177: A Gay Alien Makes American Dad a Good Show

A heads up: This episode discusses sexual assault in the context of it being something that would get referenced in mid-2000s shows as a marker of being “edgy.” Also, there is a discussion of anal probing in the context of alien abduction, not to be funny but to try and understand why this is a concept that shows up on sitcoms.

 “Roger ’n‘ Me” (April 23, 2006)

As a follow-up to last week’s Great Gazoo episode, we return to American Dad to try to explain why Roger the alien is such a successful character and, really, a likely reason why American Dad show succeeds. This is an early episode exploring Roger’s relationship with Stan. And while the show suffers from being more like Family Guy than it would be even a year later, there is surprisingly nuance to the way the show deals with these two sharing what amounts to a sexual experience.

Listen to our previous episode on American Dad.

Listen to the episode of Monday Afternoon Movie about The UFO Incident, with special guest Scott Philbrook from Astonishing Legends.

Read the Reddit thread “How did anal probing become associated with alien abductions?”

Listen to the Our Strange Skies podcast’s series on Whitley Strieber.

Submit your own suggestions for Box of Compliments compliments here.

Episode artwork by Ian O’Phelan.