History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot / AmericanDad

* Jesus's proposition to Roger in "Rapture's Delight" (helping him rebuild civilization after the war) is never explored, as the viewer doesn't get to see what happened to the surviving humans after the BigBad has been slain.

* The ending of the "Golden Turd" arc, in "300". After the titular turd's returned to the source --Roger-- the world's transformed into a utopia. It would have been incredible to actually explore what this utopia was like. Perhaps with a montage of the Smith family (sans Roger) initially enjoying their new life, [[BoredomMontage lasting a couple of days, where Smiths slowly get more and more bored with everything being so perfect all the time]]. But instead, the city (including the Smith) just sings a CrowdSong, and literally one scene later, the Smiths are suddenly bored with the good life. If the episode had just gone with the montage, it would make the family's decision to end the utopian paradise seem more understandable and fair and less petty and self-serving.

* The ending of the "Golden Turd" arc. After the titular turd's returned to the source --Roger-- the world's transformed into a utopia. It would have been incredible to actually explore what this utopia was like. Perhaps with a montage of the Smith family (sans Roger) initially enjoying their new life, [[BoredomMontage lasting a couple of days, where Smiths slowly get more and more bored with everything being so perfect all the time]]. But instead, the city (including the Smith) just sings a CrowdSong, and literally one scene later, the Smiths are suddenly bored with the good life. If the episode had just gone with the montage, it would make the family's decision to end the utopian paradise seem more understandable and fair and less petty and self-serving.

* Steve, Snot, Toshi, and Barry joining a boy band called Boyz 12 in "Can I Be Frank (With You)" goes completely unexplored in future episodes despite their one song being brilliantly put together and there is a lot of potential for other songs. "Russian Doll" brings the other band members back, but only to [[spoiler:[[BusCrash abruptly kill them off]] with the killer's (Abraham, one of the members) motivation going completely unexplained]] and ensuring that (unless it gets undone somehow) the subplot won't get explored anymore.

%%* Stan's rivalries with Duper and Chuck White.
%%* Linda's crush on Francine.

* "The Census of the Lambs" deals with Stan's exaggerated enthusiasm over the census, which gets deflected by his family and neighbours' apathy. The storyline opens a lot of room for discussion, but this is just the setup for the main plot, which is a parody of ''Silence of the Lambs''. The villain for this plot also ends up being an AntiClimaxBoss whose defeat occurs off-screen, leading the entire episode to feel rushed.
* The revelation that apparently ''every'' women in Langley Falls are members of the Ladybugs. They probably are still watching Francine so she doesn't spill their secret. Francine would continue living in fear.

* Steve, Snot, Toshi and Barry joining a boy band called Boyz 12 in "Can I Be Frank (With You)" goes completely unexplored in future episodes despite their one song being brilliantly put together and there being a lot of potential for other songs. "Russian Doll" brings the other band members back, but only to [[spoiler:[[BusCrash abruptly kill them off]] with the killer's (Abraham, one of the members) motivation going completely unexplained]] and ensuring that (unless it gets undone somehow) the subplot won't get explored any more.

* "White Rice" reveals that Stan had all of Francine's desires and thoughts that didn't entail her being an obedient housewife repressed for ''years'' on end. Any drama that could be had from Francine finding out Stan rewrote her entire life and personality is completely glossed over (Francine [[EasilyForgiven forgives Stan extremely quickly]] for what he turned her into) and the entire incident only serves as a lead-in to the actual main plot of her becoming a comedian before being [[NegativeContinuity completely forgotten]] in later episodes.

* "White Rice" reveals that Stan had Francine's memories erased every time she disagreed with him for ''years'', essentially brainwashing her into being little more than his subservient housewife. Any drama that could be had from Francine finding out Stan essentially took her life away from her is completely glossed over (Francine [[EasilyForgiven forgives Stan extremely quickly]]), as it only serves as a lead-in to the actual main plot of her becoming a comedian and is [[StatusQuoIsGod completely forgotten]] in later episodes.

* "White Rice" reveals that Stan had Francine's memories erased every time she disagreed with him for ''years'', essentially brainwashing her into being little more than a common housewife. Any drama that could be had from Francine finding out Stan essentially took her life away from her is completely glossed over in favor of having her become a comedian and [[EasilyForgiven quickly forgiving him]] by the end of the episode, with StatusQuoIsGod rendering the incident completely forgotten.

* The revelation that apparently ''every'' women in Langley Falls are members of the Ladybugs. They probably are still watching Francine so she doesn't spill their secret. Francine would continue living in fear.

* "The Census of the Lambs" deals with Stan's exaggerated enthusiasm over the census, which gets deflected by his family and neighbours' apathy. The storyline opens a lot of room for discussion, but this is just the setup for the main plot, which is a parody of ''Silence of the Lambs''. The villain for this plot also ends up being an AntiClimaxBoss whose defeat occurs off-screen, leading the entire episode to feel rushed.

