The Cleveland Show is an American adult animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard
Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company as a spin-off of Family Guy. The series
centers on the Browns and Tubbs, two dysfunctional families consisting of parents Cleveland Brown
and Donna Tubbs and their children Cleveland Brown, Jr., Roberta Tubbs, and Rallo Tubbs.
Similar to Family Guy, it exhibits much of its humor in the form of cutaway gags that
often lampoon American culture. The series was conceived by MacFarlane in
2007 after developing the two animated series Family Guy and American Dad! for the Fox network.
MacFarlane centered the show on Family Guy character Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna
Tubbs, his step-children Rallo and Roberta Tubbs, and his son Cleveland, Jr., who, in
the show, is depicted as an obese, soft-spoken teen, as opposed to his depiction as a younger,
hyperactive child with average body weight on Family Guy.
The series originally aired from September 27, 2009, to May 19, 2013, for a total of
four seasons and 88 episodes. The Cleveland Show was nominated for one Annie Award, one
Primetime Emmy Award, and two Teen Choice Awards, but received mixed reviews from media
critics. The Cleveland Show holds a TV-14 rating. The series was canceled after its
fourth season. Cleveland and his family have since then returned to Family Guy in the twelfth
season episode "He's Bla-ack!".
Production Development
Seth MacFarlane initially conceived The Cleveland Show in 2007 while working on his other two
animated series, Family Guy and American Dad! The Cleveland Show first appeared on the development
slate at Fox in early 2008, under no official name for the pilot, after a report that Fox
had purchased the series from creators. On May 5, 2008, MacFarlane and 20th Century Fox
Television inked a deal. The pilot was named The Cleveland Show in May 2008, when it appeared
on the primetime slate for the 2008–09 television season, although it wasn't officially on the
network schedule. Shortly after a report that King of the Hill just ended, leaving air time
for The Cleveland Show, the show was picked up for a full season after an additional nine
episodes of the show were ordered. In May 2009, The Cleveland Show appeared on the primetime
slate for the 2009–10 television season, for airing on Sunday nights at 8:30 pm On
June 15, 2009, it was announced that The Cleveland Show would premiere on September 27, 2009.
MacFarlane and Henry pitched a 22-minute pilot to Fox which aired on September 27, 2009,
but had been leaked on the internet in June 2009. Even before the pilot episode premiered,
the show had already been renewed for a 22-episode second season. After the first season of the
show aired, it was given the green light to start production. On June 10, 2010, less than
three weeks into the first season's summer hiatus, it was announced that Fox was ordering
a third season. A fourth season was announced on May 9, 2011, just a few days before the
second season concluded. Executive producers
Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry and Richard Appel served as executive producers on the series
since the first season. Voice cast
Mike Henry voices two of the show's main characters: Cleveland Brown and Rallo Tubbs. The voice
of Cleveland was developed originally for Family Guy by Henry after being influenced
by one of his best friends who had a very distinct regional accent. For the voice of
Rallo, Henry has stated that he had originally created the voice over twenty years ago, when
he had made a series of prank calls. Sanaa Lathan voices Donna Tubbs, the wife
of Cleveland. In developing the character, Lathan said that the producers "wanted her
to be educated, but to have some edge." Prior to voicing Donna, Lathan had only one other
voice credit in a relatively low-budget film entitled The Golden Blaze. In addition to
the show, she also primarily worked as an actress in such films as Alien vs. Predator,
Love & Basketball and The Family That Preys. Reagan Gomez-Preston plays Roberta Tubbs,
the stepdaughter of Cleveland. Gomez has stated that she uses her own voice to portray Roberta,
and that she herself gets mistaken to be a fifteen-year-old over the phone "all the time."
Before Gomez was cast as Roberta, Nia Long had provided the character's voice during
the first production season. According to Long, she was replaced because producers decided
they wanted an actress with a younger-sounding voice, given that the character is a teenager.
Kevin Michael Richardson, a recurring guest voice on Family Guy and American Dad, portrays
Cleveland, Jr., as well as Cleveland's next door neighbor Lester Krinklesac. In portraying
Cleveland, Jr., Richardson drew inspiration from a character named Patrick that he had
played on the NBC drama series ER who was mentally impaired and wore a football helmet.
For Lester, Richardson stated in an interview that, being African American, he had "run
into a few rednecks in [his] time," and decided to simply perform a stereotypical redneck
impression for the voice of Lester. Jason Sudeikis plays Holt Richter, one of
Cleveland's drinking buddies with a short stature, and Terry Kimple, one of Cleveland's
longtime friends who now works with him at Waterman Cable. Sudeikis originally began
as a recurring cast member, but starting with the episode "Harder, Better, Faster, Browner",
he was promoted to a series regular. Seth MacFarlane played Tim the Bear up until
episode 3APS10, which MacFarlane admits is a "Steve Martin impression [...] a Wild and
Crazy Guy impression". Jess Harnell voices Tim from episode 3APS11 onwards.
Other voices include that of Arianna Huffington as Tim's wife Arianna the Bear, Nat Faxon
as Tim and Arianna's son Raymond the Bear, Jamie Kennedy as Roberta's boyfriend Gabriel
Friedman, a.k.a. "Federline Jones", Will Forte as Principal Wally, Frances Callier as Evelyn
"Cookie" Brown, Craig Robinson as LeVar "Freight Train" Brown and David Lynch as Gus the bartender.
Characters
Cleveland's newly introduced family includes his new wife in her early forties, Donna Tubbs
Brown; Donna's teenage daughter Roberta; and Donna's five year-old son Rallo. Cleveland,
Jr. underwent a complete redesign for the show, becoming sensitive and soft-spoken.
Crossovers with other animated sitcoms
The Cleveland Show characters have appeared on other animated sitcoms and vice versa.
The Cleveland Show crossovers have all involved two other animated programs. Both the other
two animated programs were also created by Seth MacFarlane: Family Guy and American Dad!
There are also many brief cameos of characters from FOX's other animated series, The Simpsons,
and King of the Hill. Broadcast
Syndication In July 2010, the Turner Broadcasting System
picked up syndication rights, for their networks TBS and Adult Swim. The show premiered on
Adult Swim on Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 10:30/9:30c. The show debuted in syndication
on local stations on September 16, 2013. Cancellation
On April 17, 2013, Fox dismissed increasing rumors that The Cleveland Show had been cancelled,
reporting rather that renewal of the series was undetermined as of that time. However,
on May 13, NY Daily News Fox Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly confirmed its cancellation. The
series premiered in reruns on September 29, 2012, on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network in
the United States, in Canada on MuchMusic on September 3, 2013, and on TBS and local
stations on September 16, 2013, again in the United States. Reruns continue to be aired
on those networks today. Following the series cancellation, it was confirmed that Cleveland
and the Brown family would be moving back to Quahog to rejoin the Family Guy cast.
International broadcast Reception
Critical reception The Cleveland Show has received mixed reviews.
Review aggregator Metacritic gave the show a score of 57 out of 100. Tom Shales of The
Washington Post spoke very negatively about both the show and MacFarlane himself, describing
him as "no better than the dirty old man hanging around playgrounds with naughty pictures or
risque jokes as lures". Roberto Bianco of USA Today wrote a similarly negative review,
suggesting that the easiest fix for its problem was "cancellation". John McWhorter of The
New Republic called it "a patronizing mess" and "basically Family Guy in blackface". He
added: "What isn't black in it is so shamelessly ripped off from Family Guy that it's hard
to believe it's the product of creators who are usually so studiously 'post-' obvious
stunts of the sort." Matt Rouse of TV Guide wrote, "The lamest, most unnecessary spin-off
since Private Practice, Cleveland rests on the shoulders of the hopelessly bland title
character". However, Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was more positive about the program,
writing that although The Cleveland Show was "just as rude-crude" as Family Guy, it also
had "more warmth" due to Cleveland being a more likeable character than Peter Griffin.
Owen also praised the character of Tim the Bear, stating that "Tim is by far the most
amusing creation". Awards and nominations
Home media DVD releases
References
External links Official website
The Cleveland Show at the Internet Movie Database The Cleveland Show at TV.com