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 The Cleveland Show

 

 

(July 13th, 2009.  Editor)               Mike Henry, Sanaa Lathan, Reagan Gomez-Preston and Kevin Michael Richardson are the regular voice cast for the half hour animated comedy series "The Cleveland Show", airing Sunday nights this fall on FOX..

Cleveland Brown (Henry), returns to his hometown in Virginia as he settles down with his high school sweetheart, her unruly kids and his own 14-year-old son, Cleveland Jr. (Richardson). Many years ago, Cleveland was a high school student madly in love with a beautiful girl named Donna (Lathan). Much to his dismay, his love went unrequited, and Donna wound up marrying another man. Cleveland once told Donna he would always love her, and if this man ever did her wrong, he’d be there when she called. Well, this man done her wrong. Donna’s husband ran off, leaving Donna with a teenage daughter and a young son. Now she’s open to Cleveland and has offered him another chance at love. Unattached after the Loretta-Quagmire debacle and true to his word, Cleveland joyously reunites with Donna, and he and Cleveland Jr. move to Virginia to join their new family. Once in Virginia, there are a few surprises in store for Cleveland, including Roberta (Gomez-Preston), a rebellious new stepdaughter; Rallo (Henry), his new 5-year-old stepson who loves the ladies; and a collection of neighbors that includes a loudmouth redneck, Lester (Richardson); a hipster wanna-be, Holt (Jason Sudeikis); and a religious pair of talking bears, Tim (Seth MacFarlane) and his wife Arianna (Arianna Huffington).

I have to admit that I am surprised at two things. First, that there is a spin-off from "Family Guy" in the first place, after that show fought off cancellation, twice. Second, that it is Cleveland who gets a show of his own and not Quagmire. Cleveland is a soft-spoken follower, who often blends into the background of a scene on Family Guy, while Glenn Quagmire spends every waking moment thinking about sex and is ready with a lewd comment a split second after another cast member's remark. In the hands of Seth McFarlane, that could quickly become some of the rudest, and funniest, stuff on TV.

If I just look at the trade that was made by the network, replacing "King Of The Hill" with "The Cleveland Show", I have to think it's a step in the right direction. There are at least a couple of laughs in the pilot episode of "Cleveland" and that's a lot more than I can say about "Hill". But if something really funny comes along, it will spell the end for Cleveland.  

 

Editor

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