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The Cleveland Show

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The Cleveland Show is an American adult animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A spin-off of Family Guy, and the second television series in the franchise, the series centers on Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna Tubbs-Brown, and their children Cleveland Brown Jr., Roberta Tubbs, and Rallo Tubbs. The animation was produced by Fox Television Animation.

The Cleveland Show
GenreAnimated sitcom
Black sitcom
Created by
Voices of
Theme music composerWalter Murphy
Opening theme"The Cleveland Show" (performed by Mike Henry)
ComposerWalter Murphy
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes88 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Seth MacFarlane
  • Richard Appel
  • Mike Henry
Producers
Editors
  • Kirk Benson
  • Dennis McElroy (season 4)
Running time21–22 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkFox
ReleaseSeptember 27, 2009 (2009-09-27) –
May 19, 2013 (2013-05-19)
Related
Family Guy

The series was conceived by MacFarlane in 2007 after developing Family Guy and American Dad! for the Fox network. MacFarlane centered the show on Family Guy character Cleveland Brown and created new characters for Cleveland's family members. One preexisting character, Cleveland's son Cleveland Jr. (Junior), was redesigned 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 premiered on September 27, 2009, and ended on May 19, 2013, after four seasons consisting of 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. Fox cancelled the series after 4 seasons.[1] Nearly a year after the series' cancelation, Cleveland returned to Family Guy, accompanied by the rest of the Brown-Tubbs family, in the season 12 episode "He's Bla-ack!".

Production

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Development

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Seth MacFarlane initially conceived The Cleveland Show in 2007 while working on his other two animated series, Family Guy and American Dad!.[2][3]

 
Mike Henry and his characters

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.[4][5] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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[8] On June 15, 2009, it was announced that The Cleveland Show would premiere on September 27, 2009.[9]

MacFarlane and Henry pitched a 22-minute to Fox which aired on September 27, 2009, but had been leaked on the internet in June 2009.[citation needed] 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.[10] A fourth season was announced on May 9, 2011, just a few days before the second season concluded.[11]

Executive producers

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Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry and Richard Appel served as executive producers on the series for its entire run.[12]

Voice cast

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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.[13] For the voice of Rallo, Henry stated that he created the voice over twenty years before; he had used it while making prank phone 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."[14] 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, Blade, 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."[14] 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.[15]

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.[14]

Jason Sudeikis plays Holt Richter, one of Cleveland's drinking buddies with 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 the character for the rest of the series from the next episode onward, as MacFarlane had a busy schedule which kept him away from voicing the character, while he was working on Ted.

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.

Main cast members
           
Mike Henry Sanaa Lathan Reagan Gomez-Preston Kevin Michael Richardson Jason Sudeikis Seth MacFarlane
Cleveland Brown and Rallo Tubbs Donna Tubbs Roberta Tubbs Cleveland Brown, Jr. and Lester Krinklesac Holt Richter and Terry Kimple Tim the Bear (seasons 1–3) and
Dr. Fist (seasons 1–2)

Characters

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Main article: List of characters in the Family Guy franchise
 
The Brown-Tubbs family. Clockwise from top left: Cleveland, Donna, Roberta, Rallo, and Cleveland, Jr.

Cleveland's newly introduced family includes his new wife, Donna Tubbs-Brown (voiced by Sanaa Lathan);[16] Donna's daughter Roberta (originally voiced by Nia Long, but later voiced by Reagan Gomez-Preston); and Donna's son Rallo (voiced by Mike Henry).[17][18] Cleveland, Jr. underwent a complete redesign for the show, becoming sensitive and soft-spoken.

Episodes

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Main article: List of The Cleveland Show episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedRankAverage viewership
(in millions)
First airedLast aired
121September 27, 2009 (2009-09-27)May 23, 2010 (2010-05-23)72[19]6.38[19]
222September 26, 2010 (2010-09-26)May 15, 2011 (2011-05-15)90[20]6.12[20]
322September 25, 2011 (2011-09-25)May 20, 2012 (2012-05-20)144[21]4.03[21]
423October 7, 2012 (2012-10-07)May 19, 2013 (2013-05-19)129[22]3.05[22]

Release

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Syndication

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In July 2010, the Turner Broadcasting System picked up syndication rights, for their networks TBS and later, Adult Swim.[23] The series first aired on Adult Swim in the United States on September 29, 2012. On July 14, 2018, Viacom later picked up the rights to the series and the series left Adult Swim and TBS on September 9, 2018. The series began airing on Comedy Central in the United States on October 8, 2018, until April 29, 2022 and then again since November 6, 2023 airing sporadically on the network, previously along with BET and VH1.[24][25]

The series aired on FXX from September 20, 2021 to September 20, 2024.[26]

