Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls
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"Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls" is the third episode of the seventh season of the animated comedy series '' American Dad!'' It originally aired on
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
in the United States on November 7, 2010. The episode follows Stan as his title of having the best haunted house is threatened by a neighbor. To tempt people to come to his house, he uses
serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
s as the house's main attraction. Meanwhile, Steve falls in love with Toshi's sister Akiko as they go
trick-or-treat Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". The ...
ing. The episode was written by
Eric Weinberg Eric Weinberg (born 1959/1960) is an American television producer and screenwriter best known for his work on the television series ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs''. Biography Weinberg is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of P ...
and directed by John Aoshima and Jansen Yee. It received generally positive reviews from critics. According to Nielsen ratings, it was watched by 6.30 million viewers in its original airing, which was a notable improvement from the previous episode.


Plot

After hosting the scariest haunted house in the neighborhood for years, Stan finds himself outdone by his neighbor Buckle. Francine makes things worse when she finds herself returning and declares that it is impossible to beat him. Depressed, Stan goes to
Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...
for advice, and Roger suggests he use his
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
influence to get real body parts and instruments. Stan decides to pull in five of the most dangerous
serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
s in the area. The killers sitting in their cell fail to scare anyone so Roger tries to make them scarier. First he gets them riled up and horny (by ripping off Francine's costume in front of them, leaving her in her underwear for the rest of the episode) and then he lets them loose, causing them to go on a killing spree; forcing Stan, Francine, Roger and
Klaus Klaus is a German, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas. Notable persons whose family name is Klaus * Billy Klaus (1928–2006), American base ...
to hide in the kitchen. Stan uses Roger to block the door from opening. While everyone is trapped in the kitchen Stan admits his haunted house efforts were to impress Francine, as he wants her to support him no matter what. Francine apologizes for not being supportive (though Stan takes the opportunity to shift the blame of their situation to her). Meanwhile, Steve, Barry and Snot arrive at Toshi's house to go trick or treating, but Toshi refuses to wear the
samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
costume his mother got him. Toshi's mom asks Steve if they would mind taking his younger sister Akiko with them, whom Steve immediately falls for. Toshi allows them to go out with the condition that they have Akiko back by sundown. Steve ignores this and decides to keep trick or treating with Akiko anyway. They find out Toshi is looking for them, now wearing the samurai costume and wielding a
katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the '' tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge f ...
to kill Steve with, so they hide in a cave under the Langley Falls. Steve starts to move in on Akiko until Toshi bursts in and chases him to Vince Chung's Halloween party. Steve tells Toshi he is smothering his sister; Toshi agrees and leaves them together. Akiko admits she has a crush on another boy named Doug, because despite being nine, he is an incredible dancer. The serial killers burst into the kitchen and chase Stan and the others through the woods. They are cornered at an abandoned factory, but are saved when Toshi arrives and kills the serial killers with his katana. The family contentedly heads home, and Roger takes one killer's head for sexual purposes.


Production

The episode was directed by John Aoshima and Jansen Yee, and written by
Eric Weinberg Eric Weinberg (born 1959/1960) is an American television producer and screenwriter best known for his work on the television series ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs''. Biography Weinberg is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of P ...
. Despite being one of the main characters,
Hayley Hayley (pronounced ) is an English given name. It is derived from the English surname Haley (surname), Haley, which in turn was based on an Old English toponym, a compound of ''heg'' "hay" and ''leah'' "clearing or meadow".Katie Martin-Doyle, '' ...
does not appear in this episode. In addition to the regular cast,
Sandra Oh Sandra Miju Oh (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian–American actress. She is best known for her starring roles as Rita Wu on the HBO comedy '' Arliss'' (1996–2002), Dr. Cristina Yang on the ABC medical drama series ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005 ...
guest starred as Toshi's mother. Oh reprised her role from the episode " Weiner of Our Discontent". Actress
Lisa Edelstein Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
reprised her role as Shari, having previously voiced that part in " Phantom of the Telethon" from season four. Edelstein also had a smaller part in the season seven premiere " 100 A.D." Recurring voice actors Curtis Armstrong, Daisuke Suzuki and
Eddie Kaye Thomas Eddie Kaye Thomas (born October 31, 1980) is an American actor who rose to prominence as Paul Finch in the ''American Pie'' film series. His other notable appearances include Andy Rosenberg in the ''Harold & Kumar'' series, Jeff Woodcock in ...
reprised their roles as Snot, Toshi and Barry respectively. Kevin Michael Richardson made a minor appearance in the episode as the lead serial killer.


Reception

"Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls" was broadcast on November 7, 2010, as a part of an animated television night on Fox, and was preceded by an episode of MacFarlane's show '' Family Guy''. It was watched by 6.30 million viewers in its original airing, according to Nielsen ratings, despite being aired simultaneously as '' Desperate Housewives'' on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
, ''
The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...
'' on
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and '' Sunday Night Football'' on
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. The episode also acquired a 2.9 rating in the 18–49 demographic, finishing fourth in its timeslot. In total viewership, the episode was up 17.5% from the previous episode, "
Son of Stan The seventh season of ''American Dad!'' aired from October 3, 2010 to May 22, 2011. Guest stars of this season include Jason Alexander, Sarah Chalke, Hector Elizondo, Anthony Michael Hall, Hayden Panettiere, Lou Diamond Phillips and Burt Reynolds. ...
", which aired on October 10, 2010 and had a viewership of 5.36 million. The episode received generally positive reviews from television critics. Jason Hughes of
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wrote a mixed review of the episode and noted that " ey should have kept the focus more completely on the holiday, though maybe
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MacFarlane was worried he'd said about all he could about Halloween in three back-to-back episodes." Hughes compared the episode to "horror movies of the old" and said that the episode's "imagination is far better than anything
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
can be seen on television." In a simultaneous review of the episodes of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'', ''
The Cleveland Show ''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A spin-off of ''Family Guy'', the series centers on Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna Tubbs, and ...
'' and ''Family Guy'' that preceded the episode, Emily VanDerWerff of
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
wrote: "As always, it fell to ''American Dad'' to try to prop up the rest of the night, and fortunately, the episode was capable of doing so. ... This wasn't the strongest ''American Dad'' ever, but it had some very funny bits and a coherent storyline that didn't try too hard to shock." She gave the episode a B+, the highest grade of the night, higher than ''The Cleveland Show'' episode " It's the Great Pancake, Cleveland Brown", ''The Simpsons'' episode " Treehouse of Horror XXI", and ''Family Guy'' episode " Halloween on Spooner Street".


References


External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Best Little Horror House In Langley Falls 2010 American television episodes American Dad! (season 7) episodes Halloween television episodes