'American Dad' Stays at Home

Zap2It.com | June 2, 2006

'American Dad'

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FOX renews animated series through 2007-08

LOS ANGELES -- FOX has ensured that "American Dad" won't be going out for the proverbial pack of cigarettes anytime soon.

The network has ordered another season's worth of the animated series, meaning the show will be on the air through the 2007-08 season. FOX committed to a batch of episodes for the coming 2006-07 season last summer.

The early pickup for '07-'08 is necessary because episodes of animated shows usually take considerably longer to produce than do live-action series. Bringing an episode from script to finish product can take anywhere from nine months to a year.

Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, who created "American Dad" with "Family Guy" auteur Seth MacFarlane, will remain as showrunners on "Dad." MacFarlane is an executive producer and does some of the voices, including that of the title character, flag-waving CIA operative Stan Smith.

In its first full season following a May 2005 premiere, "American Dad" proved to be a fairly solid companion to "Family Guy" in FOX's Sunday comedy lineup. The show averaged 7.25 million viewers per week and a 3.6 rating among adults 18-49. In both measures it held onto better than 85 percent of the "Family Guy" audience (8 million viewers, 4.1 in 18-49).

In the fall "American Dad" will move from 9:30 p.m. Sundays to 8:30, sandwiched between "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy."