The Cleveland Show Blog » Reviews

Episode 15 “Ship’rect” Review

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:18:16 +0000

We would love to review the “Ship’rect” episode of The Cleveland Show that was to air Sunday March, 14th 2010 on FOX. However, for some unknown reason, it was replaced with an episode of The Simpsons and at this time it is unknown when it will air – it is even does at all.

We will let you know as soon as we find out more details about this episode. It appears as though The Cleveland Show will return with all new episodes this Sunday, March 21st 2010.

Episode 7 “A Brown Thanksgiving” Review

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:23:51 +0000

Cleveland is having his first Thanksgiving with the new family and things are about to get wild in more ways than one. Keep reading for our full review.

Episode Summary

Cleveland is having his first Thanksgiving with the new family and things are about to get wild in more ways than one. His parents arrive and we learn that Levar (father) has left Cookie (mother) twice before but it appears that they are now back together. It becomes clear very fast that Levar has never been proud or accepting of Cleveland and soon they end up fighting not only then but almost the entire episode.

Roberta and Donna quickly get into a spat as well because Roberta wants to spend the holiday alone with Federline. All the arguing and posturing is put to a halt once Auntie Momma, who raised Donna, stops by. The mood lightens as the outrageous Auntie says hello to everyone.

Once Cleveland thinks everything is gonna be alright, he takes out the trash and sees Auntie Momma using the bathroom and notices that she has a penis. The next morning at breakfast he tries to get her to talk about it but fails. Also, Levar begins taking a liking to Auntie Momma.

The whole family decides to play football and that’s when things get hot and heavy between Auntie and Levar. Cleveland ponders whether or not to tell his father about Momma’s “lil’ secret” and is visited by Angel Daryl Hall and Devil John Oates. When he tries to warn his dad, Levar responds by dissing him again and calling him a woman.

Later that evening everyone is sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner except Auntie Momma and Levar, but they finally come down after they are finished with “their business”. Levar apparently hasn’t learned about Momma’s secret or doesn’t care, so Cleveland starts vomiting after each sexual innuendo the two make.

Meanwhile, Federline’s car is stolen while he and Roberta are spending time at the park. They have to walk back home and on the way see the car at a homeless shelter. Filthy Nick, the bum who carjacked him, teaches him a life lesson about family being important and then magically transports them back home.

Cleveland finally confronts Auntie Momma about her gender and she confesses that “she is a man”. Because Donna’s parents weren’t always around, Uncle Kevin became Auntie Momma to give Donna a strong female role model. She tells Cleveland that his father didn’t find out and also that her work is done because she sees that Donna is taken care of.

Roberta comes home and we find out that Auntie Momma orchestrated the carjacking and everything, then she says her goodbyes and farts off into the sunset. Levar wants to go after her but Cleveland takes him outside and tells him the real story, which leads to more vomiting, this time by Levar.

Has he learned his lesson? Who knows, but he does give his wife a slight compliment, that her hair looks real and thus concludes the holiday special.

Analysis

This was another great episode in the series, full of funny jokes and good plot twists. The pixie dust – unicorn cutaway gag was absolutely hilarious as was the Clint Eastwood’s testicles joke. It seemed like there was a joke around every corner from the family conflicts to the jab at the Detroit Lions.

Cookie has been disrespected for so long by her husband, it’s obvious that Cleveland takes after his mom in demanor and appearance. She puts up with a lot and so does Cleveland, Levar is just a very mean man.

I also enjoyed seeing Roberta and Federline learn a good family lesson and return to their homes. Rallo’s short screen time was great, he’s so entertaining. Overall, every member of the family had good and funny moments, this was definitely one of the best episodes thus far.

Final Verdict

The Brown’s Thanksgiving was a fun one as the show is really making its own mark on prime time television. It seems like the jokes get funnier each time and the writers are not relying too heavily on racial humor or cutaway gags anymore, setting it apart from Family Guy even more.

I dare anyone with an open mind to watch this show and not find it gutbustingly funny.

