Top 10 Reasons Why Francine Smith Should Divorce Stan

Haunted by his own traumatic homecoming, Stan takes pride in the fact that Francine was elected homecoming queen, and can’t wait to rub it in everyone’s faces at her high school reunion. However, once there, they discover that the title should have really gone to Francine’s classmate Betty Sue. Wanting to be with the real homecoming queen, Stan attends the rest of the reunion with Betty Sue while using his CIA double to distract his wife. It’s not quite cheating, but sneaking off with another woman is pretty dishonest.

Before Stan and Francine are set to renew their wedding vows, Stan admits that he only married Francine for her looks. Upon hearing this, Francine reveals that her outward appearance is far from au naturel, and without the cosmetic changes she painstakingly applies on the daily, she actually looks . . . well, rather different. Francine refuses to renew their vows unless Stan can accept her for who she is. Although Stan brings himself to do so, it’s only by making himself completely blind. When they finally work out their differences, it leads to some of the most cynical vows ever exchanged.

A staunch conservative, Stan believes in traditional values. However, he takes his views on gender way over the line. An overbearing know-it-all, Stan believes a woman’s place is in the home, and feels threatened when Francine shows any kind of independence. In fact, in the episode “Stan of Arabia,” he sings that he wishes he could go back to a time when women “didn’t have a say” and just did what they were told. He seems to get his wish when his family relocates to Saudi Arabia, where he gets awfully comfortable with the repressive gender roles.

In getting what he wants, Stan often resorts to extreme measures. He’s kidnapped several people, including Hilary Duff when he forced her to go on a date with Steve, and a baby that he decided shouldn’t be raised by gay parents. And don’t get us started on what he did to his mom’s boyfriends. He’s also physically assaulted strangers, out of both anger and just the desire to make friends laugh. Even family members aren’t safe. In the episode “Bully for Steve,” he repeatedly beats up Steve in the hopes he’ll stand up for himself.

Though he is a good provider, Stan often puts himself ahead of the family. In one episode, he straight up abandons them to outwit a car salesman, leaving them in ruin. Convinced that he always knows what’s best, he also needlessly lands them in dangerous situations. In “An Apocalypse to Remember”, he forces them to live in the woods because he doesn’t want to admit he was wrong about the apocalypse. And in “Most Adequate Christmas Ever”, his hunt for the biggest Christmas tree causes them to almost freeze to death. Later that episode, he pulls a gun on God Himself - a true sign of hubris.

This marriage obviously isn’t built on trust. For 20 years, Stan took Francine to see what she thought was a marriage counselor, but in reality the “counselor” was a hypnotist who had made an arrangement with Stan. While Stan left the room, the hypnotist would make Francine forget all the memories that made Stan look bad. It worked, until the hypnotist, finally fed up, made Francine remember everything she’d been trained to repress. This isn’t the only time Stan made Francine forget things though, as Stan also once took her to the CIA lab for a memory wipe after he forgot an anniversary.

Realizing he forgot his anniversary yet again in the episode “American Fung”, Stan has Francine committed to a psychiatric hospital to buy him enough time to shop for the perfect gift. Unfortunately, the plan goes awry when Stan spends the extra time buying himself cool gifts instead! Three days later, when Stan arrives at the hospital to pick up Francine, he’s still scrambling for gift ideas . . . and presents her with a bucket of chicken. As if things couldn’t possibly get worse, Stan’s actions lead to them both being sent to a doctor for a lobotomy.

Remember that hypnotist Stan hired to make Francine forget his misdeeds? One of those repressed memories Francine uncovered was of wanting to get vaccinations for her twins, Hayley and Bailey. However, Stan wanted to put off the vaccinations. It’s heavily implied that, since we never see Bailey again, Bailey died because he didn’t receive the vaccine Stan denied him. This IS far from the only example of Stan being a negligent father. He also once left Francine and Hayley to die in space when Roger wanted to kill the Smith family.

Thanks to Stan’s horrible instincts, the Smith family suffered a harrowing set of events when a massive hurricane struck their home. Adding to their misfortunes, they’re attacked by a shark and then a bear. The following morning when the storm clears up, Stan finds himself in a standoff with Cleveland Brown and Peter Griffin. When Francine opens the door to find out what’s going on, a startled Stan shoots her right in the arm. Given how Stan has been reckless with firearms in the past, something like this was bound to happen.

Before we unveil our number one pick, here are some dishonorable mentions.
- He Didn’t Listen to Francine’s Warning Not to Give Steve a Gun
- His Jealousy Ruined Francine’s Real Estate Career
- He Refused to Let Francine Help Hayley when She Was Choking

When Stan wanted to set up one of Francine’s friends, Melinda, with his boss, CIA Deputy Director Bullock, Francine was skeptical. It turns out Francine was right, as Bullock wound up accidentally killing Melinda on their first date. Stan’s reaction? He keeps the truth a secret, just to avoid hearing Francine say those stinging words: “I told you so”. Instead, he convinces Francine that SHE was the one who killed her friend - causing a complete emotional breakdown. Now that’s reason enough for Francine to start looking for a good divorce lawyer.