PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: INSIDE MEDIA: THE CLEVELAND SHOW LIVE! {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Paley Center for Media's Inside Media events. Held at the Paley Center in Los Angeles, this seminar celebrates "The Cleveland Show," the animated spinoff from "Family Guy" about a middle-aged man who reconnects with his high school sweetheart and starts life anew in the suburbs of Virginia with their blended -- and uniquely dysfunctional -- families.
The evening begins as Craig Hitchcock (executive director, The Paley Center in Los Angeles) describes how the cast of "The Cleveland Show" will take part in the Paley's "first-ever table read." He then introduces Richard Appel, the show's executive producer and co-creator who serves as the evening's moderator. Appel tells how the table read is being held to celebrate the release of the show's first-season DVD. He then introduces a clip from the DVD: the "uncensored" version of a rap battle between Kenny West (voiced by Kanye West) and Cleveland Brown Jr. (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson).
Afterward, Appel sets up the "uncensored" table read of "A Brown Thanksgiving," written by Matt Murray, which aired in its edited version on the Fox Channel on Nov. 22, 2009. Appel then introduces the cast members taking part in the reading: Aseem Batra (Arianna/Filthy Nick's Wife); Kym J. Whitley (Auntie Momma); Frances Callier (Cookie Brown); Craig Robinson (LeVar "Freight Train" Brown); Sanaa Lathan (Donna Tubbs); Kevin Michael Richardson (Cleveland Brown, Jr./John Oates/Tim the Bear/Uncle Kevin); Regan Gomez-Preston (Roberta Tubbs); Johnny Viener (announcer/Federline Jones/Daryl Hall); and Mike Henry (series co-creator and voice of Cleveland Brown/Rallo Tubbs/Filthy Nick). Appel serves as the narrator.
The episode focuses on Cleveland's first Thanksgiving with Donna and their combined families. Tensions arise as Donna's "outrageous" Auntie Momma arrives and flirts with Cleveland's father, "Freight Train," despite the presence of his wife, Cookie. An angry Cleveland wrestles with whether he should tell Freight Train about Auntie Momma's long-held secret, resulting in a particularly memorable holiday for the entire clan.
After the table read, questions from the audience lead to a discussion of the following: how decisions were made on editing the episode's coarser language; Richardson's ability to mimic President Barack Obama and James Gandolfini; if "Cleveland Show" characters will appear with characters from co-creator Seth MacFarlane's other animated shows, "Family Guy" and "American Dad"; future plot developments and guest stars planned for the second season of "The Cleveland Show"; Henry's talent for rapping; if the children on "Cleveland" will ever grow older; and why the character of Cleveland Brown, Jr. was physically changed from his early appearances on "Family Guy."
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: September 23, 2010 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:52:20
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 103933
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Comedy
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Craig Hitchcock … Host
- Richard Appel … Moderator, Performer
- Aseem Batra … Performer, Panelist
- Kim J. Whitley … Performer, Panelist
- Frances Callier … Performer, Panelist
- Craig Robinson … Performer, Panelist
- Sanaa Lathan … Performer, Panelist
- Kevin Michael Richardson … Performer, Panelist
- Reagan Gomez-Preston … Performer, Panelist
- John Viener … Performer, Panelist
- Mike Henry … Performer, Panelist
- James Gandolfini
- Seth MacFarlane
- Matt Murray
- Barack Obama
- Kanye West