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This is probably American Dad's most bland season yet. The least I can say is the show has definitely got out of its dark age (S15-16), but like S17 most of these episodes really aren't worth watching. They are either really boring or they squander an interesting premise. For example (because I literally just watched it), "Into the Jingleverse"'s actual premise of the Smiths being thrown into a crappy CGI Christmas world only ends up occurring during the last few minutes of the show, and even then it doesn't amount to much besides a bland action sequence. This is one of the better episodes of the season since the plot didn't bother me too much and there were some good gags, but if this were in the FOX era they would've gone way further with the premise.

I will say, I think this season got better as it went along. The first episodes of this season were really damn awful and had me worried that the show was returning to the awful state it was in prior to S17, with the characters becoming increasingly unlikable and the plots being ridiculous and stupid. Thankfully I think after the terrible episode "Don't You Be My Neighbor" it seemed the season was starting to mellow out. Not to say most of those episodes were at all memorable or funny but the second half of the season has very few of the awful traits that characterized S15-17, and it lead to my favorite episode in a long time, "Between a Ring and a Hardass." This is a genuinely funny episode (something rare even in the better TBS seasons) and everyone is really likable in it! It's a very silly episode but if you don't mind that this is a really good watch, and showed that AD can still pull off a solid episode even when its in its most uninteresting state.

So yeah, overall, I think this season sort of cements American Dad from now on as being just a bland show that's gone on way too long, which while not good, is much better than being the consistently awful show it was just a mere two seasons ago. Hopefully this "mediocre" quality will persist into S19 and beyond.

Description
This is probably American Dad's most bland season yet. The least I can say is the show has definitely got out of its dark age (S15-16), but like S17 most of these episodes really aren't worth watching. They are either really boring or they squander an interesting premise. For example (because I literally just watched it), "Into the Jingleverse"'s actual premise of the Smiths being thrown into a crappy CGI Christmas world only ends up occurring during the last few minutes of the show, and even then it doesn't amount to much besides a bland action sequence. This is one of the better episodes of the season since the plot didn't bother me too much and there were some good gags, but if this were in the FOX era they would've gone way further with the premise.

I will say, I think this season got better as it went along. The first episodes of this season were really damn awful and had me worried that the show was returning to the awful state it was in prior to S17, with the characters becoming increasingly unlikable and the plots being ridiculous and stupid. Thankfully I think after the terrible episode "Don't You Be My Neighbor" it seemed the season was starting to mellow out. Not to say most of those episodes were at all memorable or funny but the second half of the season has very few of the awful traits that characterized S15-17, and it lead to my favorite episode in a long time, "Between a Ring and a Hardass." This is a genuinely funny episode (something rare even in the better TBS seasons) and everyone is really likable in it! It's a very silly episode but if you don't mind that this is a really good watch, and showed that AD can still pull off a solid episode even when its in its most uninteresting state.

So yeah, overall, I think this season sort of cements American Dad from now on as being just a bland show that's gone on way too long, which while not good, is much better than being the consistently awful show it was just a mere two seasons ago. Hopefully this "mediocre" quality will persist into S19 and beyond.