July 15, 2008
The Cleveland Show, the spin-off of popular Fox animated series Family Guy, is starting off with quite an ensemble, with Sanaa Lathan (Alien vs. Predator), Nia Long (Soul Food, Are We There Yet?), and Kevin Michael Richardson (The Knights of Prosperity, The Flintstones). The new series will revolve around the soft-spoken Griffin family neighbor Cleveland Brown, as he moves out of Quahog, Rhode Island, to Virginia.
The Cleveland Show, which is set to debut in 2009, will introduce the hitherto unknown Brown family. Lathan will be voicing Cleveland's wife, Donna, Long will do Roberta, his 16-year-old daughter, while Richardson will voice one of the neighbors, Lester, a redneck.
June 30, 2008
With the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences releasing the top 10 finalists for Outstanding Comedy and Drama Series last week, awards fanatics can now feel like they're a part of the nomination process. In recent years, the Emmys have complicated their process a bit, adding in panels, episode judging and weighted ballots to determine who will be deemed the five best shows of the season.
Thanks to the intrepid reporting of Tom O'Neil at TheEnvelope.com, we also know the specific episodes submitted for consideration by each show. Over the weekend, panels gathered in Los Angeles to view one episode submitted by the top 10 finalists for Outstanding Comedy and Drama Series and then ranked them from best to worst. With the episode titles, you too can determine which episodes are your favorites, and with BuddyTV's newly expanded Video feature, you can even watch a few of them right here for free. Continue reading for the Outstanding Comedy Series episodes.
June 26, 2008
Today, thanks to the hard work of Tom O'Neill at Gold Derby, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences released the official top 10 lists for this year's Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy and Drama Series. The final top five nominations in every category will be announced July 18, but for the first time ever, ATAS is allowing its process to be transparent by revealing these top 10 lists so award lovers can get a preview of who's in the running.
For these top races, the lists include a few favorites and some surprises. ABC has a strong showing in the Drama lineup with Lost, Grey's Anatomy and Boston Legal while HBO dominates the Comedy side with Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage and even Flight of the Conchords making the list. Keep reading to see who else made the short list for the Emmys.
June 16, 2008
Is there any arena Family Guy creator, Seth MacFarlane, hasn't yet invaded? The man seems on a mission to make his presence felt in the world of entertainment. Last month, he became the highest paid television writer-producer after he inked a deal worth over $100 million to work his magic for 20th Century Fox TV until 2012. Back in March, he was rumored to have started a romantic interlude of sorts with Tru Calling star, Eliza Dushku, also known as Sarah Michelle Gellar's cleavage-baring counterpart on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Aside from the above, MacFarlane has also recently created a spin-off to his hugely popular Family Guy, to revolve around one of the lovable figures from the parent series. The Cleveland Show starring Cleveland Brown, Peter Griffin's neighbor on Family Guy, is all set to debut this spring. Finally, in yet another display of MacFarlane's pure genius, he and his Family Guy team have also managed to work around a sticky little Emmy loophole, to finally enter the race in both the animated AND comedy series categories. So, just what is it that makes this MacFarlane dude tick? Here's what the Boston Herald gathered about his guiding principle on Family Guy, which appears to be the Midas touch today on television.
June 3, 2008
Show runner Seth MacFarlane and his group of producers have figured out a way around the Emmy policy that have always forced them to identify Family Guy as either an animated or comedy series. They are able to do so by classifying “Blue Harvest,” the Star Wars parody that served as the show's hour-long season premiere last fall, as a special rather than a regular episode of the series.
This means that for the upcoming Emmy race, Family Guy will be entering in the animated program category, and for the first time, in the comedy series category. This may possibly upset some of the producers of Family Guy's rival animated series, which have struggled for years over the Emmy eligibility issue. However, entering the reclassified episode in two categories has been deemed legitimate for Family Guy.
June 1, 2008
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.
May 23, 2008
It's no secret that FOX has been working on a spin-off based on one of the characters of Family Guy. You can read all about it in this previous article. Now, the network has released a teaser for the spin-off that will hopefully get viewers excited and hooked on the animated pilot.
Judging from the preview, the series, which is presently called The Cleveland Show, appears to be at par with the Seth MacFarlane's standard fare, which includes lots of pop culture references, vulgar jokes and lots of toon nudity. Of course, viewers can only find out how it measures to MacFarlane's highly rated series Family Guy and his other show American Dad, when the new series premiers this spring.
May 7, 2008
Seth MacFarlane is now mega rich. The two-time Emmy-winning comedian, who is best known for creating Family Guy and American Dad, has just signed an overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV which would keep him with the network through 2012. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new deal could be worth more than $100 million, making MacFarlane the highest paid writer-producer in the TV business.
"I get a lot of pleasure out of making shows. It's a bonus to be getting paid well for it, and it's a double bonus to be getting paid exorbitantly for it," the Family Guy creator told The Hollywood Reporter.