American Dad! has some of the best Christmas episodes that you can find in any adult animated sitcom, so now it’s time to rank them to find out which are truly the best of the best. American Dad holds a very special place within the animated sitcom world. Not only has it greatly distanced itself from Seth McFarlane’s other overseen creations like Family Guy and The Cleveland Show over the years, it’s made a mark with fans over the fact that it’s a show that’s never been afraid to go wacky or truly zany with its stories. And that’s never been more evident than with the Christmas episodes.
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American Dad really stands out from the rest of the pack as each episode is willing to completely dismantle the show’s universe if it means telling a great story. And even when it sticks to a central timeline across any given episode, all of the wacky happenings still very much happened to each of the characters. Its Christmas episodes then go the extra mile to “celebrate” the holiday in some wild ways. Some of these examples are better than others, of course, but here’s a breakdown of every American Dad Christmas episode ranked from worst to best.
#12 – The Grounch (Season 17, Episode 22)
American Dad tried a second time (with the first coming next) to focus its holiday episode on a story sparked by Snot, but this one goes a bit too far from the holiday itself. When the Smith Family finds a list where Snot has ranked each of them by how attractive they are, Stan is inspired to start a men’s magazine, and Roger is so disillusioned about ranking last that he’s unable to enjoy his annual “Sexmas Party.” It then steers far away from the holiday for the rest of the episode as Stan gets more vain and Roger decides to steer clear of sexual activity.
The biggest tie comes with Roger’s transformation into the legally distinct “Grounch” and he ruins the sexy party happening without him. It’s a somewhat funny parody of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch story, but it’s really just not that interesting overall. Especially when compared to every other Christmas episode American Dad has done before and after this season.
#11 – Santa, Schmanta (Season 13, Episode 1)
Set after the events of “Ninety North, Zero West” (which is coming up on this list shortly), “Santa, Schmanta” is a rare pairing of Roger and Snot. It’s so rare that even Steve points out that it’s odd for the two of them to be spending time together, and it results in the first Hannukah episode in the entire series. With Santa dead, it leaves Roger with the ability to take over. But angry at being ignored by his family and finding a commonality with Snot, he ends up becoming a full Hannukah inspired deity that really changes the holiday season.
This is one of the better Santa inspired episodes as the family revives Santa as a Frankenstein’s monster kind of creature, and he’s easily defeated at the end of the day. But also because most of the family is taken out of the equation for most of the episode, it relies on Roger and Snot to carry the comedy. And they’re just not that funny together.
#10 – Into the Jingleverse (Season 18, Episode 22)
As the latest entry in the Santa Claus saga, “Into the Jingleverse” is sparked when Steve ends up giving better gifts to the rest of the family than Stan. As it’s something he takes a ton of pride in, he wants to make it up to Steve by getting him a virtual reality headset. Going to Santa to try and get the hottest gift of the year, Stan ends up with a headset that traps the family in a low-rent virtual world. And of course, it’s a scheme from Santa to test out these headsets of humans before taking over the rest of the world.
The CG animated gimmick makes for some fun sequences overall, and Stan learns that Steve’s just going all out to take him for everything he does, but it’s just not the most compelling of the Santa focused stories we’ve gotten over the years. It’s certainly a fun way to keep it going even after all these years, but compared to the others it just doesn’t stack up.
#9 – Ninety North, Zero West (Season 12, Episode 7)
The Christmas episodes where Santa Claus serves as the main antagonist had been increasingly harder to follow up with and that’s the case with “Ninety North, Zero West.” While this episode has the Smith Family acknowledge everything they’ve been through every Christmas thus far, it’s an attempt to bring the fight against Santa to a climax that doesn’t entirely succeed. Santa’s hatching a plot to unlock some powerful relics to bring himself to a higher level of power, and it’s undermined by Steve’s belief in the Christmas holiday. But it does have a great Francine joke where she’s very knowledgeable about the ritual that Santa is trying to use, and that’s always fun.
#8 – Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas (Season 10, Episode 9)
The first of the fully alternate universe selection on this list, “Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas” puts a new spin on Stan’s selfish Christmas wishes. Inspired by the party filled single life led by Principal Lewis, Stan wishes he could be single. Ending up in a universe where he’s single and Lewis ends up with Francine, it’s not long before Stan is hilariously gunned down when trying to get his old life back. Then when that happens, he finds out his “real” family is actually completely different, and he finds out his family is what he wants after all. It’s a lesson Stan has learned many times before, but it’s a funny roundabout way of getting there.
#7 – The Best Christmas Story Never Told (Season 2, Episode 9)
It all had to start somewhere, and thankfully American Dad‘s Christmas episode streak got off to a hot start. This one started off with a more traditional spin on Christmas specials in general as Stan was supposed to go back in time and find out what Christmas would be like if he were never born. Instead, he decides to use this opportunity to assassinate Jane Fonda as he believed she was the reason that people started saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” in the present time.
