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1AmericanDad/{{Tropes A to E}} | AmericanDad/{{Tropes F to J}} | AmericanDad/{{Tropes K to O}} | '''Tropes P to T''' | AmericanDad/{{Tropes U to Z}}
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5[[folder:P]]
6* PaddingThePaper:
7** In the pilot episode, Hayley asks Roger to write one of her college essays on poli-sci so she can go out with her boyfriend. Roger admits that he has only a passing knowledge of the subject, but claims that he can stretch it out to six pages if she [[FoodAsBribe gets him some snacks]].
8** In "Black History Month", Steve tells Principal Lewis that he needs more time to work on his paper on George Washington Carver (having stumbled upon the beginnings of a mystery). The incredulous Lewis tells Steve to simply take the fact that Carver invented peanut butter and pad it out to three pages.
9* PapaWolf: Stan is so loyal to his family that he, "a devout, faithful Christian", actually [[spoiler:''threatened God at gunpoint'', ordering God to bring him back to life so he could save his family from freezing to death]].
10* PaperThinDisguise:
11** Roger is recognized in-universe as an alien only when he's stark naked. Putting on any kind of clothing renders him completely indistinguishable for humans, despite people occasionally mentioning he is not flesh-coloured, doesn't have a nose, and is 'oddly proportioned'. One of the few secondary characters who is aware of Roger's secret is Toshi, who doesn't seem to care and nonchalantly refers to Steve's "Uncle Roger" as "the alien in a wig."
12** Roger's disguises are toyed with in regards to the Smith family, in that they each have one persona of Roger's that they don't recognize. For Stan, it's the jerkass, lazy member of the country club he's desperate to get into. For Francine, it's a Korean kid who plays pool with a giant chopstick. For Hayley, it's her sandal repairman. For Steve, it was Alicia Wilkner, a girl he kissed at a Spin The Bottle party and dated seven times ([[BlackComedyRape actually nine, since Roger as Alicia roofied him on two dates and most likely molested him while he was unconscious]]).
13** A group of Chinese spies working at the CIA only wear blonde wigs to fool everybody.
14* PantsPositiveSafety: CIA man Stan usually keeps his pistol inside of his suit jacket.
15* ParentalIncest:
16** In "Pulling Double Booty", Hayley dates Bill, her father's identical body double. Stan and Francine forbid Bill from seeing Hayley after he makes a move on Francine, but to make sure that Hayley doesn't lose it, Stan pretends to be Bill on the romantic camping trip Hayley had planned for them. Unfortunately for Stan, Hayley decides that they are finally going to have sex, and Stan has to fend off increasingly explicit advances Hayley makes towards him while being disturbed that she would do such things.
17--->'''Stan:''' ''[crying]'' You used to watch ''Series/SesameStreet''.
18** The episode "Oedipal Panties" focuses on Stan's disturbing relationship with his mother, where it's revealed he enjoys giving her sponge baths.
19** In "Francine's Flashback", Francine loses her memory and runs off with Hayley's boyfriend. Stan suggest that both he and Hayley should get back at them by dating each other. [[DidntThinkThisThrough He quickly reconsiders]].
20** Steve in "Rubberneckers" sings twice about how he would have sex with Francine if her wasn't his own mother. He also meets an attractive girl in the episode "Mine Struggle", and when she tells him that her name is "Whatever [he wants] it to be," his first thought is "Francine."
21* ParentingTheHusband: Without Francine, Stan has been shown to be incapable of putting his shoes away, dressing himself (even something as simple as which socks to wear), and boiling water to make a meal.
22* ParentInducedExtendedChildhood: In "1600 Candles," Steve enters puberty, as signified by him getting his first pubic hair (which he is ''very'' proud of). His parents are immediately anxious, as they still haven't fully recovered from [[TeensAreMonsters Hayley's pubescent rampages]], so Francine tries to stunt Steve's growth by injecting him with a CIA formula... only for her to accidentally use too much and de-age him into a five-year-old, much to Steve's outrage. Worse still, Francine prefers him this way. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, when Stan tries to kill two birds with one stone by accelerating Steve ''past'' puberty and directly into adulthood with another formula, he ends up overdoing it too, this time aging Steven into an old man.]]
23* ParentPreferredSuitor: In "The Longest Distance Relationship", Stan is very insistent that Hayley forget about her husband Jeff (who is currently lost in space), and form a lasting relationship with Millionaire Matt Davis, who has been attempting to woo her. This is driven by two things: a desire for Hayley to marry a rich man (so he can enjoy the good life by proxy), and Stan's [[ObnoxiousInLaws long-held hatred for Jeff]].
24%% ZCE* PatrioticFervor: Stan veers between honorable and despicable, but prides himself on being a true patriot.
25* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: Subverted, Roger needs to know a password one a split-personality of his set up and tries "password" but it fails. The actual password is [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubversion "password1"]]]].
26* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Subverted in the episode "Buck, Wild", in which Steve spends a year living with and raising two baby deer that he orphaned on a hunting trip.
27-->'''Stan:''' All this time, I thought-- you're not a man! You're not even a mammal! You're an anti-mammal! That doesn't roll off the tongue, does it? I'll have to combine all those words, off the cuff, to create a new word. I call you "an-i-mal." That's it! "Animal." It may not be a word, but I know what it means!
28* PerkyGoth: Steve's girlfriend Debbie has an obsession with death and the dark side but is otherwise friendly and cheerful.
29* PeripheryDemographic: In "Lincoln Lover", Stan writes a play about Abraham Lincoln's relationship with his bodyguard to try and encourage traditional Republican values, but unwittingly wrote it to look like there was homosexual subtext between the two men, giving it a strong following in the gay community.[[invoked]]
30* PhonyDegree: In "[[Recap/AmericanDadS2E14HelpingHandis Helping Handis]]", Francine gets a diploma-mill medical degree and goes to work as a doctor.
31* PinkIsErotic: Francine Smith is depicted as the family matriarch and she's shown to have a healthy sex life. A lot of people are attracted to her, Stan wanted to marry her because of her looks, and the episode ''Poltergasm'' was about her feeling unstimulated about sex. Francine wears a pink dress, a pink nightie, and pink underwear.
32* PleaseWakeUp:
33** "Tearjerker", a ''Film/JamesBond'' spoof, features Roger as the titular villain, in which he tries to take over the world using the ultimate sad movie, "[[OscarBait Oscar Gold]]", which is about a mentally retarded, alcoholic, Jewish boy and his cancer ridden puppy during the Holocaust . After being foiled by Stan, he reveals as he's escaping that he has a backup plan for an even sadder movie: six hours of a baby chimp trying to revive its dead mother.
34** When the mother of the squirrels that lives in the family yard dies, the "slow" one thinks she's sleeping/hiding.
35* PlotArmor: The main characters of the show have a tendency to not only survive significant injury, but fully recover from it by the end of an episode, either via DeusExMachina, ResetButton, or being MadeOfIron. Stan was paralyzed at one point, Steve and Hayley were both mortally wounded with a knife by [[spoiler:an elderly Stan]], and Francine had her entire face burned off when [[spoiler:Stan's co-worker attacked her with corrosive acid]].
36* PlotHole: It's never explained how Toshi can understand English, yet can't actually speak it. In fact, Toshi's mother calls him out on this (even she doesn't speak Japanese). It's implied that Toshi sees speaking English as beneath him.
37* PluckyComicRelief: The Smiths think of both Roger and Klaus as the "funny guys" in the family. In the episode "Jack's Back", Francine desperately attempts to invoke this trope:
38-->'''Francine:''' I think we need a little comic relief in here. Where's Roger? (...) Or Klaus! Maybe he can say a funny German word!
39* {{Pluralses}}: In the episode "A Smith in the Hand", Roger tells Hayley to get her hands out of his "orifices-ees."
40* PoisonedDrinkDrop: In "A Roger Story", Steve and Snot (with Roger's assistance) decide the only way to stop their mothers from fighting is to fake their deaths by drinking a sleeping potion. Unfortunately because they are in an apothecary and Roger's labelmaker is shoddy, they end up drinking actual poison. As they do so, they drop their solo cups and die in each others' arms.
41* PoorlyTimedConfession: In "Rubbernecker", Roger and Klaus accidentally spill some wine on the new couch. When Roger calls Stan to confess what he's done, he gives away the location of Stan's phone to a an insurance adjuster who was investigating the CIA agent. This enables the man to find photos that prove that Stan had committed insurance fraud.
42* PornStash: In "Hurricane", Francine and Steve go looking for Hayley after she gets dragged away by a shark. Passing by Steve's room, she notices dozens of porno mags floating in the water. She's not really surprised to see them, more-so curious about his tastes.
43-->'''Francine:''' Steve, what do you have under your mattress? The girls are all Asian... and pregnant.
44-->'''Steve:''' She's not in here. We should keep moving.
45* {{Portmanteau}}:
46** In the episode "Honey, I'm Homeland", Stan uses the word "betraitor."[[note]]"Betrayer" + "Traitor"[[/note]]
47** Roger sometimes calls Stan "Staniel"[[note]]"Stan" + "Daniel"[[/note]] and on one occasion called Francine "Franiel".
48* ThePowerOfHate:
49** Played with. Roger's "bitchiness" is an actual physical element of his species that will convert into a poisonous bile unless he expresses this trope in full throttle. Naturally ThePowerOfLove is toxic to them.
50** Simon the cat is horribly injured from a car accident and [[{{Determinator}} painfully limps his way all around town]] to find Steve, and ''[[AnimalsHateHim claw his face in]]''.
51** In "Ninety North, Zero West", when [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Humbaba]] is resurrected and the Smiths try to escape from him on a train powered by Christmas love, Steve's newfound hatred of Christmas causes the train to go into reverse and hit Humbaba's slit throat hard enough to knock his head off.
52* ThePowerOfRock: Stan becomes more in touch with emotions beyond anger and outrage when he is exposed to the music of ''Music/MyMorningJacket'' during "My Morning Straitjacket".
53* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Stan loves these, and they usually come in some form of a pun or a play on words.
54** In "All About Steve", when Stan prepares to arrest cyber terrorist Dan Vebber at a sci-fi convention:
55--->'''Stan:''' Sorry, Vebber. You're going away for a long time, so pack your [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings baggins]].
56** From "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever", in which Stan [[spoiler:goes on a tear through Heaven in a quest to save his family]]:
57--->'''Stan:''' Heaven gun... time for you to preach to the choir.
58** From "Daesong Heavy Industries", in which Stan thinks that God has appointed him as a modern-day [[TheGreatFlood Noah]], and he has to fight off the entire crew on a large ship:
59--->'''Stan:''' Time to do some bible thumping.
60* PrecisionFStrike:
61** "Blond Ambition", the first episode to air on Creator/{{TBS}}, has Hayley saying "Shit" and Stan saying "Goddamn". The writers were clearly taking advantage of TBS's laxer standards when it comes to harsh language.
62** In "Morning Mimosa", Steve shouts "FUCK YOU!" at Francine when she unplugs his game before it saves. This starts the episode's plot.
