American Dad! (TV Series) A Star Is Reborn (2015) User Reviews

The first classic episode of "American Dad!" after its switch to TBS.

[newpicnictime · 8/10 · 29 March 2015]

I hope this show still exists years from now. However, if it does not, the current season aired on TBS will undoubtedly be remembered by fans as the show's least consistent. The jokes just don't seem to be hitting the mark as spot-on as AD's many admirers have become accustomed to. In particular, the "b-plots" seem to have taken a nosedive from "sometimes funny" to "often cringe-inducing".

Fortunately, "A Star is Reborn" makes us forget all of that for a few minutes and takes us back in time to pre-"Hot Water"-era AD; a time when this show seemed more interested in entertaining than offending. This has all the hallmarks of a classic episode.

The main plot features guest stars who all contribute to the funny rather than detract from it. The setting is "Golden-Age Hollywood", an era Seth MacFarlane seems quite attached to. Everything about this episode is lovingly crafted. From the background art in Junebug's house to the punchlines in the "Bones"-related b-plot, the intricacies of this episode shine like a jewel compared to the rest of this dull season. Even the soundtrack, particularly during the conclusion, paints a nostalgic sonic picture that I know would not be found in any other cartoon.

To summarize, if you are one of the many fans who jumped ship after this show moved to TBS, I would like to say first of all that I do not blame you. I love certain episodes of this series dearly, and to see it dip at all in quality was nothing short of traumatic. However, I urge you to give it a second chance, starting with this episode. I doubt you will be disappointed.

"Even if we don't spend all our time together, we're gonna spend all OF time together."

[tobymcfly · 9/10 · 22 April 2016]

Beautiful.

This episode is all about reincarnation, and it is done very brilliantly. Something I thought American Dad was never capable of. I'm not really a religion person, more spiritual. I believe that life is a cycle and our souls carry on to the next life. Sounds crazy yeah, that's because I AM crazy and don't really care what anyone thinks about what I believe in. Life is a circle, and it is the Circle of Life; Lion King circa 1994.

Whoever is saying the show dropped in quality after the move to TBS, can go spend all OF time touching themselves. If there is one episode that can get your hopes up again, it's this one. No decapitated heads or super violent deaths makes this one of the best of season 11, and one of my personal favorites. Also, this episode contains probably the most heartfelt, profound, warm moment between Stan and Francine. I can't remember the last time American Dad made me go "Awwwwwwwww". The side plot is pretty funny too.

So.....check this one out AD fans and non AD fans alike!

Reincarnation means eternal love! Do you believe in reincarnation and finding your soul mate?

[adampkalb · 10/10 · 10 December 2019]

I stopped watching American Dad regularly when it moved to TBS, because I was too lazy to watch a different On Demand-channel after watching The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob's Burgers on Fox On Demand, but I still checked on it when Jeff Fischer returned to Hayley after being gone for 2 seasons. What other programs do you think the real Jeff Fischer who voiced him was in during the 2-year steve when he only had 1 episode in Seasons 9 and 10? Enough about that. I was interested to see this episode when I learned Stan Lee had a cameo as a narrator, but the episode as a whole is great, too. It's a fun trip when Francine and Stan go to Hollywood, and they get to help June Rosewood (Kate Mulgrew) finish an old black-and-white film, Marble Troubles, from 60 years ago (circa 1955 from the year of this episode) using digital camera effects to age down June and turn Stan and Francine into the original 2 actors from Marble Troubles, Leonard and Gloria, since Stan has the same comedic talent as Leonard Zane of slipping on marbles and not falling down. Marble Troubles' physical comedy routine was revolutionary for the time because no one was doing it anymore, probably because it was made after non-silent films were invented. Mickey Rooney and Carl Reiner guest star as the old producers who were looking for Francine and Stan to replace Gloria and Leonard, and...(sobs) I'm really going to miss Mickey Rooney. He passed away almost a year before this aired, and I really loved him in Pete's Dragon and The Year Without a Santa Claus.

Meanwhile, the kids and Roger are left home alone together (Klaus is mysteriously absent from the main plot), and when Hayley and Steve express their distaste for Bones, a FOX show that has been around for as long as American Dad, Roger gets so mad that he traps them in dog kennel cages with state quarters as bait. When Hayley deleted one of the Bones episodes to record something else, and Steve doubted Roger watching Bones after it declined in Season 4, I found Roger's frozen angry face hilarious! I can totally relate because I would be just as offended as him if someone told me not to watch The Simpsons after Season 12. Steve tricks Roger into taking him out for a walk so he can stuff Roger in the cage. The DVR argument being about Bones paid off when Steve said "Oh, I'm a dog, Roger. And I'm about to bury some Bones!" After the last scene of Marble Troubles is finished, June kidnaps Francine, and Stan learns that the reason why Marble Troubles was unfinished all those years ago was because June killed Leonard and Gloria for cheating on her in the same steve when Cary Grant butchered 3 people a week. When June leaves Stan and Francine out to drown in the ocean, Francine remembers the same thing happening to them as Leonard and Gloria. June gets out in the ocean so she can die with Stan and be reincarnated, only for him and Francine to swim around her and get in her boat, and accidentally kill her with the speedboat's motor by going in reverse when trying to mess with her by briefly zooming away. That serves her right for killing them twice! Stan thinks Francine pretended to remember a past life to trick June Rosewood into dying with them, but she wasn't! Their reincarnation was real after all. It was a really poignant ending to a great episode. Rest In Peace Mickey Rooney, Stan Lee and Carl Reiner, and I genuinely hope all of you have a good next life.