her husband.  No wonder she spends most of her time trying to reason with gung ho Stan and talk him out of his crazy schemes.

Since she had a past life of wild sex and drug parties , she has a lot of excess baggage carefully hidden away. This would make her unpredictable and psychotic and at times she loses her way..

She stays and home and tried hard to be ze traditional wife and home maker , though not out of choice .  She's tried careers of her own, including real estate and her own bakery, but they didn't pan out.

Stan ignores the affections of his wife, though she is coveted from afar by Klaus, the ex-communist goldfish.  She is loyal to Stan and turns a Nelson’s eye to all his unabashed arrogance, trespasses and misdemeanors.

STEVE— is Stan’s and Francine’s 14 year old geeky high schooler son. He tries his level best  to live up to Stan's expectations but can never really measure up to the high standards in place for him.  The bar is set just too high.

This forces him to behave like a teenage dork by default.. 

He is a nerd and has even published his own book before puberty.  Though he is obsessed with gals , and tries hard to be cool and make a hit,  he just cant make it. This makes him a wimpy  R&B dork.  He and the family alien Roger embark on disastrous adventures frequently.

HAYLEY— is Stan’s and Francine's marijuana-smoking,  feminist cum activist daughter at the fag end of her teens, attending community college. 

Stan is strictly conservative and hence he is perpetually at odds with his daughter , resulting in loud arguments galore.  She being a new age hippie rebel does not approve of  Stan’s constant meddling in her internal affairs.  Despite Stan’s  best efforts Hayley continues in defiance as a left-wing liberal. 

Stan loves his daughter, but that doesn't necessarily mean he trusts her.  To spite Stan she becomes a stripper at one point, and to show their unconditional support and love as "good" ( though dysfunctional ) American parents,  Stan and Francine sit in the front row during one of her routines, cheering, making vulgar comments and tossing money. This can happen only in USA, right? 

To Hayley's credit, she never gives up her values, regardless of how much grief she gets at home.  She knows how and when to push her father's buttons whether it's by helping the homeless,  demanding women's rights , protecting the environment or taking on the NRA headlong. 

She has a stoner boyfriend, named Jeff who eventually moves into their home .

KLAUS— is a lecherous and attention starved talking gold fish secretly lusting for Stan’s wife Francine, thanks to a CIA experiment gone awry.  Klaus is a man’s mind  trapped in a goldfish body –a fish in whom the CIA implanted the brain of an East German Olympic ski jumper.

The family goldfish constantly hits on Francine totally obsessed after seeing her sexy body in the nude.  Klaus is talkative and always throws in his two cents regardless of whether anyone is listening.

So this is where BIG BOSS 6 got their warped idea of a talking goldfish from.

ROGER—is an effeminate, disguise wearing  alien who Stan has rescued from US government capture of Area 51, and secretly harbors in the family's attic, contrary to his patriotic values.  Coz Stan owes Roger a "life debt". 

Roger resents not being allowed to leave the house, and so has resorted to sarcasm , drinking wine and smoking cigarettes.  He spends his days drinking martinis and watching bad television. 

Though Roger has ambitions and needs, he's stuck in the attic of Stan’s  house, forbidden to reveal himself to the outside world.

So--

What all is fair game for the humor pool in this sitcom which amplifies the DECADENCE of American society? 

We have more than enough material as season 8 is going on.

Remember, it holds a TV-14 rating for suggestive dialogue (D), offensive language (L), moderate to strong sexual content (S), and graphic violence (V).

-- corny refrains like "Pedophilia Down as Childhood Obesity Goes Up", "Israel Pulls Out of Gaza, Gaza Not Pregnant",  "Economy Takes a Turn, Falls Down Flight of Stairs" etc

--  disgusting imagery such as a stray cat giving birth to kittens and actually showing the kittens coming out of the mother,  live bees flying inside Steve's open wound and stinging him from the inside etc

---- Stan leaving his family for a seductive, talking hot tub (Cee-Lo Green) and his distraught and loyal wife  Francine moving back into her adoptive parents’ house with equally distraught Klaus, Roger and the kids.

----Stan sitting naked in a hot tub with two gay neighbors.

--- a blitzkreig of tasteless material targetting God, Christians, Muslims, blacks, the homeless and handicapped people.

-- choking games, married swingers, incest, homosexual sex, ejaculation, cross-dressing and a boy damaging his penis etc

----Stan's boss at CIA ogling  pictures of his wife Francine and asking Stan to send more shots of her ample boobs.

-- people talking about urination, feces and the biological intricacies of a colostomy bag.

--- conceited and pathetic one-liners like"only women have emotions son, they come from their ovaries".

ALMOST EVERYTHING IS SEXUAL.  YOU HAVE TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES TO GET TO IT .

SO THIS MEANS YOU MUST HAVE A PRETTY PERVERTED MIND YOURSELF -- OR YOU WILL WONDER WTF?!

It showcases "in your face , lump it if you dont like it" domestic violence, the socioeconomic divide, racial inequality and literally thumbs its figurative nose at the state of American politics and the economy.

This satirical series operates on a single guiding principle: Nothing is off-limits, from necrophilia to cocaine and from mindless murder to eating excrement. The jaw dropping morbid jokes are pushed way too far, breaking every single rule of social decency.. This is why young children should NOT see this , as it gets absorbed into their subconscious.

Let me look at the positives. American Dad continues to include awesome music every week.. The show's humor comes from the juxtaposition of Stan's conservative nature against his family's seemingly liberal needs and opinions.  Everything you could conceive about the USA's current state of fear mongering and distrust is put beneath a microscope and parodied mercilessly .  

The episodes usually center on various challenges or mishaps befalling the “mentally poles apart”  family members and their typically shoddy and ill-fated efforts to overcome them. Hence there is something for the intellectuals too , especially the inner workings of a family of vastly different personalities.

When Stan enters an essay contest to have his personal hero, President Bush, come over for dinner, he is overcome with joy when the President arrives at his doorstep. However, not everyone in the Smith family shares Stan's excitement. 

Hayley tries to drill President Bush on the Iraq war, and Steve and Roger attempt to convince him that they've found Osama Bin Laden, Bush gets roaring drunk. Stan tries to save the President from public humiliation, while Hayley revels in his fall from glory.  

George W. Bush is in his own little fantasy world  and rambles “ Oh, fun! I love Mexicans! Some say they're essential to our economy. Others say they're a drain on our resources. All I know is, burritos are delicious!” 

Like coffee or beer this serial has to grow on you.

                                                                Grace and peace!

CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL
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