63* PrimalScene: In "I Am the Walrus" Stan tricks Steve into catching him and Francine having sex so he can re-establish alpha male dominance of the household.
64* PrisonRape: In “Faking Bad” when Hayley goes to prison, the [[ButchLesbian appearance]] of her cellmate implies this.
65* ProductPlacement:
66** Mr. Pibb (now known as Pibb Xtra) is given centre stage as the B-plot of "A.T.: The Abusive Terrestrial" and is mentioned in several other episodes as well.
67** Parodied in "Black Mystery Month" when for no reason at all Stan and Steve discuss their plan in a Burger King and Steve asks why they had to go there. Stan procceeds to tell him that "The economics of television have changed" before giving a fake smile to the camera and saying in a pained voice "Have it... YOUR way".
68%%** The episode "Red October Sky" is filled with a number of product placements relations to capitalism. Such as?
69* PromWrecker: Stan's backstory includes an homage to ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' where the popular kids dropped actual pigs on him at prom.
70-->'''Popular Guy #1:''' Pigs? It was supposed to be pig's blood.\
71'''Popular Guy #2:''' I didn't finish the book.\
72'''Popular Guy #1:''' [[LampshadeHanging You stopped reading after the word "pigs"? That wasn't even the end of the sentence]].
73* ProudBeauty: In "The Magnificent Steven", Roger declares Hayley to be the "prettiest one in the house", causing Francine to become insanely jealous, so she tries to seduce Roger with a more revealing dress and succeeds in drawing his attention away from Hayley. However, Hayley soon retaliates, leading to a CatFight. Roger then reveals he has manipulated them to make a video, which he sends to a website that exchanges mother-daughter catfights for free T-shirts.
74%%* PsychopathicManchild: The Antichrist in "Rapture's Delight".
75* PsychosexualHorror: In "Poltergasm", Francine's years of pent-up sexual frustration and dissatisfaction manifest as a spirit that haunts the house. Her problem is [[LousyLoversAreLosers Stan no longer takes his time with her and doesn't let her climax]]. Once Stan fixes the problem, the spirit leaves after Francine has a thunderous orgasm.
76* PublicExposure: Hayley poses as a nude model, but has a NakedFreakOut when she sees that Roger is in the class.
77* {{Pun}}:
78** From "Tearjerker":
79--->''[Smith is being briefed in Japan; he and Bullock are Geisha girls]''\
80'''Smith''': Why are we dressed up like this?\
81'''Bullock''': ''[[spoiler: Because I thought we could be "Secret Asians".]]''\
82'''Stan''': [[LampshadeHanging A 16-hour flight for a bad pun?]] ''[grins]'' ''Yes. Yes.''
83** In "A Ward Show":
84--->'''Principal Lewis''': Is that what you intended to say, Superintendent?!\
85'''Superintendent''': [[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat It's what I super-intended to say.]]
86** In "A Bully For Steve", when Roger plans to photograph Steve's fight:
87--->'''Roger''': Gonna shoot it in black and white so it looks like Film/RagingBull. Call it Raging Bully-- [[LargeHam OH MY GOD I DID IT!]]
88** Lampshaded at least once as being [[SelfDeprecation torturous to listen to when they're abused]]. In "Wife Insurance", after a HurricaneOfPuns, Klaus agrees to divulge the information that Steve and Roger want from him.
89--->'''Klaus:''' Enough! I confess. Just, please, no more puns.
90* PunctuatedForEmphasis:
91** Steve in "[[Recap/AmericanDadS7E2SonOfStan Son of Stan]]":
92--->'''Francine:''' Steve will find his way.\
93'''Steve:''' Shut! Up! Mom! Get! Me! CHIPS! ''[farts and belches simultaneously and then falls asleep]''
94** Roger in "Stan's Food Restaurant".
95--->'''Roger:''' Here's my home number, my cell, [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext and the women's shelter where I'm either volunteering or dropping off my stupid whore wife. Soup! Is Not! A meal! Vera!]]
96** In "Hot Water", after an epic love-making session with [[SexGod Stan]], Francine expresses her satisfaction in this manner, although without actually screaming:
97--->'''Francine:''' That. Was. The. Best. Sex. I. Ever. Had. ... [[ReallyGetsAround with]] [[FormerTeenRebel you]].
98* PunnyName: S3 Ep 10, "Tearjerker", a James Bond spoof, features Francine as a Bond girl spoof named Sexpun T'Come.
99* PutOnABus:
100** Jeff was accidentally kidnapped by aliens when he got shoved into their ship's tractor beam that was meant for Roger. He disappeared for the next several episodes until he was rescued from Roger's home planet in the 150th episode, "Lost in Space."
101** After Mike Barker left the show, Terry dumped Greg so he could follow Music/ThreeEleven on tour, leaving Greg as the sole anchor of Channel 3 News.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Q]]
105* QueerPeopleAreFunny: Terry and Greg’s CampGay tendencies tend to be played up for the sake of jokes; indeed their humor seems solely based on their homosexuality. Zigzagged with Roger, who is an admitted pansexual, since much of his humor comes from his personality rather than his sexuality - though the show isn’t hesitant to play his ExtremeOmnisexual traits for laughs at times.
106* QuestioningTitle: The episodes "Can I Be Frank with You?", "Why Can't We Be Friends?", "Shark?!", "American Data?", and "Who Smarted?".
107* QuestForSex: Deconstructed in Steve and Snot's Test-Tubular Adventure. Haley points out that any girl that the boys try to have sex with is someone's daughter and a full person, not some sex object.
108* QuietlyPerformingSisterShow: Fits this trope to a T. Not nearly as much publicity or as many viewers as ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', but a respectable and satisfied audience nonetheless.
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:R]]
112* RageBreakingPoint: Stan at the end of "Bullocks to Stan" gets so pissed off at Bullock that he almost beats Bullock to death in a diner.
113* RageJudo: In "Ricky Spanish", a mob forms to chase down Roger's latest persona. Frankenstein's Monster eggs the mob on, hoping that the mob will ignore him.
114* RaisedHandOfSurvival: Subverted in the "Tearjerker" episode - the caption says "The End", but Tearjerker's hand comes out of the lava and the caption changes to "The End?", then the hand falls and the question mark disappears.
115* RandomPasserbyAdvice: Stan is the adviser during a flashback--as a teenager he gatecrashed a popular kid's party and was chased around the house as they tried to get rid of him. He escapes out a window and crashes right next to two popular girls, one of whom is crying and saying "I don't know what to do!" Stan immediately tells her to "[[GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion keep it, life begins at conception!]]" before sprinting away.
116* ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud: Stan, during a CIA telethon:
117-->'''Stan:''' Welcome back to the CIA telethon. Folks, we still have a long way to go to reach our goal, so we need your pledges. Smile and look to Camera B.
118* RealityWarper: Explored in "Toy Whorey", when Steve disappears into his imagination [[spoiler:and as does Stan later]]. Taken to the extreme [[UnreliableNarrator with Roger]] in the same episode; when fetching wine, Roger goes into the attic and [[spoiler:somehow goes ''through to a wine cellar'', before exiting the cellar to his garage in the mountains, where he picks one of his vintage cars, where he drives over a precipice immediately outside, causing an explosion.]]
119* ReallyGetsAround:
120** Almost every reference to Francine's past indicates that she was the loosest woman in Langley Falls, revealing to Stan that she actually has North America's largest sex garden, with one rosebush for each of her partners in "When A Stan Loves A Woman".
121** Hayley is [[InformedAttribute stated to be very promiscuous]], but has a monogamous relationship with Jeff for most of the series and eventually gets married to him.
122* ARealManIsAKiller: When it is revealed that Stan has never actually killed anyone before, everyone is either disgusted or severely disappointed in him, except Hayley, whose newfound respect for Stan is treated in-show as [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame a bad thing]].
123* RealMenHaveShortHair: In "Son of Stan", Stan and Francine challenge each other to see who's the better parent by cloning Steve. Stan believes Steve should be raised with discipline while Francine believes Steve only needs love and support. To tell the two apart, the clone is named "Steve-arino" and his head is shaved into a crew cut. At the end of the challenge, Steve-arino is clean, athletic and intelligent, while Steve is an overweight, greasy slob with messy, overgrown hair. The result allows Stan to briefly win the competition because he and Francine see Steve as a failure for his lack of personal grooming and lack of motivation.
124* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
125** Stan gives Roger a pretty brutal one:
126-->'''Stan:''' You're nothing but a worthless sack of fatass!
127-->'''Roger:''' ''[gasps in horror]''
128-->'''Stan:''' You're lazy, you're a chubbo, you lie, you cheat, you eat all our food, you're a drunk, you never wash your wigs, but you strut around like you're Mary Queen of Scots, Brangelina, and Jesus all rolled into one. Well, you're not! You're a big fat nothing*!*
129** In "Father's Daze", Stan goes on an absolutely ''brutal'' rant about his own family after they disappoint him with various Father's Day gifts, calling out Francine on her slutty behavior and drinking habits, Hayley on her superficial attitude and pot smoking, and Steve on his cowardice and masturbation habit.
130* RecursiveReality: In "American Stepdad", Stan's Mom rushes into marriage with Roger's current persona. When Stan and Francine are invited over for dinner, Stan sees the only pictures his Mom has of her incredibly brief relationship are of a recent flashback, the preparation of the meal they're about to eat, ''and an already framed photo of Stan looking at the photos.''
131* ReelTorture:
132** In "Wild Women Do", Klaus ties Steve to the bed and forces him to watch a tape of him doing hundreds of terrible celebrity impressions. After six hours of torture, Steve breaks down and starts [[LaughingMad giggling]], at which point Klaus decides to set him free. This backfires when Steve immobilizes Klaus and demands him to keep doing impressions for his amusement.
133** In "Tearjerker", the eponymous villain produces a film called "Oscar Gold", which depicts the life of a mentally challenged, alcoholic Jewish kid and his cancer-riddled puppy during UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. He then ties Stan to a chair and forces him to watch it, intending to have the protagonist literally cry to death.
134** In "Poltergasm", Klaus accidentally subjects himself to this when he breaks his back while staying at a hotel, leaving him to watch the looping video on the TV's information channel with the remote just out of reach. Worse, nobody comes in to help him because he put a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the room door.
135* ReincarnationIdentifyingTrait: In "A Star is Reborn", an aging Hollywood actress believes Stan to be the reincarnation of her dead actor husband (who was known for his signature falls) after seeing him trip and avoid a fall from the marbles that she scattered in memory of him. She further believes it after being reminded of the way her husband eats hotdogs after seeing Stan eat one, among other mannerisms. Francine comes to believe that it's the truth.
136* ReincarnationRomance: In "A Star is Reborn", Stan comes to believe that he is the reincarnation of an actor named Leonard. At the episode's end, Francine believes she was once his lover Gloria, recalling the exact moment they died together.
137%%* ReligionIsMagic: Christianity is [[TheParody parodied in this fashion]]; nowhere is this more obvious than in "Dope & Faith". How?
