Cleveland Brown

File:Cleveland Brown.png

Cleveland Brown

Cleveland Brown, Sr. is a fictional character on the animated series Family Guy, and central character in the upcoming spin-off series, The Cleveland Show. He is one of Peter Griffin's neighbors and friends as well as one of the few recurring black characters on the show. He owns a delicatessen named "Cleveland's Deli". He is voiced by Mike Henry.

Personality

Cleveland is usually depicted as exceedingly gentle and patient. He often acts as the voice of caution when other characters hatch harebrained schemes. Cleveland's speech is slow, almost elongated. Various flashbacks give conflicting histories of his speech patterns. In the episode "Death Lives" Peter met Cleveland in the 1970's and he (Cleveland) was skinnier (presumably younger), sporting an afro, but still spoke in the slow manner that he is known for. In the next season of the series a flashback depicts Cleveland as a fast talking auctioneer on the rise when a totem pole being carried by movers falls over and knocks Cleveland into a slower state of speech during the episode "Blind Ambition". There is also a running gag involving Cleveland, in which some bizarre circumstances cause the front wall of his house to collapse, revealing him in the bathtub. He then exclaims: "Peter, what the hell?! No, no, no, no, no, no NO!" as the upstairs floor tilts and the tub crashes to the ground. Cleveland displays a political and cultural interest in promoting his fellow African Americans as seen in the Season 3 episode Peter Griffin: Husband, Father...Brother?. While Cleveland's ethnicity seldom causes conflicts with his entirely white neighbors, and while he serves as President of the local Chamber of Commerce, he remains subject to "different" treatment by the local police.

Creation

Mike Henry has stated that Cleveland's voice was based on a person who used to play basketball with him. His friend went to the University of Maryland, but his accent made it sound like "Merlin". Since divorcing Cleveland, Loretta has been retired from the series, and it is assumed she has custody of Cleveland, Jr. In the upcoming spin-off series, The Cleveland Show, however, Cleveland, Jr. lives with his father. A DVD commentary reveals that Loretta was retired from the series because performing her voice exhausted Alex Borstein.

The Cleveland Show

Main article: The Cleveland Show

During a live broadcast of "Loveline," Seth McFarlane announced that a Family Guy spin-off featuring Cleveland was currently in the works with the studio and writers. The spin off will be titled The Cleveland Show. It is set to premiere September 27, 2009 on FOX, right after The Simpsons. The Cleveland Show will be an animated series focusing on the character of Cleveland Brown and his family as Cleveland moves from Rhode Island to Virginia. His newly introduced family includes his new wife, Donna, her 16-year-old daughter, Roberta, and her 5-year-old son, Rallo. Cleveland Jr. also is in the family but is now much fatter than he appeared on Family Guy. Cleveland's neighbors also include a family of talking anthropomorphic bears, a redneck couple and a British family, and one of his son's soccer rivals includes a boy voiced by Kanye West.

Cleveland will officially be written out of Family Guy during season eight before The Cleveland Show is broadcast, however; it has been hinted that he might come back for a visit in the future, including the upcoming episode "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side". He shall also return for another as yet unnamed episode as was revealed during the BBC Three Family Guy Night, in which Peter and the gang are surprised to see Cleveland somewhere as yet undisclosed, apparently there will be lots of promotion leading up to this episode as well.