Cancellation

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On April 17, 2013, Fox dismissed increasing rumors that The Cleveland Show had been canceled, reporting rather that renewal of the series was undetermined as of that time.[27][28] However, on May 13, 2013, in the New York Daily News, Fox Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly confirmed the show's cancellation.[1] Following the series cancellation, it was confirmed that Cleveland would be moving back to Quahog with the rest of the Brown-Tubbs family to rejoin the Family Guy cast.[29]

Home media

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The series is available for streaming on Hulu.[30] Internationally, The Cleveland Show is available to stream on Star on Disney+.[31]

DVD Title # of Disc(s) Years active # of Episodes DVD release
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Season One 4 2009 & 2010 21 September 28, 2010[32] October 11, 2010[33] June 29, 2011[34]
Season Two 4 2010 & 2011 22 September 27, 2011[35] January 30, 2012[36] November 2, 2011[37]
Season Three 3 2011 & 2012 22 March 1, 2013[38]
Manufactured on demand (MOD) on DVD-R 		N/A N/A
Season Four 3 2012 & 2013 23 December 17, 2013[39]
Manufactured on demand (MOD) on DVD-R 		N/A N/A

Reception

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Critical response

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The Cleveland Show initially received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 44% approval rating for the first season, with an average rating of 5.10/10 and based on 18 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Cleveland Show is simply not interesting enough to capture the same comedic lightning of Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy."[40] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the season a score of 57 out of 100 based on 18 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[41]

Ahsan Haque of IGN gave the pilot episode a grade of 8.3 out of 10, praised the opening theme and the humor of the show, and said, "While it seems to be missing some of the over-the-top offensive bite we're used to on Family Guy, and Cleveland's new drinking buddies aren't quite as amusing as the Quagmire, Joe and Peter combination - there's a lot to like here. It might take a while for the show to grow out of its Family Guy shadow, but with a greater focus on wacky family focused stories, we might get to see much personality burst out of the normally sedate Cleveland."[42] Jonathan Storm of The Philadelphia Inquirer found The Cleveland Show to be "a little warmer and sillier" than Family Guy.[43] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stated that although The Cleveland Show is "just as rude-crude" as Family Guy, it also had "more warmth" due to Cleveland being a more likable character than Peter Griffin. Owen also praised the character of Tim the Bear, stating that "Tim is by far the most amusing creation."[44]

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".[45] Roberto Bianco of USA Today wrote a similarly negative review, suggesting that the easiest fix for its problem was "cancellation".[46] 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."[47] 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."[48]

Nielsen ratings

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Season No. of

episodes

Timeslot (ET) First aired Last aired Overall ratings
Date Premiere viewers (in millions) Date Finale viewers (in millions) Rank Viewers (in millions)
1 2009–10 21 Sunday 8:30 pm (Episodes 1–4, 6–10, 12–21)
Sunday 9:30 pm (Episodes 5, 11) 		September 27, 2009 9.51 May 23, 2010 4.94 72 6.38
2 2010–11 22 Sunday 8:30 pm (Episodes 1–8)
Sunday 9:00 pm (Episode 9)
Sunday 9:30 pm (Episodes 10–22) 		September 26, 2010 6.61 May 15, 2011 4.9 90 6.12
3 2011–12 22 Sunday 8:30 pm (Episodes 1–2, 7–8)
Sunday 9:30 pm (Episodes 3, 6, 17, 19)
Sunday 7:30 pm (4–5, 8–16, 18, 20–22) 		September 25, 2011 6.13 May 20, 2012 3.01 144 4.03
4 2012–13 23 Sunday 7:30 pm (Episodes 1–3, 5–11, 14, 17–19, 21, 23)
Sunday 9:30 pm (Episodes 4, 16)
Sunday 8:30 pm (Episodes 12–13, 15)
Sunday 7:00 pm (Episodes 20, 22) 		October 7, 2012 4.47 May 19, 2013 2.43 129 3.05

Accolades

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Year Award Category Recipients and nominees Result Ref.
2010 Teen Choice Awards Choice TV: Animated Show The Cleveland Show Nominated
People's Choice Awards Favorite New TV Comedy Nominated
2011 Annie Awards Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown Nominated
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Animated Program "Murray Christmas" Nominated [49]
NAMIC Vision Awards Animation The Cleveland Show Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice TV: Animated Show Nominated
2012 Artios Award Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Animation Robert McGee and Ruth Lambert Nominated
2013 ASCAP Awards Top Television Series The Cleveland Show Won [50]
People's Choice Awards Favorite Cartoon Show Nominated

In other media

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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 three other Fox animated shows, The Simpsons, Futurama, and King of the Hill.

References

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