138* ReplacementGoldfish: Played with. In the tenth season episode “Holy Shit, Jeff’s Back”, it’s revealed [[spoiler:a race of aliens nicknamed The Collectors/Dissectors dissected Jeff to study him. However, after seeing how distraught Hayley is at his death, one of their members who had gone to Earth impersonating Jeff offers to sacrifice himself and implant Jeff’s brain into his new, humanoid body. He does, and the rest of the aliens erase his, Hayley’s, and Stan’s memories of the transition. The following episodes have the family realizing Jeff's alien nature and trying to restore his humanity, which they finally do in "Roger's Baby"]].
139* RepressionNeverEndsWell: Roger's alien species must act nastily, otherwise their "bitchiness turns into bile and poisons (them)". After he spends an entire episode repressing his evil impulses and making a genuine effort to be kind, he is bed-ridden and on the verge of death. To save himself, he delivers a massive, brutal TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Steve, which completely heals him.
140* RestaurantOwningEpisode: The "Stan's Food Restaurant" episode revolves around Stan wanting to start a restaurant centered around fun comfort foods, but he hits a snag when the bank denies him a loan. He turns to Roger, who gets a loan for the restaurant and is legally the owner, but wants to start a traditional Thai restaurant instead. Roger eventually tries to compete with Stan's successful restaurant by starting his own right next door. Roger's restaurant goes under, and Roger burns it to the ground for the insurance money. Stan's first instinct is to beat up Roger in a fit of rage, but he pulls a gun and nervously tells him to calm down and just let the fire do its thing. Then the episode ends.
141* RetconningTheWiki: Steve once wrote an article about "Truth of peanut butter" using the crazy conspiracy plot he learned throughout the episode "Black Mystery Month". Wikipedia actually did lock the articles on peanut butter and Mary Todd Lincoln in order to deter idiot viewers from doing this.
142* ReusableLighterToss: Steve tosses one on a line of gas to replicate a scene from ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' in season 4 episode [=Delorean=] Story-An.
143* RevengeMyopia: In "Escape from Pearl Bailey", the popular kids swear revenge on Steve and his friends for Steve's revenge plot against Lisa Silver and her friends for Debbie's class presidential campaign getting sabotaged, and persist even after Steve realizes it was his friends who did it, and apologizes for it.
144* RewatchBonus:
145** In "Spelling Bee My Baby", a second viewing of the episode may have allowed some to notice that [[spoiler:the note (supposedly) left for Steve by Akiko was written in the same handwriting as the flash cards Francine made earlier in the episode, because it was actually Francine who wrote the note]].
146** In the episode "Choosy Wives Choose Smith", Stan [[spoiler:plants "hidden cameras" throughout the house to monitor Francine while he and Roger hide out on a remote island. At the end, it's revealed that the cameras are actually in plain view and easily visible if one is looking for them. Incidentally, the cameras are actually there throughout the entire episode, not just during the reveal, but are easy to miss since none of the scenes focus on them]].
147** During "Stanny Tendergrass", [[spoiler:Stan and Vanderhill hit golf balls repeatedly during a montage after agreeing to a match, but it turns out that the dozen or so shots shown were all just on Hole 1 ("After the first hole, the score is... 35 to 36. You both suck."); a sharp-eyed viewer might notice, while re-watching the episode, that only Stan and Vanderhill's respective first shots were hit off of tees. The rest were hit off the grass, meaning that none of the shots shown were on the start of a new hole]].
148* RidiculouslyLongPhoneHold: Roger and Steve call a company to complain about a shoddy novelty product they bought. They are left on hold for what is implied to be days, only to be transferred to voice mail.
149* RightWayWrongWayPair: Done a few times with Stan and Francine in terms of providing for the family, with Stan's overzealous extremist (and occasionally psychotic) approach pretty much always making him the Wrong Way guy. Deconstructed a handful of instances Francine's calmer approach also falls short (eg. Stan creates two clones of Steve for each of them to raise separately, Stan's clone goes insane from his overbearing treatment, while Francine's coddling devolves the other into a spoiled lazy bum).
150* RipVanTinkle: This trope isn't mentioned or implied when a "statue" of a Walt Disney expy turns out to be the actual man, frozen. But when he refreezes himself at the end, he realizes at the last second that he forgot to go to the bathroom. The new "statue" is holding its crotch in agony, implying that this trope will come into play if he is ever unfrozen again.
151* RisingWaterRisingTension: As part of the three-part "Hurricane" story arc that took place across all three of FOX's animated shows at the time, the Smith's become trapped in their house when a hurricane flood hits Langley Falls, and Stan refused to evacuate due to his obsession with the idea that as the man of the house, it was his job to keep everybody safe. Unfortunately, as part of his storm-proofing, he had sealed up the ''storm drain under the house'', leading to the house being washed off its foundation and flooded. It goes downhill from there as Stan's decisions just make things worse at every turn, and almost gets Hayley and Francine killed. In the end, they have to be rescued by Buckle, the mountaineer.
152* RoaringRampageOfRevenge:
153** Steve goes on a non-lethal one after Lisa Silver and her friends humiliate Debbie with an embarrassing website and cost her the school election. [[spoiler: It turns out that Lisa and her friends were innocent. It was Snot, Toshi, and Barry who set the website up because they were sick of Steve spending all his time with Debbie.]]
154** Hayley goes on one whenever a guy dumps her. It's gotten so bad that she will face jailtime if the cops catch her again.
155* RobosexualsAreCreeps: Steve builds a robotic girlfriend by decorating a vacuum cleaner. Stan doesn't like this and tells Steve to disassemble it before he gets home from work. In an alternate future where [[spoiler:Stan dies retrieving gold]], Steve still has the {{sexbot}} and is viewed by everyone as a freak for it.
156* RobotGirl: Steve converts a vacuum cleaner into an artificial mate during "Stannie Slickers II" to the point where [[{{Robosexual}} it can perform]] a "dusty pinky".
157* RockMeAsmodeus: Stan's new friend (who's an atheist) proves he went to hell, and came back, with a guitar made of a goat skull.
158* RockyRoleCall: In "Finances with Wolves", we get an example of this near the climax as [[ThirdLineSomeWaiting several parallel plots throughout the episode begin colliding together]]. For context: Stan is trying to stop Klaus ([[HumanityEnsues who got his brain implanted back into a human body]]) from making the moves on an unknowing Francine, Hayley gets involved with an eco-warrior group only to realize its leader is an [[EcoTerrorist eco]]-''[[EcoTerrorist terrorist]]'' threatening to bomb a shopping mall, and Steve -- [[MistakenForTransformed mistakenly convinced that he's become a werewolf]] -- debriefs his friends on [[MercyKill how to kill him with a silver bullet]].
159-->'''Stan''': You're dead, Klaus!\
160'''Francine''': ''(gasps)'' Klaus?!\
161'''Klaus''': ''(smoothly)'' Francine.\
162'''Arboreus''': Nobody move!\
163''(camera pans over)''\
164'''Arboreus''': I've got a bomb!\
165'''Hayley''': ''Arboreous?!''\
166'''Stan, Francine, and Klaus''': Hayley?!\
167'''Hayley''': ''([[LockedOutOfTheLoop confused]])'' Klaus?\
168''(cut to a forest)''\
169'''Steve''': Barry, Toshi, Snot...
170* RogerRabbitEffect: In "Return of the Bling", Roger is spliced into some live-action stock photos from the 1980's Olympic Hockey game to prove to Stan that yes, he was a member of the U.S. Team.
171* RoswellThatEndsWell: Roger claims that his arrival on Earth was responsible for the Roswell incident.
172%%* RPGEpisode: "Dungeons and Wagon".
173* RubeGoldbergDevice: One of Roger's plans to steal Greg and Terry's wine in "Toy Whorey". It's such an OverlyLongGag ''even Francine [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it'':
174-->'''Francine''': [muttering] Goddamn Rube Goldberg... [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext family of flies... 600 bucks of dominoes...]]
175* RuderAndCruder: The move to TBS resulted in the show having uncensored usage of "goddamn", "asshole", and "shit" due to FCC regulations being much looser on cable TV than on free-to-air TV.
176* RunningGag:
177** The writers get their fill with the many vagina jokes that pop up (so much so that one episode broke from the plot to have a "1000th Vagina Joke" celebration). They try to go for the OncePerEpisode approach.
178** One of the more subtle ones involves Francine's habit of using a lamp whenever she hits someone. It got to the point of possible self-parody when Francine hit Stan with a lamp while she was locked in a makeshift jail cell that Stan had set up in the basement (the cell itself was completely empty, save for two conspicuously-placed lamps):
179--->'''Stan:''' Go ahead. Punch me in the face. I deserve it.\
180'''Francine:''' Oh, Stan... ''[reaches off-screen and grabs lamp, then hits Stan with it]''\
181'''Stan:''' Ow! I said "punch," not "lamp"!
182** The humorously infantile nature of the C.I.A (they have a "Show and Tell" day, nap time, the agents frequently prank each other, etc.):
183--->'''Bullock:''' Duper, the President will be coming to your house for dinner!\
184'''Stan:''' No! It's not fair!\
185'''Bullock:''' Stan, go to the quiet area.\
186'''Stan:''' ''[walks over to the corner of the room, and grabs a mini carton of milk from a table]''\
187'''Bullock:''' It's not milk time!\
188'''Stan:''' ''[sits in the stool facing the corner, folds arms angrily]''
189** Roger and Steve taking cases as Wheels and The Leg-Man, complete with theme music and opening sequence.
190** Stan being in a scene reading a book with a title that describes what he is doing or whatever he will do next. "Reading With One Hand" and "Nude From the Waist Down" are examples.
191** Stan randomly pulling out his gun to scare people.
192** In the later seasons, Stan would start sending picture messages on his cell phone to two black employees working at an airport terminal, and them commenting on each one.
193** Character x saying they can't believe character y had done whatever, only to be reminded that it's totally in-character for them.
194** Toshi insulting his friends in Japanese behind their backs. Usually no-one responds, but a running gag, within that running gag, is Steve assuming that Toshi is saying something kind or heartfelt.
195---> '''Steve:''' (Paraphrasing) Here's a shotgun, with a silver bullet. When I become a werewolf, I want you guys to kill me.
196---> '''Toshi:'''(In Japanese) You have granted my life's wish.
197---> '''Steve:''' I'll miss you too buddy!
198** A few episodes have implied that Hayley has herpes.
199** Everytime Roger introduces himself as his weekly new persona. The Smiths' reactions range from annoyance, exasperation, confusion, or all the above. Sometimes they catch onto his antics before said persona is even introduced.
200---> '''Steve:''' The teacher here is supposed to be the most intense and demanding instructor in all of clowning and...Shit, it's Roger isn't it? It's gonna be Roger.
201* RussiaTakesOverTheWorld: In "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever", Stan goes back in time believing that killing Jane Fonda will prevent the liberalization of the holiday season. When Stan [[BadFuture came back to the present]], he found that his efforts caused Ronald Reagan to lose the presidential election to Walter Mondale, who just "gave" America to the Soviets.
