The Improbable Return to FOX: Matt Weitzman Talks ‘American Dad!’

It’s been more than 20 years since American Dad! debuted on FOX. Way back in February 2005. And this Sunday, more than 10 years after leaving FOX for a long run on TBS, the animated comedy, the brainchild of Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, and Matt Weitzman, returns home, a prodigal son of sorts. Armed with a four-season renewal and spot on the Animation Domination block, the show debuts Season 20 this Sunday, February 22, from 9:00-9:31 ET/PT, as inventive and outrageous as ever.

American Dad! chronicles the misadventures of super-patriotic CIA agent Stan Smith (MacFarlane) and his unconventional family in Langley Falls. In addition to MacFarlane, the stellar cast includes Wendy Schaal as Stan’s blissfully unaware wife, Francine; Rachael MacFarlane as his left-wing activist daughter, Hayley; Jeff Fischer as her dopey, well-intentioned husband Jeff; and Scott Grimes as Stan’s geeky, high-school-aged son, Steve. There are also the two less conventional members of the clan: Roger, a sarcastic space alien (MacFarlane), and Klaus, a goldfish with the brain of a German Olympic skier (Dee Bradley Baker). Weitzman co-created the show with MacFarlane, and co-showruns with Brian Boyle. He’s also one of the executive producers.

In an interview done yesterday with AWN, Weitzman reflects on the series’ longevity, its move back to FOX after a decade with a 4-season pickup in hand, its Season 20 debut, and what’s ahead for the Smith family.

Dan Sarto: First off, congrats on 20 years. When we spoke in 2023, I congratulated you on 18 years. So, congrats on two more years. You're back on FOX after a decade with a renewal at least through Season 23. I'd say that’s a pretty good report card.

Matt Weitzman: Yeah, I mean, it could have gotten a lot worse.

DS: As they say, it's a good gig if you can get it. Seth’s animated shows have a history of moving around, starting and stopping, but they obviously have incredible staying power and incredible fan bases. So, my first question is, what's the secret sauce? What has kept the show going?

MW: I mean I can't explain exactly why FOX took us back. At one point in time, I heard they regretted losing us. But despite that, I mean, our time at TBS was really good and productive and healthy for our show. It made us stretch our legs in ways that we wouldn't have been able to on FOX. Maybe. But as far as the secret sauce, for me… this is all I do, you know? I just care. I guess it's caring. You know, I focus only on this show and make it as good as I know how. And everybody who works on this show cares. So, the secret to life is giving a shit. When people care, and they want it to be as good as possible, then generally speaking, the product comes out better.

DS: Yes, but there's no guarantee it's going to come out any good. It could be a show that the people who make it care about, but the people that watch it don’t care at all. Obviously, lots of people care when they watch your show. Including people at FOX.

MW: I also think we've made a concerted effort to care about the characters. That's always been my M.O. People watch these kinds of shows to escape. I know it's all very silly and fun and funny, which is ultimately super important, but along the way, you kind of have to get invested in the characters. And we've made an effort to make the Smith family a family that, you know deep down, cares about each other. You're kind of rooting for them to survive whatever weekly apocalypse they're going through. So, as long as you can figure out how to care about the characters involved, then your audience will stick with you.

DS: How has the production changed? When we last spoke, we were just coming out of the pandemic, which had thrown a monkey wrench into the way everybody produced their animation. And technology continues to expand and increase. Are you still giving notes directly onto storyboards through a pad rather than on post-it notes?

MW: I'm still doing that. In fact, I was just going over storyboards with the writer of one of the episodes right before I got onto this call. It’s one of the best things that ever happened to us. I used to carry around these storyboards that were like two feet by one foot by 2 to 3 inches thick. I’d carry them home and stick Post-it notes on them. Now I do it all on an iPad and then just send it through to whomever. New technology has made life better and simpler. And I can draw on the storyboards and pretend like I'm an artist. It works out much smoother.

We've changed locations. We were down in Miracle Mile and now we're in Burbank since moving to FOX. The building is fantastic. It's a shorter drive for me, which is really the most important thing. Saves me about 25 minutes each way. During the pandemic, nobody was coming in. Obviously, everybody worked through Zoom. But now, people come in around three days a week, which is a good balance. They can do things at home if they need to, or sometimes a large group is working at our offices. That all has worked out really well. My editor lives in Tennessee, so I still do editing through Zoom. But it's all worked out.

