Ratjo

The Cleveland Show, S04E13

Cleveland was tasked to kill a rat in the house, but he kept it as a pet and lied about it to make his family stay away longer. Cleveland had to make a tough decision about his new pet when it bit Donna and it wasn't clear if the rat had rabies or not.  Rallo also got obsessed with a suitcase Junior was carrying and found his step-brother was involved in real espionage.

Although Cleveland acted like his usual self and lied to get some time away from his family, I liked that he got found out quicker than most cases. Also, his lies were sort of necessary this time because Domna wouldn't have let him keep his new rat friend. It was a little cute that Cleveland befriended the rat, but it was weird how he carried himself with the rat at his side. For example, he was walking his rat in nothing but an open robe with a rope tied to it. Not to mention that he looked like he had just woken up and not showered in days--he looked so ghetto. I don't know why his love for the rat encouraged his slovenly behavior. Like it's bad enough having a rat as a pet without living in your own filth. That was the one aspect of Cleveland's new friendship that I didn't like.

It was messed up that Cleveland's pet bit Donna, possibly giving her rabies, and Cleveland took so long to chose her over the rat. Yeah, it was sad he had to kill the pet he had always wanted as a child, but that was his wife. He is so damn cold sometimes.  Donna was being a bit of a bitch ordering him around while she was hanging with her mother, but that's not a reason to gamble with her life like that.

My favorite part of this story was when they took the rat to the woods and it started attacking them in a rabies-induced frenzy.  It totally reminded me of Stephen King's Cujo.  The two of them were trapped in the car just like that lady and boy in the movie. I loved that because instead of a pretty scary dog, it was a little rat keeping them there. Under normal situations it shouldn't have been able to  harass them so badly. It even crawled into the car via the exhaust pipe--that was crazy!  I almost wished that Donna's mother hadn't shown up and killed the rat. I enjoyed how ridiculous Cleveland and Donna looked while screaming and running from a little animal (not to say I wouldn't freak out being attacked by a rat, rabid or not).

In Rallo and Junior's story, I liked how obsessed Rallo was with spy movies.  That was so typically of a little kid.  He was really annoying the hell our of Junior.  It takes a lot to get Junior pissed, so I liked seeing that for a change.  But once Junior started carrying the suitcase to get back at him or whatever, Rallo stopped being such a nuisance and just worked on cracking Junior's mystery.  I would have liked that better if it wasn't a fake coupon that acted as a pass card to Junior's secret organization.  That was unexpected, but not entirely amusing to me.  I mean, it was a little disturbing, making Junior seem like the kind of dangerous person who abducts people and murders neighbors.  I would have enjoyed it better if the two of them battled in an exaggerated fantasy setting as pretend spies.  In the way it did end, Rallo just got terrified. Wasn't much to laugh about that.

This episode was okay.  I did like that Cleveland's lies this time didn't feel completely selfish.  He was trying to prolong the life of his new pet.  The best part was the rat suddenly attacking him and Donna.  It turned into a good movie spoof.  Rallo and Junior had the potential to turn their spy games into something funny, but it fell flat for me when Junior made the games real and more sinister.  It was a slightly interesting twist, but I'd rather watch the two boys being silly any other day.

Everyone Sucks At Everything

The Cleveland Show, S04E12

Cleveland and his friends worried that the excitement had gone out of their friendship and tried to repair it.  After many failed attempts, they tried going to an amusement park they had once shared good times, ignoring the fact that it was closed down.  Donna wanted to boost Rallo's confidence by making him think he was an excellent bowler, but Rallo's overconfidence made Donna show him the harsh truth about how little there is that young kids are good at in general.

You would think that with such a variety of friends that it would take longer than 3 years for it to get stale.  Unless that group was composed of the most boring guys you could find, I find it hard to believe Cleveland and the gang were having problems already.  I'm sure that they do spend most of their time together sitting at the Broken Stool drinking, but they've done so many random activies that were also dangerous and thrilling.  That should make the days when they're not doing something to put them in jail or injury themselves seem like a vacation.  So I had problems just buying that they didn't have the same chemistry anymore.

There were little things that I sort of liked in this story, like Cleveland remarking he'd get another bear as a friend or how Tim looked in the fun mirror, but mostly I had neutral feelings about their frollick in the condemened amusement park.  The vomiting was gross and them being stuck on the Roter overall made me impatient for their rescue or just anything.  Things did get a little better when Rallo tried to save them and later Donna.  By the end of it, I don't even think I cared whether they were better friends or not.  The focus had really changed to Rallo feeling better about being a worthless kid.

Rallo, who had to hear the ugly truth about the skill level of a kid from his mother, didn't really start to grab my interest until he stopped acting like a superstar bowler.  I liked when he went to the strip club and met Robert.  His father actually had some good advice about finding Cleveland, yet he didn't give a damn that his 5 year-old was walking around at night to strip clubs and such.  Instead of driving Rallo home, he took him to an abandoned amusement park where Rallo could have gotten hurt (and very likely would have if the firemen hadn't come).  It was funny that even Rallo couldn't stay quiet as his father left him unsupervised in such a frightening place:

[Robert] Man, this place looks scary.  All right, see you later.[Rallo] That man is not a good father.

That was about the funniest thing in the episdoe, except for the disturbing picture that Junior had drawn.  It had him crying next to a grave with the caption, "I miss mommy."  It was sad in a way that made you chuckle that no one gave a damn about what might be going on in Junior's head to draw that.

After all of Donna's talk (and that horrible song) about how kids suck at everything, she really showed that any person of any age can suck when she set the place on fire.  Damn.  How stupid can she be?  Rallo was mostly stupidly courageous--Donna was just ignorant about electrical fires.   They were just lucky that the firemen showed up.  I don't know why they did, though.  How is it that they got there so fast, especially when that place was supposed to be empty?

I didn't hate this episode, but at the same time, I can't say there was much that was worth mentioning about it.  I did like that Cleveland and his friends' problem eventually became part of Rallo's story about wanting to prove his worth as a kid.  There are less intersecting stories in this show recently, so I like when they change things up once in a while.  Neither story was particularly good, so combining them into an almost decent story was better than having the two of them separate and completely awful.

Same Old Story Again

The Cleveland Show, S04E11

Cleveland voluntarily took a severance package and quit his job, but kept it secret from Donna and had fun spending the money while only pretending to use that time to find a new job.  Roberta and Federline broke up, and Rallo was happy to see Roberta start dating a black guy until he found out that Devon was too strict and boring.