Final Score: 9.0 out of 10

Episode 6 “Ladies’ Night” Review

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:22:02 +0000

Donna sneaks around behind Cleveland’s back and Rallo resolves to help Cleveland Junior win the student council president election in the “Ladies’ Night” episode. Keep reading for the full episode summary and review.

Episode Summary

Cleveland and Donna go to Tim and Arianna’s house for dinner and a game night with the other neighbors, but while Cleveland has a blast, Donna is clearly not. She lets him know later that night as they are going to bed and Cleveland responds by pulling out his blow-up doll (more on that later).

Meanwhile, Cleveland Junior is sitting with Ernie at a school assembly when suddenly he is announced as a candidate for student council president. He was nominated as a joke by one of the cool kids.

The next day, Arianna comes over to invite Donna over for a night of chinese food and Grey’s Anatomy and Cleveland accepts on her behalf even though Donna is visibly upset and desperately trying to get out of it. When the room is empty, she sits down and makes a mysterious phone call and says, “I need to see you. Call me back as soon as you can, I miss you.”

When Thursday evening rolls around, Donna leaves the house and tells Cleveland that she is going to Arianna’s place, but secretly carries with her a duffle bag. She drives to a house that we’ve never seen before and heads to the door. Immediately after knocking, she removes her wedding ring and we are left in suspense.

Back home, Cleveland is on a dinner date with his blow up doll and Rallo walks in on him! Cleveland just tells his stepson that he is dreaming, and the next scene puts us back at the mysterious house Donna has visited. However, one of her friends answers the door, not a man, as was expected. It is a gathering of the single ladies’ club to which she once belonged. They have a great night — Donna pretending the whole time to be single — and she comes home drunk to a sleepy Cleveland.

Rallo is hanging out with his friends at home the next day and Cleveland Junior comes in to show them his campaign poster and slogan. Rallo chuckles and makes fun of Junior, dismissing his lame attempt to win office but changes attitude once his buddy convinces him that he will be judged by Junior’s legacy.

The plan is simple: together they will pander to the marginalized student cliques at school including the geeks and single moms. Next, they will sully the good name of Oliver, the other candidate who happens to be deaf, football captain and good looking.

While Cleveland and the whole neighborhood crew are out at the Wheelhouse for dinner, Donna (who made up and excuse) is out clubbing with the single ladies. He finds out that she lied about Thursday night, and is upset that night in bed. Donna comes home wasted again.

On the campaign trail, Rallo decides that any more slander will just make them look like they are bullying the deaf kid. His next idea is for Cleveland Junior to fake blindness in order to earn the sympathy vote.

That weekend, Cleveland decides to take the whole family tubing at the river, but without Donna because she was out “attending to another school emergency.” While rafting down the river, Cleveland catches Donna hanging out with the single ladies. He’s shocked and so are the women but there’s no time to linger on it, because the family heads over a waterfall. Strangely enough, they are rescued by a talking walrus named Mr. Flippers (the scene was “missing”, so we didn’t get to witness his amazing rescue).

Donna and Cleveland argue about her involvement with the single ladies’ club and he storms off to spend time with his single friends, Holt and Terry. Well, the night is a bust as they both pass out on the couch next to him. Just when it couldn’t get any worse, they both vomit on him which then causes Cleveland to vomit on himself. He returns home despondent and he and Donna make up.

Over at Stoolbend High, Cleveland Junior and Oliver engage in a debate in front of their classmates. Junior continues to work the blind sympathy angle and gives a pretty good speech full of puns. Oliver then takes his turn and begins listing his qualifications, but a stage light suddenly falls from above. Junior sees it and jumps to Oliver’s aid and pushes him out of the way.

Well, the rest of the students notice that Junior isn’t blind but Rallo makes a quick decision and shouts “it’s a miracle!”, which calms them. Oliver drops out of the race since he can’t run against the boy who saved his life. Junior then wins by default, an unlikely president .

Cleveland takes Donna to dinner and says he has several surprises for her. He excuses himself to the restroom, so Donna walks in by herself and runs into the single ladies. Just then, Cleveland walks in in a pimp suit with two prostitutes, one of whom was with Holt back at the dinner and game night. He tells Donna that he is leaving her and calls all of the women stupid. This was obviously a plan to get Donna back in good graces with the club. He leaves, but not before telling her that he’ll use a condom (hope he was joking).