Eventually it all gets twisted, the Soviet Union takes over, and Stan has to shoot Ronald Reagen to change everything back. It’s this high on the list for its concept, but isn’t that high because it was steeped in American Dad’s more political oriented humor from its early days. And when compared to the later entries on this list, that really holds it back from true greatness.
#6 – The Most Adequate Christmas Ever (Season 3, Episode 8)
American Dad then followed this concept up with an even bigger idea. Stan is so controlling over Christmas that he eventually ruins it for the rest of his family. Leaving them to die in the cold when hunting for the perfect Christmas tree, Stan then faces court in the afterlife over whether or not he’s a good person. Instead, Stan steals a heaven gun and decides to take it to God to bring him back to Earth and somehow save his family before it’s too late. It cranks the harder edge Stan had in the earlier seasons to exaggerated new levels, and is wonderful for it.
This episode also kicks off a steady continuity between American Dad’s Christmas episodes for a few seasons with its depiction of the afterlife, and actually returns to it years down the line. It’s meant for Stan to learn the lesson that he really doesn’t know everything and should appreciate his family. It’s a common lesson in Christmas specials like this, but no other show will have Stan pointing a gun in God’s face to make the point.
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#5 – Season’s Beatings (Season 7, Episode 7)
“Season’s Beatings” is part of a wave of American Dad Christmas episodes where Stan and the rest of his family end up fighting a deity of some sort. After running into the Anti-Christ in previous seasons (with an episode much further down this list), “Season’s Beatings” brings back the Anti-Christ with a holiday influenced take on The Omen. Jeff winds up adopting the Anti-Christ, and Stan and the others try to find out what to do for the rest of the episode.
Like most of American Dad’s Christmas specials, it’s not long before it devolves into mystical chaos. It never goes as far as having Stan kill a child, but they decide to find a new home for the Anti-Christ as it gets ready to take over the world in a wholly different way. While it seems like it’s going to be just about Stan being jealous of Roger over playing Jesus in the Christmas play, it’s not long before it goes big like many of the best ones.
#4 – Minstrel Krampus (Season 9, Episode 8)
It’s no secret that American Dad has some of the best songs in adult animated history too, and they perfectly meld with the holidays for “Minstrel Krampus.” This remains the only fully musical Christmas episode in American Dad‘s history, and it’s no surprise why because they probably could never top what was here. With Stan releasing Krampus from a trap his father had held it in, Krampus then kidnaps Steven to punish him for how spoiled he’s become for the holidays.
It’s not an episode that involves the entire Smith family as Haley and Francine’s stories don’t really lead to anything, but the addition of Stan’s father to the mix to become the new Krampus within the series’ continuity make it one of the biggest standouts. Coupled this with some epic performances from artist Charles Bradley as Krampus himself, and this one is perfect for rewatches.
#3 – For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls (Season 6, Episode 8)
The same case should be made for the top three entries on this list too. “For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls” is famous for beginning the Smiths’ long running feud with Santa that kicks off his reappearances in many future episodes. After Stan gets Steve a gun for the holidays, Steve accidentally kills the real Santa Claus. From here on out, Santa comes back to life and comes their lives.
It leads to a fun showdown at the climax of the episode that has been really hard to top in future Santa stories. Making it better the first time were the additions of Jeff finding a connection with Stan, and Bob Todd being introduced as one of the greatest guest characters in American Dad‘s history. It’s a story that involves the entire family, and actually brings them all closer by the end of it all.
#2 – Yule. Tide. Repeat. (Season 15, Episode 22)
Inspired by many of the time loop stories released in the last decade, American Dad did a time loop story of its own. Stan is hoping to have the perfect Christmas holiday with his family again, and they go to the outdoor mall to do separate things. But when things go horribly wrong, Stan realizes he gets multiple opportunities to set things right and have the holiday he wants. But as is the trend by this point, he realizes the perfect holiday is one where he gets to spend with his family before they die horrific deaths. It’s just a fun switch up for the Christmas holiday, and American Dad found a way to bring a unique spin to everything fans had already seen through the years before.
#1 – Rapture’s Delight (Season 5, Episode 9)
But if you’re talking about the best Christmas episode, and the best episodes of American Dad overall, there is no better example than “Rapture’s Delight.” Taking the best of the experimental foundation left by the Christmas episodes before, “Rapture’s Delight” is the first real wild reset of the animated series’ continuity. Taking place immediately after the Rapture sends half the world’s people to heaven, Stan, Francine and Roger are left behind in the aftermath. With Stan breaking up with Francine, and Francine going on to date Jesus, the second half of the episode really shakes it up.
Taking cues from action movies of the 1980s (complete with perfectly terrible puns), Stan and Jesus team up to defeat the Anti-Christ in a final shoot out to save Francine. Its ending then not only ties it into the previous Christmas episodes, but then implies that the rest of the series is all within a dead Stan’s heaven. It’s the peak of American Dad, and the peak of what they have to offer for Christmas.
