History AmericanDad / TropesAToE

* AccidentalSuicide: In "Roots", a {{Flashback}} shows young Stan hiding from a kidnapper in a tree. The kidnapper runs in, carrying a shotgun and a length of rope. He trips over one of the tree's roots, falling over so he lands with the gun barrel in his mouth and accidentally pulls the trigger, [[AteHisGun blasting his skull to bits]].

** Another episode takes the parody to ridiculous lengths. Francine takes a plane down to Patagonia to meet up with a master chef who will teach her how to cook better. Roger follows her along the way, spending the whole trip telling her that this master chef is just going to be him in another disguise, even outright noting how weird it must be "to find me around every corner in your life". Sure enough, they arrive, say their goodbyes, Francine turns around and Roger is immediately there in a new disguise. Then she turns back around, to see Roger in his first disguise is somehow already on the plane back home - and then she turns around ''again, '''and Roger in the new disguise is still there''''', panting and telling her "that's enough turning around".

* AnAesop:
** "American Dad After School Special" shows that eating disorders aren't just something that affect teenaged girls, as anyone (boys, men, women, etc.) can become just as obsessed with their bodies and their weight to the point of becoming bulimic and/or anorexic--even though the eating disorder counselor doesn't realize this, as he still refers to Stan as a teenaged girl and thinks the fact that Stan doesn't have his period is from anorexia drying up his ovaries like tobacco in the sun.
** "Home Adrone": As Stan says, it takes a long time for trust to be reestablished, but also says the road to doing so can always be started. In other words, broken trust is not always instantly repaired but can be over time.
** Parodied in both "One Little Word" and "A Ward Show", where the character who learns the Aesop (Stan learning to say no to Bullock and Roger learning not to smother Steve, respectively) starts applying the lesson at the worst possible time (Stan finally says no to Bullock when he sustains a grave injury; Roger finally decides to not smother Steve before he’s put into mortal danger).

* CoolGuns: Very popular in the first season. There's even "Stannie Get Your Gun" which shows both sides of the American gun law debate, [[SpoofAesop albeit ending with a "guns are good" stance]].
** Also, it's a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI reference.

** "Poltergasm" shows us that ''American Dad!'' can take even legitimate tropes and transform it into TheUnfairSex. In a spoof of the movie ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'', the Smith home is haunted by Francine's unsatisfied sexual drive, so it is up to Roger - as medium Ruby Zeldastein - to eliminate the ghost. The problem is that Francine's unsatisfied sexual drive had nothing to do with Stan, in fact Stan had spent years mastering all of Francine’s likes based on what she told him and her reactions. Literally at [[PoorCommunicationKills the last possible second Francine informed Stan that she wanted to spend more time on foreplay]], something he neglected in his previous efforts to please her.

* {{Catchphrase}}: One of the few animated shows of its kind that don't rely on these. A few phrases pop up multiple times, but they're almost always appropriate to the situation.
** The early seasons have Avery exclaiming "Capital idea, Smith!" a few times - this is about as close as it gets.
** Klaus does say "wunderbar" ([[GratuitousGerman German for "wonderful"]]) a lot.
** Can a sound be a catch phrase? If so, Stan's two over-the-top screams count. He has an AAAAAGH!! for pain and an OOOOOOH!! for surprise. The writers actually have names for them in the same vein as the Wilhelm Scream.
** In one episode Stan said he once tried making a new catchphrase, but it was unpopular (except for with Klaus, at least).
*** "Nuh-uh to your uh-huh!"
** Another episode has Francine trying to leave a mark on the world, and thus tries out catchphrases on Klaus. [[spoiler:After coming up with "Things are getting too spicy for the pepper!", it's revealed that it was a Mexican advertising slogan for a pepper and chili company.]]
** "Roger, what the HELL?!?" also seems to recur a few times, as does "Dammit, Roger!", though these aren't catchphrases so much as natural responses to how maddening Roger can be.
** Hayley has [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "Oh. My. God!"]] She also uses the phrase "This isn't over" numerous times, when a character impedes her progress towards whatever cause she's supporting.
** Steve sure says "Awesome!" a lot, usually with same enunciation.
** Roger plays with this during an episode in which he sells his "dive bar" and appears in a commercial advertising it as such. His catchphrase for the commercial is "Dive on in," said with an Australian accent. It turns into a running gag, with Roger unable to keep from saying it in everyday life:
--->'''Roger:''' ''[to Francine]'' Hey, look at you sittin' there on the couch, lookin' all fetching. Makes me wanna ''[accent]'' dive on in!\\
'''Francine:''' Roger, you're home now. You don't have to say "Dive on in."\\
'''Roger:''' Sorry. After 300 ribbon-cuttings, it's a little hard to turn off. ''[accent]'' Diveonin.\\
'''Francine:''' Roger, it was one thing when you were working yourself to death for the bar you loved, but now you're just wearing yourself out promoting something that you don't even believe in!\\
'''Roger:''' Francine, relax. Have a drink. ''[accent]'' Dive on in! ''[horn honks outside]'' That's my limo now. Different from the one that dropped me off. Nicer. More promiscuous driver. Oh, and Francine?\\
'''Francine:''' Don't say it!\\
'''Roger:''' ''[narrows eyes, slowly leaves and closes door behind him]''\\
''[Francine turns around and walks towards the kitchen-- [[OffscreenTeleportation Roger appears in front of her]]]''\\
'''Roger:''' ''[accent]'' Diveonin.\\
\\
''[Roger is giving a speech]''\\
'''Audience member:''' Do "Dive on in"!\\
'''Roger:''' No! No, I won't do ''[accent]'' "Dive on in"! ... ''[accent]'' [[ImmediateSelfContradiction Diveonin]].

