Advance Review: FOX's "The Cleveland Show"… why did he get his spin-off again?

cleveland show

When fans heard Family Guy was going to have a spin-off, they were excited by the news. But that excitement quickly turned into confusion when they heard the character featured in the spin-off will be Cleveland Brown.

“The Cleveland Show”, set to debut on FOX in the fall, will be creator Seth MacFarlane’s third show on the network. The network is so high on MacFarlane that they actually ordered two seasons of the new animated comedy, before it even debuted.

So it HAS to be good…right?

I’m afraid not folks. The confusion of why they picked Cleveland for his own show was amplified after watching the pilot.

The episode began where Family Guy left off, in Quahog. But immediately, Cleveland announces to his friends that his divorced has been finalized and will be moving away. Three minutes after, he leaves Quahog.

The ironic part was when he drives off, you hear Stewie Griffin delivering the only funny quote of the episode (and probably the series). “What the hell, Cleveland gets his own show?” Amen Stewie!

Cleveland and his son, Cleveland Jr., head on the road to the South, where he meets up with his high-school sweetheart. From there we meet some of the new characters, including a stereotypical red-neck, a guy still living with his mom, and of course a talking Bear. Yes, it’s as bad as it sounds.

After watching the pilot I’m left with many questions.

First, why does Seth MacFarlane feel the need to make another show when he two other has been on the decline? Family Guy is nowhere near as good as it once was, and American Dad is a hit or miss comedy.

Second question, if you’re doing a Family Guy spin-off….WHY CLEVELAND! He’s the most boring character of the series, and his new show is even more boring. There were so many better options, including Joe Swanson, Glen Quagmire (Giggity!), old man Herbert, newsman Tom Tucker, even the evil monkey in Chris’s closet. Any of those would have been better than Cleveland.

Finally, the last question I’m left with is why did FOX give this pilot not one…but TWO full seasons before it even premiered. They must be pretty confident that the people will tune in.

Word of advice, don’t. If you’re not a fan of Family Guy or American Dad, you’ll hate it. If you are a fan of MacFarlane’s work, you’ll hate it too, and you’ll hate him.

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