Still going strong 21 seasons after debuting in 2005, the bestAmerican Dadepisodes show why it’s such a beloved Seth MacFarlane show - and manage to squash any unfair comparisons toFamily Guy.Arriving on Fox almost a decade afterFamily Guyintroduced the world to Seth MacFarlane’s animation style and unique brand of humor,American Dadfocuses on CIA agent Stan Smith and his quirky family (which includes a talking fish and Roger, the Alien in the attic).
While it took a few seasons to gain traction andstep out ofFamily Guy’sshadow, all 372 episodes ofAmerican Dadhave hilarious moments throughout. By the 2020s it has a dedicated following in its own right, and it’s the unique hilarity of the bestAmerican Dadepisodes that arguably secured it a fanbase. Relying less on cutaway gags thanFamily Guyand more on repeat jokes and character humor, the greatestAmerican Dadepisodes of all time showcase why it’s still such a beloved show after almost two decades on the air.
10Hurricane!
“Hurricane!” from season 7 is well known since it ended on acrossover withFamily GuyandThe Cleveland Show,but that’s not why it’s one of the bestAmerican Dadepisodes. Part of an event across all 3 Seth MacFarlane shows, “Hurricane!” sees Langley Falls submerged in floodwater during a storm. The Smith house detaches from its foundations and begins floating through the streets.
The plot of “Hurricane!” is simple. The family are simply trying to survive, and it’s their attempts to live through the hurricane make for one of the funniestAmerican Dadepisodes ever. There’s a hilarious cameo from Kristen Schaal as the college girlfriend of one of Roger’s personas, which only adds to the humor. However,“Hurricane!” has a lot of heart too, as there’s a key moment of character growth for Stan when the family admits they don’t trust his decision-making.
9Virtual In-Stanity
“Virtual In-Stanity” is, in many ways, an example of a classicAmerican Dadstory. The plot is heavily based in Stan’s work with the CIA, and his strained relationship with Steve. Many installments use these core ingredients for their narrative, though it’s the hilarious way it plays out in “Virtual In-Stanity” that makes it one of the bestAmerican Dadepisodes. In a plot that riffs on movies likeSurrogatesandAvatar,Stan uses CIA technology to remotely control the body of a teenage girl.
Stan starts using the teenage girl remote avatar to get closer to Steve. However, in typical Stan Smith fashion, he takes things too far and ends up becoming Steve’s girlfriend.It’s a classic Stan Steve episode that’s filled withAmerican Dadstaples likeStan’s ridiculous self-justificationsfor various terrible decisions. Like many of the bestAmerican Dadepisodes, it also features a hilarious Roger subplot in which he teams up with Klaus to start a limo service.
8The Unincludeds
American Dadmay not usetime travel as much asFamily Guy,but when it did the result was one of the best episodes of the Set MacFarlane show. Arriving in season 11, “The Unincludeds” starts with a relatively grounded plot focusing on Steve and Snot’s plan to throw a party in the hopes it will make them more cool. However, things take a turn for the bizarre when Steve and Snot from the future arrive to warn their present-day counterparts about the danger of their plans.
It’s hilarious seeing the various versions of Steve and Snot from the future as the adolescent duo wrestle with changing the timeline. There’s also an incredibly strong Roger story in “The Unincludeds” too.Roger is at his best when he puts an unfathomable level of effort into a trivial goal - and few episodes showcase this as well as “The Unincludeds” when he spent the entire episode trying to get a waitress to compliment his food order.
7Familyland
There are several greatAmerican Dadepisodes that take place during apocalyptic situations, but none feel quite as unique as season 9’s “Familyland”. It’s also one of the few armageddon stories that takes place within the canon continuity and is surprisingly grounded compared to otherpost-apocalypticAmerican Dadepisodes. While “Familyland” contains plenty ofMad Max-style cartoon action, the episode is primarily both a pointed jab at companies like Disney, and anAmerican Dadstory with a family-themed core message.
“Familyland” gets its episode title from the theme park Stan and the rest of the Smith family visit, their trip coinciding with the owner (a parody of Walt Disney) awakening from cryogenic storage. The owner then begins a bizarre experiment that seals the park away from the rest of the world. This leads to various tribes emerging among the captured visitors, each representing a different area of the park (and led by a different member of the Smith family).It’s as action-packed as it is hilarious, and is a particularly biting commentary on corporations even by the standards ofAmerican Dad.
6Great Space Roaster
There aredozens of great Roger episodesofAmerican Dad,and one of the best when it comes to the Alien and the show itself is season 5’s “Great Space Roaster”. The story starts with Roger announcing that it’s his 1,601st, and to celebrate he’d like the Smith family to roast him. This backfires spectacularly when it emerges Roger doesn’t quite understand the purpose of a roast, and takes their jokes about him incredibly personally. However, it being Roger, his response is wildly disproportionate, and he spends the rest of the episode trying to kill Stan, Francine, Hayley, Steve, and Klaus.
“Great Space Roaster” shows Roger at his most unhinged, which also happens to be him at his most hilarious. The lengths he goes to to get revenge on the Smiths, and how much effort they have to put in to avoid him, are so over the top that almost every scene in thisAmerican Dadseason 5 episode is laugh-out-loud funny.Seeing Roger putting his talents for making absurd and outlandish things happen towards murder is unforgettably hilarious, as are the many parody moments of the 1979 sci-fi horror movieAlienin the second half.
