'American Dad' had its season finale one week early, to make room for Seth MacFarlane's second 'Star Wars' spoof on 'Family Guy's' one hour season finale next week. So I expected the show to pull out all the stops and send the Smith family on some kind of crazy adventure. What I didn't expect was for all three shows to break out the action.

Throughout all three series we took a road trip to the nation's capital, shook down a crooked casino, found one of the world's best kept secrets deep in the jungles of a remote desert island, and faced a terror beyond imagining deep in the bowels of space.

It must be sweeps! If these were live-action shows, can you imagine the budget? Even with animation, there were computer-rendered three-dimensional shots, explosions and cars vaulting through the air. I felt like I was watching one summer blockbuster after another.

Finally, we got a real crossover between 'Family Guy' and 'The Cleveland Show.' Peter and the boys went on a quest to find the source of one of the dirtiest jokes they'd ever heard, which wound its way through so many cast members on 'Family Guy' they wound up talking to Bender of 'Futurama' at one point. Ultimately, the trail led them to Stoolbend and Cleveland Brown.


The full crossover was relegated to a short dinner conversation, as it was more about getting Cleveland back together with Quagmire, Joe and Peter. The four of them set out for Washington, DC, but wound up kidnapped and transported to a secret base on a remote island where the world's smartest men write the world's dirtiest jokes.

As the whole episode was being narrated by Peter, as a story, there were no cutaways that I can remember in it. I'm not counting Quagmire's dream where he gave the dirty joke to Freddy Kreuger to read to Peter and make him crap the bed as a cutaway, because Freddy's real!

Reducing the reliance on cutaways seems to be the continuing trend for the series, and I think it's a good move. As funny as they've been, the writers are now finding humor with the characters in the here and now, rather than setting up the next random pop culture reference.

It forces smarter writing, and creates a better narrative structure. The episode was written by showrunner Mark Hentemann, which could be a good indication of a more substantive direction for the future of the series.

'The Cleveland Show' has almost eliminated cutaways completely as well. In tonight's episode, we didn't need to cut away from the action for our pop culture reference, as Cleveland turned Kendra, Arianna and Donna into "Cleveland's Angels," complete with the classic opening silhouette image from "Charlie's Angels."Let me just say that a fat woman in a motorized scooter, a bear, and Donna don't quite create the same sexy silhouette.

The fun cutaways we did get were of a couple of college kids, but it was more like we were watching them on a hidden camera while they were watching the episode, so that's actually something else altogether. I don't know what it is, but it turned out pretty funny; especially when the one friend knocked over the bong in their second interlude, as his buddy had said he always does during the first interlude.

The girls may not have had the same curves as Charlie's girls, but they did make a great team. In taking down the corrupt casino owner, we learned a little more about Kendra's past. She's older than she appears, and may in fact be Grace Kelly.

The past couple of weeks have seen a growth in the character development of Kendra, and I'm coming to really like the character. She's certainly unique in being super obese as a major character on a television series, but she's quickly become more than jokes about her size, though I don't think those will ever go away. In fact, other than saying that "fat don't crack," her size was a non-issue this week entirely.

The cast of 'American Dad' had the biggest, and most disturbing adventure of the night. I didn't see the connection between the family going up into space, and the Smiths needing to get away from a crazed Roger until the last possible moment, for which I am properly ashamed.


I'm sure the Smiths could come up with plenty of horrible things to say about me. The roast of Roger itself was pretty funny, as was the recurring destruction of the Smith household this week. But all of that was prelude to the awesome horror on the space station, as Stan channeled Sigourney Weaver in panties and a tank top.

Oh, and Roger attacking everyone was pretty freaky, too. Again, the show got me because I wasn't sure if they were going to have Roger actually kill everyone, or if they were going in a totally different direction. Luckily, it was another round of roasting, and Roger learning that he's loved.

Despite everything he'd done, everyone hugged and made up, just like a good sitcom. I still want to know, however, how they got the shuttle and space station equipped to handle Klaus' fish bowl when he wasn't part of the original team? These questions deserve answers!

[You can find clips and more of 'Family Guy,' 'The Cleveland Show' and 'American Dad' on SlashControl and below.]







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