202[[/folder]]
203
204[[folder:S]]
205* SadistShow:
206** While not quite as prominent an example as Seth's [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy other]] [[WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow shows]], there's some frequent BlackComedy and the majority of the cast [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist are less than]] [[ComedicSociopath morally sound]] to say the least.
207** An in-universe example is shown in "Morning Mimosa" with the titular ShowWithinAShow. The entire show is dedicated to humiliating its guests on live TV, with the hosts even going so far as to get their entire audience drunk on mimosas and provoke them into physically attacking said guests. Not even kids like Steve are safe.
208* SameRaceMeansRelated: In "Escape from Pearl Bailey" Steve's misplaced retribution against the popular girls causes trouble when Janet, the only African American among the popular girls, turns out to be Principal Lewis' daughter and he declares open season on Steve and his friends. Lampshaded when Steve comments that nobody had any idea they were related until Lewis revealed it.
209-->'''Steve''': Janet's your daughter? How come you never mentioned this before?\
210'''Principal Lewis''': Because I'm ashamed of her for more reasons than you can imagine. Still, that's my little girl, man!
211* {{Samurai}}: Toshi becomes one for Halloween and tries to kill Steve for not bringing his sister home in time. He then quickly kills five armed escaped serial killers proving KatanasAreJustBetter.
212* SanitySlippage: Stan has a mental breakdown after hearing his neighbors and family make fun of him in "I Can't Stan You", and arranges for them to be taken into custody by the CIA.
213* SapientCetaceans: The show portrays a program that both trained dolphins to help on missions and taught humans to speak dolphin, but it turns out all they want to do is talk about fish. Even after the titular CIA agent's son is rescued by them at the end of the episode he just ends up getting pissed off because the dolphins won't shut up about mackerel.
214* SayMyName: Exasperatedly shouting Roger's name whenever he screws something up (add "what the ''hell?!''" when he's a JerkAss for no reason) seems to be the entire family's catchpihrase.
215* {{Scandalgate}}: Parodied in the the episode title "Surro-Gate".
216* SceneryCensor: In ''G-String Circus,'' Stan covers up the strippers nudity just so that the viewer won't see it.
217* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Stan was tormented by a Greek bully called Stelio Kontos when he was a teenager. When Stan himself starts bullying his own son, Steve locates Stelio and arranges for him to beat up his father until he promises to leave him alone.
218* SchrodingersCanon: The Golden Turd storyline was initially an AbortedArc because the writers couldn't think of any epic ways to continue the storyline after the honest cop took it from the crime scene. The cop's wife was implied to kill him and take it to Boca Raton like they discussed, but for a while the storyline just stopped. Then "Rapture's Delight" was released, where Jesus mentions one of his generals finding it at the Battle of Boca Raton. Supposedly this was to wrap up the storyline, but the writers found inspiration and managed to continue the storyline as it took place in the present day, starting with the woman being put to death and her son stumbling upon the golden turd in her appartment. Eventually the entire storyline came to a proper conclusion with Roger going back in time to warn himself to get rid of it in order to prevent harm coming to the Smith family. Roger takes it to Boca and the turd finds itself inside a claw machine game at an arcade. TBS themselves [[https://youtu.be/j-zCKl_eda4 compiled the entire storyline]], but left out any mention of "Rapture's Delight" as taking place in the canon. Even other Christmas episodes were given a ContinuityNod, except that one. At best, the storyline ended with the possibility that the episode still ''could'' become canon.
219* ScreamingAtSquick: Stan screams in disgust after he learns that Hayley was sleeping with Bullock.
220* ScrewTheElectricBill: Lampshaded in some of the audio commentaries of the [=DVD=]s, where members of the production staff complain about a table lamp that seems to be left on permanently during the day. Remember, this is an ''animated show'' we're talking about.
221* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:
222** In the episode "Live and Let Fry", Deputy Director Bullock walks in on Stan eating his lunch in the bathroom:
223--->'''Bullock:''' ''[bursts through the door of Stan's bathroom stall, where he finds Stan sitting on the toilet with a fork in his hand]'' Why do you have a fork?\
224'''Stan:''' ... it's not a pretty story, sir.\
225'''Bullock:''' Withdrawn. ''[leaves stall]''
226** Principal Lewis was depending on the 50 grand reward money for finding Haley when she ran away to get married to Jeff. When he finds out that the reward has been claimed, he leaves with this line.
227-->''I was depending on that money! I can't go back to work now, I took a deuce on my desk! [=*rips off his suit and flips everyone off*=] [[PrecisionFStrike FUUUUUUUCK! Y'ALL!]]''
228** In the episode "Francine's Flashback", Steve needs a wingman so he can hook up with a hot classmate, and uses Roger.
229--->'''Lindsey:''' Hey, Steve. Is this your friend?\
230'''Steve:''' Yeah. This is Roger.\
231'''Lindsey:''' And this is Jewel.\
232'''Jewel:''' ''[to Roger]'' Your date. ''[smiles]''\
233'''Roger:''' Oh, God! OH, GOD! I'm out! I'm out! Oh! Ewwwwwwww!
234** In "Naked to the Limit, One More Time", [[ACupAngst Steve becomes self-conscious about his flat butt]], and Francine offers to help. As she's shoving hams in the back of his pants, Stan walks into the room, sees what's happening, and immediately walks back out.
235* SdrawkcabName:
236** In "Dungeons and Wagons":
237*** Steve's friends get tired of him lording his stronger {{MMORPG}} character over them, and learn that they can [[OneHitKill kill him instantly]] just by saying his name backwards.
238*** Hayley and Jeff go on a quest to find a way to bring Steve's character back. They arrive at Castle Roodpart. Hayley initially assumes it's just the developers making a crude joke and Jeff starts musing if it's explained in the WorldBuilding, only for Hayley to interrupt: "Crap, it's 'trapdoor' spelled backwards." No points for guessing what happens next.
239** The Swedish foreign exchange student in "Salute Your Sllort" turns out to be a troll. Her name, Sllort, is "trolls" spelled backwards.
240%% ZCE* SeamlessSpontaneousLie: Roger frequently manages to utilise one of these (given his multiple dress up personas, he is likely come to be accustomed to it).
241* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: Zigzagged in one episode where Stan is happy that Francine was the homecoming queen at her school, where she only won by one vote. The classmate who lost by one vote had become so upset that she left the prom to eat, becoming fat and miserable over the years as a result. But at the high school reunion, the ballot box for voting was among the items in a time capsule, and two uncounted votes for the other classmate are found in it, meaning that the other classmate is the true winner. Francine is okay with this and happily gives her the homecoming queen tiara, while Stan is now unhappy with the discovery that he technically didn't marry the homecoming queen, and later goes to the reunion with the true winner as his date.
242* SecretTestOfCharacter:
243** Francine attempts one in "Shallow Vows", and it backfires spectacularly. When Stan says that they married for looks, she stops doing her daily exercise and beauty regimens for the two weeks before their vow renewal ceremony, and show up overweight, hairy, and gap-toothed, causing Stan to flee. Stan tells Klaus that he does love Francine but can't get past her appearance, so he has the CIA detach his retinas so he can be with her again. Though he becomes much more attentive and considerate, his disability makes it impossible for him to provide for the family, forcing Francine to look for a job. Unwilling to do so, she accepts that she's just as shallow as Stan, so they both [[SnapBack go back to normal at the end of the episode]].
244** Parodied in "Bullocks to Stan". Bullock dates Hayley and puts Stan through hell. When Stan finally snaps and nearly kills him, Bullock congratulates Stan and says that the whole ordeal was a test he was putting him through to see if Stan would stand up to him. However, it is clear from the context that the whole "test" explanation is a face- and life-saving lie.
245--->'''Avery''': My only regret is that I didn't get to jump through this pane of break-away glass! ''(Bullock smacks into the window, before shooting and smashing through it)''
246** After ending up in heaven in "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever", Stan ends up holding a gun to God's head in an attempt to get God to save his family (who froze to death as a result of Stan's stupidity). When God refuses to bring them back and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calls Stan out]] for his ControlFreak tendencies, Stan gives up, apologizes and leaves. It then turns out to be a test on God's part to see if Stan could display some humility; since Stan succeeded, he's sent back to the start of the episode with a newfound appreciation for what he has.
247* SelfAbuse: Stan shows Steve an anti-masturbation propaganda film that ends with a boy screaming "[[BigNo NOOOOO!]]" as he's growing hair on his palms and [[EyeScream his eyes are melting out]]. The kid turns up (in a deleted scene) later in Stan's head and says "It was worth it."
248* SelfFulfillingProphecy:
249** Principal Lewis crashes into Stan's SUV and claims that it wasn't his fault because he was texting. Stan then gets a text from Principal Lewis that says "Imma crash into U".
250** In "Vision: Impossible", Hayley's pet raccoon Cuddles somehow gains Roger's ability to see the future. He sees himself dead, being buried in the Smiths' backyard, and flees the house in fear. When he does, he runs into a loose electrical wire, and the shock kills him. This leads to his body being buried in the Smiths' backyard.
251* SelfPlagiarism: Frequently accused of being this to ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' (which, already, is accused of being this to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', which, in turn, is often considered this to ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', which, ironically, is already this to ''Series/TheHoneymooners''), mostly thanks to the near-identical premise and animation style.
252* SelfServingMemory:
253** A flashback-less example occurs in the episode "Family Affair". Roger once explains that the reason for his lack of commitment to the Smith family is due to being abandoned by his initial adoptive family. However, it is revealed their abandonment was in fact due to Roger's already established obnoxious and abusive treatment of them. Just for good measure, he is also hinted at having a crush on their son now that he's teenaged.
254** In "Now and Gwen", Francine's adoptive sister Gwen comes to visit and forces Francine to help her commit various crimes, including running a sweatshop in the Smith's garage and selling human organs to shady buyers. Hayley finally gets tired of it and kicks Gwen out, knowing that Francine won't do it. Though Gwen departs by calmly saying that Francine will one day understand how she felt all these years, Hayley states that all she remembers is Gwen "whining like a little bitch".
255* SelfSoothingSong: In "The One That Got Away", Sidney Huffman has his life ruined by Roger (unaware that Sidney's a SplitPersonality of his), and he's soon reduced to sobbing on the floor while singing "The Lord is Good To Me".
256%%* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Son/father example with Steve and Stan.
257* SeriesFauxnale: The first episode of season seven, "Hot Water", was made when the producers were afraid the show wouldn't be renewed, and intended it to be the finale. Since the show was renewed, they decided to make it a season premiere that was non-canon.
258** "Blagsnarst: A Love Story" is another, with the entire series revealed to be Stan reading a story that chronicles how Kim Kardashian was born and putting a book called American Dad! on FOX on a shelf next to some classic novels (The Brothers Karamazov, Moby Dick, From Whom the Bell Tolls, and War and Peace).
