Ron Hughart Movies

Created by Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame, the weekly Fox animated sitcom American Dad! peered into the home life of a dedicated but thickheaded secret agent. Jut-jawed protagonist Stan Smith was a troubleshooter for the CIA who, by his own declaration, would "stop at nothing" to protect his country -- and in proving this he invariably brought down a great deal of pain and embarrassment to his family. In an all too typical example, Stan had a cute habit of shooting first and asking questions later, which wreaked havoc on faulty household appliances and the like. The Smith family included wife Francine, who had a tough time hiding her drug-addicted past from her straight-arrow husband; daughter Hayley, a community-college coed who'd gone over to extreme left-wing liberalism just to spite her dad; and dorky son Steve, who went to great and pathetic lengths to "be cool." Also members of the household were Roger, a squid-like, Paul Lynde-sounding space alien who'd been hiding out in the family's home ever since Steve rescued him from Area 51; and Klaus the goldfish, who as a result of a misfired mutation experiment spoke in a sinister Peter Lorre-ish German accent. The first cartoon series to truly reflect the singular paranoia of the post-9/11 era, American Dad! premiered February 6, 2005, right after Fox's telecast of the Super Bowl (the same route previously traveled by MacFarlane's Family Guy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this take on Raging Bull, the episode "Raging Bender" starts with the Planet Express crew going out to the movies. Bender gets into a fight with another robot in the theater and knocks him out, only to find out that the robot was the champion of the Robot Fighting League. Bender immediately joins the league and wins a lot of matches because he's popular. When he starts to lose his public appeal, he asks Leela to coach him for the big match against the giant robot Destructor. She agrees because she has a grudge against Destructor's coach, Phnog, who is also her old martial arts instructor. Leela figures out the secret behind Destructor's power and she saves the day, but Bender still loses and gets kicked out of the league. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

In this parody of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Fry tries to find a golden bottle cap in his favorite beverage, Slurm. He tries using the professor's latest invention that can see through metal, but he ends up swallowing a golden bottle cap and winning the contest. The crew gets to go on a tour of the Slurm factory and party with Slurms McKenzie, the party slug mascot who is sick and tired of constantly partying. Fry gets thirsty on the tour and falls into the Slurm river, so Leela and Bender try to save him. They all go down a drain and discover that Slurm is really made from the secretions of a giant queen slug. They are captured, but Slurms saves them. Pamela Anderson guest stars as the voice of blonde "Slurm Babe" Dixie. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide