The Cleveland Show is an American 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 series was canceled after its fourth season.[1] Cleveland has since returned to Family Guy, accompanied by the rest of the Brown-Tubbs family, as of the twelfth season episode "He's Bla-ack!".
Production[]
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.[2] 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, stepmother of Cleveland Brown Jr., and mother of Roberta and Rallo Tubbs. In developing the character, Lathan said that the producers "wanted her to be educated, but to have some edge."[3] 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 for a fifteen-year-old over the phone "all the time."[3] Before Gomez was cast as Roberta, Nia Long (who co-starred with Lathan in The Best Man franchise) provided the character's voice during the first thirteen episodes. 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.[4]
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.[3]
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 season 3 episode 10, which MacFarlane admits is a "Steve Martin impression [...] a Wild and Crazy Guy impression". Jess Harnell voices Tim from season 3 episode 11 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.
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Reception[]
Critical reception[]
The Cleveland Show has received mixed reviews from critics and negative reviews from fans. Review aggregator Metacritic gave the show a score of 57 out of 100.[5] 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".[6] Roberto Bianco of USA Today wrote a similarly negative review, suggesting that the easiest fix for its problem was "cancellation".[7] 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."[8] 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".[9] 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."[10]
- ↑ Hinckley, David (May 13, 2013). "Fox announces 2013-14 fall schedule, which includes return of Kiefer Sutherland's '24'". NY Daily News. Retrieved on June 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Mike Henry: The Origins of Cleveland and Herbert". Retrieved on April 16, 2009.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Voices Behind 'Cleveland'", Entertainment Weekly (October 2, 2009). Retrieved on November 18, 2009.
- ↑ Morales, Wilson. "Good Hair: An Interview With Nia Long". Retrieved on May 14, 2014.
- ↑ "The Cleveland Show reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. Retrieved on December 20, 2012.
- ↑ Shales, Tom (September 29, 2009). "Fox's 'Cleveland Show' Is a Cartoon Blight", Katharine Weymouth. Retrieved on January 13, 2010.
- ↑ Bianco, Roberto (September 25, 2009). "Embrace Fox's 'Brothers' but stay out of 'Cleveland'", David Hunke. Retrieved on January 13, 2010.
- ↑ McWhorter, John (October 13, 2009). "Just a Cartoon, But Still: Is Family Guy in Blackface Funny?", Elizabeth W. Sheldon. Retrieved on February 8, 2010.
- ↑ TV Guide September 7.13. 2009 pg. 60.
- ↑ Owen, Rob (September 27, 2009). "Tuned In: At home with Cleveland", John Robinson Block. Retrieved on June 5, 2010.