American Dad/Headscratchers

• Doesn't necessarily bug me, as it does puzzle me. What was up with the effeminate dwarf who rides a greyhound in Irregarding Steve? I know most of the episode was a reference to Midnight Cowboy, but I don't really remember anything like that.
  • Thats Beauregard, Langley Falls top hairstylist. He appeared in a earlier episode called Star Trek.
  • He's a caricature of Leslie Jordan, his voice actor, who is only 4' 11".
• Is it Haley or Hayley? I've seen it spelled either way on here, The Other Wiki, and even the TV Guide.
  • Pretty sure it's Hayley. An episode shows her name written out that way on her crib.

• So, now that Jeff has moved in with the Smiths... Does he know about Roger? We haven't even seen Roger undisguised in the same room as Jeff, but there was recently one brief scene where Jeff comes in and Roger is undisguised, at the table, and Jeff doesn't so much as bat an eye. Has he been told about Roger, or has he done so many drugs that seeing weird aliens and creatures is completely normal to him?
  • Jeff's a stoner with a particularly gullible personality and a brain the size of a pinky ring. I'm pretty sure no one in the house cares whether or not a pot smoking idiot talks about an alien living in his attic.
  • A plot for a future episode could have Jeff discover Roger as an alien.
  • It's implied in "I Am the Walrus" that whenever Jeff meets a new persona of Roger he thinks a new person moved into the attic, and the old persona/person moved out. For example, when he gets a bottle of pills from Roger, he says, "I got them from Ace Chapman, that basketball player who sometimes lives in the attic."
  • On the same subject, is Reginald cool with aliens? In "Family Affair" Roger has no wig on and he does not question it. Is seeing aliens normal to him?
    • Is a homeless man in a koala's body OK with aliens?

• In the Rapture episode, when Jesus/Stan ask Roger to fly them to the Anti-Christ, he says the ship needs precious metals/gems for power. So Jesus whips out what looks suspiciously like Roger's solid gold/jewel-encrusted poo-pile. Did Roger want off the planet so badly he forgot he craps gold and jewels?
  • I'm pretty sure he never knew to begin with, considering he didn't seem aware of his crapping gold ability.

• In the chapter The Best Christmas Story Never Told, what the hell happened to Martin Scorsese, seeing that he never made Taxi Driver i supose that he never made his other classics like Raging Bull or Goodfellas, it's something that almost all ways bug me about this chapter.
  • It doesn't matter as it's irrelevant to the main consequence the lack of Taxi Driver caused.

• In Star Trek, Stan wants to get Steve's book onto Captain Monty's TV show in order to sell more copies. But only #1 books are featured on Capt. Monty's show, so Stan comes up with a plan to sell more books. Copies fly off the shelves, and the book becomes the #1 seller. So, why did they need Capt. Monty, again?
  • Yeah, books are flying off the shelves, but Stan wants to milk all of the fame and money he can from Steve's book. Just because the book is the #1 seller doesn't mean they can't sell even more books.

• Why doesn't Toshi ever learn English? His parents and sister all know the language, and he and the rest of Steve's friends all go way back. He should have more than mastered the English language by now! So how has he never learned it?
  • In one episode (the one with the sleepovers, I forget the name) he does speak English, and can understand when it is being spoken. It's probably more that he chooses not to speak it for some reason.
  • Well, if he's been in the country that long, he should NOT have a thick Japanese accent. He should sound, well, American!
    • This troper's Japanese ex has been in the country 35 years and still speaks with a strong accent.
  • It's funnier that way (by the way, in a recent episode, Snot lampshaded Toshi's language skills: "LEARN ENGLISH!").
    • He doesn't generally agree with the group. He can probably speak English well enough, but when you find out secrets easily and are generally insulting towards your friend, would you speak the language your friends can understand.
  • Toshi does know English, he knows what others are saying. He is a Deadpan Snarker, why should he bother to speak English to them when he can just confuse them with Japanese?

• In "American Dream Factory" why didn't Stan simply produce his holiday bears for every holiday year round so when the right holiday came up he had bears ready. Instead he produced bears for the next holiday coming up. I understand that it's part of the plot but it always bugged me.
  • Stan believes that the bears would be a huge success and in high demand when released, he didn't want to leave it to chance that he could run out if that scenario ever played out, so, he does a complete overhaul with the intent of making a constant cash cow - Yes, it'd be better working on a smaller portion but it's not Stan's thing.

