Roger throws taco at Francine and it leaves a huge stain on her dress.
The alien from outerspace Roger is the most selfish and self-involved character in the Seth MacFarlane's universe. He's also the reason American Dad hasn't ended up a watered down version of Family Guy. That's how it started off with the two parents (Stan and Francine), two teenage kids (Hayley and Steve), talking pet (fish instead of dog). The only thing missing was Stewie.
And for a while there, it seemed like Roger would be the Stewie character of the show. In retrospect, episode three proved very important. That's when Steve tries to impress a girl at school to get her bra and Haley had moved out (to her boyfriend's van) so Roger was occupying her room. It may have been his first real dress up because he was shading an actual character and not just wearing a costume. Roger got so caught in his backstory (he was Steve's sister who was dangerously disfigured when she and her boyfriend gave one another chlorine massages), he forgot the point was for Steve to get the bra.
And from that point on, Roger's really made the show. He's brought Haley into the action and revealed new dimensions to Francine. It is through Roger, that the cast of characters have become richer. Klaus (the fish) remains the weakest of the characters and he really only works when he's pitting one character against another, but the rest have been developed, strengthened and shaded.
Francine was a "dizzy blond" from the start but she's become much more as the show's continued. She's had her own dreams (a kiosk in the mall) and her own desires (danger turns her on). She's also revealed a very dark side, such as the hatred she has towards George Clooney for upstaging her in what should have been her big break in a Scarecrow & Mrs. King episode. She is not the Family Guy's Lois who appears to live to mommy Peter.
And Steve isn't like Family Guy's Chris. Steve actually has a brain. One that gets him into trouble such as when he and Roger decided they were smart enough to make it in NYC. Steve failed to wow Jon Stewart with his Quantum Leap rape jokes and he and Roger were quickly playing out Midnight Cowboy. While Chris worships Peter, Steve, consistent with his character's age, is usually discovering how not-great Stan Smith is. As is usually the case with most plot developments, frequently Roger's the catalyst in opening Steve's eyes.
Stan was insufferable in the earliest episodes. It appeared he existed solely for liberal viewers to laugh at a Bush-ite. In the earliest of episodes, he was so stupid that he was in a hot tub with neighbors Greg and Terry, naked in the hot tub with them, and had no idea they were a gay couple. He's since figured it out and actually left the stereotype enough to support their relationship. He's become more complex and he's at his funniest when everyone is against him. Whether they're all laughing at him so he pretends there's been a nuclear attack (even after he finds out that there hasn't) or whether the car salesman's got the best of him, Stan provides comic gold. His finest is "Ollie's Gold." In that one, he's attempting to find Oliver North's gold and everyone thinks he's gone insane. When he finds it and flips the bird at his family while walking out of the kitchen, it's probably Stan's finest moment in the show.
"Ollie's Gold" is one of the early winners for the series. Klaus and Roger are watching TV (Roger watches a lot of TV -- without his disguises, he's a shut-in) when a news item about the payment in a sexual harassment case comes on. Roger can't believe the large sum and decides he's 'harassable' though Klaus disagrees. Decked out in a blond wig and a short skirt, Roger attempts to strut his stuff through the office. He catches no lustful stares and, as he notes, he probably shouldn't have farted before he started his show walk.
Roger is never funnier than when dressed as a woman. Last year's best episode opened with Haley and Roger in the mall while Roger bragged that Lydia had just told him his colors and Haley reminded him that she'd been standing there the whole time and there was no Lydia. Ignoring her and her pointing out that he was applying lipstick to his eye lids, Roger insisted the problem with Haley was that she was jealous. They bet El Pollo Loco coupons on who was the more desirable woman.
When Roger's playing a woman, the writers will go any and every where. In that episode, Roger has a date with a college guy and passes a lint cleaner off as an IUD. In another episode, which nods to Tootsie, Roger gets a lead in a daytime soap opera but is unable to cry on camera. He ends up fired and skating around in a salute to Olivia Newton-John cruise show before blowing that as well at which point he ends up a stripper in a dive which appears to require he works with a donkey.
Time and again, what Stewie and Brian only verbally nod to, Roger actually does. He's pushed the entire show into comic hilarity that has made Family Guy come off as staid as a traditional family sitcom.
The biggest beneficiary of Roger's antics has been Hayley. By not being loathed, she was already a step up from Meg on Family Guy. As a liberal in a non-political family with a conservative head, Hayley was naturally at odds with Stan. But it's her pairings with Roger that have really allowed her to shine. The two characters have an easy and relaxed chemistry that's different from the others interacting with Roger and may stem from the fact that Seth MacFarlane voices Roger and his sister Rachael MacFarlane voices Hayley.
Hayley's turned Roger in for using foster children as sweat-shop labor, she's been at odds with him over campus fraternities, and, in "Roger Codger" (the first time he plays dress up outside the home and, yes, as a woman) when he calls home after he's thought to be dead, Hayley's the only one who could have taken that call and made the scene work.
When we first reviewed American Dad, it was still in season one (they count their seasons strangely) and we were unimpressed with all that had come before in the previous eighteen episodes. Some of what makes it a great show today was just beginning to emerge, some of the traits had yet to show up. And one of the reasons we're taking another look at the show is because Seth's about to debut The Cleveland Show next month. If it's anything like American Dad, those early episodes will be trying. So we urge you to remember that American Dad started off very rocky. The Winner did as well. It had promise and a host of things that worked. Had it not been pulled, it might have shaped up into something really strong.
The other reason we're taking a second look at it is due to the fact that it's become one of the funniest shows on TV. From January through the May wrap up, it was one of the top three comedies TV had to offer. And we weren't the only ones feeling that way. In June, the show was the topic for a series of community posts: "American Dad," "Roger and 'Of Ice And Men.' "'irregarding steve'," "American Dad stem, stem, seed . . .," "The do nothing Wartime Contracting Commission," "Gloria Feldt, Bob Somerby, American Dad," "William Blu, American Dad, Roger & Hayley," "Deborah Vagins, World Can't Wait, American Dad" and "World Can't Wait, Kelley B. Vlahos, American Dad." If we're talking TV with one another, at some point, someone will reference a line or episode of the show. It's become the strongest half-hour Fox has to offer.
And the general consensus is that Roger took the show there. He's become the audience favorite -- the Fonzie, Urkel or Laverne. But more than just dancing in the spotlight, he's pulled others into his dance and its allowed all the characters to become more textured and dimensional. Even Roger has demonstrated new levels such as last November in the ambitious "The One That Got Away" where Roger discovers someone named Sidney has maxed out his credit card. Roger sets out to destroy this Sidney only to discover Sidney is one of his made up personalities who somehow has created an existence of his own. From the mouths of fish, Klaus got it right early on when he declared the show could go out there on jokes and references because they're playing it a little smarter.
