The Cleveland Show

In the past year, Fox's beloved cartoon, Family Guy lost a member-Cleveland, one of Peter Griffin's buddies. Cleveland, who just so happens to have been the only black member on Family Guy "moved away" for Quahog, Rhode Island where the setting of Family Guy takes place. However, Cleveland's character did not leave the Fox channel for long. In fact, Cleveland received his own show on Fox entitled, quite obviously, "The Cleveland Show." This show, which is much less popular than Family Guy, is about the antics of Cleveland's own family. Opposite of Family Guy, this cartoon cast is primarily black. The world of television networks, society, and politics has its own agenda in cartoon world as well. This blog can relate back to an earlier discussion about shows featuring black casts that have been pushed to the side and only featured on "all black" channels. With large corporation channels like Fox coming out with yet another popular cartoon show, this time featuring all black members, one has to ask themselves, are people becoming more interested in pop culture with an African-American touch, or is television trying to get people to become more interested in it?

Of course, the election of the first black president cannot be looked over when trying to discuss and answer these questions. It seems that with Barack Obama being elected to the White House, people have a renewed and radical interest in African-American culture, and societies racism and rights. Cartoon shows, like the Cleveland show can be a good thing for television because many times, these types of cartoons can address politic issues in a comical and non-threatening way. I feel that the Cleveland show was created because of society's, especially American society's, new and enthusiastic interest in black culture. It is important for television and other technologies to cater to a culture that harbors so many different races and ethnicities. Though I think the Cleveland show is a great addition to the Fox network and an even greater addition to developing culture emphasis on television, it does bother me that the character of Cleveland left Family Guy. I believe it would have showed even more empowerment for black people if Cleveland had gone ahead and started his own show about his own family and culture but also stayed along with the cast of family guy showing that he can be the same person and be respected as the same person whether he is interacting with black people or white people.