Cleveland odd, but welcome choice for series
Fans of Seth MacFarlane’s animated comedy “Family Guy,” look out for a developing spin-off series focusing on Peter Griffin’s neighbor Cleveland Brown.
MacFarlane is set to premiere the series in March 2009, when Cleveland moves from Quahog, R.I. crew for a new life in Virginia with a new wife Donna, step-kids as well as Cleveland Jr. only, (shall we say) in huskier form.
The new series is already set to have a few stars doing the voice-over animated gig with Sanaa Lathan sonically portraying Donna and her 16-year-old daughter being voiced by Nia Long.
Honestly, the mention of those two ladies makes me wish I was the Robin Williams of voices, so I could join the cast — but I digress.
I’m all too glad that MacFarlane chose an African American family to center the spin-off, adding some flavor to FOX’s pretty much whitewashed lineup. But it’s strange for MacFarlane to pick someone who is dull as rocks, given the dumbest lines, and treated like the complacent sidekick with no point — to head up a spin-off.
Sometimes it seems that Cleveland was only on “Family Guy” because of Affirmatiive Action, given the fact that his character could be better used. But it’s almost like everyone would expect a spin-off with Bryan or Quagmire.
He is almost the perfect character, because of this, because I have a feeling that those wife and step-kids will be a handful and they might be in need of Cleveland’s soft touch.
Besides, I can’t wait to see how they explain the reason that Jr. has blown up like a butterball.
The opinions expressed above are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the State News.