“American Dad” just might be the luckiest show on television. The animated series, which celebrates its 400th episode on Sept. 13, is a survivor — having bounced from Fox to TBS and then back to Fox again, without losing a step.
“The show really doesn’t want to die,” says executive producer and co-creator Matt Weitzman. “As long as people keep on wanting it, there’s no reason for us not to do it. As long as Seth is willing to do it!”
That’s Seth MacFarlane, of course, who voices the titular “American Dad,” Stan Smith, a CIA agent who lives in fictional Langley Falls, Va., with wife Francine (Wendy Schaal), son Steve (Scott Grimes), daughter Hayley (Rachael MacFarlane) and her husband, Jeff (Jeff Fischer). Also in the house are Roger (also voiced by Seth MacFarlane), an alien found at Area 51 who regularly wears a costume to disguise himself, and Klaus (Dee Bradley Baker), a talking goldfish with the brain of a Cold War-era East Germany athlete.
Originally conceived as a political satire, “American Dad” instead eventually focused most of its storylines on the dysfunctional Smith family.
“The show has evolved because it had to,” Weitzman says. “Obviously, we started out as more of a political beast, and then quickly realized that wasn’t going to work long-term because of the news cycle. So we went to this place where we did more evergreen family stories.”
But “American Dad” has never stuck to just one kind of storyline. For example, some episodes have gone an entirely different genre direction, with themes like space opera or Western.
“I think what’s been become weirdly special about the show is that we do a lot of different kinds of shows,” Weitzman says. “There are pure comedy shows, and then there are the weird, esoteric episodes that are unlike anything else. So as an audience, you don’t necessarily know what kind of show you’re going to get.”
Switching networks also gave “American Dad” room to evolve its tone. After Fox canceled the series in 2013, TBS — then looking to bolster its slate of original series — picked it up. It then kept the show going for another 10 seasons on cable.
“The show got to do more, be more provocative, do things that we weren’t able to do on Fox,” Weitzman says, noting that TBS didn’t have the same FCC content limitations. “I never felt like we were we were confined on Fox, but being on TBS really allowed us to stretch our wings more.”
But by 2025, TBS had mostly exited the original series game, and the show’s fate was once again up in the air — until Fox came to the rescue, reclaiming the show it had let loose a decade earlier and giving it a huge four-season order.
“I was stunned when I was told that we were going back,” Weitzman says. “I’m like, ‘Come on, that’s not real.’ But then I was giddy and laughing for three days about it. It was insane that it really happened, and we got to go back to home base.”
Fellow exec producer Brian Boyle was more sure that it would return: “I just thought it would come back it’s such a good show. Every time that we’re like, ‘This is it,’ in my head I’ve always been like, ‘No, it’s not.’ I had stopped even looking for work! They’re never going to want to stop the show, and you can quote me on that!”
Boyle notes that most of the show’s writers have been around since almost the very beginning of the show. “Our writers’ room is a very stable group of people,” he says. “We have four people who were production assistants on this show, starting from probably 17 years ago.”
And that brings us to Episode 400. “American Dad” has a tradition of marking its episodic milestones with episodes themed to the number: For Episode 100, “American Dad” killed 100 characters. For Episode 200, the show faced 200 Rogers. In 300, Roger broke into 300 pieces. And for Episode 400, it’s Stan’s 400th CIA mission — and he learns he’s been cloned several times over.
“It always comes down to the creativity of the writers,” Weitzman says. “We have a lot of fantastic people who always come up with something fun and original. I think that’s what we got this time, too.”
The 400th episode of “American Dad” will air on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.