Every American Dad Season Ranked Worst To Best

With over 300 episodes and counting, "American Dad" is one of the most successful and longest-running animated sitcoms on television. Created by Seth MacFarlane and former "Family Guy" writers Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, the beloved comedy series premiered in 2005 and has been going strong ever since.

While it shares a visual style with "Family Guy," "American Dad" has differentiated itself thanks to its lack of reliance on cutaway gags, a bigger focus on narrative, and its cast of colorful characters. These include the titular patriarch Stan Smith and the lovable alien rogue Roger, who have both brought viewers countless hours of entertainment.

Yet, as is the case with most long-running television shows, "American Dad" has had its fair share of ups and downs. There are plenty of great episodes that have stuck in the minds of fans for years, but the showrunners have also churned out a number of duds that have fallen flat. Here's how every season of "American Dad" stacks up against the rest.

Premiering in April 2021, Season 16 of "American Dad" is one of the weaker seasons of the animated sitcom. Many characters seemed to become caricatures of their former selves, more exaggerated and eccentric than they had been in previous years. The main offenders are Stan, Francine, Hayley, and Steve, who often don't even sound convincing as themselves. Many of the stories also feature more bizarre concepts that seem somewhat out of place.

If you want proof of how poor Season 16 is, just take a look at the low IMDb scores it notched. The episode "Klaus and Rogu in Thank God for Loose Rocks: An American Dad! Adventure" has an average rating of just 5.8, making it one of the worst episodes in the history of the show. While a couple of episodes were good for a few laughs, like "Stan & Francine & Stan & Francine & Radika" and "Little Bonnie Ramirez," the season as a whole is largely forgettable.

As reported by AWN, "American Dad" was canceled by Fox and then picked up by TBS. The first group of episodes that aired on the new network arrived in 2014 in the form of Season 10. The Hollywood Reporter also confirmed that co-creator and co-showrunner Mike Barker left the show while the season was in early production, leaving Matt Weitzman in overall charge of the direction of the series.

While later seasons proved to be received poorly in general, Season 10 had its fair share of standout moments. Episodes such as "Holy S***, Jeff's Back" and "Big Stan on Campus" were jam-packed with jokes and there were even some great guest stars across the season, including the likes of Stephen Fry, Josh Groban, Uma Thurman, and Sinbad. Even with the highlights, though, the season is massively brought down by "American Fung" — widely considered to be one of the worst "American Dad" episodes ever.

While Season 14 had a number of episodes that fans may not have loved all that much, such as "Demolition Daddy" and "Hamerican Dad," it does make up for it in other areas. It was something of an experimental season, seemingly attempting to breathe new life into a series that had started to trend downwards. This led to episodes like "Wild Woman Do" where Francine and Jeff teamed up, a duo that had previously not spent any significant time together.

There is one episode that distinguishes itself from the rest. "Rabbit Ears" is the fourth installment, airing in May 2019. In it, Stan becomes obsessed with a mysterious black-and-white show that he watches on a TV set he discovers in the garbage. It's as disturbing as it is funny, with the episode becoming more and more meta as it reaches its conclusion. Although it doesn't exactly answer every question it raises, the episode won plaudits from critics and is one of the highest-rated episodes on IMDb out of the entire series.

Despite containing a large number of average episodes, Season 8 boasts several important and highly successful outings. "Adventures in Hayleysitting," "Finger Lenting Good," and "Blood Crieth Unto Heaven" could all be considered classics. What marks all of these episodes out is that they show the characters developing in new and interesting ways. This provides extra depth to their personalities and keeps things feeling fresh.

There's also a sense that dynamics between the various family members are changing somewhat throughout the season. For example, "Adventures in Hayleysitting" sees Hayley and Steve working together for once, while "American Stepdad" sees Roger marry Stan's mother, significantly altering the relationship between the two characters. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the episode "Lost in Space."

Praised by the AV Club and many others, "Lost in Space" is the culmination of an arc that started in the episode "Naked to the Limit, One More Time," in which Roger reveals himself to Jeff for the very first time. It's unusual for the way it focuses entirely on a single individual rather than the wider cast, as Jeff explores an alien spaceship alongside Sinbad.

As one of the earliest seasons of "American Dad," Season 4 is fondly remembered by fans. Drawing consistently high IMDb ratings across all of its episodes, there are no real weak entries here, but none of them really stand out as the best that the animated series has to offer, either. It's the kind of output you'd expect for a show that was hitting its stride and establishing itself.

The opening episode of the season was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour), but it was ultimately beaten by the "South Park" episode "Margaritaville." The season was also met with strong viewing figures, reaching highs of 7 million according to TV by the Numbers. The likes of Cinema.com also praised Season 4 for its varied storylines and laugh-out-loud jokes.

Season 4 came at a time when the writers were still trying to be current and political, meaning there's a lot of different themes explored that would be pushed aside in later years. Episodes deal with issues such as gun control, but as Matt Weitzman told CinemaBlend, current events are something that the show would soon steer away from because episodes take so long to come out.

With "American Dad" reaching its 7th season, the writers took the opportunity to try and keep the series feeling original. There were bigger and more dramatic storylines, with Roger traveling to the Middle East where he meets Ricky Martin, and a rogue Hot Tub voiced by Cee Lo Green attacking the family. The lowest-rated episode was "Stan's Best Friend," with the rest of the season generally being well received by fans and critics alike.

The episode "Hurricane!" was originally intended to air as part of the previous season but, as Collider reported, it was delayed due to the deadly tornadoes that made up the 2011 Super Outbreak. This crossover episode, which has an IMDb rating of 8.0, sees the Smith family stay at home during a tremendous hurricane at the insistence of Stan, with hilarious but frightening consequences. At the end of the episode, Stan meets Peter Griffin and Cleveland Brown, both of whom were involved in the same hurricane.

For the most part, Season 2 was an extension of its predecessor. The 19 episodes that made up the season set up more of the family relationships and fleshed out the characters, giving viewers a more thorough understanding of exactly what makes the main cast tick and what motivates their actions. Stan gets the chance to show off sides to his personality that were previously hidden away, making him a more likable protagonist. This was best exemplified in the episode "Of Ice and Men" when Francine discovered Stan's love of ice-skating.

The season received widespread praise from critics, who pointed out that every episode was consistently funny with no weak links. DVD Talk noted that even the worst episodes of the season still offered viewers a good time. Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the episode "Lincoln Lover" had been nominated for an award at the 18th GLAAD Media Awards.

Season 3 stands out among the many seasons of "American Dad" for a number of reasons. It marked the move from traditional animation to Flash for the first time, giving the show a crisper and more vibrant appearance. It was also one of the shortest, in large part due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Yet, despite this, it remains the best received, with the highest average rating on IMDb.

The Christmas episode "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" was a particular highlight, while episodes such as "Dope and Faith" and "The Vacation Goo" are also all-time classics. Perhaps the best episode of the season (and maybe even the best episode ever) came in the form of the James Bond parody "Tearjerker," set outside of the usual continuity. Stan takes on the role of a secret agent as he tracks down the titular villain (Roger), who is attempting to make the whole world cry. The episode was so popular that it received a sequel episode years later, Season 8's "For Black Eyes Only."