I can't say what's much different in this story about Donna and Cleveland compared to most stories about the two of them.  Cleveland does something wrong and enjoys himself in the meantime before Donna figures out that he's been lying through his teeth.  This formula for a story isn't unique to this show (Homer Simpson does it on a regular basis, as well), but what I dislike about when Cleveland chooses to do it is that he usually does it for selfish reasons.  It's not that he wanted to save himself from embarrassment or felt not so confident about finding another job, but he just didn't want Donna to make him do chores or whatever around the house (and he probably didn't want to have to use the money on his family).  I was surprised at first that he was going to tell Donna exactly what he had done at work until he used the time-rewinding technique from Superman (I don't know which one).  Unlike when I had seen Stan Smith use this on American Dad, Cleveland successfully went back in time to prevent himself from letting Donna spoil his fun.  I wish that Cleveland had only imagined he had done it, like Stan (I don't much like that they used the same reference like that).

Also, per usual to this setup, Cleveland's deception was revealed through his own carelessness and stupidity.  Much like when he was pretending to be homeless, he was too busy having a good time to remember that he shouldn't dine in the same restaurant his wife was working in.  I guess since Cleveland will never be the type to admit what he did wrong without being caught in the act first, we have to wait for his lies to catch up with him.  I wish they had caught up sooner--he wasn't doing anything that exciting with all that money.  He then spun the situation to look like he was going to end his life due to the hopelessness of the current job market, making him look even more like a selfish ass.   It would have been a great lesson to him if Donna had won in the end when she punched him off of the ledge.  Instead, Cleveland's seemingly joke to sue Donna wasn't a lie at all, and the money that he won in that settlement allowed him to return things back to status quo.  I didn't like that ending.  I hate when Cleveland appears to win in the end when he was the one doing wrong all along.  Unless they can do that in a very humorous way, which wasn't achieved this time, I'd rather see him get his just desserts.

There was only about one thing I liked about this story and that was when Clevleand was making some speech on the ledge to the "unemployed hippies."  He was getting a little long-winded and Rallo shouted out:

Wrap it up!

I had to laugh at that because the time was perfect and the sentiment was apt.  Cleveland was just having another bullshitting session that wasn't important in the least.  If only Donna could have gotten up  there sooner to knock him off.

The side story involved Rallo, but sadly he wasn't put to good use.  The focus was mainly on how Ferdeline reverted back to his non-poser self (a sight that was a bit eerie for some reason) and how Devon sucked the fun out of Rallo's life.  The latter should have been decently funny, but it wasn't.  I guess because there wasn't anything more to Devon than following the rules and reforming Rallo.  I actually didn't even feel like he was dating Roberta--it was more like he was Rallo's 24-7 babysitter.  I might have found Rallo's situation funnier if he complained to someone about Devon, but they didn't believe he was an unpleasant guy.  Instead, it just became clearer and clearer than Devon was as about as fun as counting blades of grass.  He was making Rallo's life hell, but to me it wasn't anything personal, so it didn't tickle my funny bone.  Also, Rallo didn't have any chances to turn the tables on Devon or anything.  He just had to get Federline back.  As much as I dislike Federline, he's the lesser of two evils, I guess.

This episode made me feel like I was watching a different but similar episode with just a few of the pieces changed.  I'd like to see Cleveland have more times where his lies seemed necessary rather than a reflection of him protecting his own best interests.  I would have also liked to see Rallo get more revenge on Devon than bringing back Federline to take his place.  While it's better to have Federline at Roberta's side than Devon, I would have ultimately preferred a story without the two of them in the first place.

Crappy Marriage Leads To Crappy Story

The Cleveland Show, S04E09

Cleveland and Donna went to marriage counseling after Cleveland messed up his personal vows to Donna.  On top of paying the counselor extra to make it seem like Cleveland was always right, the man blackmailed Cleveland into having sex with his wife.  Rallo retrieved Junior's old fridge from its grave and filled it with snacks that Junior couldn't help but eat, and Junior ended up owing Rallo a hefty sum for it.

I didn't expect much for a story about Cleveland and Donna's marriage.  They don't have the best one, and Cleveland is chronically saying bad things about being married in the first place.  You knew he was going to say something terrible at their ceremony, and then take the whole episode to make up for being unappreciative of his wife (pretty much how all of these shows go).  Luckily, it wasn't completely boring.  There were a few things that I found relatively funny.

The first was when Cleveland was questioning paying $80 for the marriage counseling.  Thanks to Junior he was able to illustrate how many sandwiches he could get with that money, and asked Donna:

[Cleveland] What would you rather have, a happy marriage or lots of sandwich?[Junior] Lots of sandwich![Cleveland] That'll be all, buddy!

I like the idea that Cleveland would rather have more sandwiches in his life than a more successful marriage.  Can't blame him--him and Donna are a mess.  He might as well enjoy some good food than someone being paid to tell him he's doing everything wrong.

The second thing that I liked was when Cleveland was in the marriage counseling and thought for a second that the counselor was agreeing with him.  When he showed that he was just agreeing Donna for the millionth time, Cleveland had a good line:

You've got a slappable face, you know that?

Cleveland may be an ass, but no one wants to sit there and listen to someone take the side of their spouse constantly over theirs.  He'd be an idiot to refuse to pay the guy more to turn the table in his favor (or he could have just told Donna he wanted a more impartial counselor, but hey).  I liked that instead of Dona figuring out what he had done, it turned into a blackmail situation.  That was different.  However, before Cleveland even went to sleep with the woman, I suspected that it was just a ploy to get Cleveland to prove that he loved Donna.  So the ending wasn't much of surprise to me.

In the side story with Junior and Rallo, I was disappointed that it wasn't funnier.  The two of them usually are a hit for comedy, no matter what they're doing.  I don't know.  I guess Rallo extorting Junior to buy food out of convenience seemed too easy.  The only part I sorta liked was when Junior "roughed it" by walking out of the room and into the hallway, which was super windy all of a sudden.  When he was blown away, he yelled, "Cartoon!" and that made me smile.  I like when they acknowledge that in cartoons you can get away with situations that defy the laws of nature.

Didn't care for this episode, but it wasn't too bad on a scale specific for this show.  It wasn't like watching that one about different countries, so in that sense it was all right.  I can't think of one episode dealing with Donna and Cleveland's marriage that was humorously depicting the negatives of marriage (because it's not all good, of course).  Instead, these stories just leave a bad taste in my mouth.  I wouldn't mind this as much if the side story could throw in a few laughs my way to make up for the main story.  It's a shame when even Rallo and Junior can't pull that off.

Which Version Was The Worst?

