The third volume of “American Dad,” in stores Tuesday, shows co-creator and lead voice Seth MacFarlane, a k a the brains behind “Family Guy,” has animated humor to spare. It also, however, serves as a cautionary tale for all DVD creators on how not to record DVD commentary.
For the uninitiated, “American Dad” centers around Stan Smith, an uber-conservative CIA agent voiced by MacFarlane who ultimately proves as big a boob as MacFarlane’s “Family Guy” patriarch Peter Griffin. Like Peter, Stan is surrounded by a shenanigan-inspiring family, but in place of a talking dog and baby, “American Dad” has a talking German fish and an alien named Roger (also MacFarlane) modeled after late “Hollywood Squares” cut-up Paul Lynde.
In addition to 18 episodes, the DVD set offers an entertaining live table read of an episode from Comic Con, where we see the cast kill in front of a live audience.
The three-disc set also features a slew of deleted scenes that illustrate how shows of this sort overwrite, leaving many worthwhile visual gags and one-liners (including some funny first drafts that became even funnier in their final versions) on the cutting- room floor. One such gag has Patti LaBelle proclaiming her wealth to Stan by declaring that she “sleeps on pillows made of poor people’s babies.”
But where this set fails terribly is on the commentary tracks. The producers bring in as many as six bloviators per episode, including writers’ and directors’ assistants, leading to every session sounding like a group of co-workers talking nonsense at happy hour.
Some interesting tidbits sneak in – like how Iggy Pop, even in character, refused to say a line asking kids to sleep with him for fear of being branded a pedophile. But more common are inane tangents like a discussion of gross things that have happened to the cast and crew while eating ice cream.
Which is a shame, because “American Dad,” while not as rip-roaringly funny as “Family Guy,” still has more laughs than the average sitcom, and for those not yet on board, it’s worth a viewing.
So if you’re just looking to check out the show itself, the set is worth your time. But if you’re hoping for any insight on its inner workings from the commentary, you’ll gain just as much – and have just as much fun – eavesdropping on any after-work crew at the bar of your local T.G.I.Fridays.