* With a title like "Roger's Baby", some were expecting it to be about Betsy White returning to Langley Falls after all these years with Roger's seed that [[ItMakesSenseInContext Steve passed on to her when they kissed after Roger impregnated him with it]]. That actually would've been kinda interesting, right (especially since the writers still bring this up ever once in a while when discussing story ideas)? [[SarcasmMode Nah, of course not]]. What we get instead is basically the show's answer to "Stewie Is Enceinte" except if that episode (which is already unwatchable to begin with) was [[UpToEleven even more cringe-worthy]]! And seemingly all for nothing more than to (hopefully) forcibly end the [[ArcFatigue rarely acknowledged multi-season Jeff in space/an alien arc]] as well as resolve the plot from the previous episode of Hayley & Jeff considering having a baby in such a [[TheUnTwist predictably]] [[WriterCopOut obvious]] way that even the most oblivious idiot would see coming from a mile away (especially since the show already did the exact same plot with Francine nearly 5 years earlier as the subplot for Season 7's "The Unbrave One").
* "Family Plan" is about Francine reconnecting with her birth family. The writers can get so much mileage just based on her meeting her birth parents for the very first time alone but they reveal that [[spoiler:Cassandra (Francine's birth mother) hanged herself]] and turned Nicholas (Francine's birth father) into an outright monster by having him make everyone in the Dawson family (which includes Francine) fight each other to the death with the sole survivor becoming the heir to the family fortune because [[DisproportionateRetribution he's angry that everybody is using their own data plans instead of the home network.]] In other words, they took an interesting premise and threw it out the window for a pointless parody of ''The Hunger Games'' full of disturbingly glorified gore that one would've expected on Seasons 8-13 of ''Family Guy''. And that's not even mentioning how it's never once acknowledged the fact that Stan already tracked down Francine's birth parents all the way back in "Big Trouble in Little Langley".
* The subplot for "Garbage Stan" about Roger training Hayley to become a personal pool player to defeat the mysterious South Dakota Slim for some was more interesting than its main plot which was just a standard tired paint-by-number Stan & Steve episode with the extra element of including Stan's well-worn father issues. Sadly, because it's only a subplot it gets about three to five minutes of screentime total, the "twist" can be seen from a mile away regarding the identity of South Dakota Slim ([[SarcasmMode spoiler alert!]] [[TheUntwist It's Roger]]) and the last minute or so is wasted on a pointless scene showing South Dakota Slim's family life where Roger plays both the aforementioned and Slim's father (somehow).
* "The Census of the Lambs" has been cited by some fans as being close to one of the show's best episodes during the TBS run for actually feeling like something they'd expect from the series (mainly the earlier seasons) due to its subject matter of the census. Unfortunately, what keeps it from being rated any higher is the fact that the census angle is abruptly dropped halfway into the episode for an out of nowhere ''Silence of the Lambs'' parody which results in its villain being an AntiClimaxBoss due to her defeat occurring off-screen and a rushed ending that's likely due to two to three minutes of the episode being wasted on a pointless subplot about Klaus becoming obsessed with photographing Barry.
* "Klaustastrophe.TV" all the way. Despite it being the title plot of the episode, Klaus' story of trying to run a prank video website is completely sidelined in favor of the episode's actual main plot which is the second one within the span of half a year to tiredly retread Stan's unresolved issues with his father. As a result, the title plot ends up becoming the subplot which like most TBS era subplots isn't given much screentime and ends on a pretty bad joke of Klaus being spat and peeded on for no reason other than to be one of the show's many lame attempts to prove how "edgy" they are nowadays.
* "Death by Dinner Party" could've been the show's answer to "And Then There Were Fewer" in regards to using it as an opportunity to write off characters who no longer have any real relevancy such as Greg and Tuttle. Instead, they piss it away for a nonsensical "Twist" that all the deaths in the episode were nothing more than an elaborate prank to get back at Roger for all the times he's acted like a childish jerk. Not helped is how the episode is only the regular 22 minutes instead of the aforementioned's 45 minutes (which is extended to nearly an hour on DVD) which makes it feel very rushed and Stan bluntly saying that the whole thing was pointless when Roger's takeaway from the whole ordeal is to up the levels of his pranks.
* One could argue that the overall premise for "Top of the Steve" in regards to Steve running away from home to an all-girl school could've worked had the story been played straight (even though it would've reeked of feeling like a retread of "Irregarding Steve"). Unfortunately, it's only used as the starting point for what the episode is really about which is a BizarroEpisode of parodying/lampooning clichés in sitcom spinoffs... To which the episode ultimately succeeds at neither due to being a ShallowParody.

* Stan's rivalries with Duper and Chuck White.
* Linda's crush on Francine.
* Steve's relationships with Debbie & Akiko are completely forgotten past the episodes that focus on them.
* Jesus's proposition to Roger in "Rapture's Delight" (helping him rebuild civilization after the war) is never explored, even in another episode.
* "Bahama Mama" reveals at the very last second that being part alien gave Jeff superpowers which goes absolutely nowhere since the next episode is about him becoming fully human again.