As noted on the main page, the show loves employing unorthodox or outright experimental storytelling methods, and plays fast and loose with continuity to boot. As such, it shouldn't come as too much of a shock that there's quite a lot of these:
- "Hot Water" is a Musical Episode narrated by Cee Lo Green, in which a murderous hot tub kills off everyone in the cast. Its bizarre premise was justified by the fact it was supposed to be the last episode of the entire series since the writers were afraid FOX was going to cancel the show. When the network greenlit more seasons, the episode was put on as a season seven premiere and the deaths were written off as non-canon.
- "Blood Crieth Unto Heaven" is an American Dad episode set up like a stage play.
- "Lost in Space", the show's 150th episodenote is this crossed with A Day in the Limelight: Stan, Francine, and Steve don't appear at all outside of the opening recap which consists of old footage (and even then, Stan is the only one of the three who speaks in said recycled footage), Hayley appears very briefly in the beginning and another character briefly morphs into her later on and she in turn is the only major character to have an actual appearance (Roger appears briefly as well, but it's in a scene that's in another character's mind). The episode focuses mostly on Jeff (Hayley's stoner husband) and is more of a sci-fi adventure with some comedic overtones and music provided entirely by the band Wax Fang.
- "Blagsnarst: A Love Story": The episode's main plot turns out to be Stan telling a story about the birth of Kim Kardashian, who is depicted as a furry, pink alien being whose hair burned off in a car accident after Roger tried to get rid of her.
- "American Fung": The show begins with a live-action Cold Opening depicting Asian billionaire Fung Wah saying that Seth MacFarlane sold American Dad! to him, and the episode features several moments depicting him in animated form and shilling himself and his products, culminating in him taking over the B-plot, doing the voices of Steve, Hayley and Roger, and hastily making up an ending for the A-plot. The ending involves Fung selling the show to another Asian billionaire who transplants the show to China, and the new American Chinese Dad! show has the family meeting Mickey Mouse and dancing Snoopy-style.
- "The Two Hundred" takes place After the End as a result of Roger entering a Large Hadron Collider. It culminates in most of Langley Falls (barring the Smith Family) turning into cannibals and going to war against every last persona Roger has ever made (given form from the aforementioned Collider incident) before their fight is interrupted by a mutant, monstrous Klaus, being rode by Jeff. We then Flash Forward years later, seeing a now elderly Stan having just told the events of the episode to a group of his grandchildren, including numerous implied to be adopted children and Jeff and Hayley's biological daughter* as the rest of the family, and Greg, are now tending to a lakeside farm, Klaus is in the lake playing with other kids, and Roger is lazing around, all while Stan imparts a lesson on Hayley and Jeff's daughter: never let Roger go in a Hadron Collider.
- "West of Mexico" is a Cowboy Episode that takes place in an Alternate Continuity where Roger is a bounty hunter tasked with hunting down Stan. None of the Smiths know each other and Francine twerks to an old-timey cover of Dawin's "Dessert".
- "The Multiverse of American Dadness" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. A multiverse-hopping escapade focusing Hailey chasing Steve across The Multiverse as she tries to get him to go to a Shaggy concert with her while also learning to appreciate him as a person. Oh, and Shaggy is a universal constant across all realities.