Analysis

Tonight’s episode featured two separate story lines and both were enjoyable. I love that we get to see Donna’s character get a bit more developed as we learn more about her backstory. She was previously never welcome at Tim’s house because Arianna looked down at her status as a single mother. To fill the friend void, she was a member of the single ladies’ club and together they bonded by sharing experiences and hating on men. They helped her a lot, particularly when Robert left.

She doesn’t enjoy the company of the neighbors so she seeks to rekindle her old friendships, keeping it a secret as long as possible. I love that Cleveland was able to get over it quickly and then set up the elaborate scheme to get Donna back together with the single ladies.

Rallo and Junior worked wonderfully together in the run for president, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Rallo’s plan to turn Oliver’s strengths into weaknesses was hilarious: Athlete – dumb jock, handsome – gay, ladies’ man – rapist were all used in the slander scheme.

The whole episode was fun to watch and made even better because there was little to no focus on racial humor, a refreshing change. I have been saying all along that they needed to start moving away from relying too much on racial humor, and this episode fit the bill. The cutaway gags weren’t great but there were some random jokes, like Mr. Flippers, that tied me over.

Final Verdict

Once again, The Cleveland Show demonstrates its sitcom-style charm by presenting us with traditional scenarios. And in typical “Family Guy” fashion, these scenarios are met with zany, off-the-wall solution. Unlike Family Guy, though, Cleveland and his bunch resolve their issues and succeed, albeit in twisted fashion (Cleveland posing as a pimp, Junior pretending he’s blind).

The show is really hitting a hot streak that hopefully lasts a long time.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

Episode 5 “Cleveland Jr. Cherry Bomb” Review

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:54:58 +0000

Cleveland is upset with Roberta’s promiscuity and tries to make her pledge virginity but in the process inadvertently gets Cleveland Junior to make the purity pledge. Keep reading for the full episode summary and review.

Episode Summary

Cleveland, Junior, Rallo and Terry are at a Turtleheads minor league baseball game when suddenly the famous kiss cam is being shown on the jumbotron. After a few couples are show (including bert & ernie), everyone sees roberta and her boyfriend federline jones making out. This angers Cleveland and he seeks them out to break it up. After Cleveland fills Donna in, he take Roberta to the Mudslides ice cream shop where he tries to have a sex talk with her, but it backfires as she calls him out on the times he brags about his sex escapades in high school.

Over at the broken stool, Tim tells Cleveland about his church’s upcoming sermon about teen abstinence. The pastor begins preaching about the dangers of promiscuity and immediately after the teen girls in the congregation one by one pledge their virgninity to their fathers. Roberta refuses to do this and instead Junior gets up and makes the purity pledge.

Cleveland gets ridiculed by all of his buddies over the pledge and so he does everything in his power to try to convince Junior that he should lose his virginity. This includes taking him to a comics convention and asking Federline to help out in the effort.

When Junior overhears his father and friends making fun of him for making the virgin pledge, so he runs to Ernie for support. Together they head off to the local whorehouse in an effort to make Cleveland proud of his son. However, Mr. Brown soon figures out what is going on and he rushes to stop things before they get out of hand.

After an awkward father-son bonding moment in front of a prostitute, the two end up going to the Ball together and having a great time.

Analysis

What a great return for “The Cleveland Show” after a two week hiatus due to the MLB playoffs. Although the episode started off a bit slow, things really picked up quickly. There were plenty of funny moments to be had, including the amazing Cleveland Stoolbend Rap freestyle.

Another great moment was when Federline slapped Junior and Junior grabbed Federline’s shirt and said “I may be a virgin but if you hit me again I’ll kick your ass!.” The church scene was particularly amusing especially when the congregation kept shouting out catch phrases after everything the pastor said.

This episode served as a great satire of the hypocrisy that states that boys can be wild and promiscuous but girls should be pure and chaste. Roberta played a big role in this one again and we see that she is promiscuous but at least she has just one boyfriend, while Cleveland Junior wants to be pure until he gets made fun of. This double standard never made sense and this episode takes the idea and makes it hilarious. Of course, there were plenty of dirty sexual innuendos but what else would you expect from the Seth McFarlane universe?

