Good Riddance "The Cleveland Show"

Hearing some rumors that "The Cleveland Show" is being cancelled. 

*Terio dances at cubicle* 

Good riddance. But before you leave, peep this. 

If you follow me on twitter, you will know that I am an avid fan of Family Guy. Its the PERFECT fall-asleep show. It comes on 4 times a day, and if you watch the later episodes, you are in for a hearty good time. But do me a favor.

Name me the top 5 funniest characters from Family Guy.

Here are mine:

Stewie

Peter

Quagmire

Adam West

Joe

Those are mine. You could make a case for Lois, Chris, Greasy Deaf Guy, and many more. But do you know who I DON’T have on that list?

You guessed it, Cleveland.

If you watch Family Guy, you understand Cleveland and his calm, laid back, well-manner tokenism role on the show. He’s very subservient (Uncle Tom) and his wife Loretta reeked of the Black Angry Woman stereotype. And thought he hangs out with Peter, Joe, and Quagmire, he’s the least funniest of the four.

So no, I don’t fuck with Cleveland comedically initially, but whatever

So when Seth McFarlane announced that he was creating a spin-off show based on Cleveland’s character, I wasn’t excited nor looking forward to it. I mean, American Dad IMO worked out VERY WELL, but there’s nothing about Cleveland I find funny nor entertaining. Whatever.

Enter The Cleveland Show.

I watch the first episode. I watched the second show. I was waiting on the punchline. Or that little voice in my head that would let me know when it was funny. But instead, I found out the joke was on me…

This shit is straight blackface. Let me explain

We have Cleveland (played by Mark Henry, a white guy), Donna, a divorced mother-of-two, Roberta (who the fuck names their daughters Roberta?) a ghetto-ass rebellious teenager (because all black chicks that are over 16 are rebellious), Cleveland Jr., who is REALLY fat all of a sudden, and Rollo, the black version of Stewie, except not funny or witty. AT ALL. (also voiced by Mark Henry). Rollo might be the worst animated black character in prime-time television history

The show takes place in suburban Virginia where Cleveland is starting his new life fresh off of his divorce. Donna’s husband is a deadbeat, and Cleveland’s best friends are a redneck, midget, and a bear…

Sounds like a racist joke to me. But I digress

When I watch this show, I can’t identify with its bland attempt at humor at all. Its the exact same way I feel when I watch a Tyler Perry TV show. Its a terrible caricaturization of black life. All I see are nothing but recycled clichés and lazy attempts at humor. Its like watching a minstrel show. Except the animation is better and the minstrel element is hidden in a terrible 2 year old kid named Rollo.

Its beyond problematic, because I am such an avid watcher of Family Guy. Because Family Guy, as funny as it is, is VERY crude humor. They are known to push the envelope on all subjects everything (S/O to @CJStarchild) Even though they have their hit or miss moments, they tend to hit the mark consistently. Cleveland Show misses ALL the marks. Its like Josh Smith shooting a 3-pointer.

Its beyond problematic from someone who LOVES Family Guy. Normally, Seth McFarlane has a very studious approach to humor, but this is just plain awful. I don’t see how anyone can watch this for 15 minutes and be like “yeah, this is my shit.” I’m not saying you should be offended by it, but what I am saying is always look beneath the surface. Behind every joke, good or bad, is a thin layer of truth to it.

But when you basically take the cast of Family Guy, color them brown, move them down the road a bit, and make the same stereotypical jokes and shit, you have WAY more challenges. You know why?

Because black crude humor is the HARDEST humor to imitate if you are NOT black.

9 times out of 10, if you are non-black, and you make attempts at black crude humor, you are either going to come off as insensitive or crass.

And if you are NOT funny at all? Racist. Racism is only tolerable if its funny.

Name a funny comedian of a different race (not that race matters, but for the sake of argument) who does crude black humor? Lisa Lampanelli? No thanks. OK you get my point.

Say what you want about The Simpsons, but the reason why they will always be more relevant than Family Guy is catering to their fanbase, and their model of consistency.