"Spoiler Warning!" After watching the first two episodes, I really don't know what to make of this show. It is the most watered down version of any kind of sitcom (animated cartoon or live action)I have ever seen.
The central character, Cleveland Brown, is as uninteresting as it gets, he is just kind of overweight (not obese), mild mannered and not too bright, but far from being the totally clueless idiots such as Homer Simpson and the protagonists of Family Guy and American Dad!. The fact that he is voiced by a white guy without the balls (apparently) to go for a real great parody of African-American speech "Yo whass going' dawn y'all!" doesn't help - hey c'mon your fellow black voice actors can take it - this is 2009 for gawdssake! And all the characters (that skinny redneck neighbor is soooo lame, I want to barf!) and gags are "been there - much better". There ars even complete inconsistencies: I mean Cleveland's stepdaughter is obviously designed to be smokin' hot, c'mon she wears a tube top and she is very well aware of her hotness (the straightened hair and the great looking white streak are a dead giveaway) yet no comment has been made nor any raunchy humor has been built around that....
The baby brother is a poorly designed version of Stewie from "Family Guy". Cleveland Jr. is just disgusting. No way we can feel for him.
There are just two reasons I can think of why this looks as if it has been made bad on purpouse: 1) Seth McFarlane has a clause in his contract with Fox to make a spin off and he made it as weak as possible, so it hets axed ASAP.
2) Seth went to very subtle humor telling us: all "black" sitcoms these days have to be so politically correct that no form of raunchy humor is possible - that's my way of showing it. O.K. but that still means it will be cancelled soon - that's no way to treat any character. Not Cleveland Brown anyway.
I hope there is a third reason, because I WANT to like this show. I like the characters - I just don't like the screen writing. I like Cleveland's wife/highschool sweetheart who made the big mistake to go for the more confident/hunky guy. She still is kind of hot in her 40s! I want her daughter to be a babe who breaks some serious heart (c'mon she's way hotter than most of the "popular" ditzy gals from "Family Guy". And I want her baby bro to have some dark secrets, and I WANT Cleveland to have a dark secret himself, so all his mild mannered behavior are just the surface - and all we have seen yet is deceiving - the real juicy stuff is yet to come.
Mr. Seth: if you think a black (x'cuse me: African-American)sitcom is too sensitive an issue for a guy from New England - hay, bring in more people of the "real deal" to help you out (so the show gains some credit) and make fun of that - big time, as you always do!
The central character, Cleveland Brown, is as uninteresting as it gets, he is just kind of overweight (not obese), mild mannered and not too bright, but far from being the totally clueless idiots such as Homer Simpson and the protagonists of Family Guy and American Dad!. The fact that he is voiced by a white guy without the balls (apparently) to go for a real great parody of African-American speech "Yo whass going' dawn y'all!" doesn't help - hey c'mon your fellow black voice actors can take it - this is 2009 for gawdssake! And all the characters (that skinny redneck neighbor is soooo lame, I want to barf!) and gags are "been there - much better". There ars even complete inconsistencies: I mean Cleveland's stepdaughter is obviously designed to be smokin' hot, c'mon she wears a tube top and she is very well aware of her hotness (the straightened hair and the great looking white streak are a dead giveaway) yet no comment has been made nor any raunchy humor has been built around that....
The baby brother is a poorly designed version of Stewie from "Family Guy". Cleveland Jr. is just disgusting. No way we can feel for him.
There are just two reasons I can think of why this looks as if it has been made bad on purpouse: 1) Seth McFarlane has a clause in his contract with Fox to make a spin off and he made it as weak as possible, so it hets axed ASAP.
2) Seth went to very subtle humor telling us: all "black" sitcoms these days have to be so politically correct that no form of raunchy humor is possible - that's my way of showing it. O.K. but that still means it will be cancelled soon - that's no way to treat any character. Not Cleveland Brown anyway.
I hope there is a third reason, because I WANT to like this show. I like the characters - I just don't like the screen writing. I like Cleveland's wife/highschool sweetheart who made the big mistake to go for the more confident/hunky guy. She still is kind of hot in her 40s! I want her daughter to be a babe who breaks some serious heart (c'mon she's way hotter than most of the "popular" ditzy gals from "Family Guy". And I want her baby bro to have some dark secrets, and I WANT Cleveland to have a dark secret himself, so all his mild mannered behavior are just the surface - and all we have seen yet is deceiving - the real juicy stuff is yet to come.
Mr. Seth: if you think a black (x'cuse me: African-American)sitcom is too sensitive an issue for a guy from New England - hay, bring in more people of the "real deal" to help you out (so the show gains some credit) and make fun of that - big time, as you always do!