Now that
Family Guy is on hiatus in preparation for its seventh season coming this September, its spin-off,
The Cleveland Show, has become the focus of its fans and critics alike. FOX has already released the spin-off's
first video in attempt to tease viewers and get them hooked on the animated pilot and now, the voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry, hints on more details.
As the title connotes,
The Cleveland Show is all about Cleveland Brown, one of
Peter Griffin's neighbors on
Family Guy. The new series finds Cleveland losing his wife and his house in a divorce. In attempt to start a new life, he leaves Quahog, R.I. with his son, Cleveland Jr., who will be “aged up” in the new show, and ends up in his Virginia hometown in the arms of his former high school love.
"His intention is to pass through town . . . but he runs into a woman named Donna whom he carried a torch for in high school. But she never returned his love," Henry explained to the
N.Y Post. "She has a 16-year-old daughter, Roberta, who runs in the fast lane, and a 5-year-old son named Rollo, who's streetwise and savvy to the ways of the world. At the end of the pilot, Cleveland and Donna are together and have combined their kids - like
The Brady Bunch. "
Just like
Family Guy's patriarch Peter Griffin, Cleveland is expected to be surrounded by a bunch of eccentric characters.
"His next-door-neighbors on one side are the Pennyapple family from Great Britain, with Seth [MacFarlane] doing the voice of the father, Barrington Pennyapple," Henry revealed. "They're basically extremely stuffy and elitist, even though they have no right to be.
"Across the street will be a family of rednecks - the dad is quite open about the fact he's not quite comfortable with black people - and on the other side is a family of bears. They're similar to [the talking dog] Brian in
Family Guy in that it's not really questioned as to why [the bears] are living in human society. But they do have bear tendencies - and speak in mildly foreign accents,” Henry added.
The Cleveland Show is the first series under
Family Guy creator MacFarlane's $100 million deal and is expected to be part of FOX's Sunday night block.
-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source:
N.Y. Post
(Image courtesy of FOX)