# The Cleveland Show
**The Cleveland Show** is an American adult animated sitcom co-created by Mike Henry, Richard Appel, and [Seth MacFarlane](https://www.edgepedia.org/seth-macfarlane) as a spin-off of *Family Guy*, centered on [Cleveland Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/cleveland-brown) and his blended family in Stoolbend, Virginia. It aired on FOX for four seasons from 2009 to 2013, after which [Cleveland](https://www.edgepedia.org/cleveland) returned to *Family Guy* as a recurring character.[1](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creators | Mike Henry, Richard Appel, and Seth MacFarlane; executive producers and co-creators, 20th Century Fox Television production[2](https://www.awn.com/news/fox-orders-full-season-cleveland-show-moves-debut-fall-2009) |
| Run | FOX, four seasons, 2009 to 2013; 88 episodes (21, 22, 22, and 23 per season)[1](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/) • [3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-cleveland-show) |
| Premise | Cleveland Brown leaves Quahog, returns to his hometown of Stoolbend, Virginia, and marries his high school sweetheart Donna Tubbs, blending her children Roberta and Rallo with his son Cleveland Jr.[1](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/) • [2](https://www.awn.com/news/fox-orders-full-season-cleveland-show-moves-debut-fall-2009) |
| Lead voice | Cleveland and Rallo voiced by Mike Henry, a white writer from Richmond, Virginia, who created the character's voice in a *Family Guy* season-one writers' room[4](https://www.gq.com/story/the-one-question-qa) |
| Main cast | Sanaa Lathan (Donna), Kevin Michael Richardson (Cleveland Jr.), Nia Long and later Reagan Gomez-Preston (Roberta), Jason Sudeikis (Holt), Seth MacFarlane (Tim the Bear)[2](https://www.awn.com/news/fox-orders-full-season-cleveland-show-moves-debut-fall-2009) • [3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-cleveland-show) |
| 2011 audience | 2.6 million total viewers aged 18 to 49 per Nielsen, behind *Family Guy* (6 million), *American Dad!* (4.6 million), and *The Simpsons* (4.1 million)[5](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7077815/) |
| Availability | Streaming on Hulu; digital purchase on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-cleveland-show) |
## Origin and development
The series grew out of the popularity of Cleveland Brown, Peter Griffin's soft-spoken neighbor on *Family Guy*. Mike Henry, who worked as a writer and producer on *Family Guy* and voiced characters including Herbert, Bruce, and Consuela, had created Cleveland's voice in the season-one writers' room; co-creator Rich Appel told *GQ* that the character "grew in large measure out of Mike's performance," so Henry "kinda was Cleveland long before the show existed."[4](https://www.gq.com/story/the-one-question-qa) • [1](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/) The spin-off was the first series produced under MacFarlane's Fox deal, reported by *Wired* in May 2008 as penned by MacFarlane, Henry, and *The Simpsons* alum Rich Appel.[6](https://www.wired.com/2008/05/first-look-fami/)
In November 2008, FOX ordered nine additional episodes, bringing the series to a full season order, and moved the debut to fall 2009.[2](https://www.awn.com/news/fox-orders-full-season-cleveland-show-moves-debut-fall-2009) The show premiered on FOX in 2009 in the Sunday 9:30 PM slot as a 30-minute production.[7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/2012/International-Television-Almanac-2012.pdf)
## Premise and characters
The show follows Cleveland Brown as he leaves the *Family Guy* setting of Quahog, Rhode Island, with his 14-year-old son Cleveland Jr. after a divorce, and settles in his Virginia hometown with Donna and her two children, teenage Roberta and 5-year-old Rallo.[2](https://www.awn.com/news/fox-orders-full-season-cleveland-show-moves-debut-fall-2009) Neighbors include the loudmouth redneck Lester, the hipster wannabe Holt, and a family of talking bears led by Tim the Bear.[2](https://www.awn.com/news/fox-orders-full-season-cleveland-show-moves-debut-fall-2009)
