The Cleveland Show - Season 1

This show confuses me. For one thing, does Seth MacFarlane really need an hour and a half of television every Sunday night? I mean, I could see this show appearing if Family Guy or American Dad were finished, but to have three series in production at the same time seems to be overkill. Second, I can understand why Cleveland was chosen to have a spin-off, he's was (depending on who you ask) the most developed of Peter Griffin's entourage and would have the most to gain from having his own show...but why has his personality become so negative? They basically completely changed his personality to make him having his own show work and that may be one of the bigger faults for the show. He was the sanest member of Peter's group and was a likable supporting character, but here they keep trying to play up the idea that he's a horrible person and it just doesn't feel right. This personality swap became more apparent when in an latter Family Guy episode, Peter and the gang pop up at Cleveland's house and Cleveland acts more like his old likable self.

The best thing I can say about The Cleveland Show is that its at least better than what the promos made it out to be. The show is decent but while Family Guy and American Dad specialize in bizarre story lines, Cleveland is just a straight up sitcom with harsh jokes thrown around every couple of seconds. The only real standout moment from the season was a rap battle between Cleveland Jr. and a rapper played by Kanye West. Sure, there were funny jokes here and there, but nothing I can remember off the top of my head. There's room for improvement and I assume that the show did as well as the other Seth MacFarlane-produced shows. I guess I'll see what they can do with their second season.