#91 American Dad!

After making myself seem mature by posting about Mystery! I'm going to completely undermine that image with American Dad! The show is by the creator of Family Guy Seth MacFarlane, but in my defense the former show does next to nothing for me. American Dad! is about a conservative immature CIA agent, Stan, his more level wedded wife, Francine his liberal daughter who hates him, and rather nerdy son who idolizes him. What sets the series apart for me is Roger an alien who lives with the Smiths because he once saved Stan's life. Roger is a mess of vices, he drinks, smokes, eats junk food, and spends a prodigious amount of time watching TV which has given him an extensive knowledge of pop culture. To combat the boredom of being a shutin he creates a number of disguises and personalities which he steps in and out of with glee. This leads us to the best Roger story, in one episode he and Francine decide to pretend to be a professor and his wife and invite over a couple they meet at a country club. Francine tells the couple that Roger is an economics professor, even though Roger wanted to be a political science professor. He complains and she says "Oh well,it's been established. This leads to all at war as both of them tell the other couple increasingly horrible things about the other in what becomes a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf parody reaching a climax with Roger revealing that Francine killed their baby which leads to a fight that leaves both of them broken and scarred both physically and emotionally. For this undying commitment to imagination, acting, and fiction, Roger has become one of my heroes. I like to think that if I woke tomorrow with no Id I would become Roger.