Line #14 YMMV/TheClevelandShow


1	* {{Adorkable}}: Junior is shy, awkward, and a real sweetie.
2	* AluminumChristmasTrees: In "To Live & Die in VA", Cleveland imagines what the world would be like without him, which leads to a parody of the show's opening theme with Quagmire in his place. Instead of the Stoolbend, Virginia sign, we see a sign that reads "Welcome to Intercourse, Pennsylvania." [[http://lancasterpa.com/intercourse/ Intercourse, PA is very much a real place]].
3	* BizarroEpisode:
4	** The ''Film/DieHard'' parody, which, had it not had been for the show's cancellation, would have had sequel episodes, like ''Family Guy'''s ''Star Wars'' parodies.
5	** "The Wide, Wide, World of Cleveland Show," which shows what ''The Cleveland Show'' is like in other countries (mostly Mexico, Italy, and Japan).
6	** "A Rodent Like This" where it is revealed that Fat Cleveland Junior is actually a spy who killed the original hyperactive Slim Cleveland Junior, as part of a gambit to assassinate Tim, who's the head of a terrorist sleeper-cell. Originally a WhamEpisode that explains why Cleveland Jr. is different from his original version in ''Family Guy'', this is never brought up again in the show and Tim is never killed. So it probably was an elaborate prank on Rallo.
7	* BrokenBase: The show had a lot of mixed receptions and it's hard to give it a consensus. Some people think that it had the same level of watch-ability as the better modern episodes of ''Family Guy'', while some people think it's just as bad and had turned into a Black clone of ''Family Guy'' with the same offensive humor and WorldOfJerkass.
8	* CreatorsPet: Donna seems capable of getting away with significantly more things than other characters are. The most notable examples include treating her husband like shit to the point of nearly killing him and not learning a damn thing over it, being angry that he's sad that someone he spent nearly 15 years of his life with died, and going out of her way to emotionally abuse Rallo, complete with song on one occasion. It's kind of amazing Cleveland never divorced her, but she still tends to be important to any given plot 80% of the time.
9	* CrossesTheLineTwice: As with anything Creator/SethMacFarlane makes, this is heavily used in many episodes.
10	** In the start of ''Sex and the Biddy'', a family is bringing their grandfather in a building, implied to be the family's home...except that its the local retirement home, and the family dons the old man with a red bow and ding-dong-ditches. The best part: the population went from 68 to 69.
11	* DesignatedHero:
12	** Junior, due to often clinging the JerkassBall or being [[IdiotHoudini a legitimate annoyance to everyone around him]], yet a large amount of his roles he is played as the victim for being chewed out or told to act his age (usually it ''is'' unscrupulous, but more due to the family's abrasive or hypocritical methods than the act itself). "The Hurricane!" is a prime example, in which Junior declares himself an atheist, albeit a far less insufferable case than Brian. Despite this, the plot quickly becomes this show's version of "Not All Dogs Go To Heaven", with the family's moronically pious attitude going up against Junior's obnoxious mockery of religion (though "The Hurricane" doesn't smack of the same UnfortunateImplications that "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" did).
13	** Donna is this at her absolute best for getting away with a lot more bad things than most other characters, such as being an overall horrible wife to Cleveland, which includes beating him up on many occasions, attempted mariticide and threatening to divorce him just for mourning his former recently deceased wife, Loretta. She is also physically and emotionally abusive to her kids, such as insulting Rallo through song or calling Roberta a bitch just for saying that she's more attractive than her. Yet many characters look up to her. It's a wonder Cleveland hasn't divorced her yet.
14	* GrowingTheBeard: The show abandoned most of its connections to ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' by season two (not many cutaways, but plenty of bizarre asides and [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Big-Lipped Alligator Moments]] to remind viewers that this is a Creator/SethMacFarlane show) and grew into its own. Sadly, this was the same time that FOX fell out of love with the show and [[ExecutiveMeddling screwed it over so bad that it's now cancelled]].