259** "Echoes" has been confirmed to be another. The episode ends with a demon destroying Langley Falls and the Smith family driving off with [=AD4EVA=] on their license plate. The ending reveals it to all be happening in an alternate timeline, though.
260* SeriousBusiness: Stan goes for jury duty and asks Francine to manage his fantasy basketball team. After they have a minor quibble over his line-up, he says "You know what, just have Steve do it." When he gets back, Francine tells him that Steve only understood the "fantasy" part and tried to add three griffins and an ogre. Stan grumbles "Fucking nerd," and later Francine tells Steve that his actions have made the family weaker as a unit.
261* SetWrongWhatWasOnceMadeRight: In "The Best Christmas Story Never Told", Stan gets annoyed with all the secularism of the holidays (The tree getting banned, Christmas now just referred to as the "holidays", etc) and blames Jane Fonda for it (long story short to his [[InsaneTrollLogic logic]]: She inspired hippies to grow up and be modern liberals). When he's visited by Michelle, a ghost of Christmas Past, he uses the opportunity to escape from his YetAnotherChristmasCarol story to kill Jane then changes targets to Donald Sutherland who inspired her. As he's tracking him, he runs into Martin Scorsese and convinces him to stop doing drugs. Michelle and Francine manage to pull him back to the present only to find out the Soviets now rule the US. They find out Stan started a domino effect that, by keeping Martin from doing drugs, prevented him from directing ''Film/TaxiDriver'' , this in turn didn't inspire John Hinckley Jr to assassinate Ronald Reagan to impress Jane, which prevented Reagen's popularity with the people during his election and lost his presidency to Walter Mondale who surrendered the U.S to Russia during the Cold War (If you haven't guessed, this is a very silly show). To fix it, they try to make ''Taxi Driver'' themselves but naturally fail. So Michelle opts to just have Stan do the assassination attempt himself, which he succeeds (albeit at the loss of the Brady Bill aka the gun wait law. Stan naturally doesn't have a problem with that).
262* SexEqualsLove:
263** In "When a Stan Loves a Woman", Francine argues that her past averts this trope, and that [[EthicalSlut her former extreme promiscuity doesn't mean she loves Stan any less]]. She [[spoiler:goes as far as to have Stan find another woman to have sex with so that he can see that she's right. Unfortunately, Stan ends up playing this trope straight]].
264-->'''Francine:''' It wasn't making love. It was sex! Mechanical, degrading, pulling-gravel-from-my-knees sex! It meant nothing!
265** Two different women ([[spoiler:kinda... one was an alien]]) become attached to Roger because he had sex with them, much to his displeasure.
266* SexMiseducationClass: When Stan teaches a sex ed class, he insists that sex is a mystery that you don't need to know, and he says that babies come from an octopus squatting on your brain.
267* SexySantaDress: Two teenage orphan girls were forced to wear them when Steve and Roger were using orphans as slave labor.
268* SexyShirtSwitch:
269** Roger wakes up wearing Stan's shirt in "Roger 'N' Me"
270** The episode "Hurricane!" features Roger's one-night-stand partner wearing his sweatshirt after sex (and refusing to give it back)
271** In "Bullocks to Stan", Hayley wears Bullock's clothes and vice versa in a later scene.
272** In "Jenny Fromdabloc", Roger comes home from spending time with Snot, and he's wearing the sleeveless denim jacket Snot is always seen in.
273%%* SexyStewardess: A group of these feature prominently in the episode "Introducing The Naughty Stewardesses".
274* SexySurfacingShot: During the Rapture and Second Coming, Francine hooks up with Jesus. Instead of surfacing from the edge of the pool, Jesus emerges from around the middle and [[WalkOnWater walks to the edge]] with a musical riff and voiceover going "Jesus turned water into fine!".
275* SexyWhateverOutfit: In an HalloweenEpisode, Francine complained about this very trope and Stan assured her she could defy it by wearing a non-sexy nun outfit. She does, only to find that the "Cowardly Lion" outfit Stan is wearing is actually a "Sexy Lion" outfit - complete with [[FemaleGaze fishnet hose instead of pants]].
276* ShaggyDogStory: The subplot for "Gorillas in the Mist" of Roger's journey to get the country life experience so he could write a genuine country song. He married the first white trash redneck he met, found out she had three kids, a trailer car and no macchiato, so he left immediately. Then she tracked him down and forced him to come back with a shotgun. After a while of living a life of fear, he pretended to be abused, sent his wife to jail, and found out that her kids would all be sent to a foster home, where they would likely never see each other again, if they even found new foster parents. Also, [[KickTheDog their dog got run over by a police car.]] [[spoiler:Then he sees a really ugly woman, and just wrote his country song about how ugly she was.]]
277* ShaggyFrogStory: From "White Rice":
278-->'''Francine''': Are you sure about all this?\
279'''Roger''': Remember when Rudy from ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' got old and stopped being cute? I brought them Raven-Symone! Saw her on a Philadephia playground and knew she was a star, snatched her right up! Six months later, her parents saw her on TV and realized she was still alive... did some time for that. So, you ask, am I sure about this? I dunno.
280* SheCleansUpNicely: Hayley of all people in "Every Which Way But Lose" where it's revealed in the subplot for that episode that she's a very competent professional baker who goes under the name of Carlotta Monterrey!
281* SheetOfGlass: Subverted, mocked, roughed up and down thoroughly in one single scene in "The Wrestler". Two workers carrying the sheet decide to hold it horizontally instead of vertically, so that nobody crashes through it. Then someone runs into it anyway and [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe gets bifurcated down the waist]]. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Then a legless man takes the severed legs and puts them on himself.]]
282* ShellShockedVeteran: Played for laughs in S4 Ep01, "In Country... Club", where Steve develops PTSD after participating in a UsefulNotes/VietnamWar reenactment.
283* ShortTeensTallAdults: Steve, his friends, and other nerdy students are all about up to the chests of the adults, appearing to be barely 5 feet tall; or, in the case of the shortest of them, Toshi, only about 4 feet tall.
284* ShoutOut: Has [[ShoutOut/AmericanDad its own page]].
285* ShowSomeLeg:
286** Francine is a practiced expert at this. In the episode "My Morning Straitjacket", to help Stan get backstage to meet the lead singer of My Morning Jacket, she pulls this against several security staff, including flashing her breasts and making out with another woman.
287** Francine attempts to distract a CIA agent by lowering the straps of her dress. When that doesn't work, she gives him her panties. Finally, she mentions her brownies, causing his partner to charge over in a HumongousMecha and take them.
288* ShownTheirWork: In "Red October Sky," Roger and Klaus get lost in the Alps while trying to find Winterthur and instead go to Schaffhausen. Both are real neighboring towns in Switzerland.
289%%ZCE* SideEffectsInclude: Featured in the fake medical commercial for crack in ''A Jones for a Smith''.
290* SillySimian: A man assumes Stan's "funny story" about losing his passport involves one, since monkeys are funny.
291* SilverSpoonTroublemaker: Senator Buckingham's {{troubled teen}}age daughter Cookie is a drug addict who, alongside Roger!Steve, goes on a bender that ultimately gets them in trouble with drug dealers and leads to her nearly dying of an overdose. Her father knows of her drug problem but doesn't care as he prioritizes his job over his family.
292* SingleEpisodeHandicap: In "Stannie Get Your Gun", Stan is shot in the spine and becomes a quadriplegic. At the end of the episode, he gets shot again and the second bullet pushes the first one out.
293* SingleMomStripper: Parodied when Steve distracts some strippers by telling them their kids that they left in their cars has gotten into their stash. Naturally, every one of them runs off.
294%%* SitcomArchnemesis: Chuck White is this to Stan in "Deacon Stan, Jesus Man".
295* SkewedPriorities:
296** In "Great Space Roaster", a murderous Roger attacks Stan, who is self-preservational enough to [[DirtyCoward ditch his family and run to the only escape pod]], before heading back for [[SeriousBusiness fresh underwear]].
297** In "Bullocks To Stan", Francine is outraged at Hayley dating an elderly man, but is encouraging towards her dating an overbearing (and potentially abusive) boy of the same age.
298%%* SkywardScream: "Why, crow, WHY?!"
299* SmugglingWithDolls: An episode sees Roger put on trial, with Stan as a juror, eager to see him finally put away after years of pulling a KarmaHoudini. During the trial, he tries to butter up the jury by showing he's a nice guy, and a woman comments how he gave her a stuffed bear for a birthday present. Stan convinces the jury to find him guilty, but Roger later escapes the prison bus and runs to the woman's home. He rips open the bear and takes out wads of cash stuffed inside. The woman can't believe it was there the whole time.
300%%* SoapBoxSadie: Hayley, even in the later episodes when she actually has a role.
301%%** Stan in ''Camp Refoogee'' preaches about America's ignorance of Africa's strife.
302* TheSociopath:
303** In a Season 6 episode, Roger acknowledges that he is one.
304** All of the Smiths have shades of this DependingOnTheWriter. Most notably all of them have murdered someone in cold blood.
305* SodaCandySplosion: In one episode, to save Steve from his former students, Lewis chugs an entire Mentos packet with several liters of Diet Coke. The result is a propulsion of foam from his mouth that jettisons him across the field, ramming into the thugs. Steve is in disbelief that he planned it; cue Lewis skywriting "did too!" with the foam.
306* SolidGoldPoop: Roger's solid-gold, diamond-encrusted turd.
307* SomethingWeForgot: In "Crotchwalkers", Francine infiltrates a sweatshop where her son was sent to for shoplifting, gets the aid of a prisoner named Matilda, promises to save ''her'' if not everyone, and -- some action later -- eventually gets away with Steve before making it back home, and a message on the screen says that it's one night six months later when she suddenly remembers Matilda. This is followed by a ''lengthy'' held shot showing Matilda bitter and still at a table.
308* {{SORAS}}: Toshi's little sister, Akiko, was depicted as an 8-year-old in her first appearance ("American Dream Factory"). Two seasons later, she's shown as being around the same age as Steve and Toshi in her next appearance ("Weiner of Our Discontent").
309* SplitPersonality: Roger develops one in ''The One That Got Away''. At the climax, he tries to convince that personality to [[SplitPersonalityMerge merge back into Roger]]. [[spoiler:Just as the other personality accepts, Roger [[SplitPersonalityTakeover "kills" him]], because the personality's NiceGuy nature would "cramp his style"]].
310* SpecialEditionTitle:
311** "Office Spaceman" ends the opening sequence early to have Stan see a picture of Roger on the front page of the paper, followed by Stan going inside and scolding him.
312** In "Naked to the Limit, One More Time", Roger appears in Stan's car without a disguise, causing Stan to swerve off the road.
313** In "Persona Assistant", Roger doesn't appear next to Stan in the car, baffling Stan, who sings "Oh, boy it's swell to say..." again.
314*** Later in the same episode, Stan wakes up to sing his song again, only to notice that it is mayhem outside because of how he messed up with Roger's personas, and he sings, "Good m-morning..., USA..." sadly.
