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Description
Well, this is the last fully aired season, and surprisingly it's actually better than the previous. But not really an "improvement," since an improvement would mean some of the issues got fixed, when that's not really the case.

What's really the case is I guess the crew at least somewhat started giving a shit again? Most of these episodes actually try to have jokes, even if they are still the same unfunny TBS "shock for shock sake" and having characters act ridiculously out of character. The plots are still very poorly written and still rely on stupid third act twists, but they aren't nearly as aimless, shameful, or desperate for ideas as season 16 ever was. In fact, there's only three episodes this season which I thought were on the level of the last season, which isn't really much of a compliment thinking about it but it's still better than whatever the hell last season was. At the same time, there was unfortunately only one episode I could say I enjoyed, and even that episode had its issues.

In-general, this season generally has better premises than the last season, and even season 15. Like, an episode about Francine becoming a real estate agent and having to compete with Roger is a more natural premise than shit like Stan not being able to cry for some reason, or Francine being a dick to Hayley because she thinks Hayley will grow up to be like her. That being said, the episode still just doesn't hit the mark, probably because of the lack of laughs and the fact that Roger and Francine really don't have a comedic edge to them they might have had back in season 7 or 8. Everything just feels so bland now.

If there's one thing I think actually got worse this season, it's the subplots. I think the crew thought that the subplot of Roger being a flower was comedy genius, because it seems like every new episode has a subplot worse than the last. I didn't complain too much about subplots past S10 because it's not like they got worse, just remained stagnant but they were usually shit with the occasional gem. Here, pretty much all the subplots sucked, I'm not even exaggerating. "Book of Fischer" had a subplot where for some reason Jeff writing a few notes in a book becomes the Bible of a future civilization, which makes no sense and isn't even given much time to make sense to the premise. "Song of Knives and Fire" had an awful subplot about Roger tossing knives and it ends in him getting stabbed with a bunch of knives because I guess unnecessary gore is hilarious. "Fast and the Spurious" is the only episode this season that's really worth watching, yet the subplot was just as awful as the rest, with it almost ending in Jeff and Klaus fucking each other (because I totally needed to be reminded of a certain other episode like that). Some other awful subplots include Francine getting stuck in a porta-potty, Stan doing backflips (what?), Steve dreaming himself in some fantasy land while in embarrassing situations and going insane at the end, and the worst of them all, an entire subplot dedicated to Roger trying to avoid taking weed, only to end up doing it and he ends up eating himself (??????).

I also wanted to talk about the "series finale" "Echoes", since it was quite disappointing. Honestly, all you need to do to see just how bad this show has gotten is compare this episode to "Hot Water," which was also planned to be a series finale. The difference is night and day. "Hot Water" was a thrill ride that had great songs, amazing animation, and a surprisingly tense and tight story. Meanwhile, "Echoes" drones along at a ridiculously slow pace, and the actually interesting stuff, y'know, the part where the monster comes, occurs in the LAST FOUR MINUTES OF THE EPISODE! I get that they wanted to do another "end-of-the-world" type episode for a potential series finale, but everything here felt so forced, and as usual with these later episodes everyone feels quite out of character and the episode is so clearly lacking in funny.

It doesn't help that right after "Echoes" came "The Grounch," one of the most revolting pieces of shit I've ever seen from this show. This episode thinks that taking the Grinch and making it about sex is some sort of comedy gold, and if you think otherwise then oh boy this episode's going to be a tough one to sit through for you, alongside having yet another subplot where Stan acts so ridiculously dumb you'd question the fact that he was ever a remotely smart character to begin with.

So again, while this season is better, it isn't really an IMPROVEMENT. All the issues are still here, but I guess the crew at least cared a bit more to make these episodes at least not completely reprehensible, but I would not call 90% of the episodes here worth your time. Even the better episodes of this season still have the issues that have plagued the TBS era from the start, which unfortunately means that the show might never make it out of this rut.

Anyways uh, that's all for American Dad. If you think I'll be posting more scorecards from here on now, you might be a bit disappointed. I MIGHT do some for other shows, but don't completely count on it since I got kinda lazy posting the last couple of these AD ones. As for season 18, I'll probably post that scorecard when the season is finished, though I might end up forgetting to do so. All you need to know is season 18 hasn't changed anything lol the show is still shit.