The Verdict

This was a very fun and entertaining installment of The Cleveland Show and you can see that the show is really hitting its stride, let’s hope that the laughs continue next week.

Final Score: 8.0 out of 10

Episode 4 “Birth of a Salesman” Review

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:59:10 +0000

Cleveland finally lands a job while Roberta and Rallo try to get their stepbrother to connect with his emotions in this weeks episode of The Cleveland Show, titled “Birth of a Salesman”. Keep reading for the full written review.

Episode Summary

The family is at breakfast and Donna asks the kids to make their beds and Cleveland Jr. tells her that he already has. This upsets Rallo and Roberta, who promptly leave the table to do the same so their mother doesn’t get upset. Cleveland starts dropping hints to Junior that he should lose some weight and Junior responds by telling his father that he should get a job.

Later at the bar, Cleveland is cranky and tells his friends it is because he hasn’t found any work. Tim the bear tells him that he will put in a good word for Cleveland at the cable company where he works as a telemarketer. He is able to get the job but on the first day, Mr. Waterman (of Waterman Cable) makes a racist comment to Tim about Cleveland and walks away.

Tim starts showing Cleveland around the office but before he can even finish Cleveland has already made a sale and before long, Cleveland is surpassing Tim by a wide margin in sales. That night, we are then given our first glimpse inside the bear household where Arianna (Tim’s wife) is ordering expensive coffee, more on this later.

Back at the house, Rallo and Roberta are watching television when Donna and Junior enter with folded laundry. Donna snatches the remote away from her kids and tells them they can have it back when they finish putting away their own laundry.

Soon it becomes apparent that Tim is struggling financially — he’s not making enough money to support Arianna’s exotic taste in coffee — as he stays late in an attempt to make more sales. He also tries to take some coffee supplies from the break area, but another employee catches him in the act.

The next day, Cleveland sees that his old friend Terry also works at the cable company and we see a flashback of them as teenagers getting caught at school with weed. The racially insensitive teacher assumes that it was Cleveland’s weed even though both kids were smoking, but Terry covers for Cleveland and tells him to take advantage of the opportunity. When he asks Cleveland if he did in fact take advantage, Cleveland sarcastically retells the storyline of the pilot episode. This is a bit of the writers poking a little fun at themselves in my opinion.

Rallo and Roberta have had it with Cleveland Jr. doing so many chores around the house and making them look bad, so they storm into his room. Rallo messes up Junior’s sheets and he immediately freaks out and tries to fix them, stating that’s how mommy did it. The kids are shocked to discover that Jr. does so much work to cover up his feelings about his parents’ divorce.

After hanging out at the bar, Terry crashes his cable truck into a light pole with Cleveland in the passenger’s seat. Cleveland recalls the time that Terry covered up for him, so he decides to return the favor. The cops arrive and take Cleveland off to jail.

Donna bails him out but it becomes apparent that Cleveland might lose his new job. Tim confesses that he prayed for something bad to happen to them because he was jealous of Cleveland’s quick success. In the office Mr. Waterman fires Cleveland and as things are about to end, Cleveland notices several pictures of Terry on the wall and a “Sex in the City” coffee mug.

Cleveland realizes that his boss is in love with Terry, so he starts retelling a graphic story of Terry when they were on the swim team in high school. Once he has his attention with the tales, Cleveland negotiates not only for his job back, but also a promotion to installer (so he can work with Terry). He goes on to say that Tim is the best salesman for the job.

Roberta and Rallo have another talk with Junior and realize that he needs to let out his emotions regarding the divorce, so they throw him a roast. A Don Rickles impersonator starts verbally jabbing at Cleveland Jr. until he finally starts crying. That’s when his step-siblings come over and tell him they love him.

In the final scene, Cleveland and Terry are seen buying a case of beer and heading out in the truck to do the day’s work.

Analysis

Similar to how last week’s episode featured Lester, “Birth of a Salesman” focused on Tim more than any other supporting character. We also finally get to see why the theme song contains the lyric “there’s old friends” as Terry is brought into the picture.

