I would have innitially disagreed, but as the show went on it became more like modern Family Guy. At first Cleveland Show's humor felt fresher than current Family Guy, with a few interesting moments of character development (Cleveland Jr's coping with the divorce for instance). There were many episodes were I thought they would go the low road (Black History Month episode) but I was pleasantly surprised.
Still as time went on things got to the staleness of the current Family Guy. You know something's wrong when the most calm and rational character from Family Guy becomes a neglectful, abusive sociopath in his own show.
I thought the show was pretty bad to begin with, though I do agree, the earlier episodes were less bad. What they did to Cleveland's character is one of the more annoying aspects of this show. Just, why? He was a very likable character in Family Guy, why did they have to make him into a black Peter Griffin?
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It's just an unfunny Family Guy
The Cleveland Show. My god, is it awful. I'm a fan of Seth Mac Farlane, so I really did TRY to like it. But this show is just lazy and unfunny. It's basically a crappy version of Family Guy. I try to avoid screaming "rip-off!" every time a new show has a similar premise to an older show, but this time, it can't be helped. The main family characters are mostly just black, blander versions of the Griffin family. You have a fat, rude, obnoxious husband who works a white-collar job You have his more reasonable, and kind of hot, wife, where you have to wonder how an unpleasant character like Cleveland was able to capture her heart. (she is a bit ruder than the original Lois, but Lois in the later seasons has gotten a little... crazier, no doubt from living with Peter) You have the fat, slow, stupid son and the wisecracking toddler who acts older than he should. A few minor differences, but the show barely differentiates from Family Guy. It even has the Manatee Gags!
If they really had to give Cleveland his own show, did they really have to screw him up so much? Cleveland was originally a calm, nice guy. There was even an entire Family Guy episode where they tried to get him to be more assertive. But since he came to this show, he's just become another dumb, lazy, obnoxious, drunken idiot like Peter. As mentioned above, the family is pretty much the same. A new show should be an opportunity to explore new situations and create different opportunities of comedy. The underrated Mac Farlane creation American Dad! is a great example, as the radically different characters and premise prevent it from becoming a Family Guy rip-off. (not to mention it has a different style of humor) But with The Cleveland Show, it looks like they went out of their way to make it as similar to Family Guy as possible. (except, you know, without the funny)
I've heard rumors that Fox made Seth Mac Farlane do this show in hopes of attracting more black viewers. I hope to god that's true, I don't like to imagine a favorite comedian and show-maker of mine willingly making such a god-awful show. It honestly doesn't look like any effort was put into this, as if They Just Didnt Care.