Hardly a surprise based on the ratings, and given the longer production times for animated shows, the timing of the announcement isn't surprising either.
Via FOX press release:
HOT FROM FOX...
FOX SAYS "YES WE CAN" TO "American Dad"
FOX has ordered a sixth season of American Dad, the animated series featuring security-obsessed CIA agent and devoted family man STAN SMITH (Seth MacFarlane). Recently honored with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Animated Program, American Dad airs Sundays (9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
The series continues to follow the twisted trials and tribulations of die-hard Republican and card-carrying NRA member Stan Smith and his hilariously odd family in Langley Falls, VA. Stan's not-so-smart wife FRANCINE (Wendy Schaal) has an unfaltering loyalty that allows her to turn a blind eye toward Stan's unabashed arrogance. Stan constantly butts heads with his 18-year-old daughter HAYLEY (Rachael MacFarlane), who knows just how to push her father's buttons by being liberal in both her beliefs and in the number of hippie boyfriends she chooses to date. Hayley's 14-year-old brother is the geeky yet cocky STEVE (Scott Grimes), a kid who seems to be on the constant verge of puberty but can't quite make sense of the opposite sex. The Smith household is rounded out by two rather unconventional members: ROGER (Seth MacFarlane), the selfish and sarcastic space alien who lives in the attic and drinks like it's always happy hour, and KLAUS (Dee Bradley Baker), an attention-starved goldfish with the brain of a German guy who is always willing to vocalize his opinions even if no one is listening.
American Dad ranks in the Top 10 programs of the season among Teens, Male Teens, Men 18-34, Persons 12-34, Adults 18-34 and Men 18-49.
American Dad is a 20th Century Fox Television production co-created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman. MacFarlane, Barker and Weitzman serve as executive producers alongside Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz.
Great news
well deserved renewal!
Awesome !
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!! American Dad is amazing right now!
Nice! now I hope they get crackin’ on Mind Quad, that part in American Dad’s season opener was hilarious.
Although it’s the lowest rated of the Animation Domination, It pulls in the demos and I imagine it does well on Adult Swim, internationally and DVD, has it reached 100 episodes yet?
Considering that FOX has animated projects in development, I wonder whether FOX has plans to replace American Dad eventually or maybe have another night of animated sitcoms since the live action ones are doing very badly.
Great news for Seth.
American Dad pulls in good enough ratings to keep it in the lineup. It takes a while to build a following, and AD’s ratings have kept steady or on the uptick from previous seasons.
Fox frankly learned its lesson from Futurama. Futurama took a little while to get off the ground, too, and Fox whacked it after a few seasons. The show goes over to Comedy Central where it got such great ratings it was resurrected, first as four movies (i.e. 16 episodes) and now as two 13-episode seasons.
This is what most of us thought was going to happen. These past few weeks, I’ve just rolled my eyes when people were freaking out because American Dad had been put on 7:30, thinking it was going to get cancelled. FOX loves Seth, and wants to be with him for a long, long time. Seth’s stuff is safe until he starts to kill FOX’s Sunday ratings. That is definately NOT going to happen for a long time.
HATE CARTOONS
Really not surprising, American Dad was given a fifth season early November last year so the timing is right. Id expect a seventh at this time next year.
I am glad. Out of all the animation shows I enjoy this one the most.
@ ryan, up yours
@ jon, it will hit 100 at the end of the season
YES! My fave show in animation domination!
I wonder if FOX will try and get rerun rights for Futurama or it is exclusive to Comedy Central? One of the problems that Family Guy has had is due to production problems and events like The Writer’s Strike, they have been more repeats than new episodes and I don’t think there has been 22 episodes for about two seasons.
@Bodyslam911, that’d be cool, but they have yet to continue where they left off on the golden turd saga.
@jon, Family Guy hasn’t had a 22 episode season since Season 3 (before the second cancellation). Season 4 was like 30, 5 was 18, 6 was 12 and 7 was 16. I don’t know how many they have planned for season 8.
Jonthemon, thanks it just seems that American Dad managed to produce more episodes per season than Family Guy for some reason and I imagine it takes a similar amount of time to produce.
@jon, yea I’ve wondered about that as well. It might be that they’re trying to get American Dad to syndication (which as I said before will be by the end of the season) whereas Family Guy is already in syndication. Just a guess.
Jon- Not going to happen with Futurama. When they brought it back, it just didn’t have the viewers for network. Plus with FOX craving the Seth-meat, there’s no room for it. However, Comedy Central should be a great place for it, with viewership that will hopefully keep the show alive.
I personally was never a fan, but I respect the cast and crew of the show. They’ve been through a lot, and the fact that they are all still in this shows great dedication in this day & age.
Seth is a great writer and performer but I feel that with him concentrating on three different shows, the quality of Family Guy has gone down whereas American Dad is still good. Perhaps they should do what they do on CSI and have different showrunners so Seth can be on Family Guy, the co-creators of American Dad on American Dad and someone for Cleveland.
The Animation Domination is doing great but I worry that The Simpsons may be pushed off in favour of another Seth show although that won’t happen for a long time.
Jon, “The new episodes will be available in mid 2010 to be shown on COMEDY CENTRAL. Twentieth Century Fox Television retains the option to license the original runs of the new episodes to a broadcast network.”
http://www.comedycentral.com/press/press_releases/2009/061009_futurama_returns.jhtml
Maybe if FOX turns Friday into another animation night.
Glad to see. American Dad is really hitting its stride this season. Family Guy isn’t as good as year’s past but its still better than The Simpsons. Feels like we’re watching The Simpson’s slow death. The Cleveland Show has had some great laugh out loud moments. Gonna be interesting to watch its ratings in comparison to previous ratings for its time period.