TVSquad

A few more voices have been added to the cast of the Family Guy spin-off, The Cleveland Show. The voice of the main character will still be provided by Mike Henry, who also gets an executive producer credit on the show.

Kevin Richardson from The Cleaner is voicing the character of Lester, a redneck neighbor of Cleveland. Interestingly, Mike Henry is a white man voicing an African-American while Richardson is African-American voicing a white man.

Also joining the cast is Sanaa Lathan who will play Cleveland's love interest Donna and Nia Long (pictured) who will play one of Donna's children, a rebellious teen named Roberta.

I suppose the success of this show will depend on the execution of it. It has to be similar enough to Family Guy to not alienate those fans but different enough to spark an interest. Cleveland Brown never struck me as a character who could carry his own show but maybe I'll be proven wrong.

FOX announced its plans for the 2008-2009 season today. Here are the highlights:

Returning: The Moment of Truth, So You Think You Can Dance, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, American Idol, America's Most Wanted, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Bones, Cops, Don't Forget the Lyrics!, Hell's Kitchen, House, King of the Hill, Kitchen Nightmares, MADtv, The Moment of Truth, Prison Break, Talkshow with Spike Feresten, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 'Til Death

Out: Back To You, Canterbury's Law, K-Ville, Nashville, New Amsterdam, Next Great American Band, Return of Jezebel James, Unhitched

New: Sit Down, Shut Up; The Cleveland Show; Dollhouse (Midseason); Fringe; Do Not Disturb (formerly The Inn); Secret Millionaire (Midseason)

Schedule and detailed descriptions of the new shows after the jump.

From the "Things that make you go, hmmmm?" department... Just let this one roll around in your noggin for a bit. According to reports, after 2 1/2 years of negotiations, Mr. MacFarlane has a new deal with 20th Century Fox TV that could be worth more than $100 million. The deal will keep him with the studio through 2012. To put it in some perspective, J.J. Abrams signed a five year feature/TV deal with Paramount and Warner Bros that was valued at $60 million.

Now, I don't mean to slight Seth or his accomplishments, but doesn't that strike you as just a bit odd? I mean, I'm a fan of his work. I've never missed an episode of Family Guy or American Dad. Hell, I sat through The War At Home to catch his guest spot. Still, I also follow ratings rather closely, and while Family Guy is certainly a success, I wouldn't have expected it to garner him highest paid status. Maybe The Cleveland Show is just that much better than any of us are giving it credit for.