Cleveland Show cancelled?

[Daikun]

Hell must have frozen over.

Fox cancelled a MacFarlane show.

[Avaitor]

Called it.

[Goldstar]

Now that FOX has brought the ax down on The Cleveland Show, I wonder if this means that Cleveland will be returning to Family Guy, and if so, will his family be accompanying him? Stewie and Rollo being on the same show would be kind of weird.

[Silverstar]

Now that FOX has brought the ax down on The Cleveland Show, I wonder if this means that Cleveland will be returning to Family Guy, and if so, will his family be accompanying him?

Yeah, I was wondering that myself.

It would be nice if this would lead to some variety on Animation Domination; less assembly line MacFarlane clone shows, more shows handled by completely different animation teams with completely different aesthetics from one another, since nonstop autonomy is just boring from a visual perspective, as well as some diversity in formats and subject matter; i.e., shows which aren't about dysfunctional families, but since this is FOX we're talking about, I know that's not going to happen. If there's any truism in this world, it's that TV execs rarely if ever learn from their mistakes.

[Goldstar]

Futurama perpetually got the red-headed stepchild treatment from FOX, and Sit Down, Shut Up failed to find an audience, so no, I don't see FOX moving away from dysfunctional animated families anytime soon, which is a shame. All it would take is for 1 show that "breaks the mold" to become a hit and the network would order several more shows just like it.

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

I'm glad its over.

2 hours of Sunday is really about all they can handle, and I'm thankful it wasn't Bob's Burgers that got the boot.

[Daxdiv]

This truly was the weakest show of the Block. Says a lot that I'm able to find more humor in modern Simpsons than Cleveland Show.

[Daikun]

I'm surprised that Fox pulled the plug on it so soon. Considering how favorable the network is toward MacFarlane, I thought the show would last for at least 10 years.

Anyway, I'm glad this happened. Now that Fox's ADHD block is coming later this year, we can hopefully see some new blood that won't be abruptly cancelled or overshadowed by MacFarlane's influence.

[Nel_Annette]

Good riddance. The Cleveland Show was awful. Terrible characters, terrible jokes, destroyed what made Cleveland funny to begin with, etc.

[Avaitor]

Eh, I think Fox just wanted to give it the standard syndication number and make the block less cluttered. This way Bob's Burgers and American Dad! don't have to switch around with Cleveland anymore.

[Peanutbutter]

I didn't hate Cleveland Show, but I can see why its considered the weakest show on AD. I enjoyed some episodes when it started, but it got way too random afterward. At least American Dad fans can rest easy that it won't get shuffled anymore I guess.

[Daikun]

This story was recently posted on Cartoon Brew, and Matt Sullivan, storyboard revisionist for the show, actually left a couple of comments.

Comment #1:

I was laid off from The Cleveland Show last AUGUST but they still held out hope we'd eventually be renewed. Pity. That was the best job I ever had. Great people to work with, great atmosphere and camaraderie. I wish they hadn't chosen to turn Cleveland's character so much. I think if he wasn't made to be such a jerk people might have warmed to the show. We were always told to cut the funniest stuff too ( though I am certain that had nothing to do with our crew, it was most likely the corporate suits. )

Comment #2:

The problem with Fox's Sunday animation lineup, is that it is essentially the same sitcom formula again and again. Oh sure the shows might be different but it's all the same pseudo-Simpsons jokes, worked on by the same people that go from show to show. So you see the same timing, same styles of staging, the same tired character cliches. Subconsciously, people don't realize they're watching the same show, just with different characters and ethnicities.

Also, as nice a guy as Seth is ( and he really is ) I never thought his stranglehold on Sundays was a good thing. Three nearly identical shows sucking up 3-4 hours of airtime at once never sat right with me. I wish there would be more VARIETY in primetime animation. Put some fantasy animated shows on. Or action. I don't know. ANYTHING but the same family sitcoms. It's animation and you can do anything with it. So why do we choose to animate people TALKING so much?

I may have worked on Cleveland but if there's a silver lining to its cancellation, maybe this will give other animation creators an opportunity for their work to be seen.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

We were always told to cut the funniest stuff too

So yeah, that's basically what I think of the current situation. Maybe it will change some day.

[Goldstar]

The problem with The Cleveland Show as I saw it was Cleveland offered very little to no originality, and as such, the show never found it's own voice. Cleveland tried to be part Family Guy, part American Dad and ended up being just another Seth MacFarlane show. Cleveland's only standout feature was the main characters' ethnicity, but you can't base an entire series on race alone.  It's OK to have a series in which the protagonists are of a certain race/ethnicity, but don't make their race/ethnicity the shows' primary focus.

[Avaitor]

That's pretty much it. From what I've seen, Cleveland wanted to combine Family Guy's randomness with American Dad's lack of cutaways in lieu of actual storytelling, but got the worst of both ends in each case.