DS: Where do you spend most of your time?

MW: I spend most of my time in production. I'm always giving notes… on outlines, when I read a script, when writers pitch me a show. They'll give me an outline; I give more notes. Comes in with a first draft. Give more notes. We have a table read, give more notes. And at that point is when the rest of the show begins. Which means meeting with artists to talk about backgrounds and character design, recording actors, looking at the storyboards that I was just talking about, which takes hours on each act, and then all that editing. Building a radio play from the actors’ record. You always have to play with it. What sounded so good in the booth, when you listen to it, doesn't sound as good. So, you fix all those kinds of things. It's a constant cycle of adjusting and fixing and improving. And you're working on all those things on all these different shows at the same time. So, I'm working, I'm editing, I'm recording. I'm meeting with artists. You know, more of my time is spent on levels of production than sitting in the writers’ room. I have really talented writers who know what they're doing. They're working hard to make it the best show that they know how. I'm working my ass off to make it the best show I know how. And when you combine all that, generally speaking, the shows turn out pretty well. I mean I'm a bit biased, but I generally walk away going, “Yeah, that was a pretty good show.”

DS: As one of the show’s creators, you’ve been with it from the very beginning. The idea came from Seth if I remember correctly. And then you've been running with it ever since. As far as his continued involvement, you said that he's a master at going in and recording his lines. Pretty much one take, you give some notes, but it's not like you're directing him.

MW: The only way I give him direction is I know, “Oh, Seth is recording tomorrow,” so I will take the script he's going to read from, and I give him notes all over that because he's just flying through it. So, I'm like, “You need to be angry here, or this is what's happening in the story here.” I'll give these really quick blurbs, so he knows how to interpret what he's doing. So, in that sense, I direct, But I don't direct like I’m in the record. But I still give him my thoughts.

DS: So, in our last few minutes here, tell me what’s in store for the new season? What can fans expect to see?

MW: Well, we have the 400th episode coming up. That is going to be epic. We always make a point of doing big shows like that. And in this case, it stands for the hundredth mission. I'll let the audience figure out what's going to happen from there. We have an anthology, kind of like a space anthology, where all the characters play different kinds of parts. It’s something we've never done before. We always try to do things that are a little bit offbeat. We have one episode where Francine… how do I describe this one… there is a wild episode where Francine suffers an accident. And it’s Stan’s fault. And she goes a little crazy and believes that John Mayer is talking to her on the radio, like on Sirius Radio. Like he has his own station, and she's convinced that he's talking to her. And he's doing it inappropriately. So, she insists that she and Stan go on a mission to deal with him, and then she ends up running into people like… we have Wayne Newton on that show. Rupaul plays a part.

Our Season 20 premiere is this pool party where we bring back Debbie and Gwen. You guys will see how that plays out. We have another episode with Chris Pine and Mary Steenburgen, as well as Ted Danson, where Stan and Francine have other marital issues.

Francine, Steve and and Francine's father go on a Chinese version of National Treasure. And that is a lot of fun. We have one where Hayley and Klaus become addicted to getting scared. And they look for all these different versions of getting off on being scared. Alan Tudyk and Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy guest star in that episode. Those are some of our upcoming shows.

We drive the writers and production a little crazy because our shows just seem to be getting bigger and bigger. But we can't quite help it. You know, the show has become more epic and more fun, and I think that the audience will appreciate that even if our artists… not so much.

DS: Sounds like a great season is in store. And it’s good to see you back on FOX.

MW: I can't tell you how amazed I was when we first got picked up. We knew when the writing was on the wall at TBS. I figured we were going to get picked up by Hulu with the typical two season 10 episode per order. And then suddenly, when I was told that we’re going to go back to FOX, I was just laughing for 2 or 3 days straight, just giggling to myself. Like, you know, this doesn't happen. You don't go back to the people who let you go 10 years earlier for a four-season pickup.

So, I'm really happy and grateful. And I know that everybody else on the show is kind of beside themselves. You know, it is tough out there. It's few and far between. So, I'm extremely happy to be able to keep making this little show go.

Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.