15	* HarsherInHindsight: The show's jokes about not being cancelled and begging FOX not to take his show away from him aren't as funny now when the show ''was'' canceled; one noticeable example being the episode "[[Recap/TheClevelandShowS3E1BFFs BFFs]]" when Cleveland heads back to Quahog to visit Peter, leading Stewie to ask if his show was cancelled already and if he was trying to come back to ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
16	* HilariousInHindsight:
17	** In a season one episode, there's a cutaway gag of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCAsY4MyalQ Uncle Thomas the Tank Engine.]] A few years later there were accusations of [[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/29/thomas-tank-engine-racist-british-blogger-accuses/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS subtle racism in the children's show.]]
18	** Early on in the series, Donna declares an unconditional hatred for Phylicia Rashad. Guess who voices her mother when she finally appears?
19	** A cutaway in "Ladies Night" has an exasperated (pre-transition) [[Creator/TheWachowskis Lilly Wachowski]] mixed up for her transgender sister. A few years later, Lilly would come out as transgender as well.
20	** Rallo's joke about the Golden State Warriors having no defense in "[=BFF's=]". 4 years later, the Warriors would win their first title since 1975.
21	** The season four episode "A Vas Deferens Between Men and Women" has a subplot where Rallo stars in a local theater production of ''Annie'' (which gets altered due to Rallo blowing the show's budget on his diva-like demands). A few years after this episode, there ''would'' be a [[Film/{{Annie 2014}} feature film remake of]] ''Annie'' with the title character played by a Black girl instead of a white girl.
22	*** In the same episode, Rallo says the ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}'' franchise needs to be revived. [[Film/TheLegendOfTarzan Come 2016...]]
23	** "March Dadness" has [=LaVarr=] state (Correctly at the time) that no #16 seed had ever beat a #1 seed team in the mens college basketball tournament. That was undone in 2018, when the University Of Maryland, Baltimore County would shock #1 ranked Virginia in the first round.
24	** In "Of Lice And Men", after Rallo Tubbs is [[TraumaticHaircut forced to shave his head]], the kids at school make fun of him for his oddly shaped "peanut head" and call him "Mr. Peanut". The next day, he goes to school wearing a hat to hide his bald head, and one of the students gives him a top hat to wear, which he puts on. The student then gives him a matching monocle and cane to further resemble Mr. Peanut. The idea of a young child like Rallo dressing up as Mr. Peanut is even funnier now, considering in 2020, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSeBuY9F2hE Mr. Peanut was replaced by a child version of himself named Baby Nut]].
25	** During Cleveland's rap number "Straight Outta Stoolbend" in "Cleveland Jr. Cherry Bomb", he says "white boys do my voice". This is no longer the case after Mike Henry stopped voicing Cleveland in 2020 and was replaced by Arif Zahir, who's black.
26	* HoYay:
27	** Mr. Waterman hitting on Terry, the latter of whom doesn't see that it's sexual harassment. Cleveland even uses Mr. Waterman's crush on Terry to get a position as a cable installer and reinstate Tim the Bear's job as a telemarketer by telling Mr. Waterman risqué stories about Terry's days on the swim team.
28	** Half of Junior and Ernie’s screen time together can come across as two boys who’s friendship is about to turn into a romantic relationship and it’s played for cutenesses. Sadly they don’t appear together that much after the first season and when they do the gayness is gone.
29	** Junior's love for his father can come off as this.
30	*** One episode has Junior sending an MMS of himself, lying naked in a flower, to his father.
31	*** Another episode had Cleveland jealous that Junior has found another father figure in Robert.
32	** Freight Train and Cleveland Jr. rolling on the grass, laughing. In the end, Jr. warily asks: "You aren't going to kiss me, are you?"
33	** In general, father-son affection in this show definitely blurs the line between platonic affection and incestuous pedophilia (when it's not showing father-son relations as being [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood hilariously abusive in the physical and mental/emotional sense]]).
34	** Cleveland's FiveManBand also have this going on between each other.
35	*** Terry and Cleveland have been shown to skinny dip and get drunk together just the two of them.
