What's new

The Cleveland Show: The Complete Season Two (Uncensored) DVD Review (1 Viewer)

Neil Middlemiss

Premium
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2001
Messages
5,320
Real Name
Neil Middlemiss

Entertainment Weekly once cautiously lauded The Cleveland Show for being the only new show to be anchored by a lead character of color. A recent NPR article decried the false sense of diversity that most networks and there shows have – characters of color who serve, it would seem, merely to give the appearance of diversity as African American actors often are relegated to providing exposition or acting as sounding boards for white actors as they are given space to explore more meaningful storylines. That’s criticism I can’t deny. The Cleveland Show is in fact a rare network show about a black family – we explore their lives (albeit that exploration as only as deep as this kind of mostly adolescent humor will allow) – and we get to know them and how they see the world around them. It is refreshing. But The Cleveland Show is not without problems and we should still lament at how lonely it is in the television landscape are representing an American where an estimated one-third of all people are minorities.  

 



The Cleveland Show

Complete Second Season (Uncensored)


Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
Year: 2010-2011
US Rating: Unrated - Contains Language Not Suitable for All Ages.
Film Length: 548 Minutes
Video: Widescreen 1.78:1

Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, English SDH, French and Spanish


Release Date: September 27, 2011

Review Date: October 16, 2011


“And so I found a place,

Where everyone will know

My happy mustache face,

This is The Cleveland Show.”


The Show

3.5/ 5


The Cleveland Show, created by Seth McFarlane (along with Mike Henry and Richard Appel) is a spin-off from the still popular Family Guy, and premiered in September 2009 on the same channel as its progenitor program (and on the same night). It features Cleveland Brown, a slow talking but occasionally gruff working man; a likeable, simple man with a calm demeanor and a flair for getting his world turned upside down. Cleveland left his life on Spooner Street (across from the catastrophically clumsy Peter “Family Guy” Griffin) with his son, Cleveland Jr., to Stoolbend, VA and reconnected with an old flame and her two children. The show is faithfully rude and crude in the tradition of McFarlane’s other two cartoon creations (Family Guy and American Dad), but contains a softer core in line with warmer familial storylines and the loveable Cleveland at the heart of the series.


The Cleveland Show sports a strong voice cast which includes the lovely and talented Sanaa Lathan as Donna Tubbs, Reagan Gomez-Preston as the daughter Roberta Tubbs, Kevin Michael Richardson as both the soft spoken Cleveland Jr. and the redneck neighbor, Lester. Mike Henry who voices Cleveland also voices the confident and strident Rallo Tubbs, perhaps the best of the shows characters. Seth McFarlane voices the absurd (but solid character) Tim the Bear, and the delightful Arianna Huffington can be heard as the bear’s wife, Arianna. SNL alumni Jason Sudeikis also voices Holt Richter, a young, cocky playboy wannabe.  


Critics have derided the show for being a cartoon with such adult natured comedy (lude, crude, rude); similar complaints were levied against its father show, Family Guy, and the Parents Television Council has long been displeased with all three McFarlane animated series, but such criticisms are foolhardy. The Cleveland Show in particular, with storylines that stay away from the more controversial fare of its companion series, and a focus (albeit with humor front and center) on familial struggles and sensibilities, is entirely more grounded. As silly as the premises can be, there is a genuine heart in most every episode worn on its sleeve.


The issue for The Cleveland show is that while its comedy is genuine – and its stories echo themes and concepts many grew to love and appreciate during the heyday of African-American centric comedies (Sanford and Son, What’s Happening, and the legendary Good Times), it lacks the approachability and sincerity of those shows. It isn’t just that the show’s main character is voiced by Mike Henry – a white guy – it’s that, at times, the show tries just a little too hard. Having been immersed in shows like Good Times and The Cosby Show of late, I can attest that the line between paying homage and becoming a lesser derivative has becomes quite distinct in The Cleveland Show. Despite that criticism, this show remains very funny most of the time and more diverse than most anything else out there.


Throughout season two, there are ups and downs story wise, though the season began quote strong with two of the shows best episodes to date. The season opener guest starred Kanye West as the unassuming Kenny West who helps Cleveland find a small dose of fame (and a large dose of ego) as he enjoys a fleeting career as a hip-hop artist, and the second episode pretends to be “the first live performance of an animated show” (ala 30 Rock’s live tapings in the past few years), and features plenty of winks to the sort of faux pas that can happen during a live broadcast – and many that are more often feared than realized. And of course the ‘Blaxploitation’ episode, “Hot Cocoa, Bang, Bang” which closes out the season (and for which I have a signed poster from the cast – thank you Comic-Con) is solid good stuff!



The Episodes

Disc One

1) Harder, Better, Faster, Browner

2) Cleveland Live!

3) How Cleveland Got His Groove Back

4) It's the Great Pancake, Cleveland Brown

5) Little Man on Campus

6) Fat and Wet


Disc Two

7) Another Bad Thanksgiving

8) Murray Christmas

9) Beer Walk!

10) Ain't Nothin' But Mutton Bustin'

11) How Do You Solve a Problem Like Roberta?

12) Like a Boss


Disc Three

13) A Short Story and a Tall Tale

14) Terry Unmarried

15) The Blue, The Gray and The Brown

16) The Way the Cookie Crumbles

17) To Live and Die in VA

18) The Essence of Cleveland


Disc Four

19) Ship'rect

20) Back to Cool

21) Your Show of Shows

22) Hot Cocoa Bang Bang


The Video

3.5/5


The Cleveland Show is framed as it appears on the Fox Network, 1.78:1, but the DVD doesn’t quite pop colour-wise as the broadcast does. Yellows are somewhat muted, oranges a tad pale, and whites just a little murky. Overall, the quality is quite good, with clean lines and no blemishes or distortions.



The Sound

3.5/5


The Cleveland Show’s English 5.1 Dolby Digital audio is good but not great. Mike Henry singing the jovial opening number (similar to McFarlane singing the patriotic opening for American Dad) is lively and active throughout the main channels. There isn’t much directional activity in the season, but the audio is clean and I could detect no problems. The center channel is where a great deal of the action takes place, there and in the front channels, and it suffices for the show. This season’s 22 episodes, spread over 4 discs, are uncensored so the bleeped out cuss words are on full display here.



The Extras

3.5/ 5


A relatively healthy dose of extras can be found on Fox’s release of The Cleveland Show season two. The guest commentaries are particularly interesting though only 5 episodes come with commentaries. Carl Reiner appeared in the episode Murray Christmas as was a delight to listen to. The deleted scenes are of varying meaningfulness and the trailer for the Blaxploitation episode is very cool indeed.


Cleveland Jr’s Worry Journal


Cleveland at Comic-Con 2010


Hot Cocoa Bang Bang Trailer


Guest Star Showcase


Deleted Scenes


Guest Commentaries by Carl Reiner, Jason Sudeikis and Robert Rodriguez.


Final Thoughts


Fans of the show will already have this on their ‘buy’ list. Others – perhaps fans of either Family Guy or American Dad – are most likely to be entertained by the show, though each of Seth McFarlane’s shows has a distinct voice and vibe (though the humor is all tapped from the same keg). I would personally rate The Cleveland Show behind the still fresh and funny Family Guy, and I have high hopes that it will continue to find its balance of crude humor and warm heart.



Overall (Not an average)

3.5/5


Neil Middlemiss

Kernersville, NC

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,818
Messages
5,123,879
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top