315** "Bullocks to Stan", "Stan of Arabia", "Haylias", "Tearjerker", "100 A.D.", "Hot Water", "Hurricane!", "For Black Eyes Only" and "Blood Crieth Unto Heaven" don't have the standard opening.
316** "Flirting With Disaster" has the opening replaced by a parody of the opening to ''[[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office]]''.
317** "A Pinata Named Desire" and "Lost in Space" have the opening shortened.
318** In "A Little Extra Scratch", after Stan's broker tells him he is about to lose the house, Stan is way too distraught to sing the theme song that he stays in bed wide-eyed and grey-haired. Klaus, Hayley, Steve and Francine are still in their positions for the opening waiting for him to leap down the stairs. When Hayley gets paged, she tells Steve to put the peace sign on Stan's back for her. Roger is still waiting in Stan's car dressed as Evel Knievel saying he's got "shit to do".
319* SpoofAesop: In "Can I Be Frank (With You)", the ending involves [[TheCameo guest star]] Creator/JonHamm talking about [[spoiler:how domestic "disputes" are none of your damn business, ''so keep your eyes down and don't get involved''.]]
320* {{Spoonerism}}: In "Every Which Way But Lose", after being stuffed to the gullet with Francine's pies, Roger protests "If I have one more piece of vomit pie, I'm going to pumpkin."
321* StacysMom: Snot has at least a small crush on Francine ever since the Season-6 episode "Moon Over Isla Island". While acting out a scene from ''The Little Mermaid'', Snot appears to be drowning, and Francine jumps in to save him, giving him a face full of her cleavage in the process. Snot proceeds to gloat about it at school. Also, in the episode "The Adventures of Twill Ongenbone And His Boy Jabari", [[ItMakesSenseInContext Francine moons Steve in their kitchen to prove to him that she does not have a tattoo on her butt that reads "I hate Steve"]]. Snot watches the incident from outside, through the window:
322-->'''Snot:''' ''[smiling]'' Uh... the bus is here?\
323'''Steve:''' ''[angrily]'' Get outta here, Snot!\
324'''Snot:''' ''[quickly leaves the scene, still smiling]''
325* StagingAnIntervention: Parodied when Steve becomes addicted to an energy drink, and ultimately starts conning his friends out of money to pay for it. They appear in his room to talk, Steve is touched they want to stage an intervention after all the things he done, but in fact they're just there to violently confront him for cheating them.
326* StalkerShot: In "Shallow Vows", Roger, as his Jeanie Gold persona, tasks Steve and Hayley to get their parents a good wedding gift for their wedding renewal. If they fail, they'll have to deal with Valik, his murderous persona. Unable to find a gift that satisfies Roger, they flee to the South of the border. After Steve states Valik won't find them here, in a Shout-Out to The Silence of the Lambs, they walk past Valik, who's on a payphone ans starts following them while holding a knife.
327* StalkerShrine: In "A Little Mystery," we learn that Wild WIllie, the proprietor of a western-themed photo studio that Jeff requents, has a shrine dedicated to Jeff.
328* StatusQuoIsGod:
329** In "Stannie Get Your Gun", Hayley unintentionally shoots Stan and paralyzes him. Later in the episode, Stan is shot again, and the second bullet fixes his condition by dislodging the first bullet.
330** In "Rapture's Delight", [[spoiler:Stan dies and gets his own personal heaven: an eternity with his family]].
331* StayInTheKitchen: Stan is often shown as having chauvinistic attitudes towards women, which is why he's so frequently at odds with Hayley, why he loved being transferred to Saudi Arabia in "Stan of Arabia", and why he loves Francine so much, as this is her fate, which often leads to a breakout episode/moment for her character, much to Stan's dismay.
332* StealthPun: The b-plot of "Irrigarding Steve" features squirrels [[WholePlotReference reenacting key scenes]] from ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape''. So it's the movie "in a nutshell."
333* StopBeingStereotypical:
334** In the Halloween episode, Toshi's mother got him a Samurai costume to "respect his heritage". He refuses to wear it, shouting "I will not be a cliché!" [[HypocriticalHumor He ends up donning the costume to hunt Steve down for breaking a promise to bring Toshi's sister home by sunset]].
335** Inverted in "Big Trouble in Little Langley". When Baba tells Stan that Gwen is "a moron", pointing to the fact that she failed math as evidence ("Imagine Chinese girl can't do math"), Stan comments "It's embarrassing when children don't adhere to stereotypes."
336* StoppedReadingTooSoon: A guy stopped reading ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'', literally in the middle of a sentence. Thus, he dropped pigs from the ceiling onto Stan at the prom instead of pigs' blood.
337* StrictlyFormula:
338** The vast majority of episodes of the show, particularly in later seasons, revolve around Stan doing something callous to a family member (usually in some [[WellIntentionedExtremist ill devised attempt to improve their lives]] after observing some supposed defect about them) and, after causing an escalating amount of chaos in his stubborn goals, eventually learning a lesson about being more considerate and tolerant. On rarer occasions another Smith member gets an Aesop, usually Steve revolving around his own formula of gaining popularity or impressing a girl.
339** All of the "Wheels and the Legman" plots go like this:
340-->'''Klaus:''' You pick some boring case, you bicker, then you solve it. The solution usually being that Roger is the culprit.
341* StumblingInTheNewForm: In "Don't Look a Smith Horse in the Mouth", Stan uses CIA technology to swap minds with a horse to win the race he put it in. Stan (in horse form) is shown trying to get used to walking in his new ungulate body, which Roger thinks is adorable and compares to ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}''.
342* SuicideDare: Roger briefly implied Steve had to kill himself after unknowingly pleasuring himself with a nude painting of Hayley.
343* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
344** When Francine discovers that the fireman who supposedly sacrificed his life to rescue her from a well when she was a child was still alive, she tries to readjust him to normal civilization, but he just can't handle it and dives back into the well. The narrator then explains that Francine was completely unaware that he died on impact due to diving head first into the well.
345** After Roy Family locked up the Smiths and hundreds of others inside Familyland Theme Park, the people were divided into factions based on the part of the park that they enjoyed the most, with Stan, Steve, Roger, and Hayley being the leaders of those factions. War and chaos broke out among all of them, with many people being slaughtered and killed left and right. When Francine was finally able to set the people free, they ''sued the hell out of the park'' and turned it into a memorial for the dead.
346** In "Dadd Queerest", Terry's homophobic father [[IHaveNoSon disowns him after learning of his marriage and surrogate child to Greg.]] Stan, who was homophobic but grew past it after meeting the couple, ran the gamut of finding out why he's homophobic, ranging from FreudianExcuse to ArmoredClosetGay. At the end of the episode, nothing happens. Terry's father is straight, manly, and is just a bigot because he's just a bigot, and refuses to change his ways or take back his disowning of Terry despite the explanations Stan and Greg give him.
347** Stan crashes his car while rubbernecking. Since he doesn't want to admit it to Francine, he claims that he swerved to miss a cat, which he also puts on his insurance claim. However, the insurance agent investigates and finds evidence that Stan was girl-watching and he's arrested for insurance fraud. At his trial, Stan manages to convince everyone that rubbernecking is normal and win back Francine. And then the judge sentences him to six years in prison, since Stan not only failed to defend himself for insurance fraud, he also tacitly admitted to it while apologising to his wife. [[StatusQuoIsGod Of course, everything's back to normal by the next episode.]]
348** Francine fakes a kidnapping of Roger to prove that Stan really cares for him. [[spoiler: Stan knew the whole plan since he has Caller ID, and Francine called from her cell phone]].
349** In "The Shrink", Stan, in an effort to save his family, [[ItMakesSenseInContext crashes the toy train he created along into a mini dam that he also built]]. The train falls apart once it hits the dam, since, again, it's a ''toy'' train.
350** Subverted in "The Magnificent Steven". After Stan's actions throughout the episode cause 100,000 head of cattle to be tainted, the judge at the "beef safety hearing" is prepared to declare him guilty as charged, but Steve, Barry, and Snot step in and defend Stan. They claim that even though Stan almost got them killed, he taught them how to be men, and that's why they were ultimately able to survive the incident itself. Toshi, however, claims, in Japanese, "Stan Smith is a dangerous menace. He nearly killed us. The harshest punishment is required for his twisted actions." The judge has no idea what Toshi said, and relieves Stan of his crimes based on the other kids' testimony.
351** In "Helping Handis," Francine inspires the Handicapped Mafia to rob a bank, to show that they're just as capable as the regular mafia. They are all cut to pieces long before reaching the door.
352** In "Hayley Smith, Seal Team Six," Steve and his friends become obsessed with a slow cooker and want to make the perfect pot roast. The salesman convinces them the longer they cook the pork, the better it'll taste. Steve refuses to let his friends eat the roast until nearly ''two weeks'' have passed, and when they finally do they describe the meat as tasting "Tender, metallic, furry, almost moving, and maggoty." They have to be taken to the hospital with an [=EMT=] telling Steve how stupid it was to think they could eat twelve day old pork. [[spoiler: Because Steve ate more, he even hallucinates the slow cooker salesman and the [=EMT=] are both pigs in disguise, screaming "This isn't an ambulance! It's a goddamn ''HAMBULANCE''!"]]
353** Despite his ability to keep getting back up and keep playing football after a head injury, In "The Long Bomb" it's shown that Johnny Concussion was kicked off the team after one too many head injuries had resulted in brain damage.
354** In "[=DeLorean=] Story-An", Stan and Steve are on a cross country trip to Albuquerque to get a door for Stan's [=DeLorean=], when they encounter a ''{{Franchise/Back To The Future}}'' fan after the same door. They get into an action-fueled race to get to the door first... and then SmashCut to an officer giving Stan and the other man tickets for recklessly speeding down the highway.
355** This happens three times in "Escape From Pearl Bailey".
356*** When Debbie learns that Steve was behind the terrible things that happened to Lisa Silver and her friends, she isn't grateful or happy but appalled that he would do something so awful and breaks up with him.
357*** Steve and his friends try to lose the angry mob by running behind the bleachers in the gym and narrowly avoid getting crushed. This does nothing to escape the mob, since they only ran from one side of the gym to the other.
358*** When they finally are cornered, Steve and his friends decide to go down swinging and take as many members of them down with them as they can. They get the crap beaten out of them without taking down a single person.
359** In "White Rice", Francine makes a sitcom mimicking her life with her stereotypical Asian family. It is taken off the air within minutes of the first episode airing after an instant flood of complaints. Just because Francine has liability for the racist humour doesn't mean the rest of the Asian community won't be offended.
360* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
361** In "Stan Of Arabia: Part 2":
362-->'''Francine:''' Has your boss called to offer you your job back yet?
363--> '''Stan:''' Nope, he didn't call me an hour ago. Or maybe it wasn't more like an hour and a half ago.
364** "Oedipal Panties" has:
365-->'''Steve:''' I went online and found out there's a cure for Ich. You can buy it at any pet store.\
366'''Klaus:''' A cure! Hooray! I had no idea. That is something of which I am just now learning.\
367'''Steve:''' Oh, my God. You knew.\
368'''Klaus:''' What? That-- that's crazy! Why would I infect you and not tell you there's a cure? So-- so your friends would shun you and you'd be forced to come home early and spend time with me for a change? How absurd! Listen to how crazy absurd you sound!