Description
Well, this is the last fully aired season, and surprisingly it's actually better than the previous. But not really an "improvement," since an improvement would mean some of the issues got fixed, when that's not really the case.

What's really the case is I guess the crew at least somewhat started giving a shit again? Most of these episodes actually try to have jokes, even if they are still the same unfunny TBS "shock for shock sake" and having characters act ridiculously out of character. The plots are still very poorly written and still rely on stupid third act twists, but they aren't nearly as aimless, shameful, or desperate for ideas as season 16 ever was. In fact, there's only three episodes this season which I thought were on the level of the last season, which isn't really much of a compliment thinking about it but it's still better than whatever the hell last season was. At the same time, there was unfortunately only one episode I could say I enjoyed, and even that episode had its issues.

In-general, this season generally has better premises than the last season, and even season 15. Like, an episode about Francine becoming a real estate agent and having to compete with Roger is a more natural premise than shit like Stan not being able to cry for some reason, or Francine being a dick to Hayley because she thinks Hayley will grow up to be like her. That being said, the episode still just doesn't hit the mark, probably because of the lack of laughs and the fact that Roger and Francine really don't have a comedic edge to them they might have had back in season 7 or 8. Everything just feels so bland now.

If there's one thing I think actually got worse this season, it's the subplots. I think the crew thought that the subplot of Roger being a flower was comedy genius, because it seems like every new episode has a subplot worse than the last. I didn't complain too much about subplots past S10 because it's not like they got worse, just remained stagnant but they were usually shit with the occasional gem. Here, pretty much all the subplots sucked, I'm not even exaggerating. "Book of Fischer" had a subplot where for some reason Jeff writing a few notes in a book becomes the Bible of a future civilization, which makes no sense and isn't even given much time to make sense to the premise. "Song of Knives and Fire" had an awful subplot about Roger tossing knives and it ends in him getting stabbed with a bunch of knives because I guess unnecessary gore is hilarious. "Fast and the Spurious" is the only episode this season that's really worth watching, yet the subplot was just as awful as the rest, with it almost ending in Jeff and Klaus fucking each other (because I totally needed to be reminded of a certain other episode like that). Some other awful subplots include Francine getting stuck in a porta-potty, Stan doing backflips (what?), Steve dreaming himself in some fantasy land while in embarrassing situations and going insane at the end, and the worst of them all, an entire subplot dedicated to Roger trying to avoid taking weed, only to end up doing it and he ends up eating himself (??????).

I also wanted to talk about the "series finale" "Echoes", since it was quite disappointing. Honestly, all you need to do to see just how bad this show has gotten is compare this episode to "Hot Water," which was also planned to be a series finale. The difference is night and day. "Hot Water" was a thrill ride that had great songs, amazing animation, and a surprisingly tense and tight story. Meanwhile, "Echoes" drones along at a ridiculously slow pace, and the actually interesting stuff, y'know, the part where the monster comes, occurs in the LAST FOUR MINUTES OF THE EPISODE! I get that they wanted to do another "end-of-the-world" type episode for a potential series finale, but everything here felt so forced, and as usual with these later episodes everyone feels quite out of character and the episode is so clearly lacking in funny.

It doesn't help that right after "Echoes" came "The Grounch," one of the most revolting pieces of shit I've ever seen from this show. This episode thinks that taking the Grinch and making it about sex is some sort of comedy gold, and if you think otherwise then oh boy this episode's going to be a tough one to sit through for you, alongside having yet another subplot where Stan acts so ridiculously dumb you'd question the fact that he was ever a remotely smart character to begin with.

So again, while this season is better, it isn't really an IMPROVEMENT. All the issues are still here, but I guess the crew at least cared a bit more to make these episodes at least not completely reprehensible, but I would not call 90% of the episodes here worth your time. Even the better episodes of this season still have the issues that have plagued the TBS era from the start, which unfortunately means that the show might never make it out of this rut.

Anyways uh, that's all for American Dad. If you think I'll be posting more scorecards from here on now, you might be a bit disappointed. I MIGHT do some for other shows, but don't completely count on it since I got kinda lazy posting the last couple of these AD ones. As for season 18, I'll probably post that scorecard when the season is finished, though I might end up forgetting to do so. All you need to know is season 18 hasn't changed anything lol the show is still shit.