5Lost In Space
Haley’s husband Jeffmay not be central to the plot of manyAmerican Dadepisodes, but it’s always memorable when he is - as evidenced by the hilarious and timeless installment that season 8’s “Lost In Space” turned out to be. Jeff was in space for two seasons ofAmerican Dadafter being sent there by Roger in season 8’s “Naked to the Limit, One More Time” (Roger threw Jeff in a tractor beam after Jeff exposed Roger’s identity as an alien).
“Lost In Space” follows Jeff’s intergalactic adventures, and is pure animated sci-fi comedy with a similar tone to the likes ofRick & Morty.
In this story, Jeff finds himself aboard an alien mall, and hilarity ensues. However, it’s the emotional subplot of thisAmerican Dadepisode that makes it one of the best.The moment Jeff realizes just how much he took Hayley for granted is deeper than most installments of the show go when it comes to exploring feelings, and among the most unforgettable wholesomeAmerican Dadmoments- though the animation and worldbuilding of the sci-fi elements in “Lost In Space” are also incredibly memorable.
4The Two Hundred
Roger’s personas are a staple ofAmerican Dad,and season 11’s “The Two Hundred” is one of the best in the show’s history partly because of how it celebrated them. It’s also one of the greatAmerican Dadspoof stories, as the nuclear armageddon plot and post-apocalyptic satire lampoons The CW’s 2014-2020 sci-fi dramaThe 100.However, while this adds to the hilarity, the nods toThe 100aren’t what make the 200th episode ofAmerican Dadone of the best.
While seeing Stan and the Smith family navigate the radiation-ravage ruins of Langley Falls is priceless, it’s the final reveal towards the end of “The Two Hundred” that instantly cemented it asAmerican Dadat its best. Throughout the episode characters are hounded by rumors of a murderous group called The Two Hundred. Of course, things are not all they seem, andit emerges that The Two Hundred area horde of Roger’s personas, including fan favorites like Dr. Penguin and Ricky Spanish.
3Rabbit Ears
Not only is season 14’s “Rabbit Ears” one of the bestAmerican Dadepisodes, but it’s also one of the strangest. Like many greatAmerican Dadinstallments, “Rabbit Ears” has a parody aspect to it, and in this case, it’s the classic sci-fi TV showThe Twilight Zonethat’s getting lampooned. However,the spoofing is almost a little too good at points, as there are moments in “Rabbit Ears” that feel genuinely unsettling - though not so unsettling that Stan’s reaction to what’s happening to him is anything but gut-bustingly funny.
In “Rabbit Ears”, Stan finds an old TV in the garbage that he decides to restore in the basement. Watching his old TV set then becomes a regular activity, but Stan realizes he’s watching a show that might not even exist. This sets him off on a paranormal investigation to unravel the mystery of the show. By the time the credits roll answers are few and far between, but the deliberate ambiguity for both Stan and viewers alongside the twist ending only serves to make “Rabbit Ears” all the more hilarious.
2Tearjerker
Stan working for the CIA is integral to the plot of many of the bestAmerican Dadepisodes, but season 3’s “Tearjerker” leaned even harder into his life as a secret agent, with hilarious results. “Tearjerker” is one of several greatAmerican Dadparody episodes, and repositions Stan and the Smith family as characters in a James Bond spoof. Roger becomes the titular Tearjerker, a parody of James Bond’s nemesis Blofeld. His nefarious scheme is to kidnap the world’s actors, replace them with robots, and make movies so sad that viewers cry themselves to death.
“Tearjerker” showed early on in the show’s run thatAmerican Dadcould be at its strongest when doing spoof and parody episodes that took place outside the main continuity. The spy movie parody elements were spot on, but it was seeing the likes of Stan, Francine, Roger, and Klaus as stereotypical James Bond characters that made the episode truly timeless.There have been dozens ofAmerican Dadparody-styleepisodes in the years since, but few - even the season 9 sequel “For Black Eyes Only - are as strong as “Tearjerker”.
1Rapture’s Delight
The best episode ofAmerican Dadis “Rapture’s Delight” from season 5.It currently holds both the best user rating onIMDband the top spot of more or less every ranked list ofAmerican Dadepisodes - and it’s easy to see why.As well as showing Stan, Francine, and Roger at their most hilarious, “Rapture’s Delight” is also a perfect parody of post-apocalyptic movies. The plot is one of the strangest inAmerican Dadhistory, but the premise of Stan and Francine being left behind after the rapture makes for comedy gold.
“Rapture’s Delight” is set several years after the Rapture, with Stan traveling the hellish wasteland as a Mad Max-like hero with one eye, a hook hand, a motorcycle, and a shotgun. His only quest is to win back Francine, who left Stan for the resurrected Jesus Christ shortly after most of the world was Raptured and sent to heaven. The animation quality in “Rapture’s Delight” is incredibly high tier, but it’s the pulse-pounding parody of apocalypse films and 1980s action movies combined with the character-based humor being so strong that makes this the bestAmerican Dadepisode as far as almost every fan is concerned.
