“Family Guy” – the television show seemingly every adolescent American lives to watch – now has a fellow comedy on its Fox lineup. “The Cleveland Show,” a series based on (and revolving around) the character of Cleveland of “Family Guy” fame, was supposed to add a breath of fresh air to the network. However, this new addition – while reaching out to a broader audience by including more diverse characters – leaves its viewers with a strong feeling of d?j? vu.
“The Cleveland Show” appears to be simply “Family Guy” with more African Americans in the lineup. Now don’t get me wrong, I love “Family Guy,” and “The Cleveland Show” is absolutely hilarious. However, it seems like quite a cop out to simply use the same formula that worked for “FG” and paste it onto “TCS” with few changes. It feels cheap, and that is exactly how the pilot episode for “TCS” comes across.
The problem facing “The Cleveland Show,” or any other spinoff is the question of validity, quality, and legitimacy. The repetitive nature of spin-offs bores viewers, as well as annoys them; they want new, innovative material, but they end up getting the same old crap.
Even die-hard fans of the originals are disappointed by spin-offs. A friend of mine is a “Family Guy” fanatic – he can literally bring any subject back to the show with a quote here, a gesture there and he manages to still function in real life. Unfortunately for him and other fans, he found “The Cleveland Show” to be (in Peter Griffin’s own words) “shallow and pedantic.” He had expected greatness, another addition to his comedic repertoire and a new series’ material to utilize, but instead he received the usual schlock.
The premise of the show is superficial at best – Cleveland decides that he has had enough of Quahog, and takes his son with him to Virginia to visit his old hometown. From there, the audience begins to realize the obvious parallels between the two shows. His oldest son, Cleveland Jr., is large and rather slow on the uptake (just like Chris Griffin) and his youngest son, Rallo, is a slightly less murder-inclined version of Stewie. Cleveland’s new wife, Donna, is the spitting image of an African-American Lois – she is all sex appeal, she is independent, and she could do a lot better than her husband. The only real difference between the slew of characters is “TCS’s” version of Meg Griffin. Cleveland’s daughter, Roberta, is always dolled up and obviously has her pick of boyfriends, which is the exact opposite of Meg, who is supposed to be homely and unpopular.
The blatant unoriginality of Seth MacFarlane’s new series “The Cleveland Show” is vastly disappointing. Who knows, maybe it will get better, and will redeem itself after a few more episodes. The supporting characters seem interesting enough, but are they sufficiently funny to keep the audience laughing (and tuning in) after an episode or two? Give it a watch, but don’t expect much in the way of new material.
“The Cleveland Show” airs Sundays at 8:30/7:30 C on FOX