369** Inverted in the episode "Not Particularly Desperate Housewives":
370-->'''Francine:''' [[spoiler:''[after Linda passionately makes out with her in front of the Ladybugs]'' And that fake lesbian kiss? What a great idea!\
371'''Linda:''' Fake? Oh, yeah. Of course. Fake.\
372''[Stan enters scene]''\
373'''Linda:''' Oh, there's your husband. I better get home to my husband, because I love him, and I'm so sexually attracted to him! ''[nervous laugh]'' Oh yeah! He's got the good stuff! ''[walks away awkwardly]'']]
374** Inverted and combined with BaitAndSwitch in "Black Mystery Month", when Steve learned of a conspiracy and was warned that he was being watched, followed by a car ramming into the telephone booth moments after Steve leaped out:
375-->'''Driver''': Sorry! I'm not trying to kill you. I'm just a drunk driver.
376** In "Can I Be Frank With You?", Francine disguises herself as a man to infiltrate the CIA's "chill zone" (where the agents hang out together outside of work). She tells the other guys that "As a man and not a woman, I feel really comfortable here."
377** "Poltergasm" sees the ghost of Francine's repressed sex drive manifesting in the Smith house. When Steve, Roger, and Francine tell him about it, Stan nervously proclaims "Please... as if a pizza guy has ever been murdered here and buried under the foundation. But nobody's gone to the cops, right?"
378** In "Rubbernecking", Stan learns the titular "art" of checking out attractive women without being noticed. When he sees a good-looking female jogger while driving, he has this monologue with himself while taking pictures on his phone:
379--->'''Stan:''' Not doing anything wrong. Just looking for a signal. Definitely not zooming in to see if you're wearing underpants.
380** "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas": When Stan wishes away his family on Christmas, he goes through an entire lesson-learning process that compels the powers that be to give him his family back. His ''original'' family. The one he wished away long ago, before the series even started. Stan is confused when his wife, Mary, and their kids greet him:
381--->'''Stan:''' Yes, son and... sister of son. It's not weird that I'm your father.
382** Throughout the series, Stan shows flashes of paranoia about the CIA finding out that he's harboring an alien. The episode "The Scarlett Getter" opens as such:
383--->'''Bullock:''' As you all know, there has been an alien on the loose for quite some time now.
384--->'''Stan:''' I've checked my house! He's not in my house!
385** From "Now and Gwen":
386--->'''Gwen:''' ''[about [[TheGreys Roger]]]'' Seriously, who is this guy?!\
387'''Francine:''' ''[nervously]'' He lives in the attic. He's human.
388** The opening of the episode "A Star is Reborn", featuring "Rockin' Ronnie" on his radio show:
389--->'''Ronnie:''' Alright, I've got a six-day, five-night Hollywood getaway for two and it's going out to our tenth caller. Caller 10, holla at ya boy!\
390'''Caller:''' Oh, my God, I'm the tenth caller? ''[static]''\
391'''Stan:''' Hello, this is Stan Smith, caller 10. Not that man.\
392'''Caller:''' No, wait! Wait, wait, I'm caller 10!\
393'''Stan:''' Rockin' Ronnie, is he implying I used CIA technology to hack into the phone lines and win these tickets?
394* SwappedRoles: The focus of S1 Ep 17, "Rough Trade". Stan is under house arrest for DUI (thanks to Roger), so Roger gets a job at a car dealership while Stan stays home and drinks while watching TV.
395%%* SweetPollyOliver: Victor/B8 from Boyz 12, the boy band that Steve, Snot, Toshi, and Barry join in "Can I Be Frank (With You)".
396[[/folder]]
397
398[[folder:T]]
399* TakeAwayTheirName: Played for laughs in "Threat Levels", where the maniacal bum that Steve arranges for Stan to fight no longer has a name because he ''killed it himself''.
400* TakeThat:
401** "Deacon Stan, Jesus Man" portrays Karl Rove as a demonic, [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Sidious]]-esque figure whose presence brings a chill and [[HairTriggerSoundEffect whose name being uttered prompts a wolf-howl]].
402** Took a shot at its own sister show in one episode, showing how unnatural the setups for ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s cutaway gags would sound in context:
403--->'''Roger:''' ''(responding to an odd statement made by Francine)'' Well, that was about as obvious as the setup for the sequel at the end of ''Film/BatmanBegins''.\
404'''Stan:''' What are you talking about?\
405'''Roger:''' You know, when Inspector Gordon gives him that Joker playing card?\
406'''Stan:''' Well, what does that have to do with Francine?\
407'''Roger:''' What about her?\
408'''Stan:''' You sounded like you were going to say something important about Francine.\
409'''Roger:''' Ummm... no. Nope, don't think so.\
410'''Stan:''' Oh... okay.\
411''[awkward silence]''
412** In "Jenny Fromdabloc", Roger dresses up as a girl and tricks Snot into thinking they're having sex by substituting a stress ball with a hole in it. After the ball has been violated multiple times throughout the episode, it's revealed to be a promotional item for ''Sons of Tuscon'', a sitcom that replaced ''American Dad!'' on the Fox schedule in 2010. The writers add insult to injury by having Roger remark that he doesn't remember the show at all, a reference to the fact that it was canceled after only a month. As a final bit of rubbing in, there's a scene where Roger puts the "used" stress ball in the dishwasher, then walks away while whistling the American Dad theme song.
413** When Roger and Stan go visit a Horse Whisperer, there are nothing but pictures of famous horses who he has spoken with in the past adorning his office walls, including an autographed picture of Hillary Swank.
414** Baba says that one of the fireworks he had given to Steve is called ''Literature/TheEnglishPatient'', because "it looks beautiful, but takes a long time for an unsatisfying payoff".
415** In "American Stepdad", Steve and his friends find the lost screenplay for [[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Fast and Furious 7]] and, reading through it,discover massive amounts of homo-eroticism. After then cutting the script to eight pages to remove all gay undertones, they hand it in to a producer, only to be told it's a fake as it lacks all the gay sex scenes and undertones that they usually have to edit out.
416*** The same episode also [[SelfDeprecation parodied the show's tendency for this]], with a scene where Stan calls Tucson, Arizona "unnecessary", followed with a voice-over proudly saying "Congratulations, Tucson! You've been dadded! Nobody's safe." along side a photo of the state being given a "Dadded!" stamp.
417** At least two episodes feature a shot at Creator/NicolasCage's acting skill:
418*** From "Son of Stan", in which Stan clones Steve so that he and Francine can compete on who can raise a child better:
419---->'''Stan:''' Steve, your mother will be raising you, which, unfortunately, means that your life will suck worse than Nicolas Cage in ''Film/{{Ghost Rider|2007}}''.
420*** From "Hurricane!":
421---->'''Klaus:''' Look, Stan... everyone makes bad decisions, but it's a numbers game. Eventually, you're bound to make the right call.\
422'''Stan:''' I am?\
423'''Klaus:''' Sure. Look at Nicolas Cage. He made many horrible movies. ''Film/SnakeEyes, Film/EightMM, [[Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000 Gone In Sixty Seconds]], Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Film/{{Windtalkers}}''... [[[LongList takes a breath]]] ''Film/{{Ghost Rider|2007}}, [[Film/TheFamilyMan Family Man]], Film/WeatherMan, [[Film/TheWickerMan2006 Wicker Man]], Bangkok Dangerous...'' but then he nailed it, Stan, with ''[[Film/NationalTreasure2BookOfSecrets National Treasure 2]]'', the greatest movie of all time!
424** In the episode "One Little Word", Stan is ordered by Bullock to provide cigarettes to Bullock's mistress, Coco, at a lakeside cabin.
425--->'''Coco:''' I'm bored. Get me a movie. [...] Something with Creator/MatthewPerry.\
426'''Stan:''' Got it. ''Film/FoolsRushIn.''\
427'''Coco:''' Something ''good''.\
428'''Stan:''' Got it. Nothing.
429** In "Stan's Night Out", Francine implores Stan to go out and have fun with his friends, assuring him that she can entertain herself. She decides to write a song, comes up with the melody, and then thinks on it:
430--->'''Francine:''' Who could sing this...? ''[happily]'' Music/AvrilLavigne! She sucks!
431** Soso's Pizza in "The Fast and the Spurious" is this towards Cicis, with numerous complaints about how bad the food is and how only poor, desperate people would eat it.
432%%* TheTalk: "You see, Steve, when a man and a woman are in love (or very drunk), they..."
433* TalkingInYourSleep:
434** In "A Star Is Reborn", Stan dreams he was elected mayor of Circuit City, and mumbles that he will not disappoint the voters.
435** In "May The Best Stan Win", Francine talks in her sleep because she is dreaming about teaching someone how to cook.
436--> '''Francine:''' Marinate it with the marinade... that's not enough marinade... that's too much marinade...
437* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Played with. During a wrestling match, Roger is pinned down by Barru and the referee starts the countout. When the count gets to "two", Stan begins encouraging Roger to use his incredibly powerful legs to escape, with the referee politely waiting for their conversation to be over before counting to three.
438* TandemParasite: While captive aboard the alien spaceship in "Lost In Space", Jeff undergoes a trial about wether or not he truly loves Haley and deserves to return to her. Unfortunatly, the trial is rigged and only reveals the bad times. One of the images shown about how selfishly he's acted toward her is Haley being forced to pedal a tandem bike by herself... because Jeff is making her lug his van around with the bike!
439%% Needs more context* ATasteOfDefeat: In "Every Which Way But Lose", Stan's football team loses due to some intervening from Steve and Roger. [[DrivenToSuicide The taste proves very bitter...]]
440* TheTeaser: The series uses a cold open in all episodes ever since it moved to TBS.
441* TeensAreMonsters: When Hayley hit puberty in "1600 Candles", she threw incredibly violent tantrums that destroyed the house and traumatized her parents. Unable to process their own emotional wounds, Francine and Stan decide that they must somehow prevent Steve from becoming a teenager.
442* TemporaryBulkChange:
443** After discovering that Roger's [[NonMammalMammaries milk]] tastes good in a salad and can be produced in greater amounts when Roger eats during his mating cycle, Stan and Francine tie Roger down to a machine where he is force-fed all day. Predictably, Roger becomes very fat and his bulk eventually breaks the machine. He spontaneously drops all of the excess weight a few scenes later.
444** Francine gains weight after letting herself go in order to test Stan's true love for her. Stan is repulsed by Francine's new appearance and she drops the weight by the end of the episode.
445* TemptingFate: In ''Finances With Wolves'', Greg and Terry come back from a trip with a cactus, a pile of razor blades and a lemon juice waterfall. In the following scene, Stan is predictably injured by all of their souvenirs in quick succession.
446* ThatCameOutWrong:
447** Stan's apology to Steve for giving him PTSD is overheard by the golf staff outside the storage room.
