"The Cleveland Show" (Season 1 Episode 1: "Pilot," Fox)

"The Cleveland Show", a "Family Guy" spin-off or a mere duplicate? The show airs Sundays during Fox's Animation Domination line-up of Seth Macfarlane shows, including "Family Guy" and "American Dad." The show features Cleveland (voiced by Mike Henry) who recently divorced his wife ans sets out to move to California with his son Cleveland Jr. (Kevin Michael Richardson). On the way they make a stop in Stoolbend, Virginia, where Cleveland reunites with his high school crush Donna (Sanna Lathan).

At first glance the only obvious difference between "The Cleveland Show" and "Family Guy" would be that "The Cleveland Show" features an African-American family. Without this change the viewer would not be able to tell the difference between the two shows. "The Cleveland Show" presents Rallo Tubbs (Mike Henry), Roberta Tubbs (Reagan Gomez-Preston), and Cleveland Jr, who remind us an awful lot of Stewie, Meg, and Chris Griffin. Rallo, like Stewie, plays the young mischievous child of the family, who may not be an intellectual genius, but also disobeys his mother and gets kicked out of school. Roberta, the more attractive version of Meg, presents the typical teenage issues Meg illustrates in "Family Guy." Cleveland Jr. may be the most like his "Family Guy" counterpart Chris Griffin. Both characters represent the large and kind of slow brothers, who throw in a punch line here and there. The relationship between Donna and Cleveland also mirrors that of Louis and Peter. Cleveland portrays the larger, less attractive husband like Peter. Donna is the smart and attrative house wife, who presents sex appeal, like Louis. "The Cleveland show even offers us talking animals, presenting Clevelands neighbor, the bear, Tim, who reminds us a lot of "Family Guy's" talking dog, Brian. Both characters also share the same voice of Seth MacFarlane. Who else seems to be missing? Oh, yes, Peter's gang Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland are also present as Tim the Bear, Lester Krinklesac, and Holt, who all also meet in a bar for drinks and random discussions.

The character list is not the only thing that seems awfully familiar from "Family Guy." The type of humour the show presents is identical. Both shows are offensive, with random cutaways, and make critiques on American culture. "The Cleveland Show" even offers the musical elements of "Family Guy", this time featuring interludes of 80's music.

Although "The Cleveland Show" is entertaining and better than what most of television has to offer, it appears to be nothing more than a copy of the already existing "Family Guy." Seth MacFarlane needs to step up his game and not get too comfortable with his style of humour. After so many reruns of "Family Guy" and now the back to back showing of episodes of "The Cleveland Show" and "Family Guy" it all starts to get a little old.