Planet Family Guy

Daryl Hall and John Oates will be providing the voices of reason and temptation in upcoming episodes of The Cleveland Show.

Oates said to Spinner Music:

“My son is a huge Family Guy fan. One day, Mike Henry, who is the voice of Cleveland, came back stage at one of the shows. He’s a real music lover, a great guy and asked us if we would do a voiceover on Family Guy and we did. Then when they spun off the show he asked us if we wanted to be almost like a recurring character. We thought it was amazing. We’re an angel and devil on the shoulder of Cleveland, giving him good and bad advice.”

They will be featuring as in the episode A Brown Thanksgiving as an angel and a devil on November 22nd and may feature in further episodes too.

Fox have a released a video of Mike Henry discussing the origins of a number of the names in The Cleveland Show to promote the series.

Kevin Michael Richardson, voice of Cleveland Jr. on The Cleveland Show is 45 today. Happy birthday Kevin!

Incidentally, there is no Cleveland Show tonight. It returns to Fox next week.

Rutina Wesley who stars in HBO’s hit vampire series True Blood as Tara Thornton is joining the cast of The Cleveland Show as Donna’s best friend Yvette. “I’m playing Cleveland’s wife’s best friend,” Rutina told TV Guide magazine. “They’ve known each other since they were kids. She has a big butt, big earrings and a real big voice. I love her.”

Rutina’s guest appearance is in the episode Ladies’ Night on November 15th.

All new The Cleveland Show tonight at 8.30pm ET/PT with the episode Birth of a Salesman:-

“When Cleveland needs a new job, Tim hooks him up at Waterman Cable. However, when Cleveland becomes the top salesman, Tim is green with envy and wishes for bad things to happen to Cleveland. But when Cleveland comes up on some bad luck and misfortune, Tim has a change of heart.”

Fox are clearly impressed by The Cleveland Show which after only three episodes is gaining strong audience figures. Fox have just extended their 13-episode season 2 order to a full season according to Reuters!

Three weeks into the new season and new comer The Cleveland Show has beaten The Simpsons, both on Fox, in the ratings for a second week! An impressive feat for the Family Guy spin-off. On Sunday night Cleveland managed 7.8 million viewers (a 14% drop on last week) whilst The Simpsons was watched by 7.5 million (an 18% drop).

Family Guy is still the most watched of Fox’s animated shows attracting 8.9 million viewers (a 12% drop); American Dad was watched by 6.7 million (dropping just 6%).

So The Cleveland Show seems to be doing very well for Fox. Is this a surprise or a no brainer? Are you enjoying the latest from Seth MacFarlane and co.?

Episode 3 of the new series The Cleveland Show airs tonight. Catch The One About Friends on Fox from 8.30pm ET/PT:

“Cleveland is concerned that Cleveland Jr. has no friends, so he invites his neighbor Lester’s son Ernie (guest voice Glenn Howerton) to their house. A neglected Ernie becomes too attached to the family, leaving Cleveland to call child services to have Ernie taken back home. When the plan backfires, Cleveland helps Lester get his son back.”

Mike Henry has been talking to Forbes.com about his new series The Cleveland Show discussing why he’s aiming for a more family friendly audience and how it differs from sister-show Family Guy. There’s also some discussion on the potential controversy over three white guys writing a black comedy.

On the humor of The Cleveland Show Henry said, “we’ll take shots at celebrities that seem to warrant them and we’ll have tons of potty and sex jokes, but my money is on people caring about Cleveland.” Both Mike Henry and fellow producer Rich Appel have children which Henry has cited as the reason behind making the show more family friendly than Family Guy.

The Cleveland Show is according to Kara Vallow going to premiere in the UK this December. As we’ve previously reported it will be shown on the E4 channel unlike Family Guy and American Dad which feature in the FXUK and BBC Three schedules.

The new Family Guy spin-off started in the US last week with a second episode going out tonight on Fox.