There were a couple of things that confused me in this episode, race and religion. Tim keeps mentioning that he prays to Jesus but he seems to have a skewed view, treating Jesus more like a wish-granting genie than anything else. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be a playful jab at Christianity or just showcasing Tim as a hilariously misguided character. Either way, I found the jokes to be neither offensive nor particularly funny.

Race was once again a recurring joke source, and I’m not sure whether this is a good thing. We are still in the early episodes but I do hope that the writers start moving away from this a bit. It’s not that it’s distastefully done, but racial jokes should not be a crutch for this show. It can certainly be entertaining on its own without constant references to color and ethnicity.

I thought the end scenes among the kids were sweet, in a Seth McFarlane way. Through making fun of Jr., they all bonded and become closer, a stark contrast from the Griffin children. Roberta and Rallo were initially furious with Junior for making them look lazy in front of their mother, but once they found out the cause, they took a step back and put their feelings aside, that was very nice.

Donna displayed her undying support for her husband, calling herself a “ride or die chick” and then fantasizing about Cleveland in jail being a tough guy. She didn’t get much screen time, but it was memorable. I hope that in a forthcoming episode we can see more of Cleveland and Donna together having fun.

The Verdict

The flea market cutaway scene where Cleveland sings a jingle and does a cool little dance was enjoyable, but the rest of the cutaway jokes weren’t as great. There were also some bear penis jokes and a casual reference to drunk driving at the end, but they weren’t really funny.

I enjoyed “The One About Friends” a bit more, but that’s not to say that this was a bad episode, just mediocre. Despite this, I still enjoyed it and look forward to the next one, which due to the MLB playoffs will air in three weeks.

In case you missed it, The Cleveland Show has been renewed for a full second season, so there should be no worries because there is a lot of time for it to really catch its stride.

Final Score: 7.0 out of 10

Episode 3 “The One About Friends” Review

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:33:01 +0000

Lester Crinklesack and his son are a big part of “The One About Friends”, causing all kinds of ruckus in Stoolbend. Cleveland just wants Junior to have some friends yet things go horribly wrong because of it. Will Cleveland be able to save the day and make a friend of his own along the way? Keep reading for the full episode review.

Episode Summary

Cleveland notices that while Rallo and Roberta have lots of friends and are having no problem being social, Cleveland Jr keeps to himself. Hoping to fix this, Cleveland sets out to find some friends for his son. The first two attempts go horribly awry, with Cleveland getting his wallet stolen by a boy at the basketball court and being surrounded by police after his conversation with an undercover cop comes off as sexually charged.

They see Lester’s son Ernie kicking a can all by himself, so Cleveland takes advantage of the opportunity to introduce the two young men. Soon after, they are having lots of fun together and playing pranks on Tim and Holt. Ernie stays for dinner and is about to leave when Cleveland invites him to spend the night.

The next evening, Ernie comes over again but this time he has a bag full of his belongings. Lester is upset that his boy wants to live somewhere else and says that Cleveland can keep him. Before long, though, Ernie begins wearing out his welcome — he kills a chicken, pees in the kitchen sink and his pet possum “princess” wreaks havoc on Cleveland’s crotch.

Donna, citing previous experience with Robert, suggests that Cleveland call child protective services. According to her, they will just sit Ernie and Lester down and force them to resolve their problems. However, once the social worker sees just how atrocious the living conditions are at the Crinklesacks’, he rushes away with Ernie and takes him to a foster home.

Lester simply cannot be convinced to get his son back, until Tim and Cleveland work together to paint the government as the culprit behind everything. Cleveland gets sharply dressed and is ready to go to a hearing, but Lester took a different approach to fighting for his son and has rounded up several of his gun-toting buddies.

They all travel to the foster family’s house and Lester and “The Sons of Stoolbend” are all ready to go in guns blazing, but Cleveland somehow manages to get Lester to take the civilized approach — which lasts about a minute. The social worker refuses to return custody of Ernie so Lester calls his friends in and a huge gunfight between them and the foster parents ensues.

