Much like Seth Macfarlane's Family Guy, American Dad is a show that has to grow on you. American Dad is a popular satire that infuses it's "normal" american family with powerful stereotypes. Macfarlane can poke at American society without the watcher always realizing he is trying to make a point.. such is the brilliance of his writing.
The main protagonist, Stan Smith, is a perfect example of this. He is the patriarch who is supposed to be a caricature of a conservative christian republican. He lacks emotions and is hyper-masculine and dominating over his superficial, boring, and stupid wife Francine Smith. Stan is a likable and sometimes relatable character, yet at the same time he is xenophobic, extremely conservative, blindly patriotic, etc.
The general plot in many episodes, is to mock straight, white republicans; Like Stan (and those who affiliate with them, such as Stan's abusive, narcissistic, perverted boss). It is a critic of the nuclear family; The nuclear family in American Dad only works because of the binary of HUSBAND/wife between Stan and Francine, and also because the two children Haley and Steve submit and respect their father. American Dad is also a critic of who our country gives it's power to, since Stan works for the CIA. He is xenophobic and an alpha male who tends to let his ego get in the way of his job.
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