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This is kind of untimely, but I watched this again today and thought that something should be said about it because I think this episode is being unfairly reviled. The thing that people don't seem to understand is that this is a pilot and pilots almost universally suck. Why? Because their whole point is exposition. Pilots have 22 minutes to set up the entire show, introduce the characters and tell a story. Not only that but this is what is used to sell the show to the network. If anything about it is too unpalatable to the executives, well, it's not going to get picked up. And what is acceptable to network executives is usually what those who enjoy interesting TV consider to be, as Shakespeare once said, "A bucket of shit-filled knishes". So, the pilot for American Dad sucks. Boo hoo. So did the Family Guy pilot. So did The Simpsons pilot. Etc, etc, etc. And of course everyone is going to whine that it's derivative of Family Guy. Boring. Let's just look at the pilot for what it was: not that funny, but showing promise.

Two good moments: the first was kind of subtle - when Steve rode the buffalo mascot, that is, a student dressed up in a buffalo suit, it made real buffalo sounds. The second was a typical Seth McFarlane over the top joke: when the mother is telling Steve over the bullhorn about how she framed her algebra teacher, the punchline comes later during a "touching" father and son moment - that's good joke construction. Also, heck, when the dad stole the purse and jumps out the window and crushes a car, that was funny.

However, there is one absolute reason to hate American Dad, and that's because due to it doing so well ratings-wise after the Superbowl (and really, how tough is it to do that?), it is replacing Arrested Development for May sweeps, which usually would be okay since the AD episodes would just get shown later, but instead, Fox has deceided to cut this season short at 18 episodes instead of the usual 22. And really, it's stupid to try and compare Mitch Hurwitz and Seth McFarlane's senses of humor, that is, pit the two shows against each other in a critical war since they have such different sensibilities (as I've seen people doing), but based on a mediocre pilot, it really is disappointing (although smart from a business POV) that we get four less AD episodes. Which reminds me, their pilot? Amazing.

American Dad at Amazon