While the bullets are flying, Lester and Ernie iron out their misunderstanding and are reunited. Also during the battle, Cleveland yet again gets someone to see things his way, but the social worker is killed by a bullet. Thinking quickly, Mr. Brown picks up the dead hand and forges the signature, but when he looks up, the foster parents have Lester at gunpoint. Springing into action, Cleveland shoots the chandelier and traps them, effectively ending the fight.

Analysis

This episode showcased Cleveland as a well-intentioned yet somehow impatient dad who kept bumbling things up. Although his goals were eventually accomplished, there were many stumbling blocks along the way. This sets him apart from Peter Griffin in that Peter just does whatever he feels like without much regard for outcome.

Lester was a focal point this time around, and in effect this felt like an extension of the pilot with things slowly unraveling for the sake of fleshing out this supporting character. Unfortunately, Rallo and Roberta appear only briefly, leaving a little to be desired. I feel like an episode like this could have waited a week or two for the sake of getting to know Cleveland’s new family a bit more.

The cutaway jokes weren’t really as sharp as last week and some of the jokes felt a bit tired, but some were memorable. I personally enjoyed Cleveland dressing up as Lester and Holt coming in dressed as Cleveland, to which Cleveland replied “We may dress as you all but you all may not dress as us.” Another funny one was Roberta communicating with all of her friends via two phones, twitter and facebook.

The Verdict

Overall, “The One About Friends” was an average episode that wasn’t quite funny or memorable enough. We didn’t get to see enough of the Tubbs children, but at least Donna played a significant role in the episode. Now that Lester’s character has been given an extended showcase, hopefully he will become a funny character that is good for a little more than redneck jokes.

The Cleveland Show further grounds itself as more of a sitcom than its predecessor, as Cleveland forges a friendship of his own in the process of trying to do so for his son.

Final Score: 7.5 out of 10

“Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance” Review

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:37:03 +0000

With the character and setting introductions out of the way thanks to the pilot episode, Cleveland and his new family start to get better acquainted. Along the way, though, they hit some bumps and Cleveland must do some maturing in order to make things right. Keep reading for the full review.

Episode Summary

The episode opens at breakfast, where Cleveland sits down at the table and tells the kids about a wonderful dream that he had involving him and Cleveland Jr having a great new family. He’s obviously very excited and wants nothing more than to bond with his new step-children. However, Rallo and Roberta won’t be so easily won over as we see in the next couple of scenes. Rallo is still upset that there are two new people in the house and Roberta doesn’t want to be seen with Cleveland on the way to school.

At dinner, Junior tells Cleveland that he had a bad day — he was bullied by his classmates and the gym coach. Cleveland gives his son a little pep talk and then asks Rallo and Roberta about their days. Rallo discloses that he pooped his pants at recess but when Cleveland asks Roberta about her day, she gets mad and leaves the table. Once the boys depart, Donna tells Cleveland that Roberta is upset because the Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance is coming up and Robert stood her up last year.

The next day, Cleveland brings Roberta flowers and tells her that he will be her date to the dance. Still not accepting of her new stepfather, she refuses, provoking an all out campaign to get her to accept the invitation. This includes a hilarious YouTube style video in which Cleveland ghost rides a car to a hip-hop instrumental.

At school, a girl picks on Cleveland, causing him to run frantically into the boys’ bathroom where, strangely enough, there are no doors on the stalls. A kid on the toilet asks him to stand in front of the stall and tells him he’s perfect for this job. Later, when Cleveland asks his son about his day at school, Junior responds:

“Crappy, and I mean that in a good way”

When Cleveland presents Roberta with some lovely earrings, she finally relents and decides to go to the dance with him. Excited about this turn of events, he decides to go out for some ice cream cake, but then disaster strikes as he runs over the family dog, Meadowlark Lemon. Lester sees this and promptly comes over to “get rid” of the dog for Cleveland. We then catch our first glimpse of Lester’s wife, a morbidly obese and motorized scooter-ridden woman.

The next morning, Rallo is visibly upset because the dog never came home the night before. Cleveland tries to play it cool by not mentioning the accident and so he and Rallo embark on a quest to find Meadowlark. They go to the park, the sludge pond, the chicken gizzard cannery and finally a greek restaurant slash gym.