The Cleveland Show, S04E08

Cleveland showcased the different versions of The Cleveland Show as broadcast around the world.  These included Mexico, Italy, Germany, and Japan.

As soon as I heard Cleveland explain what the episode was going to be about, I wasn't expecting anything good.  My prediction turned out to be mostly true, the majority of the jokes at various countries being more boring than they were anything else.  Usually when a show attempts to throw their characters into a different setting than normal, it's a good chance to be entertained at how they act in another environment, but I couldn't find much humor in it at all.

The story about Junior's quinceanera was probably my least favorite, but that's not saying much.  The best thing was that Sofia Vergara made a guest appearance, and I found out that she has a pretty good singing voice.  I just like her in general, so it helped me not roll my eyes at the story completely.  I also liked when they did a fake commercial break that featured Consuela advertising her "perfume" called "No."  But it was just really Lemon Pledge.

The next story set in Italy was the least annoying of them all.  It focused on the rivarly between Junior and Rallo, which was certainly a big reason why.  I really liked seeing Rallo in all those outfits.  He was so cute in both what he was wearing at the retirement party and when he was getting a new suit.  Rallo is adorable in a little hat.  Speaking of that retirement party, it was little funny when that guy made a joke about "Crime Warner" and Cleveland snapped his fingers to have that guy shot.  Then he blamed it on a heart attack as they took his body away.  It's rare to see Cleveland in a position of power where he's that scary.

My favorite part of that story was when Junior came crying to Cleveland after he had found Larry in the tub:

[Junior] Daddy! Daddy!  Rallo drowned Larry the leopard!

[Cleveland] Just put him in the dryer.

[Rallo] He had my friend Walt killed!

[Cleveland] So you're even.  Now go on outside and play.

Another quote I liked was when Rallo was admiring himself in the mirror:

Damn, I look good.  Probably gonna die in this suit one day.

Finally, I liked the end of the story, for some reason.  There was something funny about that dramatic music as Rallo couldn't get Donna to save him and Cleveland putting on that jacket, gloves, and hat so that he could take the two out for a "drive."

The story about the writers wasn't that interesting.  The best thing about it was that it wasn't very long, so they could move on to something else.

The story in Japan, was disappointing too.  I had expected it might be my favorite, but it was just okay.  No one's Japanese version was very funny, except maybe Tim.  He had those "anime eyes," and he looked pretty cute.  I didn't care too much about the robot or anything else that was going on.  However, I had a hard time ignoring the fact that Cleveland was dressing up as a pile of shoes at work.  I know it's all supposed to be jokes and stuff, but the nerd in me was like, "You'd never see a pile of shoes like that there.  They would be neatly lined up."  It's too bad I just couldn't enjoy that joke or any of the others.  I won't get another chance to watch Cleveland and the crew in Japan again (I hope).

Even though I didn't like this episode, I'm just happy it wasn't a disaster.  I've seen some pretty bad stuff on this show, and I could have seen them doing worse with these different countires.  All the stories were mostly cheesy, but not in a way I thought was particularly clever or fresh.  I don't mind seeing something poking fun at stereotypes (it's usually a good way to reduce them of their power), but I'd rather see them presented in a way that's a bit different.  When you see the same thing about Italians, for instance, eating tons of spaghetti a thousand times, it's not really going to make you laugh.  Or maybe, even though this is a comedy show, that was the goal of this episode: you get so many bad jokes thrown at you, you just end up being too bored to be offended.

Donna Ain't Playing Around

The Cleveland Show, S04E07

Cleveland was learning how to hustle like Robert, in the hopes that Freight Train would love him as much as he did Robert, his new adopted son.  Junior and Rallo desperately looked for a dog so they could earn enough money to replace Donna's favorite recorder in time for a performance.

Rather than been amazed that FT would adopt Robert as his new son, I was a little more surprised that he hadn't done that a long time ago (even if adopting a grown man is silly).  It's not new that Robert and FT get along way better than Cleveland and FT do.  I think FT probably likes just about anyone better than his own, blood-related son.  What was funniest about Cleveland getting a new brother was that FT started treating them like they were little kids.  I liked how he yelled at them about all the puzzle pieces on the floor and told them to go to bed.  It's pretty normal for Cleveland to act like a little kid, but it was weird for FT to go along with it, so that joke worked for me.  I also thought it was sort of funny when the geese Cleveland was playing with gave him a look when he tried to leave in the middle of their game.  Lastly, I got a bit of a chuckle seeing Cleveland's kids' faces when Cleveland was doing that terrible dance for FT.  They looked more disgusted than FT probably did.

In the side story, I similarly didn't find a lot of jokes that I liked, but I generally just liked Rallo and Junior running around together.  The funniest thing about that story was Donna acting like a psycho who was going to murder Larry if they didn't get the money for her.  She had him tied and gagged in the cupboard, threw him into a freezer, and was about to cut him up with a buzz saw--what the hell is her problem?  In the end, Rallo summed up nicely how one should deal with Donna:

Keep your head down around here, Rock--Mama crazy.

I like that he just sort of accepts that Donna is out of her mind, but doesn't plan to do anything about it.  Although, Rallo is just a little kid, so it is silly to think that he'd have a chance of standing up to her, crazy or not.

Definitely not one of my favorites, but not too bad, considering it was another story about Cleveland and his dad.  I don't think we'll ever see FT and Cleveland loving each other like Cleveland wants, nor would I want to see that.  FT is much funnier when he hates Cleveland, and I wouldn't want to see that change.  Donna is funnier when she's threatening children's stuffed animals, something I wouldn't have previously thought.  It's nice to have her making me laugh instead of making me wish she was gone.  I'd like to see her use Larry against Junior again in the future.

"I'll Be Homeless For Christmas"

The Cleveland Show, S0E06

Cleveland pretended to be homeless in order to get free sandwiches and other things that were donated to the homeless during the Christmas season.  Roberta tried to encourage Kendra to become Santa, despite what the owner of Grundle's said.

Seeing Cleveland act like a homeless man just to get a ham sandwich doesn't really surprise me.  I'm more surprised that he didn't get found out sooner.  I didn't even think that Cleveland would learn anything from his misdeeds, especially when he tried to apologize and kept making his situation worse.  I guess overall, it turned out to be an okay story since Cleveland didn't just act like an ass and then smooth it over too easily.  Cleveland admitted that he was going to abandon his new friends at the shelter, but at least he got other people in town to perhaps think about giving to said ex-friends more often than a few days in December.

Nothing was really funny in the Cleveland story, but one moment almost got there.  This was when Tim saw Cleveland in line for food at the shelter and he thought he was looking at another black guy:

Come on, Tim the Bear, they don’t all look alike.  Don’t let Lester start rubbing one off on you.