• In "42-Year-Old Virgin" Roger apparently loses a poker game, but aren't you supposed to win if everyone else folds?
  • It's not that he lost the game, it's that he won it too soon. Yes, if everyone folds, you win, but it doesn't really matter if nobody bets.
• In "Every which way but lose", Steve mentions that he never saw Stan crying. Looks like he's forgotten what happened to them during their time in Africa in "Camp Refoogee" or the writers made a little goof.
• In "Rough Trade" when Stan get his manual, did he read it? Because he didn't know what to do with the exo suit.
  • The manual was damaged when Stan got it back, so the part he needed must not have been legible.
• In the episode "Stannie get your gun," Hayley inadvertently shoots Stan in the neck. first of all, he STARTS TALKING EVEN THOUGH A BULLET JUST WENT THROUGH HIS WINDPIPE. then at the hospital, he is told that the bullet got lodged in his spine, turning him into a quadriplegic (still no mention of the serious other injuries that occur thanks to a bullet through the throat). later in the episode, a sniper shoots Stan IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT ON HIS NECK. refer to my earlier complaint about injuries. he goes to the hospital and is told that the second bulet knocked the first bullet out and he is completely healed. WHHHAAAAATTT?!?!!?!!?
  • Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think it went through his windpipe. IIRC it just hit a major spinal nerve or something like that. As for how he healed, yeah, it makes no sense, but that's what makes it funny. It's such an absurd Ass Pull that you can't help but laugh.
• In the episode American Dream Factory, Stan says Francine has a fear of needles yet in Helping Handis she is seen with a needle sewing socks. Is it an goof?
  • Hypodermic needles and sewing needles are different. A fear of needles usually refers to hypodermics, and many (if not most) people who have a phobia of them don't mind sewing needles.
  • It's generally easier to say "fear of needles" than "fear of syringes"
• Another question. In "A Smith In The Hand", why does Hayley need a fake ID yet in "Stan Knows Best" she said she was eighteen?
  • Legal drinking age is 21 in the US.
• In Con Heir, Stan is excited to see his father but how come in some episodes he bemoans on how he left him at a young age, and in Jack's Back does not trust him (initially)?
  • Because there's a little thing called Continuity :O. Stan's dad abandoned him as a child. He has daddy issues. He's eagerly wanted to please him all his life. Then it turns out he's kind of an evil jewel thief. After that he no longer trusts him.
• In Stanny Boy and Frantastic, Stan is unable to freerun. However he can do James Bonds moves. So why is he unable to freerun? Also how can his shinbone come out of his leg?
  • Rule of Funny and a compound fracture?
  • Also, it's implied that they were not only hanging out with their new friends and doing crazy stuff with them constantly, but they were also drinking a lot as well. There's only so much Stan can handle over a short period of time.
• In the Episode "Stan Time" one of Stan's Co-Workers mentions that Christopher Lloyd could have played Col. Mustard in place of Martin Mull. I'm wondering 2 things, who would then play Professor Plum, or is he suggesting a Dual Role?
• In "Flirting With Disaster" Stan is seen flirting with Lorraine. So does that mean Stan has gotten over his hatred of fat people? Part of me seems to think he has, but I can't trust it completely.
  • It's probably because he knows Lorraine well. He actually did start to like Debbie, Steve's girlfriend, when he spoke to her some and found they had some common interests.
• Ok this still confuses me but in Rapure's Delight... why was Hayley raptured? I mean she is a athiest, why was she raptured? It doesn't make any sense! Is there a DVD Commentary or a Deleted Scene that explains this? I also wonder what would her vision of heaven be since we saw Steve's.
  • Well, first, the episode was non-canon, so that might explain it. But second, we don't really know how god in the American Dad universe works. As you can tell by people in real life, everyone interprets God in different ways. Maybe the god in the American Dad universe doesn't punish someone for not believing in him.
• Speaking of Rapture's Delight, Word of God says that every episode after it, indeed, is Stan's personal heaven. Then there's the episode For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls, which came after Rapture's Delight. In other words, why would the Smith Family be fighting Santa and his elves in Heaven?
  • Well if this is Stan's "personal heaven" then how can he be killed by the hot tub in that one episode, it's impossible to die in heaven... well that and Nemo the Anti-Christ exists in this "Personal Heaven"... kinda shows there is something wrong with Stan.
    • In the next episode, Stan is tricked by Roger into- ahem- some fairly intimate dealings with a horse. A few episodes later, Steve has Stan's childhood bully beat the crap out of him. After that, Stan is seen defecating into a swimming pool by dozens of party-goers. I think at this point it's safe to say that the post Rapture's Delight episodes are not Stan's "personal heaven", and that Word of God was just messing with us. That, and Klaus is alive in subsequent episodes.