36	*** Tim the bear REALLY liked Lester’s legs when they were forced to cross dress.
37	*** Unlike Donna they know details about Cleveland (his medication, how to spell his name, his allergies.)
38	** Holt was really sad no man wanted to dance with him at the gay bar.
39	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Some viewers don't like this show (or initially didn't like the show) because it is/was yet another cookie-cutter wacky family show by Creator/SethMacFarlane, which is true, but ''The Cleveland Show'' did prove in its short time that it was funny without copying (much) from ''Family Guy''. It also didn't help that Cleveland went from being the OnlySaneMan of the group to essentially a Black Pre-Flanderize Peter Griffin.
40	* MemeticMolester: In-universe, Cleveland has become this. Not helped by his {{Manchild}} tendencies and AmbiguouslyGay character.
41	--> '''Cleveland:''' I should ''not'' talk to boys.
42	* MemeticMutation
43	%%** "Be-Cleve in Yourself"
44	%%** Cleveland's Best Cry Ever
45	%%** Frapp Attack!
46	%% ZCE's.
47	** The theme song. Even people who don't watch the show can immediately sing the opening stanza, just because they heard you say "''The Cleveland Show''".
48	** "And even a bear" from the theme song, has sort of evolved into punctuation for sentences talking about Seth [=MacFarlane=] creations or any of his knockoffs.
49	** Inevitably, Glenn Quagmire's version of the theme song has also seen its fair share of memes, including one [[https://youtu.be/gd_ng0Bnopc compressed to be only 43 KB large.]]
50	** Rallo is treated as somewhat of a god in the Black community.
51	** The show itself has developed somewhat of a cult following, years beyond its cancellation, mainly because of its aforementioned theme song.
52	* NauseaFuel:
53	** Coach [=McFall=]'s hole in his cheek from years of chewing tobacco.
54	** Gus the Bartender taking off his ''skin'' to put in a washer at the laundromat in "Tis the Cleveland to Be Sorry."
55	** Cleveland eating bones in "Sex and the Biddy".
56	* TheScrappy:
57	** Donna Tubbs due to her SassyBlackWoman frequently crossing over into being an outright JerkAss.
58	** Cleveland's co-worker Arch for being a monotone jerkass whose entire character revolves around being TheBore.
59	** Cleveland's father Freight Train as well due to the abuse he puts his son through. Not helped by the fact that almost all of said abuse is PlayedForLaughs.
60	** Choni isn't well liked by fans, if mostly because her character only amounts to being an annoying stereotype who causes unnecessary conflict every time she shows up, it doesn't help she became a [[AscendedExtra recurring character]] while her niece Cecilia who was far more popular with fans stayed in a minor role despite becoming [[spoiler: Junior's wife.]]
61	* SoOkayItsAverage: How many people view the show (especially in its early seasons). It left nowhere near an impact as the pre-cancelation seasons of ''Family Guy'', but wasn't as bad as some of the modern seasons, particularly season 12 (which Cleveland ironically returned in).
62	* {{Squick}}:
63	** Coach Charles [=McFall=], who had his right cheek removed after years of chewing tobacco.
64	** Junior's feelings for Donna and the look-alike Roberta.
65	* TearJerker: in "Cleveland Jr.'s Cherry Bomb", when Junior overhears Cleveland and his friends making fun of his vow to stay a virgin.
66	** In “Gone With the Wind”, Loretta dies falling from the bathtub. While Loretta’s death in general is sad, the bathtub gag is PlayedForLaughs. Loretta’s funeral becomes even more sad when Junior stands by her grave and Cleveland breaking down shouting [[BigNo No!!]] repeatedly, while on said grave.
67	* ThemePairing: Hayley Smith from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Meg Griffin from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', and Roberta Tubbs are all the unappreciated daughters on Creator/SethMacFarlane shows.
68	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
69	** Terry. He comes out as the first major LGBT character in the show, but the writers just get rid of him and place Dr. Fist as the new guy on Cleveland's FiveManBand. The fact that Dr. Fist had [[FlatCharacter next to no personality]] doesn't help.