Besides that, I could almost like the parody of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" that Cleveland did.  That song was a rare song in the whole Seth MacFarlane world that didn't make me cringe.  I'm not saying it was a great song, but it wasn't so bad that I wanted to mute the TV.  It was a good attempt to be funny, but just didn't get there for me.

In the Roberta story, I was excited to hear Nick Offerman as Mr.  Grundle.  He has the perfect voice for some kind of old-fashioned, sexist man.  I wish he had more lines because he almost made me laugh when he told Roberta:

I don’t hire boys to see their legs, and I don’t hire girls to hear them talk.

I think that was a nearly good joke because no matter how right Roberta is about something, her voice is so annoying that I want her to be quiet regardless.

The combination of Kendra and Roberta was kind of interesting since you don't see them in stories together.  But I didn't really care too much whether Kendra got the role of Santa or not.  I did like, though, that when she failed to bring presents for the kids, she told them to just quietly and confidently steal one present from the store.  At least she's resourceful.

There obviously wasn't enough Rallo or Junior in this episode, but Rallo did have a line that was also almost a good joke when Roberta told him not to be nervous:

Nervous? I got on five pair of underwear.  He ain’t getting in there.

I just like how nonchalant he is about a Santa molesting him or something.

Well, for a Christmas story this could have been worse.  It was all right, especially for this show because it usually makes me irritated.  Cleveland sort of fit in too well with the homeless, even if he was taking things from the needy for his own selfish needs.  It was nice to see the writers try and team up two characters who don't usually interact with each other, but this wasn't much of a match made in comedy heaven.  I would have rather seen Rallo get revenge on Santa or something (much like Riley from The Boondocks) than these other stories.  Can't help but feel disappointed in every episode where Rallo and Junior are just pushed to the background.

There'll Be No Baby Tomorrow

The Cleveland Show, S04E05

Donna wanted to have another baby with Cleveland once Rallo had grown up, but Cleveland's vasectomy made it impossible.  Donna and Cleveland battled each other to expose the other concerning the fake pregnancy that they both were aware of.   Rallo became the star of the play Annie, but his diva-like actions got it shut down before it was even performed.

Wow, I think it has been a while since there was a story where Cleveland and Donna were trying to best the other with a lie or a scheme.  Or maybe not, but I feel like it has because I hate this setup.  Mainly because you know that both of them already know the other is full of crap, but they keep playing out the charade anyway.  I mean, it was a little funny that they were both so stubborn that they would actually go to the hospital and get the doctor to birth a cushion, but it was mostly frustrating as hell.

The best line from that story came from Dr. Fist, who finally spoke up after going along with their fight for some reason:

If I may interject…you’re both terrible people who should not have any children.  In fact, I am not even comfortable sending that cushion home with you.

His comment was almost worth them acting like idiots for the majority of the episode.

The side story where Rallo got to be Annie was kinda cute.  I liked how he adapted Junior's shirt into something that looked like Annie's dress.  It was also cute when he was crying at his window after regretting the show getting cancelled due to his ureasonable and costly demands.  A little later when Roberta was offering a way to have Rallo be a star after all, there was a pretty funny moment:

[Roberta, bring Junior and Rallo close] We’ll do our own knockoff version!
[Rallo] Ack, ugh!  Girl don’t know how to whisper.
[Roberta] I am whispering!

There's something very funny to be about people who don't understand how to whisper.  I guess because it makes them look a little crazy and stupid at the same time.

This was an okay episode.  I really wish the side story about Rallo could have been longer.  I would have liked to see him be more of a diva than was shown.  Didn't care too much for the lie fest between Donna and Cleveland--it stopped being funny a few seconds after they started.  It's a little weird to say, but I feel like for the sake of this show's comedy, Cleveland and Donna shouldn't do much together.  It usually ends up being a pretty boring (or annoying) story.

Thanksgiving Again?

The Cleveland Show, S04E04

Cleveland changed his mind about making Junior kill a turkey and helped his son try to protect all the turkeys left that Lester was trying to kill and sell.  Donna agreed to help Rallo decorate a float for the parade, but soon pushed him out of the process when she found out that it was for a competition.

I was a little surprised that they did another story that was about Thanksgiving, although this one was a lot more about the holiday than the previous one.  It's rare for a show to do that.  Either they do a nod to the holiday and move on or they chose not to do it at all.  It also didn't help that Thanksgiving was already over and I wasn't expecting anymore stories about it.  However, it wasn't too bad.

Although I say that, there is much that I particularly liked about this episode (but there wasn't anything that I particularly hated either).  My favorite quote was when Junior was trying to defend turkeys by saying that Ben Franklin thought they were noble and Cleveland said:

Benjamin Franklin was an atheist pedophile who flew kites to meet children.  That’s why God struck him with lightning.

There's something really funny about making up your own horrible story about a historical figure (although, there's no concrete evidence to prove that it's wrong).  The part at the end where he claims that even his contributions to electricity were just a fluke from divine punishment also makes me laugh.

As far as Donna and Rallo's story went, I did like when Rallo was trying to decorate the float just as a boy his age typically would with odd coloring, googly eyes, and macaroni.  There's nothing more I love than being reminded that Rallo is just a kid.  Because when he decides to be one, he's really childlike.  However, there wasn't enough of him to really make the story great.  It was just all right.

I probably still like this Thanksgiving story better than the Auntie-Mama one.  It wasn't really funny, but at least it wasn't frustrating to watch (or disgusting).  It just had stories you could watch without really reacting to them much, which for this show is sort of a success.  I dislike when I have to list all the things that made me want to shoot the TV screen.

Not The Best Halloween Story

The Cleveland Show, S04E01

Donna and Cleveland forbid Junior and Roberta from dressing up for Halloween, so to teach their parents a lesson, they dressed as their parents and went out to cause trouble.  Cleveland took Federline to a football game so he could be the designated driver, but the boy ended up stealing a wooden doll from Stoolbend's rival town and causing a riot.

Compared to last year's Halloween story, I didn't like this one as much.  I suppose because it didn't really have too much to do with the holiday.  Cleveland's story was about football/town rivalry, Donna was getting arrested for prostitution, and Junior and Roberta did a prank (which is a little more in the spirit of the holiday) but it didn't really lead to anything significant.  I will say that it is nice that they didn't make a cheesy horror story instead, but it being mostly about football and riots was kind of lame.