**Voice casting.** Henry, a 44-year-old white man from [Richmond, Virginia](https://www.edgepedia.org/richmond-virginia), at the time of the premiere, voiced the African American title character, a point raised in press coverage around the show's debut.[4](https://www.gq.com/story/the-one-question-qa) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2009-08-06/tca-press-tour-the-cleveland-show-draws-a-race-line) Appel defended the casting as an instance of the color-blind casting tradition in animation, noting that the show's other Black characters were voiced by Black performers, including [Kevin Michael Richardson](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-michael-richardson) as Cleveland Jr. and as Lester, described by Appel as one of the show's most redneck characters.[4](https://www.gq.com/story/the-one-question-qa) Henry also voiced Rallo, Coach McFall, and Dwayne Meighan, among other roles.[1](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/)
## Reception and audience
Nielsen figures reported in a 2020 academic study placed the show at 2.6 million total viewers aged 18 to 49 in 2011, the smallest audience among the four MacFarlane-adjacent animated sitcoms measured, behind *Family Guy*, *American Dad!*, and *The Simpsons*.[5](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7077815/) On review aggregators, the series holds an IMDb rating of 5.6 from about 45,000 votes and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 44 percent.[3](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-cleveland-show) Early critical notices were mixed: a Metacritic-captured review called the spin-off not yet as sharp-tongued or focused as *Family Guy* but credited it with enough eccentricity to fit Fox's Sunday animation block.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-cleveland-show/critic-reviews/)
The show ran four seasons before ending in 2013, and Cleveland returned to *Family Guy* as a recurring character afterward.[1](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/) It has since reached audiences through streaming and syndication on Hulu and [Comedy Central](https://www.edgepedia.org/comedy-central).[1](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/)
## Place in MacFarlane's Fox slate
The series aired at the point when MacFarlane's productions dominated Fox's Animation Domination block, with *Family Guy*, *American Dad!*, and *The Cleveland Show* running concurrently. A 2011 Hungarian survey of animated-sitcom viewers found *The Cleveland Show* named by 7.0 percent of respondents as a show they watched, behind the genre leaders but alongside *Rick and Morty* (5.0 percent) and *Bob's Burgers* (4.4 percent).[10](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6cdb/aae2235072d7f2f5dbd3709b86fda3dac07b.pdf) It remains the only completed *Family Guy* spin-off series to date; a Stewie-centered spin-off has since been announced as the second.[11](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/kenan-thompson-cast-seth-macfarlane-family-guy-spinoff-stewie)
## References
1. [The Cleveland Show, Mike Henry official site](https://mikehenryofficial.com/work/the-cleveland-show/)
2. [Fox Orders Full Season of Cleveland Show, Moves Debut To Fall 2009, Animation World Network (November 10, 2008)](https://www.awn.com/news/fox-orders-full-season-cleveland-show-moves-debut-fall-2009)
3. [The Cleveland Show, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-cleveland-show)
4. [The One-Question Q&A, GQ (September 25, 2009)](https://www.gq.com/story/the-one-question-qa)
5. [Motives for viewing animated sitcoms and their associations with humor styles, positivity, and self-criticism in a sample of Hungarian viewers, Humor (2020)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7077815/)
6. [First Look: Family Guy Spinoff, The Cleveland Show, Wired (May 22, 2008)](https://www.wired.com/2008/05/first-look-fami/)
7. [The Cleveland Show, International Television Almanac 2012](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/2012/International-Television-Almanac-2012.pdf)
8. [TCA Press Tour: 'The Cleveland Show' draws a race line, Los Angeles Times (August 6, 2009)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2009-08-06/tca-press-tour-the-cleveland-show-draws-a-race-line)
9. [The Cleveland Show critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-cleveland-show/critic-reviews/)
10. [Motives for viewing animated sitcoms (PDF), Humor (2020)](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6cdb/aae2235072d7f2f5dbd3709b86fda3dac07b.pdf)
11. [Kenan Thompson Just Joined Seth MacFarlane's New Show, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/kenan-thompson-cast-seth-macfarlane-family-guy-spinoff-stewie)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › Animated sitcoms and animated comedy series › Adult animated sitcoms*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license