American Dad: Volume 2
DVD Reviews | May 10th, 2007
Starring Seth MacFarlane, Scott Grimes, Wendy Schaal, Rachael MacFarlane, Dee Bradley Baker
Written By: Mike Barker, Seth MacFarlane, Matt Weitzman
Directed By:
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Buy on Amazon.com
I used to watch American Dad right after Family Guy but slowly stopped watching the show for some reason. I still found the show funny, but it just couldn’t follow it after Family Guy. I think the show would be better in another time slot and not right after Family Guy. But seeing the second volume on DVD by itself and away from Family Guy, I’ve grown to like the show again.
American Dad is about ring-wing CIA agent Stan Smith & his family. Stan’s family consists of his loving wife Francine, his geek son Steve, his hippie liberal daughter Hayley. But then this is where it gets weird. He also has a German speaking goldfish called Klaus (who used to be a human) and a fruity alcoholic alien named Roger. Stan is constantly looking at for any suspicious terrorist activity, and will protect his country at all cost. But the show is not all political storylines all the time, it could just be ordinary life type of storylines…but it just has a funny political satire approach to those plots. The volume 2 DVD has episodes from season 1 and mostly season 2. The first episode on the second volume is “Stannie Get your Gun” and it aired in November 2005. It’s about Stan trying to bond with Hayley and he ends up bringing her to a gun theme park. Just think Disney world, but for gun enthusiasts. So you can imagine how that episode goes since she’s a super liberal. Some of the other storylines of the volume include: Stan & Roger switch places for a day (ie. Freaky Friday), Roger and Stan have an extremely awkward “bonding” time in Atlantic City for a bachelor party, Steve becomes a famous writer, Francine discovers Stan’s long time secret of him being a figure skater and many more out there plots.
I didn’t think the second volume was as good as the first volume of American Dad. There was a lot of little funny jokes but as a whole, I didn’t think it was as funny & good. I still found myself watching a bunch of episodes and laughing a lot, I guess I was just disappointed in the end. I still think the show is watchable and I certainly started to take more of an interest in American Dad again after watching the Volume 2. I thought Stan was funnier this volume but the rest of the family were annoying to me. At first I thought Roger was funny but as the episodes progress, he seems to get more annoying. Steve didn’t bother me in the beginning either but now he does and i’m not sure why. I liked how they brought on Patrick Stewart as the head of the CIA. He seemed to be in a lot of episodes. Other guest stars include Elijah Wood, Jon Stewart, Sandra Oh and Jason Lee.
Bonus features on the American Dad Volume 2 DVD include a lot of commentary tracks, deleted scenes from various episodes, some featurettes and more! I liked watching the “Drawing Roger” featurette because i’m a would-be cartoonist. I’m sure the Featurette might be boring to someone else but I liked it. I also liked the featurette on Season 1. It showed a lot of funny scenes, and I find it interesting what the creators & cast thought about the season and what were their favorite moments. That’s all I really watched as far as extras are concerned.
I like American Dad but I just think it could be funnier. This volume the character tend to be more annoying then in the past. But if you like American Dad and own the first volume, be sure to get this one as well!
Features:
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Season One Remembered featurette
An American Dad Like No Other featurette
Drawing Roger featurette
Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color
Subtitles:
Spanish, French
Favorite Scenes: Stannie Get a Gun, Roger n’ Me, Finances With Wolves, Camp Refoogee
Rating: NR
Running Time: 408 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: