follows the dysfunctional Smith family—father Stan, mother Francine, daughter Hayley, son Steve, the pet fish Klaus, and extraterrestrial alien Roger, all of whom reside in their hometown of Langley Falls, Virginia.
Season 5, which premiered with the episode "1600 Candles" and ended with "Stan's Night Out", was executive produced by David Zuckerman, Kenny Schwartz, Rick Wiener, Richard Appel, Matt Weitzman, Mike Barker, and series creator Seth MacFarlane.
Season 5 satirized various political and social topics, including incest, the coming out aspect of homosexuality, and appeal to fear propaganda.
and its sister show, Family Guy, were delayed from regular broadcast due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.
Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the series, publicly sided with the Writers Guild, and fully participated in the strike and other events pertaining to the issue.
[3] As production began Matt Weitzman, Jim Bernstein, Chris and Matt McKenna, Brian Boyle, Erik Sommers, Laura McCreary, Jonathan Fener, Erik Durbin, David Zuckerman and Kenny Schwartz all stayed on from the previous season.
[4][5] Directors Pam Cooke, Josh Aoshima, Tim Parsons, Rodney Clouden, Albert Calleros, Joe Daniello, and Bob Bowen all stayed with the show from the previous season.
Avery Bullock's wife, Mariam, who was kidnapped and held hostage by terrorists for three years, was also introduced and voiced by Jean Smart.
[10] J.K. Simmons provided the voice of Mr. McCreary, the founder and chairman of a local Bible print shop,[11] and Reginald the Koala, another "volunteer" from the CIA's secret brain-swap program.
Other guest stars who made multiple appearances as recurring characters from previous seasons were Patrick Stewart as Avery Bullock, Stan's boss at the CIA[12] and Mike Barker as Terry Bates, who briefly returned in the episode "Daddy Queerest".
[52] The "Volume Four" DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, animatics, and commentaries for every episode.
[52] The remaining fourteen episodes of the fifth season were released under the title "Volume Five" by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on June 15, 2010, a month after they had completed broadcast on television.
However, American Dad never fully reaches the satirical sharpness of superior comedic farces like South Park, The Daily Show or, most notably, The Colbert Report.
[59][15] The total viewership for the episode significantly increased from the fourth season premiere, which was viewed by 6.07 million viewers upon its original airing.
Shaffer of IGN said that "American Dad comes from the weird and wicked mind of Seth MacFarlane, who brought us the irreverent and often puerile powerhouse Family Guy [...], and like the show[s], American Dad offers a supreme dose of silly mockery that's occasionally offensive [...] and outrageously wacky through-and-through.
[58] Kevin Stanley of Cinema.com gave the season a very positive review, writing, "Overall American Dad is consistently funny and amusing, it's certainly in my opinion, currently the best animated comedy and has been for some time.
[68] It competed against Robot Chicken, The Simpsons and South Park at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards, which was held September 12, 2009.