  • Stan's desire at the moment he stepped into his personal heaven was that things would go back to how they were before the Rapture, so that's the form his personal heaven took. Now either Stan is unable to change the terms of his personal heaven, or part of going back to normal involves Stan losing his memory of being in heaven, so he doesn't change reality to suit him because he doesn't know he can.
• Some hair-splitting just for fun... the heroin snowglobe in Con Heir. How is this possible, heroin being famously soluble and all?
• How can Stan have sperm stored away since the Reagan-era if he never masturbated until recently?
  • Masturbation isn't the only way to get a sperm sample, it's just one of the more pleasant. It's perfectly possible to get a sample via a hypodermic needle inserted into the scrotum. Stan must have been very committed to his non-masturbation vow...
  • That noise you just heard? The knees of all the males reading this slamming together.
• In The Vacation Goo, why didn't the ship's staff take their stuff back?
  • Who said they didn't?
• After tonight's episode I finally decided to wonder, with all of the messed up horrible things Roger does to the Smiths (especially what he put Steve through in tonight's episode) Why haven't the family decided to just reveal Roger's true identity to the CIA and the public? Oh sure they will get their memories erased but it's bound to be less worse than having to put up with that annoying alien's crap!
  • Because no matter how jerkish/sociopathic he is, the family still loves him.
    • So the family are masochists and they enjoy the suffering he gives them?
      • I'm not saying they enjoy his mistreatments, I'm just saying they love him with all his faults.
  • Part of it is that the CIA would do horrible things to Roger, They Would Cut You Up and all. Also, it's been mentioned multiple times that since Roger saved Stan's life once, he feels he owes him so he's willing to put up with Roger's crap.
• It just came to me, in A Smith In The Hand, if sex ed is required for graduation why isn't it made compulsary?
  • A lot of schools will give alternatives to the class, like doing book work, if a student's parents have objections to the class.
• Roger is fond of cocaine. There are several scenes of him indulging (slightly off-camera). But umm, how does one snort coke through a rolled-up check if one has no nose?
  • Very carefully.
• In The Cleveland Show's part of the "Night of the Hurricane" crossover, the hurricane is said to hit Stoolbend, then pass through Quahog, and then finally end up in American Dad Land. The episodes were aired that order, but from a geographical point of view... the hurricane went from Virginia, to Rhode Island, and then back to Virginia. It went 450 miles to Rhode Island, AND THEN BACK AGAIN! ...why?
  • Rule of Funny, in order to correspond with the shows' time slots.
• Why wasn't Toshi's mom concerned about the fact that there was a sex doll in her closet? All she asked her husband was if it was clean or not. Wouldn't she have wondered why it was even there or why he had it in the first place?
  • I think the joke was that they both use it in their sex play.
  • She probably already knew about it. The joke was that she didn't have a problem with it.
• In "Haylias", why didn't Dill just tell Stan that he was gay, instead of constantly dropping not-so-subtle hints about his homosexuality?
  • He probably didn't want his dad to know.
• That note in Roger's ship explaining that he was a crash test dummy, how could Stan read it? Is the alien language also English?
  • The aliens left that note for whoever found the wreckage, so presumably it was in English.
• Whatever happened to the golden turd?
  • It was used to power Roger's spaceship after the apocalypse so Stan and Jesus could save Francine from the Anti-Christ. Duh.
  • Even if that episode can be considered canon, I'm just wondering, what happened to it after the old woman got ahold of it?
• In the episode "Dope and Faith", apparently the CIA has a device that can change a person's sexual orientation as Stan used it to change Brett Morris' wife into a lesbian, so if Stan hates gays so damn much, why doesn't he used this device to change Greg and Terry straight?
  • Maybe the device was not invented around the time Stan discovered they were gay. Also Stan has learnt to tolerate gays.
• Is Hayley really only supposed to be 19-20 years old? The episode "The Kidney Stays in the Picture" gives her conception year as 1992. Am I the only one who thought she was older? The characters in this show don't really seem to age much, so I always just assumed she started out in her early-to-mid twenties (definitely at least 21). It doesn't really make sense to me for her to be so young.
  • No you're not the only one who thinks she is older. For a long time I thought she was eighteen. I think the writers made a goof.
  • Hayley is in community college, and it's kind of implied that she's in her earlier years of the school, but for the most part, her exact age has been left up to interpretation.
    • It's been mentioned that she's 18.
• In the episode where Stan ends up crapping in the neighbors' pool, the ultra-conservative-to-the-point-of-parody Stan is shown falling over himself to practically fellate a man who stands for everything conservatives stand against. I realize he's--several steps up the ladder--Stan's employer, but isn't the writers' left-wing bias a bit jarring here?
  • The entire point of Stan sucking up to Obama was to trick HIM into crapping in the pool, in order to get everyone to forget about Stan's accident.