The Cleveland Show: Season 1 (2009-10)

This spin-off from Family Guy has not been as consistent as it’s parent show or American Dad!, but when it works it’s been hilarious, and some great characters have been introduced to the comedy-animation world.

I can’t say that I expected Cleveland to get his own show, I don’t remember him being a particularly stand-out character on Family Guy, although perhaps that helps, so they can give Cleveland a new identity and build on the character from before. Having an African-American family at the heart of this sit-com means that some of the jokes are skewed to fit – Cleveland’s family gets away with humour that Peter Griffin’s white family could not. Mostly the issues are about family not race, although it has some input into characterisations.

Cleveland himself is a laugh-riot, with a curiously distinctive manner of talking, he makes a great Peter Griffin substitute. The rest of his family include new wife Donna, step-daughter Roberta, step-son Stewie-alike-with-an-afro Rallo, and son Cleveland Jr – in my opinion one of the best characters in the show. He’s fat, which makes for some hilarious insults from Rallo, and he’s very odd, or maybe he’s a genius, it’s not clear. There’s no talking dog, goldfish or alien within the household, but next door ‘there’s even a bear’ named Tim, voiced by Seth Macfarlane in an outrageous east European accent, and another of my favourites (along with his similarly strangely accented wife). The massively obese neighbour who travels everywhere on her motorised buggy is another fave. 

Occasionally the humour got a bit too scatalogical or vomit-based for my tastes, as the season wore on things improved and I found myself laughing more and more. The couple of Family Guy cameos towards the end were enjoyable, and I especially liked the episode where Cleveland's ex-wife died back in Quahog so Quagmire had to drive the body over to Cleveland, before going off to do a background gag on American Dad (the reason Quagmire didn't get a spin off as Peter tells him in the last episode? 'You're a rapist'. Nice). I'll watch out for the next season on E4 - I'm going to miss the insanely catchy sing-along theme tune too!