The Cleveland Show

The bizarre adventures of Cleveland Brown and his family.

The Cleveland Show (2009-2013) is an American adult animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel and Mike Henry for FOX. Mike Henry voices Cleveland Brown, a good-natured former resident of Quahog who relocates with his family to a new town and tries to build a stable life in a blended household. Sanaa Lathan voices his wife Donna Tubbs, Reagan Gomez-Preston voices her daughter Roberta, and Jason Sudeikis voices Holt Richter, a neighbor whose rivalry and friendship with Cleveland drive many episodes. The engine of the show is simple: Cleveland wants a peaceful family life, but his blundering schemes, his neighbors' antics and his own impulsive appetites keep upending it. Each twenty-two minute episode is a self-contained case of the week built from cartoon set pieces, sight gags and escalating misadventures rather than a continuing serialized plot. Across four seasons the show stays a loose, episodic comedy with a warm domestic core. Its tone is crude, irreverent and breezy, with raunchy jokes and absurd humor layered over familiar sitcom family dynamics. Fans of Family Guy, The Simpsons and American Dad will find a similar spirit of cartoon satire, though this series leans more openly on blended-family comedy and its spin-off roots.

Audience reception is negative, with viewers finding the crude family humor and spinoff-style antics uneven across its four seasons.

• Family Guyshared crude adult animated family sitcom tones and workplace-free domestic absurdity
• The Simpsonsshared adult animated sitcom format built on a spin-off of a family-centered broadcast comedy
• American Dad!shared raunchy adult animation and blended-family domestic comedy
• King of the Hillshared Fox animated spin-off structure with a neighborhood-set family comedy

Created by

Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, Mike Henry

Release Date

2009-09-27

Episode runtime

22 min

Rating

5.6 / 10 (479)

What is The Cleveland Show about?

An animated Fox spin-off following Cleveland Brown as he rebuilds his family life in a new town with crude, absurd comedy.

What is The Cleveland Show like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Cleveland Show as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as simple.

Is The Cleveland Show violent?

Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Cleveland Show as mild.

What did critics think of The Cleveland Show?

Audience reception is negative, with viewers finding the crude family humor and spinoff-style antics uneven across its four seasons.

Which shows are like The Cleveland Show?

Shows with a similar feel include Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad!, and King of the Hill.

How long is The Cleveland Show?

The Cleveland Show: 4 seasons, 88 episodes.

Is The Cleveland Show still running?

No, The Cleveland Show has ended.

Where can I watch The Cleveland Show?

In United States, The Cleveland Show streams on Hulu.