The Cleveland Show

The Cleveland Show
Genre	Animated sitcom
Created by	Seth MacFarlane Richard Appel Mike Henry
Voices of	Mike Henry Sanaa Lathan Kevin Michael Richardson Reagan Gomez-Preston Jason Sudeikis Seth MacFarlane
Theme music composer	Walter Murphy
Composer	Walter Murphy
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	88 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Seth MacFarlane Richard Appel Mike Henry
Producers	Kara Vallow Courtney Lilly
Editor	Kirk Benson
Camera setup	Animated rendition of single camera
Running time	21–22 minutes
Production companies	Person Unknown Productions Happy Jack Productions Fuzzy Door Productions 20th Century Fox Television
Distributors	20th Television
Original release
Network	Fox
Release	September 27, 2009 (2009-09-27) – May 19, 2013 (2013-05-19)
Related
Family Guy American Dad!

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 centered 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 exhibited 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. 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

Development

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

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. On May 5, 2008, MacFarlane and 20th Century Fox Television inked a deal. 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. 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. 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 On June 15, 2009, it was announced that The Cleveland Show would premiere on September 27, 2009.

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

Executive producers

Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry and Richard Appel served as executive producers on the series since the first season.

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. For the voice of Rallo, Henry stated that he originally 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." 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." 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.

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.

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 the character for the rest of the series from the next episode onward.

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
		File:Reagan Gomez by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Mike Henry	Sanaa Lathan	Reagan Gomez-Preston	Kevin Michael Richardson	Jason Sudeikis	Seth MacFarlane
Cleveland Brown, Rallo Tubbs	Donna Tubbs	Roberta Tubbs	Cleveland Brown, Jr. and Lester Krinklesac	Holt Richter and Terry Kimple	Tim the Bear (seasons 1–3)

Characters

Main article: List of The Cleveland Show characters

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); Donna's daughter Roberta (originally voiced by Nia Long, but later voiced by Reagan Gomez-Preston); and Donna's son Rallo (also voiced by Mike Henry). Cleveland, Jr. underwent a complete redesign for the show, becoming sensitive and soft-spoken.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Cleveland Show episodes

List of The Cleveland Show episodes

Crossovers with other animated sitcoms

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 other Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill.

Broadcast

Syndication

In July 2010, the Turner Broadcasting System picked up syndication rights, for their networks TBS and Adult Swim. The series first aired in syndication on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network in the United States on September 29, 2012 until September 9, 2018. On July 14, 2018, Comedy Central picked up the rights to the series and it began airing on October 8, 2018.

Cancellation

On April 17, 2013, Fox dismissed increasing rumors that The Cleveland Show had been cancelled, reporting rather that renewal of the series was undetermined as of that time. However, on May 13, 2013, in the New York Daily News, Fox Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly confirmed its cancellation. Following the series cancellation, it was confirmed that Cleveland and the Brown/Tubbs family would be moving back to Quahog to rejoin the Family Guy cast.

International broadcast

Country	Network	Premiere date
Canada	Global MuchMusic Teletoon at Night Adult Swim	September 27, 2009 – May 19, 2013 September 3, 2013 – August 31, 2017 September 1, 2018 – March 30, 2019 April 2, 2019 – present
Latin America	Canal Fox Canal TBS	October 6, 2009 - present
Spain	Telecinco Fox	November 7, 2009 - present
Brazil	Rede Globo Canale Fox Canale TBS RBTV	November 7, 2009 - present
Australia	Network Ten Eleven FOX8	December 2, 2009 – January 12, 2011 January 12, 2011 – 2014 March 13, 2011 – present
Germany	Comedy Central	August 7, 2016 – present
Lithuania	TV6	August 7, 2016– present (Klyvlando Šou)
Ireland	3e	September 27, 2009
Italy	Italia 2 Italia 1 Fox	2010-2012 2012-2014 2010 - present
United Kingdom	E4 Fox ITV2	February 1, 2010 – January 4 2016 January 6, 2011 – ? February 29 2016–Present
United States	Fox Adult Swim TBS Comedy Central	September 27, 2009 – May 19, 2013 September 29, 2012 – September 9, 2018 September 16, 2013 – September 9, 2018 October 8, 2018 – present
Hungary	Comedy Central Humor+	July 6, 2010 – October 30, 2016 October 30, 2016 – present
Middle East	FX	Unknown
New Zealand	C4 Four Comedy Central	2010 February 10, 2011 – present 2011–present
Pakistan	FX	Unknown
Portugal	Fox Fox Comedy	June 5, 2010 Unknown
Philippines	Jack TV Fox Philippines	October 2010 - Present (Rerun) March 2013 - Present (Rerun)
South Africa	Vuzu	November 29, 2010
Singapore	Fox	April 2, 2012 (Season 2) (Mondays to Wednesdays 11:40 pm (UTC+8))

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. 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". Roberto Bianco of USA Today wrote a similarly negative review, suggesting that the easiest fix for its problem was "cancellation". 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." 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". 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."

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Outcome
2010	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Animated Show	The Cleveland Show	Nominated
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite New TV Comedy	The Cleveland Show	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
	NAMIC Vision Awards	Animation	The Cleveland Show	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Animated Show	The Cleveland Show	Nominated
2012	Artios Award	Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Animation	Robert McGee and Ruth Lambert	Nominated
2013	American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Awards	Top Television Series	The Cleveland Show	Won
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon Show	The Cleveland Show	Nominated

Home media

DVD Title		# of Disc(s)	Year	# of Episodes	DVD release
					Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	Season One	4	2009 & 2010	21	September 28, 2010	October 11, 2010	June 29, 2011
	Season Two	4	2010 & 2011	22	September 27, 2011	January 30, 2012	November 2, 2011
	Season Three	3	2011 & 2012	22	March 1, 2013 (manufactured on demand (MOD) on DVD-R)	N/A	N/A
	Season Four	3	2012 & 2013	23	December 17, 2013 (manufactured on demand (MOD) on DVD-R)	N/A	N/A

External links

• The Cleveland Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The Cleveland Show at TV.com