[TV Review] The Cleveland Show Premiere

The Cleveland Show has received a lot of hype. It was even mentioned in an episode of Family Guy by Cleveland himself. The pilot episode premiered September 27th on Fox network, and was watched by approximately 9.42 million viewers. That’s a good number of people, but I’m willing to wager that most of them were disappointed, much like myself.

The Cleveland Show began with a promising segment, featuring the cast of Family Guy, and the same outright hilarious humor it is so famous for. In this segment, Cleveland explains that he has lost his house to his ex-wife and must move somewhere else. Cleveland did however, gain custody of their son, Cleveland Jr. When Peter blows up half of his house (a running gag in the Family Guy series), Cleveland decides that he wants out and elects to move.

After his going away party, the show’s theme song finally begins. I will be pretty straight-forward with my opinion of the song. It grated on my nerves like sandpaper and made my blood boil like nothing ever has before. I was almost in disbelief, to think that the song could be that annoying. I even rewound my DVR and watched it again, just to make sure I hadn’t eaten some bad McDonald’s that day.

Despite my distaste for the opening jingle, I stuck around for the entire episode. Throughout the pilot I was treated to what I would have to describe as watered down Family Guy gags. They weren’t terrible, but they weren’t memorable and as easy to quote as I had hoped. It seems as if the jokes, as well as the characters, were just weak ideas that were not good enough for Family Guy. Characters include Cleveland’s new wife, Donna, her teenage daughter Roberta, and her five-year old son Rallo. Other minor characters include a redneck couple, a talking bear, and a poser/hipster. The characters are nice, and a few of the jokes did have me laughing out loud, but overall I can’t shake the feeling that Cleveland just wasn’t the right choice for a spin-off, and Seth Mcfarlane, creator of both programs as well as American Dad, seems to have spread himself a little thin amongst his growing list of shows.

Final Words:

The premiere had its moments, and the characters certainly have some potential. However, I can’t say that the episode made me tear up and giggle like a little bitch the way its big brother Family Guy does. Only time will tell if the show will succeed or not. If you want to decide whether you like the show or not, the pilot is posted on Hulu.com and can be viewed in its entirety for free.

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Grade: 6.5/10

3 thoughts on “[TV Review] The Cleveland Show Premiere

  1. I hate how they took Cleveland Jr. from that little ADHD kid to a Fat Albert ripoff. I also noticed how obnoxious a lot of the Voice Acting is. All in all I wasn’t too pleased with the episode, but I didn’t mind watching it either.

    Good review!

  2. TO be honest I think a spin off for Quagmire or even Greased-up Deaf guy would have been more of a hit! Who wouldn’t want to see those two in a show, or better yet, in there own action packed cop drama?

  3. I didn’t watch the premiere, but I caught last nights episode. It was absolutely dreadful. Just terrible. Cleveland was never a character I was a huge fan of anyway, but that episode was just a mess. Hopefully this doesn’t last long.

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