Rather to continue to go on about what I didn't like, I'll point out my favorite parts.  One was when Cleveland was trying to get a hold of Toonces, the driving cat.  That was great!  Toonces was one of my favorite SNL skits ever!  And I liked that the cause of Toonces' death was not the more likely car accident, but feline leukemia.  It was just unexpected and good (in a dark kind of way).  Cleveland was also funny when he told Federline to go after he had ruined their night sufficiently:

[Cleveland] Let him go.

[Tim] No one's trying to stop him.

 Junior also had a pretty good line when Chet had a knife to his throat:

How did you find my throat?

 Lastly, I enjoyed the insanity that Rallo was left to himself while he was bleeding to death.  It became a running gag in the episode and at the very end Rallo was seen as a ghost saying:

Hi, I died--just kidding.  I'll see ya'll next week.

This kind of echoes that running gag in the show that Rallo is often left unsupervised by parents (and siblings) who really couldn't give a damn about what kind of danger he gets into.  But although I liked this, I was annoyed that they pretty much left Rallo out of the story.  Last year was good because we got to see him be scared to death along with Cleveland.  But anyway.

This was probably better than most episodes I saw last season, so I can't be too mad this was their premiere.  I'm actually just looking forward to the episode they're supposed to have with Bruno Mars in it (love him!).  So until that happens, I can be all right with a few stupid episodes until then.

Flush This Story Down The Toilet

The Cleveland Show, S03E20

Junior wanted to write his report about a great American and he chose Cleveland.  After following his father around for a day, Junior realized his mistake and ended up writing a depressing report that suggested that Americans were lazy and unmotivated.  Cleveland wanted desperately to get Junior's respect back after that and decided that he would demand for more toilet safety due to a recent injury from falling off a toilet he had.  The rest of the family ignored his efforts to make a toilet bar and went to Krazy Kingdom where Rallo was excited to ride a roller coaster for the first time, but was denied because he was still too short.  They later saw Cleveland on TV, flying around on the toilet he had been stuck on for the longest time to the capital building.  His "bold" stunt to stand up to the "dangers" of falling off the toilet inspired Junior to write the report about Cleveland again in a much more heroic light.

I have to say that I didn't like much about this episode.  I mean, Cleveland is the last person that Junior should have picked for a topic in the first place, so that was disaster from the start.  Then Cleveland's idea to get his son's respect back is to go around on a toilet hung from a helicopter?  Only Cleveland's real son would be impressed by that stupid stunt.  What makes it gross is that he was flying around with a nearly full bowl and he didn't have any clothes on below his shirt.  Eww!  But I guess Cleveland will do anything for his son.

I have to call Junior a hypocrite when he told Cleveland that he was a "sad weirdo."  Then what does that make Junior??  Maybe he's just a happy weirdo.  But still.  That whole family has little room to judge anyone because they've all acted less than sane.

My favorite line (and I'm reaching a bit) is when Cleveland tried to get himself out of the toilet bar and tried to use a popular commercial jingle:

Like a good neighbor State Farm is there.  [Pause]  Dang.  I'm gonna die.

That was pretty good.  I like those commercials and the ridiculous way State Farm acts as if they can magically make bad situations better by saying that.  I think that if Cleveland had been saved by them, it would have been just as funny.

I think the best moment, though, was when Rallo had made himself a makeshift roller coaster out of clothes and laundry baskets and was sliding it down the bed.  That was so cute!   I don't know what it is about Rallo that is so adorable for a cartoon character.  But he always manages to make me smile with his childish antics.  If I saw a real kid doing that, it would be crazy amazing.

Not one of the worst episodes, but not one that I'll try to remember (or purposely try to watch again).  You would think that a story centered around someone falling off the toilet would be funnier, but instead it was just sad and boring.  Of course, this is much expected when they make a story around Cleveland's problems, which usually tend to be the least funny when he's handling it on his own.  As always, we need to install more Rallo into the mix to make it a better episode.

How Not To Get Rid Of A Man In A Wheelchair

The Cleveland Show, S03E19

Cleveland's suspicions that Donna was cheating on him turned out to be about half right.  She was trying to secretly let down her ex-boyfriend Maurice who had been in Iraq and thought he and Donna were still a couple.  After seeing that Maurice was in a wheelchair, Cleveland helped her lie until Maurice proposed to her.  Maurice stayed at their house, punishing them for their deceit by being a general nuisance.  They tried to appease him by giving him a parade in his honor, but it wasn't until Cleveland punched Maurice and treated him like a normal guy that Maurice forgave them and left.  Junior pretended to be Christian to win a girl's affection and had to compete with Hunter, another boy doing the same thing.  When they unintentionally sang about their deceit in front of Vanessa she was attracted to their "bad boy" ways and wanted to have sex with them both, to their horror.  Junior was saved from losing his virginity by a fire that Hunter started.

I think that Donna has had lots of opportunities to cheat on Cleveland, so the idea of her suddenly sending her husband off to have one now didn't make sense, so I couldn't agree with Cleveland's friends that her buttering him up with ham was to distract him from her cheating.  Cleveland, too, found it hard to believe that Donna was having an affair, but he had to go with what a typical man would think:

Then again, what kind of man would I be if I didn't automatically think the worst about a woman?

Because that line was funny, I couldn't get mad about Cleveland listening to his friends and accusing Donna.  He did a horrible job of tailing her, and later when he knew the truth and Maurice showed up, he did a horrible job of lying.  In fact, he had to make sure that he didn't forget the name he made up for himself, "Cleveson."  That terrible name did set up for some good jokes by his friends, however:

[Tim] Wow, I am so embarrassed.  I’ve been calling Cleveson, “Cleveland” for years.
[Lester] And I didn’t know he was married to his sister.  I approve.

I don't know which of their comments is stupider, but I liked that they were sucked into the lie better than Cleveland was himself (who forgot his own fake name).

I only felt bad for Maurice when he first found out about the lies and had a very pathetic and weepy exit out of the room, where he fell and had to eventually crawl.  However, I was glad that Cleveland got pissed at him and punched him.  Donna and Cleveland are bad people, but there was no reason they needed to be continually punished when they had already apologized.  I really liked Cleveland's statement about this:

We only lied to spare your feelings, and we apologized.  So either forgive us or don't. But stop being a dick.

True dat!  This story made a good point about people who walk on eggshells around people with disabilities.  We're all essentially people, so no one should be able to get a free card to be a jerk.  I'll admit it's hard not to be extra nice and forgiving to someone who can't function the same as yourself, but when someone is being an unnecessary dick, you need to be able to call them on it, regardless of what kind of person they are.

