Cleveland Brown is a
fictional character on the
animated series
Family Guy, and
central character in the spin-off series,
The Cleveland Show. He
was one of
Peter Griffin's neighbors
and friends as well as one of the few recurring
black characters on the show. During his
time on the show, he owned a
delicatessen named "Cleveland's Deli". He was
married to
Loretta Brown early in the
series, but they divorce in the
Family Guy season 4 episode
The Cleveland–Loretta
Quagmire after
Peter and
Brian catch her cheating with
Glenn Quagmire. In the pilot episode of
The Cleveland Show he
marries
Donna Tubbs of Stoolbend,
Virginia. He is voiced by
Mike
Henry.
Personality
Cleveland is usually depicted as exceedingly gentle and patient,
and it is only on rare occasions that he has been known to lose his
temper and
resort to
violence. However, Cleveland gets visibly annoyed with racist
behavior. He often acts as the voice of caution when other
characters hatch harebrained schemes. Cleveland's speech is slow,
almost elongated. Various flashbacks give conflicting histories of
his speech patterns. In the episode "
Death
Lives" Peter met Cleveland in the 1970s and he (Cleveland) was
skinnier (and obviously younger), sporting an
Afro, but still spoke in the slow manner that he is
known for. In the next season of the series a flashback depicts
Cleveland as a fast-talking
auctioneer
when a totem pole being carried by movers falls over and knocks
Cleveland on the head, resulting in a slower state of speech during
the episode "
Blind Ambition".
Although in the premiere of his spin-off, it is revealed that
Cleveland talked in a slow manner when he was in high school.
One of the running gags throughout the series is that Peter's
shenanigans destroy the front wall of Cleveland's house, revealing
him in the bathtub. He then exclaims: "What the hell?! No, no, no,
no, no, NO!" as the upstairs floor tilts and the tub crashes to the
ground. In the pilot of his spin-off, this gag was the last straw
that convinced Cleveland to leave Quahog. However, even several
states away, the Griffin's antics are still seen to cause this
event, such as when the debris from the missile that Brian, Stewie,
Dan Aykroyd and
Chevy Chase destroy happens to fall right on
Cleveland's new house in the episode "
Spies Reminiscent of Us" (Because of
the unfamiliarity of the joke to the characters of The Cleveland
Show, Cleveland's neighbor
Tim the Bear
appeared and said "I don't get it"). In
Brian's Got a Brand New Bag,
Cleveland's old, and now unoccupied house is destroyed and the
empty bathtub crashes to the ground. Afterwards, Peter comments "Oh
that's right. Cleveland moved."
Cleveland sometimes will show some sexual deviance or arousal
towards attractive women. This is shown in the episode
Petarded, Peter brings 7 prostitutes into his house
to bring his kids back into his custody and prove to child services
that Cleveland is an unfit father. Cleveland responds, "Peter! You
and 5 of those prostitutes get out!".
Development
When he was still in college,
Family Guy creator
Seth MacFarlane created a cartoon short
entitled
Life
of Larry. The short centered around a middle-aged man
named Larry and his anthropomorphic dog Steve. In 1999, when
MacFarlane was working for
Hanna-Barbara Studios, writing for
shows such as
Johnny Bravo,
Dexter's Laboratory,
and
Cow and Chicken, he
made a
sequel to
Life of Larry, which
Cartoon Network broadcast in
1995. The short caught the eye of
20th
Century Fox representatives, who asked him to create a TV
series revolving around the characters. MacFarlane received a
US$50,000 budget to develop a pilot for the
show, which was, as MacFarlane stated in a 2006 interview, " about
one twentieth of what most pilots cost".
In three months, MacFarlane created the Griffin family and
developed a pilot for the show he called
Family Guy.
Mike Henry voices both
Cleveland Brown and
Herbert, as well as some minor
recurring characters like
Bruce
the performance artist and
The Greased
up Deaf Guy. Henry met MacFarlane at the Rhode Island School of
Design and kept in touch with him after they graduated. A few years
later, MacFarlane contacted him about being part of the show; he
agreed and came on as both a writer and voice actor. During the
show's first four seasons, he was credited as a guest star, but
beginning with
season five's
"
Prick Up Your Ears"
he has been credited as a main cast member.

Voice actor Mike Henry posing with a
cutout of Cleveland Brown
During a live broadcast of "Loveline," Seth McFarlane announced
that a
Family Guy spin-off featuring Cleveland was
currently in the works with the studio and writers. It premiered on
September 27, 2009 on FOX, right after
The Simpsons.
The Cleveland
Show is an animated series focusing on the character of
Cleveland Brown and his family as Cleveland moves from Rhode Island
to Virginia
. His
newly introduced family includes his high school sweetheart, Donna,
who is now his second wife, her 16-year-old daughter, Roberta, and
her 5-year-old son, Rallo. Cleveland Jr. also is in the family but
is now much fatter than he appeared on
Family Guy, and
also suffers from
astigmatism.
Cleveland's neighbors also include a family of talking
anthropomorphic bears, a redneck couple and
a
Victorian-era British family, and one of
his son's soccer rivals includes a boy voiced by
Kanye West.
Cleveland was officially written out of
Family Guy during
season eight before
The Cleveland
Show was broadcast; however, it has been hinted that he
might come back for a visit in the future, including the upcoming
episode "
Something, Something,
Something, Dark Side", although fantasies and film parodies are
generally accepted as
non-canon Family Guy
episodes. He appeared in a
cameo in
"
Spies Reminiscent of Us",
in which he dealt with the indignity of having his new house
wrecked in the same fashion as his old one in
Quahog. He shall also return for another as yet
unnamed episode as was revealed during the
BBC
Three Family Guy Night, in which Peter and the gang are
surprised to see Cleveland somewhere as yet undisclosed;
apparently, there will be lots of promotion leading up to this
episode. Another idea has been that Peter Griffin and possibly
other Family Guy characters will be traveling in the South and make
a guest appearance on "The Cleveland Show".
References
- Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily » Primetime
Pilot Panic: Updated Hot List
- Fox adopts 'Family Guy' - Entertainment News, TV News,
Media - Variety
- Seth McFarlane Loveline Westwood One January 16, 2008
- MacFarlane reveals next season 'Family Guy'
details
- Fox adopts 'Family Guy' - Entertainment News, TV News,
Media - Variety
- Zap2it Fall TV Preview 2008: FOX's New Shows -
Zap2it
- The Cleveland Show video: Mike Henry and Seth
MacFarlane on TV.com
- Interview with McFarlane on FOX. Retrieved on the
27.07.08
- Interview with McFarlane - details on the next
season of Family Guy
External links