So, yeah, I like The Cleveland Show.This surprises me because I don't much care for Family Guy, which The Cleveland Show is spun off of. It's not that Family Guy is never funny--it's just that it's often too mean for my taste. And, I mean, I'm a jerk, so that's saying something.
And the Cleveland Show also has its mean moments, but, unlike Family Guy, it also has a heart.
Also, since I live in a blended family, I like depictions of blended families on TV. And unlike, say, Drake and Josh or The Brady Bunch, The Cleveland Show doesn't just set up "this is a blended family" and then pretend it isn't a blended family: at least so far, we've seen a bunch of acknowledgments that it's not a seamless transition to blended family life.
Having said all this, it's pretty much of a Simpsons ripoff.And so, like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and countless live-action sitcoms since 1989, we've got a well-intentioned (usually) but not especially competent dad at the center of the action.When The Simpsons dethroned the Cosbys as TV's first family, (not too tough, since Bill had already decided to move from funny to sanctimonious, where he's remained since, while adding crotchety and profoundly creepy to the mix) it was refreshing to see a dad who was human and screwed up. It was a nice corrective to the My Three Sons, Leave it To Beaver, The Cosby Show model of the semi-divine patriarch. (or possibly just a throwback to Herman Munster and Fred Flintstone)
But, enough already. Art both shapes and reflects culture, and I wonder if all these numbnuts dads reflect the anxiety that men felt upon finding that they were expected to do more in the domestic realm than come home from work, read the paper, and dish out the occasional beating. Or maybe it's just that The Simpsons was a runaway hit and people imitate success, and all these dumb dads are Homer's fault.In any case, can we please get a TV dad who's not a hapless boob?While we're waiting, here's a nice episode of The Cleveland Show!
