20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About American Dad

7. The Basic Set Up Is The Same As All In The Family

CBS

The opening of Family Guy is a throwback to All In The Family, a favourite of many of the writers. Well, it turns out the love of the show didn't stop showing there; American Dad took things to a whole new level. In the early seasons, when things were a lot more grounded, the show's set up was intentionally the same as the seventies sitcom; you have the straight-lined father clashing with his free-spirited daughter over their politics, with particular objection taken to her slacker boyfriend.

It's really representative of how the creators were going for something fundamentally less pop culture quoting than Family Guy. This was, however, part of why MacFarlane was so uninterested in the show at first; he likes All In The Family, but American Dad in its early state offered little new.

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Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.