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Worst TV Show of the Week

American Dad on Fox

Parents sometimes need to remind their children, “I’m not your friend, I’m your parent.” The rerun of American Dad (Sundays 7:00 p.m. ET) that aired on July 31^st (from an original May 22^nd broadcast), attempted to reinforce that lesson. Unfortunately, as is often the case, any moral American Dad attemps to convey is lost amid a sea of offensive content. In this case, frank sexual dialogue and underage drinking have earned American Dad the title of Worst TV Show of the Week.

Stan is invited to a houseboat during Spring Break, where he and his friends plan to wear “Sluts Gone Nuts” T-shirts and entice young co-eds to flash their breasts. Stan’s day of debauchery hits a snag, though, when he has to drag his teenage son, Steve, with him.  Initially, Stan adamantly wants to prevent Steve from seeing or hearing anything inappropriate, going so far as to handcuff Steve to the bathroom sink. Steve, however, manages to escape and impresses Stan’s friends with his humor. Eventually, Stan relents, allowing Steve to hang out with him as equals, inviting the youngster drink beer with them. In fact, Stan is grateful to be done with his parental, father-figure role, saying: “Steve you don’t know how glad I am to be done with all the father-son crap. It’s funny buddy from here on out.”

The next morning, Steve wakes up completely hung over. He vomits underneath the breakfast table. Francine admonishes Stan for letting Steve get drunk. Steve thinks he’s going to be punished, but Stan reassures him as soon as Francine leaves:

Stan: “Dude, Francine's lame. It's cool. We're cool. C'mon, we're boys now. Bros before hoes, my man. Brothers before whores all day long.”

Steve: “And mom's the whore in that situation?”

Stan: “All day long.”

Later, Stan confides to Steve:

Stan: “Sometimes I think Francine fakes her orgasms.”

Steve: ”Well, through the wall it sounds like you're slaying it.”

Stan: “Thanks, man.”

Francine enters and asks what is going on.

Stan: “Me and Steve are just hanging”

Francine: “Is that supposed to be part of Steve's punishment?”

Steve: “Hey, Stan, you think Mom's mad or do you think she's just faking it?”

Stan: “Nice one.”

Francine: “What does that mean?”

Stan: “Nothing, dear. Inside joke. You wouldn't get it.”

Steve: “Apparently, she never does.”

Stan’s lax parenting catches up with him when Steve become trapped inside the gorilla enclosure at the zoo. The zookeeper attempts to contact the gorilla’s personal handler, but the handler is inside an adult theater. A nearby patron yells for the handler to get off the phone: “Excuse me! Some of us are trying to watch this porno,” he shouts.

Stan may have learned his lesson about proper parenting. But if there are parents out there who watched this episode with their young children, they need to heed the lesson as well…by turning the television off.

For sexual dialogue and underage drinking, American Dad has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.