10 Best American Dad! Characters Only In One Episode
3. Alistair Covax
A brilliant parody of mid-twentieth-century jazz personalities, Alistair Covax is the smarmy, smooth-talking presenter of a jazz-themed talk show entitled Nighthawks Hideaway.
Stan first becomes aware of the programme when he buys an old television set and gets it working in his basement. Only a single episode seems to exist, and it's played on a loop - yet, there are extremely subtle changes each time, and Stan becomes strangely addicted to the show.
His inquiries lead him to a support group whose only member is his neighbour, Al Tuttle. He also has a TV set like's Stan's, and when Stan investigates the back of it, he discovers a 'doorway' made of television static that takes him right into the show itself.
Inside, he finds Tuttle, who is gradually losing his memory of the real world. As one guest tries to escape, the show cuts to a commercial, during which Covax is implied to have killed and eaten them. They are forced to play along, and, bit by bit, they start to lose sight of who they really are.
Thankfully, when a fight breaks out, the damage reveals a crack in the wall for them to escape through. But Covax is still in pursuit, his cool demeanour discarded in favour of fangs and claws. The only way to stop him, as it turns out, is to unplug the TV - but does that mean he's still alive in there, waiting for his next victim to pay a visit to his Hideaway?