70	** Roberta, who became DemotedToExtra almost instantly due to her original voice actress Nia Long being replaced halfway into the first season, her replacement Reagan Gomez-Preston becoming pregnant shortly after and the writers' inability to write for teenage girls (which was the same problem that the writers on ''Family Guy'' had with Meg that resulted in her becoming the show's resident ButtMonkey). Shame too since Roberta was either just as cool and funny as [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Meg]] or [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDad Hayley]] (if not more).
71	** Donna's mother Dee Dee. She debuted in Season 3's "Mama Drama" and would only show up four more times during the next season (one of which was in the episode that turned out to be the series finale) before being unceremoniously written out altogether when the ''Family Guy'' episode "Candy, Quahog Marshmallow" revealed that [[spoiler:she committed suicide by shooting herself]].
72	** Donny was a hilarious recurring side character, with tons of depth, [[spoiler:but they had to go and kill him off in his second appearance.]]
73	** Loretta, [[Recap/FamilyGuyS7E1LoveBlactually in her last Family Guy appearance]], tried to reconcile with Cleveland, only for Cleveland [[AmicableExes to part with her on good terms]]. Loretta could've been a recurring character, with her presence creating some tension between Donna and Cleveland Jr., both of whom would despise her for cheating on Cleveland. Instead, she is unceremoniously killed off, with her death resulting in a minor dramatic plot that doesn't last more than one episode. What's worse is that her final act is a SpitefulWill that leaves Cleveland with nothing, implying her reconciliation with Cleveland was completely phony.
74	** When Cleveland returned to ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' quite a few fans were sad none of Cleveland’s friends or the show's side characters followed him to the other show.
75	** Apart from Donna (who is mostly seen with Lois and Bonnie) none of Cleveland’s family appear to be major or even minor characters. They are lucky if they appear in the background, we have also yet to see Roberta and Junior attend Creator/AdamWest High with Chris and Meg.
76	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
77	** In the season one finale, there could have been a touching scene where Donna comforts Cookie when Cleveland's father didn't show up in their second wedding.
78	** Though not the fault of the creators, "Wheel of Family"'s story of Dee Dee and Robert becoming a couple and adopting Hong Kong Phooey had enough mileage to make for at least a season or two of stories. Its bizarre concept (a woman's ex-husband marrying her single mother) probably doesn't exist anywhere else on television, (and if it does, it's most likely very poorly done), which means this arc would have been 100% original. However, the show was canceled just after that episode aired, putting an end to the story as quickly as it started.
79	*** To add insult to injury, Dee Dee was [[KilledOffscreen killed off]] in the Family Guy episode, "Candy Quahog Marshmallow!" as a passing joke. Because of this, the potential for this premature story coming to fruition is officially dead.
80	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Aside from having an AudienceAlienatingPremise, the Browns themselves make it even harder to stay invested in the show. Cleveland takes a [[TookALevelInJerkass level in jerkass]] compared to Family Guy. Donna is a DesignatedHero at best who emotionally and physically abuses her husband and children on a regular basis. Junior is a delusional psycho who [[spoiler: possibly murdered his Family Guy counterpart]]. Rallo is an EnfantTerrible who regularly manipulates and uses Junior on a daily basis. While Roberta can be seen as more sympathetic than the rest of the family, she fluctuates in level of {{Jerkass}} behavior. The rest of the cast is also either too stupid, too boring, or too malicious to proberly root for as well.
81	* UnexpectedCharacter: Cleveland getting his own show caught a lot of people by surprise, and it's lampshaded in the pilot.
82	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: With its short existence, the show becomes a microcosm of late aughts to early 2010's references and jokes with each passing year. Including references to things like pre-bad boy Music/JustinBieber, Sarah Palin, the "[[Music/KanyeWest I'm a let you finish]]" incident and so forth.
83	* VanillaProtagonist: Cleveland, who in one episode was named the whitest Black man in America.

Context YMMV / TheClevelandShow