448--->'''Stan''': I'm pulling out of you, Steve. I'm pulling out. I'm sorry if I hurt you so.
449** Defied in "Faking Bad":
450--->'''Stan''': All I have to do is bait the trap. And he may be a master forger, but I am a master bai- whoa! Whoa, that was close. Almost master-baited myself there.
451* ThatDidntHappen: Stan and Roger have a one-sided version of this in ''Roger 'N' Me''; Roger wants to tell about how he and Stan "became best buddies", but Stan doesn't.
452* TheatrePhantom: "Phantom of the Telethon" has Roger become the eponymous "Phantom of the Telethon", seeking to get Stan to admit that he'd had the CIA Telethon idea first and Stan didn't give him any of the credit. This results in sabotage, Steve being kidnapped and dressed like Christine, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick a terrorist getting loose and setting bombs behind the telethon donation counter]].
453* TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: When Stan tries to set up Principal Lewis with a wife and get him to settle down, Lewis brings up his old prison bitch Tracy in a conversation. When setting up his wedding, Stan reintroduces Tracy, and Tracy reveals that he's already married to Lewis, according to prison rules. Stan tries to handle the situation by taking Tracy to Lewis' home one night, then shooting him in the back. He takes the body to a cliff and throws it off the edge, then drives down and runs it over back and forth repeatedly, then lets an alligator eat the corpse, then shoots the gator and makes a gatorskin handbag out of it. Subverted in that Tracy inexplicably survived the whole ordeal.
454* ThermostatTamperTantrum: In "Salute Your Sllort", upon learning that Klaus adjusted the thermostat in the middle of the night, the family reacts as if they just discovered he was a cheating spouse, with Francine and Roger running out of the room crying and Stan cancelling a family trip because they can't trust him alone in the house anymore.
455%%* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Used by Roger ''a lot''.
456%%** Also used once by Klaus: "Fabulous Thunderbirds, bitches!".
457* ThickerThanWater: There's a noticable effort from the writers to reaffirm from time to time the Smiths do love each other, no matter how much they actively or accidentally hurt one another, even with the levels of ComedicSociopathy in all family members gradually increasing in later seasons; it easier to notice when compared to other [=McFarlane=] series such as ''Family Guy'' who have the writers far less concerned with such family bond reminders amongst the Griffin family. The Smith family is more or less a stable disfuncional unit.
458* TickertapeParade: Roger threw himself a ticker tape parade because a deli named a sandwich after him.
459* TimeTravel:
460** In '"May The Best Stan Win" a Cyborg version of Stan from a thousand years in the future travels back in time to woo Francine.
461** In "Fartbreak Hotel" Steve falls in love with a painting of a girl by Patrick Nagel and travels back to 1981 using the same method Christopher Reeve used in ''Film/SomewhereInTime'' to find her. He soon discovers to his horror [[spoiler: that Nagel drugged him and painted him nude and that ''he'' is the girl in the painting!]] Later in the episode Francine takes a new identity and becomes a successful businesswoman ten years in the future but she is unhappy and misses her family. She travels to the past like Steve and warns her younger self not to leave them.
462** In the first Christmas episode, the Ghost of Christmas Past takes Stan back to the 1970s where he gets Martin Scorsese to give up drugs, [[ButterflyOfDoom leading to America being taken over by the Soviet Union]]. The only way to get things back to normal is for Stan to go back to the 80's [[ItMakesSenseInContext and shoot Ronald Reagan]].
463** In "The Kidney Stays in the Picture", Hayley's kidneys fail and Francine reveals that Stan might not be a match for a proper transplant since she cheated on him back in the 90s, so they time-travel to get the kidney of the guy who might match.
464* TitleDrop:
465** In "Deacon Stan, Jesus Man", Stan introduces himself as such while running for the vacant church deacon position.
466** Stan declares himself "Stan of Arabia" in the episode of the same title.
467** The plot of "Tears of a Clooney" centers around Francine's attempts to break George Clooney's heart, with the operation given the same name as the episode.
468* TokenHouseguest: The show focuses on Stan Smith and his family. In addition to his wife and two children, Stan has two houseguests: Roger, an alien who escaped from Area51; and Klaus, an East German ski jumper who had his brain put into the body of a goldfish by the CIA to prevent East Germany from winning the Olympics.
469* TokenMinority: Greg and Terry, the local gay couple. Their token-ness is blatantly poked fun of in various episodes.
470-->'''Terry:''' Why are we always holding hands?
471-->'''Greg:''' How else will everyone know we're gay?
472* TonightSomeoneDies: The 100th episode, "100 A.D.", starts with a message that says 100 characters the viewer has come to know and love will die. The final body count: [[spoiler:1 random dog, 98 [[OneShotCharacter one-shot characters]] from previous episodes, and the manager of a motel that appeared earlier in the episode.]]
473* TooDumbToLive:
474** [[ZigZaggedTrope Zigzagged]] in the episode "Killer Vacation", where Steve openly criticizes and deconstructs Liam's idiotic decisions, but still goes along with them despite the pain and injuries he receives because Liam's accent is "convincing".
475** The CIA's pet cloned Dodo bird spends the entire 10th-season premiere demonstrating why Dodos went extinct. Ironically, it survives a whole bunch of suicidally stupid stunts only to be struck by lightning at the end of the episode.
476* TookALevelInBadass:
477** In the post-apocalyptic world of "Rapture's Delight", Stan becomes a [[spoiler:one-armed, hook-handed bounty hunter]].
478** Inverted with the Anti-Christ. In his debut, he was a laughably pathetic villain. His second appearance turns him into a voiceless evil baby who is an actual threat, but the episode is a prequel.
479** In "Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls", the nerdy and unathletic Toshi becomes a samurai for Halloween and tries to kill Steve because he didn't bring his sister Akiko home in time. Then [[spoiler:he kills five escaped serial killers before they murder Stan, Francine and Roger]].
480** Jeff in "For Whom The Sleighbell Tolls". [[spoiler: During the assault on the Smiths, Santa offers Jeff the Golden Compass bear helmet he wanted for Christmas in exchange for joining him and betraying the Smiths. He walks over to him and appears to have accepted, but then proceeds to headbutt the spiked helmet into Santa's back. Jeff then drags an injured Stan to safety, and says to him that he did it for his wife Hayley. He then joins the family in battle with Santa's elf army, until Santa is forced to call off the attack because the sun comes up, and he only had until sunrise to accomplish his goal]].
481* TookALevelInKindness: During the course of the show, Stan went from a StrawmanPolitical Jerkass to a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
482* TookALevelInJerkass: Roger went from a somewhat obnoxious sloth to an [[LackOfEmpathy apathetic]] [[ComedicSociopath psychopath]] (with a later in-universe explanation that Roger ''has'' to be a jerkass in order to biologically survive).
483* TooMuchInformation: In one episode, Francine talks about how strippers will do anything for money.
484-->'''Francine:''' And then sometimes when you're rolling around on the floor making out with another girl, some guys will throw out money, then pick it back up and throw out the same singles again! Like I'm blind! Like I don't have peripheral vision!\
485''[cut to Roger and Klaus, wide-eyed and silent]''
486* TopWife: The 2-part episode "Stan of Arabia" has Stan defect from the USA and convert to Islam, whereupon he takes a second wife for himself whom he nicknamed "Thundercat". Thundercat makes it very clear that she plans to usurp Francine's position as "first wife", and does as much as she can to butter up Stan while undermining Francine. At one point, Stan smugly tells Francine that Thundercat is a better wife because she's "scored more points".
487* TorturedMonster: In "Kung Pao Turkey", Creator/{{FOX}} creates a living turducken, with the announcer saying verbatim that its every waking moment is agony.
488* TrackingDevice: Stan planted a tracking device in both Hayley and Steve when they were both born.
489* TranslationByVolume: In "Failure is Not a Factory-installed Option", after Stan goes insane and abandons his family, Francine and Hayley are forced to work dead-end jobs to make ends meet. A woman named Judy assumes that the two of them are from a Spanish-speaking country ''just because they're cleaning her house.''
490-->'''Judy:''' Bue-nos di-as! I am Ju-dy!
491* TriggerHappy: Stan has guns all over the house, carries his pistol at all times, and rarely comes across a problem that he doesn't think can be solved with bullets. Francine often has to scold Stan into not trying to shoot people (including herself) when he's annoyed or in trouble.
492** In "Not Particularly Desperate Housewife", he pulls a gun on the ''dish'' that Francine prepared for dinner.
493** In [[EstablishingCharacterMoment the pilot]], he destroys the family's toaster by shooting it repeatedly when it startles him.
494** In "Jack's Back", the only thing Stan can think of when Steve gets a bite on his fishing rod is to fire his pistol repeatedly at the surface of the lake.
495** Stan is extremely nonchalant about shooting people or being shot, and finds guns/gunplay erotic.
496--->'''Francine:''' Stan! Hayley's been shot!\
497'''Stan:''' So what? She shot me before. I've shot you a couple times. Everybody shoots everybody. It's how we communicate in this family.
498** From the episode "Homeland Insecurity":
499--->'''Francine:''' ''[with Stan at gunpoint]'' Let 'em go, Stan! It's been a fun ride, but it's over.\
500'''Stan:''' Come on, Francine. Not this old routine. You pull a gun, I pretend I'm gonna do what you want, then I pull out my gun... ''[does so]'' ... we do our little John-Woo stand-off, inevitably your arm gets tired... ''[Francine's arm begins to shake]'' ... you drop your gun, and we have "nobody got shot" sex. ''[Francine drops her gun and storms off]'' Hey! Hey, where are you goi--? Francine? Well, why'd you pull a gun on me if you didn't want to have sex?!
501* TrumanShowPlot: The B-plot of "Trophy Wife, Trophy Life" reveals that a Korean network monitors Tuttle's sad life, using cameras that were installed under the guise of a home renovation. Naturally, Klaus, Hayley, Steve, and Roger try to insert themselves into his life so that they can get on TV. This ends up tanking the ratings and they slam the door in his face, causing Tuttle to revert back to his pathetic existence and bringing the viewers back.
502* TunelessSongOfMadness: In "The One That Got Away", Sidney Huffman has his life ruined by Roger, and he's soon reduced to sobbing on the floor while singing "The Lord is Good To Me".
503* TurnTheOtherCheek: Jesus tries this on Stan after he hits him in ''Rapture's Delight'', only to be hit again.
504--> "Ow! My other cheek!"
505* TwinSwitch: Stan's double Bill begins dating Hayley, but then poses as Stan in order to try to sleep with Francine. After removing Bill from the picture, Stan must then pose as Bill in order to keep Hayley's heart from being broken.
506* TwistEnding: In "Naked To The Limit", Roger is told to leave the family because Jeff keeps idiotically trying to out his existence to the rest of the world. After a lot of build-up, Roger contacts his species to be taken back to his home planet. When they finally come to pick him up, [[spoiler:Roger shoves Jeff into their transport beam instead, thus enabling him to remain with the Smiths while Hayley's husband is taken into deep space.]]
507[[/folder]]
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