Reviews

"Love, American Dad Style" was an episode I watched for the first time I think back in 2019, I heard that people didn't enjoy the episode at all, thinking it was a low point of the show, but yet I found it to be OK.

Now, looking back on it, and after a lot of the really awful TBS-Era episodes that I've watched of the show since, I feel like fans are way too harsh to this episode, it's really funny. This episode is mainly dark comedy, like, really dark comedy, the plot of Roger getting a crush on Hayley seems like a typical sitcom plot (which the show has joked about before), but the way the episode progresses with Roger's clingy attitude becoming like a stalker toward Hayley is what elevates it. It's suppose to be messed up, that's the point of the episode, you are just waiting for Roger to learn something at the end, but no, the episode punches you with a really messed up, yet funny joke about Roger skinning Jeff, and Hayley's reaction to it being what makes him loose the crush he had. The Stan SUV plot was fine, kinda what puts the episode down to an 8/10 for me, as two of the jokes are just 'Stan accidentally kills people while trying to sell his car' really, but there were still funny moments.

Also, people say that this was the episode that Roger became flanderized as a horrible person? You do realise he's done stuff that's just as bad, if not worse than what he does in this episode, it's part of his character.

Finally, Rachael MacFarlane has an amazing singing voice, if you want to hear a full version of the "Making Whoopie" song Hayley sings in that one scene, check out the album Rachael released around the same time, entitled "Hayley Sings". So, if you love really dark comedic episodes, this one is a good one to watch.

This episode is down right terrible, the main plot is so boring, it's just Brian trying to make a show, only to have James Woods come in and change everything about it, plus it's not really that funny.

However, it's not the worst part of it, no, the worst part of this episode is the B-Plot, which is probably one of the worst plots ever done in Family Guy. It involves Stewie accidentally having his head cracked open by Meg & Chris, who try to cover it up at first, with Meg later on wanting to take Stewie to the hospital, but nobody listens to her (because it's Season 8 of Family Guy, and Meg is a punching bag still), only to have Peter come in and find out, with it ending up with Peter throwing Stewie under the car when Lois is backing up, to try and pin the blame her. It's actually disgusting.

*SPOILER REVIEW*

When people ask what's the best Wallace & Gromit short film, I instantly choose this one, while if we are talking about the franchise in general, "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" is a little bit better, but that's because it's a full length film, "A Close Shave" manages to tell a story full of comedy, drama, and action in only 30 minutes or so, and it succeeds marvellously at what it does.

The pacing is really good, with it not feeling too fast, but it's never that slow. I really enjoy the fact that the film sets up most of it's mysteries & exchanges with a really great pay off for noticing them, mostly when something that was mentioned/happened early, adds into the plot of it, which makes the film feel more entertaining.

The comedy is really funny, there's some wacky slapstick styled comedy, as the porridge machine malfunctioning & covering Wallace in porridge, but there's also some clever line deliveries & even some clever little bits of innuendo, with the "The bounce has gone from his bungee" bit.

I loved how much the film is willing to be comedic & dramatic, especially how it gets a emotional with the scene of Gromit's false imprisonment for sheep rustling & sheep murder being read on the newspaper by Wallace & the sheep, and Gromit breaking down at the puzzle piece in jail.

Preston is easily one of the best villains in the Wallace & Gromit Franchise (next to Feathers McGraw), there's something about him that just feels off, he's really suspicious, and the twist that he's a Cyber-Dog is a really great twist, as it builds more onto why he feels so off.

Wendolene is a good character, while the filmmakers chose not to have her & Wallace be "together" in the end, I still think her character is well written.

Shaun the Sheep is just so lovable, the way he ends up helping Gromit save the day against Preston is quite cool, he's also so lovable & cute here (no wonder he got his own franchise).

The Animation in this one is just, well... Amazing! Although it's just slightly better than "Wrong Trousers" (which also has amazing animation), the wonderful attention to animated detail through out each single frame is just brilliant, the expressions on the characters give them so much life and depth to them.

Overall, A Close Shave is a 100% recommended watch in my eyes, from an amazing story, to great animation, and well written characters. It's the best one in my eyes.

I thought that after the amazing "100 A. D" & "The Two Hundred", that "300" would be a Fantastic 300th episode, but it turned it to be a disappointment.

It feels like they crammed a bunch of stories into 22 minutes, and while this episode does have interesting plots, but they feel rushed, because the episode has so much going on (with Roger being kicked out for ruining the Smith's chance to be on Family Feuds, the golden turd being returned to him, causing him to go into 300 parts, making the world "too perfect", and so the Smiths have to find 300 parts and then they fight over the golden turd in the future and die, and then a tear from Roger causes the golden turd to make him be able to back in time to stop himself from putting it in the place where it was first found back in Season 1), and try fitting it all into 22 minutes, this episode should of been a 2 part episode, like "100 A. D" and "Son of Stan".

Also, some of the jokes are kind of unfunny, with the whole "Roger starting a fire in the first flashback, and a volcano in the last 2 flashbacks on vacation, and everyone runs away, apart from Jeff who just keeps drinking", is just the same gag, repeated 3 times, and it wasn't that funny to start with.

Overall, this episode was disappointing to an American Dad fan, I wish they did something much more climactic and made a Fantastic 2 part episode, to Celebrate 15 Years of the show.