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To start with, calling this a “new” series is something of a misnomer on the part of BBC3. It’s actually the 2009/10 series of American Dad!, but really that's just a complaint about imported shows in general. If the first two episodes are anything to go by, American Dad! in its sixth season is every bit as funny as it has been, and easily gives MacFarlane's other comparable shows Family Guy and The Cleveland Show a run for their money.
The first episode of Sunday night's entertainment, "In Country...Club" features Stan taking son Steve to a reenactment of the Vietnam War so that he can understand what it is to be American and hence sing the National Anthem. The premise is a little weak, and indeed, of the night's double-bill I feel that this was the weaker episode, but this doesn't mean it's not a fantastic episode. Much of the humour is derived from the parodying of virtually every Vietnam War movie cliché in the book, made all the more humorous by the fact that it's taking place on a golf course with paintball guns, with golf-carts as both helicopters and boats. The episode felt like it dragged a little in the middle, with Steve's relapse into "PTSD" feeling drawn out, but nonetheless humorous (and perhaps an indictment of the US' treatment of their Vietnam veterans). The subplot, of Roger the alien attempting to watch "Barbra Streisand does Celine Dion" on pay-TV was as humorous as it was surreal, culminating in some particularly trippy CGI.
I personally derived many more laughs from the night's second outing, "Moon over Isla Island", featuring Stan accidentally murdering a dictator and installing Roger in his place. The high points of this episode were definitely the scenes of the country of Isla under Roger's rule, his overt campness manifesting itself in having the island painted yellow and changing the national anthem to Bananarama's 1985 hit "Venus", though equally funny were the times at which Roger was unaware of his status and kept accidentally having people killed. The main plot, of Roger feeling betrayed and used by Stan and thus is one which has been used before and is often a staple on the show, but still remained consistently funny. The ending was somewhat predictable, Stan sacrifices what he gained through using Roger (in this case a place as a "CIA agent with his own helicopter") and status quo is restored. The episode's subplot was largely forgettable and a mere aside to the main story, as they often are, and featured Steve and friend Snot attempting to have each other's mothers touch their genitals.
If the rest of the series can continue in the way it left off, I look forward to following it over the coming weeks. While Family Guy has seemed to have sagged of late, American Dad! is still on the up, but then, I've always preferred the latter anyway, I feel its (ironically) more apolitical subject matter and lack of non-sequiteurs make for a more humorous and entertaining outing.
Season Six of American Dad! is shown on BBC3, Sundays at 10pm
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