10 Best American Dad! Characters Only In One Episode

It's always nice to see the Smith family tree explored a bit more, and, given the antics of Stan's criminal father, Jack, it's surely no wonder that Stan would eventually be revealed to have a paternal half-brother.

Rusty and his family are humble Cherokee folk, whom Stan invites over every Thanksgiving just to rub his relative wealth in their faces. And good lord, does he ever.

So when Hayley moves out and Steve starts acting like an entitled only child, Stan announces that they'll be spending this Thanksgiving in Rusty's tipi to teach Steve to appreciate what he has. But when they get there, it's a million miles from what they were expecting.

Rusty's family live in a huge, sprawling mansion carved into a desert cliff face, complete with futuristic games room and bar filled with top-shelf booze. Stan can't believe that he was the poor one all along, and after Rusty tells him they've been coming to the Smith house all these years for the same reason the Smiths had come to theirs, the proud American cracks.

Turns out that Stan and Rusty were once given the choice between $20,000 and a worthless bit of land belonging to their dying great-great-grandpa. Stan, obviously, took the money, while Rusty, seemingly getting the bum deal, would turn it around with a multi-million-dollar copper mining industry. And despite Rusty's good-naturedness up until now, he soon threatens to kill Stan if he ever shows his face on his land again. Can't say I blame him, really.