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Cleveland Brown (Who eventually became a Black version of Peter), who's tired of Quahog's (Rhode Island) nuisance, decided to move to his old place in Virginia along with his son (Black version of Chris). But, not everything was expected. He met his old crush in Virginia, who is a divorced mother (Black version of Lois) with a teenaged daughter (Black version of Meg), and a baby boy (Black version of Stewie).
Chris Gomez
At first glance, you'd probably look at The Cleveland Show and instantly think that this is just a black version of Family Guy. However, it's really not like that at all. The Cleveland Show came out around the time when Family Guy started to get old and unfunny and while Family Guy died somewhere around it's ninth season, it's comedic gold and interesting characters lived on in The Cleveland Show. Unlike Family Guy, The Cleveland Show doesn't constantly resort to gross-out humor and random cutaway gags. Not to say that those jokes never appear in the show, but on the few occasions that they do, they can actually be pretty funny. There are some meaningful interactions between the characters of the show and the show has a lot of continuity and overarching story lines. The show is actually so good, that it's even better than Family Guy, even if you compare it to Family Guy, back to when it was in it's prime.Cleveland isn't a blatant Peter Griffin clone. His personality is the same as it was when he was a character in Family Guy. He's a bit more of a laid back and mellow kind of guy who doesn't take life too seriously. The relationship between him and Donna isn't your typical "Stupid guy acting like a moron, while his wife rolls his eyes at him" kind of relationship. When Cleveland does something stupid, there is actually a good reason for him to have made that mistake and even after the deed is done, you can see why he's still sticking to his guns, because what he did isn't really all that bad. However, you can still understand why Donna would disapprove, so when they argue, there's really no officially telling who's right and who's wrong. Not only this, but sometimes Donna does something ridiculous that Cleveland disapproves of and it plays out the same way. This kind of role reversal never happens in Family Guy and is what keeps The Cleveland Show going strong.Cleveland Junior and Roberta have personalities and situations that would never apply to Chris and Meg. Junior may be an unpopular loser who occasionally gets made fun of like Chris, but what makes this funny is his delightful feelings and positive outlook on the situation. Junior doesn't seem to be hurt by the fact that he's a social outcast, but when things do go too far, he handles the situation with optimism, rather than anger. There's also a reason for him to be made fun of, which is due to the fact that he's a nerd who plays with children's toys, so you get where the bullies are coming from. Also, unlike Meg, his family never makes fun of him at all, so if he's having trouble at school, his family will always be there for support. On Roberta's side, she is very popular and loved by all, which balances out Junior's nerdiness. She doesn't act like a stereotypical stuck-up snob, because we can actually get some insight to what her life is like, and see that she has some genuine issues, adjusting to Cleveland being her new dad and we can actually see her as someone, suffering problems as opposed to a teenager moaning and bitching about nothing.Rallo is probably the only character who's really a clone of Stewie. He's a trash-talking baby, who uses a bunch of black slang words and stuff, but he's a bit more toned down. He's kind of the lovable asshole of the show, who acts like a jerk, but still has some kind of a comedic charm to some his antics as well as getting punished at the end of the episode.The Cleveland Show is also not afraid to put some overarching stories in the show. Immediately starting at the first episode, a story arc involving Robert (the true father of Roberta and Rallo) begins. Roberta and Rallo dislike Cleveland for not being their real dad and don't take him seriously. Robert makes himself competition for Cleveland, trying to spoil the kids, including Junior with a bunch of fancy stuff, trying to buy their love and be a better father than Cleveland. This continues as a recurring theme for the entire season, so it can be taken seriously. The stories and interactions really kick off in Season 3, but it's best not to spoil anything.The style of comedy may have some cutaway gags and sexual humor here and there, but there is a variety of other jokes too. There's clever word play, running gags, references, etc. Family Guy is afraid to tell a joke that doesn't shock the audience, at the expense of being seen as lame, so every clever pun has to be followed by another character calling the other guy out on making such a dumb joke. The Cleveland Show, however, doesn't care about that and is willing to shamelessly go dive straight into any kind of joke they can think of. Also, the jokes are balanced out nicely with the storyline, so you can actually take a dramatic plot line seriously, without having an annoying joke kill the emotion.That The Cleveland Show was cancelled is a real shame, because it really didn't deserve it. It has a similar style of comedy as Family Guy back when it was good, and it also has some meaningful character interactions and story lines like American Dad. Both of those are mixed together and balanced out perfectly in The Cleveland Show, so it's really worth watching. It doesn't end with a respectable finale, due to its abrupt cancellation, but it still makes for a wonderful ride along the way.