%%* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
%%** Roger, once.
%%** Barry when not medicated - taken to epic super villain proportions.
%%** Also Francine has her moments... let's just say Stan goes to epic extents to stay out of her way when he pisses her off (for very good reasons)

* ComicBookTime: In "Stan and Francine and Connie and Ted", Barry refers to the events of "With Friends Like Steve's" (which aired over a decade prior) as happening only "a few months" ago.

%%* AmericanTitle: Type 2.

%%* AmusingAlien: Roger.

%%* AnimatedShockComedy: This is a Creator/SethMacFarlane show, after all.

%%Weblinks Are Not Examples* AscendedMeme: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-WpK7j2x-E This video]] in "I Am The Walrus".

%%* CutawayGag: Far, far less frequent than in ''Family Guy'', but they do occasionally happen.

* AbortedArc: Steve's budding relationship with Akiko was abruptly dropped after they officially became a couple in "Spelling Bee My Baby", with Akiko [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome vanishing from the series]] afterwards and leaving Steve single once again.

-->'''Steve''': We nerds have a long history of making our dream girls fall for us. Like that kid in "Revenge of the Nerds," who finally won the heart of that cheerleader!
-->'''Snot''': Eh, never saw it.

** Parodied in both “One Little Word” and “A Ward Show”, where the character who learns the Aesop (Stan learning to say no to Bullock and Roger learning not to smother Steve, respectively) starts applying the lesson at the worst possible time (Stan finally says no to Bullock when he sustains a grave injury; Roger finally decides to not smother Steve before he’s put into mortal danger).

** Downplayed in the TBS era while Francine has learned to take Stan’s mental needs into account, she regularly takes advantage of them usually leading to disastrous results.

* CloningBlues:
** Stan uses CIA technology to make a clone of Steve so he could prove to Francine that his way of raising teenagers is the right way.
** Played in a more depressingly serious manner for Steven and Snot themselves, who went to perverted lengths to acquire the DNA of the two girls they wanted to take to the prom and clone them, only to find that they started off as babies and quickly grew up over the next few days. When Stan learns what they did, he has to kill them off. Even if he hadn't shot them, Steve quickly learned that their bodies begin to shut down once they reach the age of the girls they were cloned from, and his own "daughter" dies before him. [[DoubleTap Stan caps her anyways just to be sure.]]

%%* ExtravertedNerd: Steve.

* ArtEvolution: The pilot episode looks remarkably crude to the rest of the first season, and the first season looks crude until "Stan of Arabia, Parts I and II", which have a similar look to the rest of the series.

** The Aesop of "Moon Over Isla Island" it is wrong to view relationships as give and take and while this is solid it explores it through Stan and Roger. There are tons of examples of Roger abusing the family’s kindness in fact in both the previous and next episode he tortures them either to get something he wants or just ForTheEvulz. So, Stan really isn’t in the wrong for blowing roger off here or there since as state he mooches off of him all the time completely undercutting the Aesop.

* ExcitedShowTitle: The show is officially titled ''American Dad!'', with the exclamation mark.

* DiedOnTheirBrithday: In the episode "Ricky Spanish", Roger, in his alter ego Ricky Spanish, aims to make right with all the people he had wronged. This involves paying a visit to Bullock's house to apologize for having killed his wife on her birthday. A CutawayGag depicts Roger as Ricky Spanish impaling his wife with a katana sword as she blows out the candles on her birthday cake. Bullock, however, seems to have no recollection of the incident and doesn't appear perturbed when reminded about it because he's in the middle of a wild cocaine binge.

** In "One Fish, Two Fish", in order to help Klaus get his U.S. citizenship , Harley decides to have a CitizenshipMarriage with him while transferring her mind into a goldfish body to make it more legit. While in the same fish bowl together, Harley asks Klaus a fish question: "I was napping in the treasure chest yesterday and all of these little pellets fell out of me. Is that normal?" Klaus immediately realized that Haley unknowingly laid eggs because [[ThisIndexTouchesItself he was milting inside the treasure chest]] and opened the chest to reveal baby fishes coming out of it.

* ColdOpening: Starting with the TBS seasons, episodes open up with a minute or two of the episode before cutting to the intro.