Everyone hates summer. We’re forced out of our homes by reruns on TV, only to be assaulted by bright sunlight, abrasively green grass, and painfully hot sand. Thankfully, there’s an end in sight to the awful onslaught of summer, as evidenced by FOX’s fall schedule. Here is the darkness at the end of the painfully bright tunnel:

Monday: “Terra Nova,” the impressively ambitious show with dinosaurs or something at 8 PM, followed by “House” at 9 PM.

Tuesday: Some show called”Glee” at 8 PM, followed by the new “The New Girl” with Zooey Deschanel at 9, then “Raising Hope” at 9:30.

Wednesday: “The X-Factor,” which is different from “American Idol” in dozens of ways, starts at 8 PM. Then it’s “I Hate My Teenage Daughter” with Jamie Pressly at 9:30. That’s right, “The X-Factor” is on for an hour and a half.

Thursday: The evening starts at 8 PM with the results show of “The X-Factor,” which mercifully is only an hour long. Then after that it’s “Bones” at 9.

Friday: “Kitchen Nightmares” at 8 PM followed by”Fringe” at 9. That’s why it’s the most popular TV night of the week!

Saturday: “Cops” is inexplicably still on the air at 8 PM, followed by reruns and “occasional” “America’s Most Wanted” after that at 9.

Sunday: It’s Sunday night animation, starting whenever all that football stuff is over -”The Cleveland Show,”"The Simpsons,” a new show from Jonah Hill called “Allen Gregory,”"Family Guy,” and “American Dad.”

Well, there you have it. Keep this in mind as you struggle to make it through another punishing summer. And remember, you can always watch reruns. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Due to national sensitivity about the storms, Fox is holding off on airing special crossover episodes of “Family Guy,” “American Dad” and “The Cleveland Show” until next season. The story device that brings all the universes together is a hurricane, so I can see how that would be in poor taste. Then again,”Family Guy” has aired lengthy musical numbers about people contracting AIDS and teenagers abandoning their babies in a dumpster, so I wouldn’t call Seth MacFarlane and Fox, “America’s Most Sensitive Content Team.”

I like that they’re employing the far-under utilized TV crossover gimmick, though these shows have all overlapped several times in the past. At least, “Family Guy” has with the other two. Now, if there was a “Simpsons” / MacFarlaneverse crossover, with some “Bob’s Burgers” sprinkled in, you’d have my very valuable attention. (Deadline)

I sort of gave up on “American Dad” a while ago but if it’s always as edgy as this episode, I might have to put it back in my rotation. This episode’s not coasting on the one joke of right wing pro-Americana and it’s even got lots of pop culture references, even without the cutaway setup of “Family Guy.”

The 100th episode of “American Dad” promises to kill 100 characters. They put up a death counter and they keep playing with it. Then it totally cheats which is actually the only funny way to pay off that gag.

More after the jump..

It opens with Jeff serenading Hayley. The song is funny, both innocently vulgar and sweet. Maybe every Fox animated show has music this week. “Family Guy” wasn’t on the screener disc but they’ve got to have one too.

Stan’s reaction to Jeff and Hayley’s engagement sets up a Cannonball Run-type chase with all the minor characters who have appeared before. One even reminds us who he was.

There are more references in this than many “Family Guy” episodes. There’s no cutaway but tons of references within the story. There are some visual references, either implied or explicit. There are names dropped in dialogue and one celebrity gets mocked on the Smith family TV. Wheels and the Legman appear again in this episode. That’s got to mean something to “American Dad” fans.

This episode is full of cartoon slapstick, and the characters do it deadpan. It gets really violent and inappropriate. There’s lots of bleeped out profanity and you can usually tell what they were saying.

I still don’t think “American Dad” is as funny as “Family Guy’s” take on the sitcom and animated comedy, but this is a much more distinctive voice than I thought it had. They’re doing cartoon antics but with the gore and language of “South Park,” albeit bleeped. That’s a reason to put a cartoon on in primetime.

“American Dad” returns October 3rd at 9:30/8:30c on Fox.
 

In a move that can only be described as heavy, Seth MacFarlane purchased an exact replica of the time-traveling DeLorean from Back to the Future, TMZ is reporting. The creator of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" has put about $20,000 worth of customized equipment into the vehicle in order to match its onscreen counterpart. According to one insider who has seen the car up close, it is nothing short of "insane."

Some people will say that MacFarlane is a real butthead, and that spending so much money is about as useful as a screen door on a battleship. But those people should make like a tree and get outta here.

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