Junior's story wasn't that great.  I guess it's because it's not the first time that he has fallen for a beautiful girl that he ultimately won't get (I just assume).  I thought the song that the mission team choir had some clever lyrics, although the tune wasn't particularly pleasing.  I admired how they had a song that praised Jesus and God by using social media terms and technological trends like texting that teenagers would be interested in.  Because of that, I was less annoyed that I had endure another Seth MacFarlane world song (not to say that The Simpsons has come out with a good song in any recent years).  I also like Darren Criss' voice ever since I watched Glee (but have given up on since their last terrible Christmas special), so it couldn't be too angry about it.  Junior started singing too, to my dismay, but I liked that while he was having his moment, you could see Roger in the stained glass.  Nice touch.  When he stopped singing, I wondered to myself if he had done it out loud, and Junior immediately said the same thing to himself.  That was funnier than him being dumb enough to sing about a girl he liked right in front of her.

Junior and Hunter's duet about their plans to fight each other for Vanessa was cute (though I still didn't care for the lyrics) and funny just because it was stupid.  It was the stupidest when they continued to sing until Vanessa showed up and they had to be honest with her.  I didn't think that she would be so turned on by their deceit.  I was going to be happy for them that they got the girl they wanted after all, but the two were turned off by her sexual aggression.  I forgot that Junior wasn't ready for that yet (according to the episode with his teenage wife whom he couldn't sleep with) and Hunter seemed to be the same.  It was just funny to see two teenage boys crapping their pants because they girl they were after wanted to jump their bones--any other typical boy their age would have acted like they won the lottery.  I mean, Vanessa was a little intimidating, but for those two, that might have been the opportunity of a lifetime.  In the end, I'm glad that Junior got out of it and that he and Hunter went from being enemies to being friends.  I mean, they have a lot in common (both think it's a good idea to lie about their faith in order to date someone), so friendship seems like a more feasible conclusion than the two getting lucky with a girl.

This week we had a double-dose of this show, but I think the episode that preceded it was better than this one.  It lost points for having songs (even with Darren Criss' beautiful voice) and failing to utilize Rallo very much. After seeing that episode where Rallo was shining, it was hard to be satisfied when he only popped out for a random line or two.  I seriously think if they made it "The Rallo Show," it would be an even better show now that Cleveland isn't as half funny as he used to be on Family Guy.

Rallo And Junior--You Can't Go Wrong

The Cleveland Show, S03E18

Cleveland, wanting to regain some of his youth by reliving his college days agreed to take Roberta on a college tour of his alma mater.  He screwed around with his old fraternity, thinking that they were going to honor him, but were in fact making him the joke of the night.  Roberta initially used the trip as an excuse to go to a music festival, but she eventually was convinced to attend college after all.  Junior got upset that Donna washed Larry and couldn't sleep without his old smell.  Rallo showed him that he could sleep on his own, but Junior started to use Rallo as his replacement Larry.  To fix this problem, Rallo modified Larry a bit so that Junior thought it was different doll.

Even if the frat boys hadn't told us beforehand that they were just fooling Cleveland, it was likely that he would have still ended up taped to an ass, feeling like a bigger one than the real one.  The only thing that was notable about the story with Cleveland and Roberta visiting the college was that we found out that Roberta is a good fighter (and Federline is a weak punk) and Roberta is lot smarter than she lets on.  Even though she acts like an idiot and uses Rihanna and Kim Kardashian as models for life choices, Roberta scored welled on her PSATs and has good grades.  Apparently she's just a pain in the ass and a bit of a whore.  Since Roberta is my least favorite character, I'm glad that she's not as vapid as I had thought.  I remember the episode where she pretended she was Tyra, so it's not a stretch to think that she's been hiding her genius to remain part of the crowd she's already been accustomed to.  It makes me hate her a little less and hope that she might end up displaying a little more of that intelligence in the future.  At least we know that she'll go to college.  Perhaps if this show is on long enough, we might see her character evolve once she gets away from the high school hype she apparently has to keep up just to fit in.

Well, I guess you just can't go wrong with a story about Rallo and Junior.  Saved the episode for me.  When Rallo saw that Donna had cleaned Larry after Junior stormed off, he remarked, while in nothing but dingy underwear:

On the bright side, at least you finally did some laundry.

It's funny because it really seems like Donna does the bare minimum when it comes to cooking, cleaning, and just any general house work.  It's ridiculous.  However, I can believe it.  I mean, she already had two kids of her own and then she got Cleveland and another child (granted that Junior probably cleans up a lot after himself).  Still, to have your child going around in brown undies is gross.

Another funny moment was when Junior was trying to put back all the nasty smells into Larry and complained about his new smell:

[Junior] He smells like Snuggles, the gay fabric softener bear.

[Snuggles shows up in a huff]
[Snuggles] Just ’cause I’s clean don’t mean I don’t like it dirty.

[Snuggles leaves]
[Rallo] A’ight, Snuggle.

I didn't expect that Snuggles would show up, nor have so much attitude about Junior's comment.  Loved its random appearance.

 A little later, it was so cute when Rallo was rocking in a chair and knitting while he looked over Junior so he could sleep.   His humming was just like some little, old lady.  These kinds of things only work with him because he just acts so grown, but is the tiniest little thing.  It's also funny when he acts his age, like when he agreed that he, too, should brush his teeth, but all he did was wet his toothbrush and put it back.  That's totally something a little boy would do.

The last good bit of that story was when Rallo and Junior were arguing about him replacing Larry as his bedtime cuddle partner.  Junior said that Rallo had no power to stop him because he was about ten times his size.  When Rallo tried to counter that Donna would help him, she yelled up the stairs that she had her own problems.  Again, Donna with the bare minimum of both homemaker and mother.  However, I will give her points for not letting Rallo run off to Holiday Inn to solve his problems:

We don't run from our problems in this family.  We trick people.

That should be written on a plaque and hung on the wall in the Brown house.  Those were some of the best words that have ever come out of Donna's mouth.

Good thing that Rallo was able to trick Junior into taking Larry back.  But it was funny that he commented that whatever Junior chose to do was fine as long as it prolonged the eventual day that Junior would snap and kill them all.  He does have that vibe.  He may act like a child, but when he's passionate about something, he can get a little psycho.

Not a bad episode, but of course, that's because there was a Junior and Rallo story to pick up the slack.  I never expected gold when it was obvious that Roberta was going to be involved, but it was more decent than usual.  It's good to see that Roberta isn't an idiot and has the potential to succeed beyond getting pregnant by Federline (hope we never see that story!).  Maybe one day I can see an episode besides the Tyra one that could make me hate Roberta a little less.

