(S01E01) The Cleveland Show begins with the Family Guy crew in Quahog. After his divorce papers with Loretta are finalized and the prerequisite destruction of his house by Peter occurs, Cleveland decides to abandon his deli (you know, the one he never seems to be at anyway) and move to California. On an out-of-the-way detour, he stops in his old hometown of Stoolbend, Virginia and reconnects with an old flame.Based on the pilot episode, the analogy that can be made is this: Family Guy is to All In The Family what The Cleveland Show is to The Jeffersons (with a little What's Happening!! and Good Times thrown in). Even the theme music is reminiscent of a 70's black sitcom, plus a few visual cues from Soul Train. The theme is catchy and even better than the Family Guy theme.
As with Family Guy, each of the supporting cast has their characterizations: Cleveland's love interest Donna (who became his wife at the end of the episode) is the cliché "female voice of reason". Cleveland's son Cleveland Jr., who was seen in the progenitor series, is also a regular. However, since Family Guy he's gained weight, stopped talking so fast, and turned into a nerd. There is also his step-kids Roberta, the rebellious teenage girl and Rollo, the underage perverted boy (their version of Stewie, but a little older).
Cleveland's neighbors are Holt, a braggart with low self-esteem that lives with his mother, Lester, a typical redneck, and Tim, the Russian anthropomorphic bear. Tim is my favorite character on the show so far (he's voiced by Seth MacFarlane himself, naturally). I guess the show did need at least one anthropomorphic animal otherwise there would be union problems.
Interesting side note: Tim's wife Arianna is voiced by Arianna Huffington. Actually, the show uses several celebrity voices besides the Family Guy cast. Roberta's boyfriend Federline Jones is voiced by Jamie Kennedy and the voice of the neighbor Holt is done by Jason Sudeikis.
The show follows the formula set by Family Guy and American Dad and represents a strange hybrid of the two. There are asides as with the former, but the plot is more linear like the latter. Cleveland himself seems more emotionally stable than either of his predecessors. How do you make a character interesting who was meant to be boring? You put him in a strange universe.
While Tim the Bear is the most fun, I also find the character of Rollo interesting. If Quagmire shows up in Stoolbend, we could have a case of a Jedi master and apprentice. Rollo should have some sort of partner in the show with which to trade quips, as with Stewie and Brian. Perhaps they could team him with Tim?
While I wasn't overwhelmed by The Cleveland Show, it did give me a chuckle or two. The show will likely be successful like its predecessor. If Seth MacFarlane keeps up this pattern, we should be seeing his version of Maude sometime in the not-to-distant future.
[Watch clips and free episodes of The Cleveland Show at SlashControl]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-28-2009 @ 12:07AM
MrMuggs said...
I absolutely can't stand Family Guy. I love American Dad. I gave The Cleveland Show a chance but thought it was terrible. It's odd how you have 3 shows created by one guy and I love one of them but don't like the others. I really like the humor, setting and characters in American Dad. Also, I just don't understand the talking dog and talking baby and I don't understand why there's a talking bear on the new show. I know it's a cartoon and all but I don't like it. I can understand the talking alien and it makes sense on the show but I don't get the others.
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9-28-2009 @ 4:54PM
Leroy said...
But you have no problem with the talking fish? Your likes and dislikes here seem pretty arbitrary.
9-28-2009 @ 1:39AM
Telechimp said...
It didn't do much for me... it was another cookie cutter show from Seth Macfarlane... he has 3/4 of Fox's Sunday Night lineup... why did he squander it making the same show over again... i think 'Mind Quad' would have made a much better pilot.
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9-28-2009 @ 1:30AM
tingrin87 said...
so far, Cleveland Show is just the "Black Family Guy" - you have the smartass baby, idiot fat son, hot wife... and we diverge slightly with the "meg" character, being attractive instead of butt-ugly, and Cleveland (the "Peter") isn't a f*%ing retard.
i did like seeing Cleveland develop as a character, when he smashed K. Fed's window.
and am i the only one who thought Donna's cutaway was awkward and forced?
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9-28-2009 @ 11:43AM
Elf said...
Well, at least we're spared the whole "Do any characters besides the dog understand the baby" issue. I am worried that Rollo is too sexually knowedgable. I think it might have been funnier if he was more naive. As for the comment on how Rollo could play off a character like Cleveland, that's very astute because as it is Rollo doesn't have a confidant-type character, like Stewie does with Brian, so I predict we're going to have lots of episodes where Cleveland has to try to outsmart him. I think Rollo needs a peer or he'll get tired very quickly.
I am really disappointed in what they did with Cleveland Jr. though. I can understand aging him to 14 and even making him fat, but really now, asking his father to help him wipe? Is that what we have to look forward to?
The rest of the characters are fine and I look forward to seeing them fleshed out a bit, particularly Cleveland's new group of friends.
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9-28-2009 @ 2:37PM
Bill said...
I think Macfarlane should have done a workplace sitcom instead of another family one. Just to shake it up a little.
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9-28-2009 @ 5:01PM
Fooksie said...
This show was a yawn fest. I am glad that the animators got the work, but this pilot was weak.
I'm actually a little amazed that it was given the greenlight.
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9-28-2009 @ 10:59PM
KenMo said...
I get the impression that Progressive McFarland was attacked with "White Guilt". That's the only reason I can see that he took the weakest character from the Family Guy to do a spin off with.
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9-28-2009 @ 11:02PM
KenMo said...
Yup, forgot to spell check the post first.
But I won't apologize to Mr MacFarlane until he apologizes to us.
On a side note, I do like his acting in FastForward.
9-29-2009 @ 10:06PM
John said...
I watched FF and mentally superimposed Brian Griffin into the scenes he appeared in. I couldn't help myself.
9-29-2009 @ 2:23AM
Owloo said...
I have never watched the Family Guy but I was gonna give this show a look since it was a animated cartoon of a black family but once I seen the family of talking bears in a promo who live next door I decided to skip this show
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