 "Photo: Courtesy of Fox")
The Cleveland Show, a Family Guy spin-off that premiered on Sept. 27, is popular animator Seth MacFarlane's third foray into animation. The Cleveland Show stars Cleveland Brown, a popular supporting character from the Family Guy series, as he and his son move to Stoolbend, Va.
In the beginning of the pilot episode, we are introduced to Cleveland, who has just lost his house to his ex-wife and gained custody of his son, Cleveland Jr., who is now 14 years old, grossly obese and speaks with an irritatingly monotone voice. Cleveland decides to move to California with his son to pursue his dream of becoming a baseball scout; however, Cleveland's dream becomes interrupted when he is reunited with his old high school love, Donna Tubbs, and her two children, teenager Roberta and toddler Rallo.
Unfortunately, The Cleveland Show has many flaws. The jokes are unoriginal and repetitive; the show often resorts to tired black stereotypes; and some jokes that are funny the first time are overused. For example, the "character yelling a comment off-screen" gag was used eight times in the 22 minute episode. The Cleveland Show appears confused in its types of humor — at times it attempts to emulate Family Guy's off-the-wall style, and other times it tries to act as a typical family sitcom. In both instances, The Cleveland Show fails to satisfy.
The characters in The Cleveland Show are not very interesting either. Cleveland Jr.'s jokes fall flat, Donna and Roberta seem no different from their Family Guy and American Dad counterparts, and Rallo's wisecracks are neither original nor funny. Cleveland's new friends are no better; their personalities are dull and forgettable. Even Tim, an anthropomorphic bear, falls short of being entertaining and delivers far too many groan-inducing racial jokes in his strange accent.
In the end, The Cleveland Show fails to live up to the caliber of Family Guy or even American Dad. It relies too much on recycled jokes, characters and themes. The Cleveland Show is a program that is best forgotten.
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