You Just Got Rallo-ed!

The Cleveland Show, S03E17

Rallo took his new fondness for pranks too far when he ruined a powerpoint presentation for Junior and got him kicked out of the Freedom Scouts.  Cleveland tried to teach him a lesson by making Rallo think that he had to spend 6 months in juvenile hall for exposing Junior's naked photo in public, but it backfired when Rallo ran off to the woods to escape.  Junior later used some of his scouting skills to save Rallo, earning himself a renewal membership into the scouts and the title of youngest chief scout.

I liked Rallo's pranks, particularly when he kept replacing signs for the men's bathroom and Cleveland kept falling for it.  He even fell for it when it was on his car door!  Didn't expect that.  I also liked the first prank that Rallo pulled on Cleveland.  When Cleveland was examining the can he pointed out several things that would alert anyone to the fact that it wasn't a real can of nuts.  Rallo was lucky that he picked such a good first victim.  If Cleveland hadn't been such a moron to think that something made out of plastic (or cloth) was a real snake, Rallo might have gotten bored with pranks and moved onto something else.

Before Cleveland tried his punishment, I liked seeing Donna fail to remove all the fun from Rallo's room.  He had every kind of electronic to connect to the internet or provide him with games or music that you could think of.  He was also denied playing poker and dressing up like Al Sharpton (adorable).  Even just sitting in his underwear, Rallo still could entertain himself with just his imagination, which is admirable.  You'd think a kid with that much technology savvy would forget that his mind can be the best toy of all.

Junior (and Donna) remarked that Cleveland's plan to teach Rallo a lesson was the worst idea ever.  I don't think so.  I have to side with Cleveland that he can't be blamed that his technique worked too well to scare Rallo (I guess it was seeing Jaden Smith in the video that really got to him).  Someone should have taken care to make sure that Rallo couldn't run away before they could tell him that it was all a prank.  Still, I'm sure that Rallo would be just as angry and would have thought of an equally crazy revenge scheme like faking his own death.  I just like the idea that Rallo being 5 years old had no bearing on the law applying to him.  He was treated like an adult for the most part, which in most cases Rallo already acts like one.

Another good moment was when Cleveland asked where Rallo's name came from.  It was revealed that it came from Sanford and Son.  I like that.  Gives Rallo's character a little more coolness.  To tell the truth, I had wondered where his name came from too.  It's not the most common name, but it is one that sounded so familiar.  Glad that they explained that one.

The last thing that I really liked was when Cleveland was looking for Rallo in the woods.  He saw some footprints and had a funny line:

Footprints!  My tracking badge taught me that footprints are left by feet!  ...These badges are very basic.

Which made it even funnier when he found some of Rallo's gag gum a little later and it snapped on his finger:

 Ow!  I've been Rallo-ed!  Wait--Rallo!  My thinking is very basic.

I like when they have these self-aware jokes, as if they are saying what the viewers are thinking.  They do that quite often in the Seth MacFarlane shows, but it still manages to stay funny because you don't really know when they are going to point out something for you before you have a chance to even think about it.

Of course, an episode about Junior and Rallo is almost guaranteed to fall into my favorites.  I wish that Rallo had even more pranks, though.  But after looking at his family at the dinner table, it looked like he had had plenty of them that we didn't get to see.  I think one of the best things besides the jokes was that Roberta was safely tucked away at the mall where we didn't have to think about her.  Unlike Meg who is a pariah because of popular trend to outcast her, Roberta is just so vapid and irritating that it is practically necessary to push her to the background.  I'll welcome any story with any of the other characters over a story about her, so I'm grateful for that.

Yeah, No One Wants Cleveland's Life

The Cleveland Show, S03E16

Cleveland, depressed about the humdrum of his shitty life, met a new coworker who quickly becomes his new best friend.  Donna demanded that Cleveland not see her anymore, but Cleveland, of course, ignored ier and continued their friendship until Donna caught them and threw a frapp in his face.  Thanks to Rallo and Junior making an online video of the attack, a famous producer named Willy Nilly came to whisk Cleveland off to Hollywood to make more videos.  Instead of Cleveland getting fame, he got another man trying to steal his life and his wife, but Cleveland easily showed the man that being Cleveland Brown is not the fantasy that he first imagined.

Rather than be glad to hear one of my favorite songs from a movie, I was dismayed to hear Cleveland singing the words to "Mad World." It's like going to karaoke and listening to someone butcher a song (or purposely sing in a way to mock it).  I liked the depressing montage, but I wished they had used a song I didn't know, so I hadn't been tempted to shout "Boo!!" the whole time.  If they bought the rights to use the song, why not let the original artist sing it.  That would have made the opening fabulous.  Instead, I have to complain about Cleveland singing again.  I have never liked one damn song he has ever done (or any of the songs in Seth MacFarlane world).

After Cleveland made an attractive new friend, the story moved in a way I didn't expect.  I mean, a woman clearly more attractive than Donna (and fun) came along, and they were getting closer without her consent, yet that matter was forgotten pretty much as soon as Rallo and Junior's video made Cleveland famous.  I would have thought Cleveland and the girl might become even creepily closer or something might happen romantically between the two to prove Donna's point.  No, her point got across when Willy Nilly became her friend and Cleveland got jealous.  I was a little annoyed it turned out this way (don't care to see Donna treated like she's all that), until Cleveland stopped feeling sad for himself and gave Willy a Cleveland reality check.  The best part of him showing him how bad his life is was when he showed him how he starts each day.  The kids were acting crazy, especially Rallo who was naked and hitting the wall with a hammer while saying "Hammer Time!"  I loved Willy Nilly and Cleveland's remarks after that:

[Willy Nilly] Whoa!  Why are they even awake?

[Cleveland] They're always awake!

It didn't take Cleveland long at all to show that no one in their right mind would want his life, even if Donna was a part of it.  More so the latter because Donna was seen without her wig, saggy boobs practically to her knees, and bits of all the boiled eggs she eats in her teeth.  Okay, I know Cleveland needed to make a point, but damn!  I didn't think they could make Donna look worse than she did in that episode with the man girdle.  I just don't understand why she needs to look so bad--she's not that old.  But I guess having the two kids and the stress of doing it alone can do that to you.  Yeesh.

I guess it was nice that the glamor-less life that Cleveland has can help him stop a celebrity from taking over his life and prove his wife right at the same time.  Although, I guess she wasn't right because Cleveland's coworker had no plans to move in on him, but I guess it's good enough he learned that it can be uncomfortable to see one's partner with a person of the opposite sex.

