‘Family Guy’ Mike Henry explains why Cleveland was the perfect choice for a spin-off

Cleveland Brown made his first appearance on Spooner Street in the Family Guy premiere “Death Has a Shadow” in 1999. However, it was obvious from the start that he was a unique character worthy of his own spin-off series. . “Everything there, first of all, is different in rhythm,” Henry said in an interview. Behind the scenes. Henry then pulled Cleveland’s voice out of his back pocket to contrast his slower delivery to the show’s other, more noisy characters. “And Cleveland like Seth [MacFarlane] say, ‘[He’s] the only decent guy among them,” he joked.

Henry then explained to Backstage that a spin-off wouldn’t work with a character like the sex-obsessed Glenn Quagmire, who, like Peter Griffin, is also voiced by MacFarlane. Quagmire is quite steadfast in his taboo habits, and at the end of the day, a narcissist like Glenn is unlikely to grow as a person or even learn anything from the script’s character arc. “We couldn’t do a show about a rapist,” Seth would say, Henry told host Jenelle Riley during the same interview.

“Cleveland has always been the more thoughtful, introverted and sensitive guy,” Henry continued. “And he was the perfect spinning guy.” In hindsight, the Cleveland spin-off may not have been the best choice considering The Cleveland Show only lasted four seasons before it was cancelled. The series currently has an audience rating of 64% (on rotten tomatoes) and was criticized by many IMDb users.