After seeing Cleveland Jr again in the school bathroom finding his way, we meet Cleveland and his new friends at The Broken Stool. Lester shocks Cleveland by telling him he ate the dog and Cleveland doesn’t know what to do about the situation. Tim the bear steps up by telling Cleveland that he must confess because he wants to build his new life on a strong foundation, but also tells him that he must be brutally honest and pay attention to all the details.

Unfortunately, he follows this advice too closely, effectively destroying all the hard work he had put in to win over Roberta and Rallo. Roberta no longer wants to go the dance with Cleveland because, as she puts it, he would probably run her over and feed her to some rednecks.

The next day, Cleveland brings home a new dog, Kareem Abdul Jabark, but the family rejects this gesture and the dog is promptly killed by a bigger dog in a game of fetch gone awry.

When we next see Cleveland, he is very mopey and depressed, so Rallo begins insult him. This causes Cleveland to finally assert himself as Rallo’s authority figure, getting instant respect from the child. He soon realizes that it is time for him to show up at the dance, where as expected Roberta is alone — abandoned yet again by her biological father.

After he arrives at Stoolbend High School Cleveland runs into the bathroom to fix his tie. To his horror, Cleveland Jr is now a bathroom attendant! He insists that this is not the job for him and that the next day he will teach Junior how to throw a baseball. In a very funny exchange, Cleveland tells his son to boil his clothes when he gets home.

In the gym, Roberta is alone — abandoned yet again by her biological father. Mr. Brown whispers a request to the DJ and then makes his way over to Roberta, still very much upset with Cleveland. In a moment that assures us that this will be a great show, Cleveland gives a sweet speech that finally gets Roberta to forgive him. They then proceed to the dance floor and have a great time together.

Analysis

As expected, this episode was much better than the pilot, which had to go through the boring and drawn-out process of setting up the premise of the entire show. This episode made it clear that The Cleveland Show is no Family Guy rip-off as it began to set itself apart with its family sitcom feel.

Cleveland is starting to prove his doubters wrong — he does have the personality to carry an entire show. Not that he will have to do it alone, as the kids prove to be great cast members. Each of them starts to develop his or her own character right before our eyes and this is a great thing.

Roberta is a rebellious teenager for a reason: her real father isn’t there for her. Rallo isn’t just a perverted little kid, he’s sarcastic, quick-witted and cute. Cleveland Junior is a fighter because even though he gets picked on at school, he never gives up and eventually finds something he’s good at and gains him some acceptance.

The cutaway gags were absolutely spectacular in this one. There’s an aggressive toaster, a caveman and his dogs, a biting Kurt Cobain joke and a Star Trek convention rape scene — all very funny. Topping them all, however, was a great Men’s Wearhouse parody featuring Cleveland saying that he’ll like the way he’ll look, he “gurrantees” it. The writers got it right this time as the gags don’t take away from the pace of the episode but rather enhance it.

Cleveland’s speech to Roberta was a very sweet moment and scenes like this are what is going to make The Cleveland Show stand out from the other two McFarlane cartoons. He also does his best to bond with new stepson Rallo while continuing to support Cleveland Junior. He and Donna interact somewhat but this one was all about the kids and how they all interacted with their father.

The Verdict

“Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance” steps out of the shadow of Family Guy by establishing itself as a traditional family sitcom with a snappy, raunchy and comically genius edge. If the rest of the episodes this season are half as good as this one, then this is going to be the huge hit that Fox wants it to be.

Final Score: 9.0 out of 10

Episode 1 “Pilot” Review

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:22:16 +0000

Well, the premiere episode of “The Cleveland Show” has aired. During the pilot we discover Cleveland’s reasons for leaving Quahog, learn a little bit more of his past and meet some of the new characters that live in Stoolbend, Virginia. Read on for the full review.

Episode Summary

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think that you were watching an episode of Family Guy, because that’s just how this one begins. In the Drunken Clam, Cleveland tells the guys that his divorce has been finalized and while he got custody of Cleveland Jr, Loretta was awarded the house. The next day, while Cleveland is taking a bath and conversing with his son, Peter once again blows up the house, pushing Cleveland over the edge. He declares that he’s tired of getting kicked around by this world.

