MovieChat Forums > The Cleveland Show (2009) Discussion > Why the Hatred?

Why the Hatred?

posted 11 years ago by cubstml
15 replies | jump to latest

I'm vexed by all of the hatred this show has accumulated. I'm very vexed(Kudos to those that caught that movie reference).

But in all seriousness, I don't get it. I find this show(most episodes at least) to be just as funny as Family Guy and American Dad!, actually, funnier right now than those two are right now. The Cleveland Show makes me laugh a lot, it's just that there isn't as many cutaway gags and the humor that works(Usually meaning not pop-cultural references) seems to rely more on, what's that?, actual jokes.

I don't know, I do like Family Guy, but I think this show is pretty good as well and doesn't deserve a 5.5 in my opinion. If anybody wants to comment on this could you guys please not be ignorant or mean-spirited. I would appreciate intelligent and productive conversation. Thanks :3

[–] jeffsh 11 years ago

I actually found the writing to be very good, and voiced well also. I didnt see the show at first cause I thought of all the Family Guy characters why would he get his own show. But when I tuned in I was really surprised. Shame it's been cancelled, and I've voiced my opinion else where, but I would say that TV is probably suffering from a McFarland overload and this show paid the price for that.

-only uneducated minds are not open to any ideas other than their own.

[–] Catman_Scrothers 11 years ago

I love this show, I wonder if TBS is going to pick it up as well, just like they did with American Dad.

Grandpa Joe licks like a pro

[–] QweefPolice 10 years ago

Someone else on here described it pretty well as the recipient of rejected storylines from both family guy and american dad.

I don't always post on IMDB.com, but when I do I make sure I'm hammered.

[–] VicBooth 10 years ago

Characterisation and the story premises would prove that to be a stupid, stupid, stupid assertion.

[–] spectrx 9 years ago

I've tried watching a few of the episodes, since I love Family Guy and American Dad, but I just can't get into it. A lot of people say it got much better the longer it went. At what point would you recommend jumping in, where someone like me who is already luke warm about it, might actually like it? I just find the characters and the setting kind of annoying.

[–] embracing_silence 9 years ago

Honestly, at first, it is very slow and hard to get into. But after a while, the characters just go together so well and there are a lot of good jokes. It's just something you need to have on while doing something else until it catches your attention. Then it will suck you in.

[–] tgalloway_ket67 9 years ago

I was skeptical about this show too until I gave it a chance. People don't get the humor in the Cleveland show. I am African American and I love this show. I get all the joke references because it has a lot of undercover black community jokes. Family Guy on the other hand has become one big mess. All the Characters are the same and Peter’s idiot comedy tactics have gotten old. His Wife had at least 4 Midlife crisis and everyone's personality is basically the same. American Dad is a great show just like the Cleveland show. They both develop their characters personalities during the first season. Like the Alien, he wasn't always a psychopath just like Cleveland's son didn't always have 2 personalities. The first episode is low on jokes but just like American Dad, it gets better and funnier.

[–] cubstml 9 years ago

I'm glad we seem to be in agreement. Looking back though, I'm not sure what I was thinking with my American Dad! comment. I haven't seen very many crappy episodes of that show, period. My opinion on Family Guy however, still stands.

Question, if I may ask: As far as I can tell, I seem to recall understanding most, if not all jokes in The Cleveland Show. Could you maybe give some examples of the "undercover Black community jokes"? I'm actually really curious.

"DID YOUR ASS GET ENOUGH WINGS?!"- Frylock


[–] tgalloway_ket67 9 years ago

Watching season 3 now episode one where Rollo get a note from his teacher about a reunion. It included food items to bring and instead of the proper word "spaghetti", they spelled it and pernounced it (pasketti) which is wrong but really funny because that's usually how we say it unless corrected. We know we do that a lot like with the word "ask" but we say "axe". That's what makes it hilarious.

[–] cubstml 9 years ago

hahaha nice.

Glad to see someone else who likes this, most people I know think this show is *beep* for some reason. What makes this fact jarring to me is the fact that they continue to watch Family Guy -_-

"DID YOUR ASS GET ENOUGH WINGS?!"- Frylock


[–] tgalloway_ket67 9 years ago

Exactly and family guy is just the same "beep" every episode. There isn't anything new about the character and its the same "beep" repeated. Most black people I know enjoy it because it different and has black jokes and just see family guy as something to watch when nothing else is on. We actually wanted to see the show progress and build on their newly developed characters. But as they say, if it doesn't reach enough audience members then it has to go.

[–] Slaterson14 8 years ago

When it was pronounced "Pasketti" that was not a black joke, they were making a joke out of Rollo being a little kid and it being an invitation for his kindergarten 2 year reunion because thats how lots of little kids pronounce the word spaghetti. There are tons of other black jokes in the show but that was not one of them.

[–] AdrianLePier 9 years ago

I started watching reruns of this on AS after its cancellation. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not great overall, but it's watchable and can be funny and at times even hilarious. Seems to me that this show developed a bad reputation very quickly that it was never able to shake. People never got over how unlikely it was that Cleveland, of all characters, would get a spinoff and even seemed to resent the fact.

[–] Nyuterra 9 years ago

I didn't hate the Cleveland Show, though it never really felt like it stood out enough from its predecessors. In fact most of the main cast felt like they were copy-pasted. The most egregious example being Cleveland Jr, for whom they completely abandoned his established character traits in Family Guy and turned him a black Chris. (I can understand that the off-the-walls ADHD thing might not have worked for a regular cast member, but they could have at least TRIED to make his character more original!)

[–] jonesy278 8 years ago

Rollo is a good funny character. Cleveland and Cleveland Jr. Were good characters in family guy. Kanye was funny in his episodes. Donna is ok. Lester, holt, tim, Ariana, Lester wife, Olly, Gus, freight train, cookie..I've watched a lot of episodes (chuckled a couple times, but I'd like my time back), the characters are just bad. And it truly does feel like rejected family guy or American dad plot lines. The person who disagreed citing characterization, you could plug any of these plots in with characters from the other two seth shows and, since the characters are better developed, write better jokes for them. They made enough characters with the first two shows, the good personalities were all done. So they ended up with left over plots and characters that would either be copies of the other two shows, or just totally uninteresting ones. This is why it has a 5.6 rating. I gave it a 4.