During Season 4, episodes of
American Dad! and its
sister show,
Family Guy, were delayed from regular broadcast due to the
2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.
Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the series, publicly sided with the
Writers Guild, and fully participated in the strike and other events pertaining to the issue. The official production of
American Dad! started to dwindle as of February 2008, with a delay in production becoming imminent through much of March and April. The strike ended on February 12, 2008; and the series resumed airing regularly within a few months. Production for Season 5 began in 2008, during the airing of the
Season 4. The season was executive produced by series regulars
David Zuckerman, Kenny Schwartz,
Rick Wiener,
Richard Appel,
Matt Weitzman,
Mike Barker, and series creator
Seth MacFarlane. The
showrunners for the season were Weitzman and Barker. As production began Matt Weitzman, Jim Bernstein, Chris and Matt McKenna, Brian Boyle, Erik Sommers, Laura McCreary, Jonathan Fener, Erik Durbin, David Zuckerman and Kenny Schwartz all stayed on from the previous season. Both Matt Fusfeld and Alex Cuthbertson received their first writing credit for the series. Directors Pam Cooke, Josh Aoshima, Tim Parsons, Rodney Clouden, Albert Calleros, Joe Daniello, and Bob Bowen all stayed with the show from the previous season. David Hemingson left the series, and went on to co-direct for other television shows, notably
How I Met Your Mother, and went on to create a short-lived television series, entitled
The Deep End. Michael Shipley and Dan Vebber also left at the end of the third production season. The main cast consisted of Seth MacFarlane (Stan Smith, Roger, Greg Corbin, among others),
Wendy Schaal (Francine Smith),
Rachael MacFarlane (Hayley Smith, among others),
Scott Grimes (Steve Smith) and
Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus Heissler, among others). Several new characters were created and introduced in Season 5. The character of Sidney—a
persona of Roger who escapes to start a life of his own—was introduced in the episode "
The One That Got Away". He was voiced by the series creator Seth MacFarlane. Avery Bullock's wife, Mariam, who was kidnapped and held hostage by
terrorists for three years, was also introduced and voiced by
Jean Smart. Amy, one of Lisa Silver's friends and a frequent
bully of Steve, was introduced during this season.
Amanda Seyfried provided the voice for the character.
J.K. Simmons provided the voice of Mr. McCreary, the founder and chairman of a local
Bible print shop, and Reginald the Koala, another "volunteer" from the CIA's secret brain-swap program. He is voiced by
Donald Fullilove until midway through next season, where writer Erik Durbin provides the voice. Other guest stars who made multiple appearances as
recurring characters from previous seasons were
Patrick Stewart as Avery Bullock, Stan's boss at the
CIA and Mike Barker as Terry Bates, who briefly returned in the episode "
Daddy Queerest". Starting with season 5, the opening sequence of the series was revamped. Instead of Stan picking up a newspaper with a different headline on it, there is now a recurring gag of Roger appearing in different disguises from under the
dashboard. Stan's interaction with the family and his commute from his house to the
CIA have also been modified. ==Episodes==