After announcing his departure and getting Lois and Bonnie to make out, Cleveland says goodbye to his friends and the opening theme starts. Cleveland plans on moving to California to pursue his dream of becoming a minor league baseball scout but decides to make a stop in his hometown (Stoolbend) for a couple of days.

While visiting his high school, Cleveland runs into Donna, his childhood sweetheart. During a flashback, we see Cleveland escorting Donna to the prom because her boyfriend Robert wanted to get drunk with his friends. Once there, Robert steps in and takes Donna away.

Robert and Donna got married and had two children – Roberta and Rallo. They have since divorced, and Donna is now a single mother raising two rebellious children. We are introduced to Lester, the redneck neighbor and Holt, the extreme hipster wannabe.

Cleveland decides to help out by doing his best to mend the predicaments the children are in. He has a violent encounter with Roberta’s boyfriend, Federline, telling him to bring her home on time. While she’s gone, Cleveland and Donna reminisce and share a tender moment which is interrupted by Roberta coming home — on time!

The next day, Cleveland gets Rallo back into school and seems to be seamlessly stepping into the role of stepfather, when disaster strikes. Convinced of the kids’ need for a father, Donna reunites with Robert and he moves back home. Cleveland is upset, but resolves to accept this outcome.

After going to the town bar, “The Broken Stool”, and chatting with the three neighbors, Cleveland decides to leave Stoolbend early and head to California. During the drive, Cleveland Jr convinces his father that he needs to go after his dreams, and that’s what motivates him to turn the car around and head back.

He storms into Donna’s house, tells Donna how he’s felt and she reciprocates the love. Cleveland finally stands up to Robert and declares himself the owner of Donna’s derriere. The flashbacks begin anew, and we see how Cleveland and Donna were always close, but Cleveland never had the guts to stand up and declare his love.

Their passionate kiss morphs into their wedding, where we see the gang from Quahog and the new friends from Stoolbend in attendance. Cleveland finally wins, gets the girl and they all look forward to their lives together as a new family.

Analysis

Realistically, I didn’t expect much out of this episode. After all, pilots are usually pretty boring in retrospect because they must drudgingly introduce the setting, characters and back story. This was no different, yet because it is a spin-off they decided to seamlessly transition from Family Guy to The Cleveland Show.

Mike Henry knows that his main audience is going to be Family Guy fans, so he ensures that this new show stays true to time tested formulas – controversial humor and cutaway gags. Speaking of gags, we are treated to a few unmemorable ones during the pilot. Kathleen Turner, R. Kelly and Dolly Parton are all used in these random scenes but none of them really stands out as funny.

Many knew that the racial jokes were coming, and the writers waste no time breaking the ice when Peter says

“. . . I’ve never seen a black guy cry before, I always thought you guys just got more pissed off”

Because Cleveland’s personality has been less than dynamic, we see a wide range of emotions, something very new to the Family Guy audience. From whiny and defeated to quick-tempered yet polite to determined and courageous, Mr. Brown steps outside the box in attempt to display his full character. At times this worked well but more often than not it felt a bit forced.

The supporting cast seems to have some potential for laughs — a redneck neighbor battling his own racism, a frisky baby and a witty bear round out the new set of personalities Cleveland will be interacting with.

One thing cannot be disputed, The Cleveland Show looks spectacular. Not only is the animation familiar (McFarlane style), but the show is presented in HD. The colors are gorgeous and the characters are well drawn.

The Verdict

While not a great episode by most standards, The Cleveland Show proves that at the very least it will be interesting to watch. Perhaps true to spin-off form, this was essentially an episode of Family Guy starring Cleveland Brown. The jokes weren’t as sharp and many scenes fell flat. However, it will be a few episodes before we can really start evaluating the show based on its own merits and drawbacks. We look forward to spending more time with Cleveland and his new family, hopefully seeing him break away from the Family Guy mold en route to finally making his own impression on the world.

Final Score: 6.5 out of 10