10 Great TV Shows With Awful First Seasons

Much like Futurama did with The Simpsons, American Dad! had a big shadow to emerge from in the shape of Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane's controversial cartoon was already iconic by the time his second project released, and unlike Futurama, it did not hit the ground running.

Sub-par animation can certainly be forgiven as a product of the times, like the majority of such shows, but it was other areas where it fell short. One dimensional characters didn't help, but by far the worst aspect was Stan Smith (MacFarlane).

American Dad!'s entire premise was built around a post-9/11 fear in America, but what this led to was Stan being nothing short of horrifically racist. In one episode he hated his new neighbours because of the colour of their skin, and the less said about his time in Saudi Arabia the better. Once the series allowed Stan to grow as a character past such xenophobic ideas, he became a much more likeable protagonist. 

Arguably the biggest change made in American Dad!'s favour however, was Roger's evolution into the master of disguise. Here there have been literally countless wonderful and hilarious characters, with the alien overtaking Stan as the most valuable part of the entire thing. This was something completely absent from the first handful of episodes.