It's still my least favorite of the animated block on Fox's sunday night lineup (although admittedly I'm not including King of the Hill because I've only seen like two episodes), but American Dad is growing on me. I've been critical of it in the past, especially when it plays out the same plots over and over and over again, but when they stray from this formula and branch out, I think it can be a really funny show. I thought tonight's episode was funny, it had a slightly different feel to it, but I think that was at least part of the point. On with the show!

The episode starts with Steve, dead in a pool of cherry Jell-O and then, through his voice overs, we Tarantino it back through the events that led him to that point. Steve was failing English in school, and after Stan finds out firsthand from his teacher, he shows Steve his collection of children books he'd written but never had published. So after that shining piece of motivation didn't work, Stan simply glued Steve's hand to the desk, forcing him to write. Steve only writes what he can see and that happens to be a drunken alien, hell bent on becoming a star. Through the miracle that is TV situational comedy, Steve's assignment accidentally gets mailed to a publisher instead of Stan's. Wouldn't you know it, the adventures of Roger the Alien are an overnight success.

Stan and Steve find a manager for Steve who decides that giving him a "bad boy" image would be a good hook to sell the books on. It goes too far however, when Steve divorces his parents. He realized that his dad was only using him to springboard his own writing, and Fran loved the perks that came with a famous son. Steve moves into his own dream house, complete with cherry Jell-O pool, and starts isolating himself even more, evicting even his friends. His new manager introduces Steve to the actor that will be playing him in the movie adaptation of his book, a dead ringer for the real Steve. Roger, hurt from finally actually reading the book, stalks Steve in fit of rage. Roger accidentally knocks the look-a-like in the pool, drowining him. After his manager ducks away, Steve realizes that the only people he can really trust are those he shunned.

I'm glad I listened to all you loyal readers out there and actually gave this show another shot. This wasn't the funniest episode they've had, but at least they showed that they can do other things than the "Hey, I'm a republican and my daughter's a democrat"-shtick, week in and week out. It's a good way to cap off a nice weekend. Let me know what you think.

Newspaper Headline of the Week:
Bush appoints Stephen King ambassador to Terror