I was hoping that Rallo and Junior would have a little more screen time after their video had so much success, but no such luck.  It was a pretty good Cleveland-centered story, though, and I guess it was because the idea of anyone wanting to be Cleveland was absurd enough to be amusing.  You'd probably have to be a drunk living in a gutter to think that Cleveland was living the good life.

The Flag In The Pancake! Of Course!

The Cleveland Show, S03E14

Last Sunday, Cleveland tried to bond with his father, the infamously callous Freight Train, but instead Junior is showered with the fatherly love that Cleveland just can't seem to grab (just like a certain flag).  Rallo also gets a car and drives it around town with his friends (What?  All of those mothers, including Donna, should be arrested).  I would have figured a story about Cleveland whining about Freight Train not loving him enough (He should have given up long ago) would have made me want to fast-forward to Rallo being adorably reckless, but it was much better than I thought.

They started the episode strongly with Rallo watching BET's "Projects Runway."  This parody was amplified by Tim Gunn actually voicing himself who was promptly beat on the street by his thug contestants.  I would watch that show, providing they could keep Tim alive (I think he is just a delightful man).  Rallo sweetens the joke by commenting, "Really, BET?"  I don't often watch that channel anymore, but sometimes when I hear about the shows they have (or have had), that is the kind of thing I would say.

We all should by now know that Junior is a genius of some sorts, so when he was predicting the outcome of the game before it had even started, it was a no-brainer that he would be right.  However, I couldn't foresee the kind of system that he would use:  which mascot would win in a "real" fight?  If only it were a matter of imagining the fight between all of those mascots to see which team would be the winner.  I think Junior's most far-fetched calculation (that we were allowed to see, anyway) was when he figured that Clemson's Tiger would win against Texas's Longhorn.  They were fighting in space, on a platform where spikes were coming out of the ground, but the deciding factor was that the bull would just be too clumsy and fall off into the void of space.  With those kinds of scenarios, Junior could just make up any winner he wished.  He should get into writing books because he is out of control with his imagination.  It was funny, though.

Cleveland, and probably the audience, didn't expect that Junior and Freight Train would continue to hang out when the gambling was through (although I had expected Junior to make a bad bet and lose his grandfather's favor that way), but Freight Train and Junior became an unstoppable combo.  Cleveland was beside himself with jealousy, especially when Freight Train referenced Star Wars (here we go again, Seth MacFarlane--it's like watching Muppet Babies sometimes), and Cleveland had been wanting to get him to watch that forever ago.  What was really good about when Junior and FT decided to bond permanently was the cutaway to the two enjoying a teeter-totter.  Their faces were so close while they were lying next to each other, and Junior asked if FT was going to kiss him.  Thank you for voicing what I was thinking with anxiety (you never know in SF world--they like to go there).  Also, Cleveland using a fake guillotine to show that they would continue to gamble over his dead body was good.  Freaked me out for a second, but then I laughed at how far he needed to go to make his point.

I didn't think we would ever understand why FT didn't like Cleveland, beyond just assuming that FT just didn't like how different Cleveland turned out to be from himself, but Cleveland's sappy speech and complaining prompted FT to remind Cleveland of how he let down his father many years ago.  It was all because they competed in this Double Dare-esq showed called "Dare Squared."  Oh, my God!  That takes me back!  When FT was talking about him not finding a flag in a pancake, I was like, "What the hell is he talking about??" until I saw them on that game show.  That was such a great show and so messy!  Of course, Seth MacFarlane puts his own twisted spin on the flag challenge with a toilet and a birth tube out of a woman's vagina, but the pancake thing was very close to something they would actually have on that show.  I loved this reference, and the fact that Cleveland was so blind he couldn't find the flag that was in plain sight (There were many times I was yelling at the TV for the contestants to find those flags that seemed right in their face).  FT claims that incident was the start of his life going to hell.  Unlikely, but I enjoy a good grudge where you can mutter bitterly about something like:

It was under the damn butter.

This will probably go under one of my favorite random references in the SF world.  This one is almost as good as when Peter was fighting Mr. Washee Street Fighter style.

It was pointless to think that FT would change and start loving Cleveland (unless he got into a time machine and found that damn flag), but it was likely that Junior would recognize that Cleveland was a better father than FT would ever be, and those two would be closer after their golf tournament was through.  It was nice that Junior recalled his days of playing golf back in Quahog (where he was a naturally gifted player) and commented that he was heavier now than he was (I'll admit that character change was hard to overlook at first, even though Junior barely had any scenes in Family Guy).

Rallo, during this battle for FT's love, was purchasing himself a car through all the change Donna neglected to collect from him after she would send him on errands for her.  Speaking of neglect, um, who sends a boy of his age to fetch some frosting or anything from the store on his own?  No matter how close it was or safe a neighborhood, Rallo is only about so big--he has a higher chance of falling down a gutter than making it to the store safely.  Donna is messed up!  But Rallo is a little genius, keeping all that money until he had $2900 to spend on a '67 Mustang.  What??  It's amazing what you can buy on the internet and what children can do with the internet despite their young age.

I loved Rallo driving around town in his car with his friends.  I kept thinking he was going to crash right away, but he had several joyrides before that happened.  The absolute best part of him having his own car was when he was lost and asked for directions at the gas station.  Instead of using an address or a map, he showed the cashier a crayon-drawn picture of his house.  That was so cute!!  And hilarious.  I thought he would get caught then and there, but he ran as soon as the guy looked like he was going to call the police.  Again, smart little boy.

You would think that when he was drinking and texting, Rallo would crash the car then.  Nope.  Those writers are good at making you wonder when the inevitable will happen.  Rallo didn't even have an accident when he left the wheel and jumped in the back to beat up his annoying friends.  Dang!  That is some luck.  He finally ran out it when he drove through the golf course and was propelled out of his seat into the air (another cute and funny Rallo moment).  They ended the episode strongly as well with Rallo popping out of the dirt like a little gopher and singing.  I have never seen Caddyshack, but somehow I knew this was a reference to that movie.  How, I'm not sure.  I think I must have heard that there was a gopher in it somewhere, and it's the only 80s movie I can think of about golf (in SF World, you're pretty safe to assume the movie references are from the 80s).  Perhaps I might have thought it even funnier if I had seen the movie, but Rallo makes me smile just on his own account.

This episode was balanced well between it being about Cleveland and also about his sons, without the women in his family really being involved.  However, it makes me worry that next time we'll have to see more of them to preserve the status quo.  If that's the case, I really hope that they put in another little Rallo sidestory (although last week the story wasn't bad on its own).  Rallo always makes everything better.

Rallo Can Campaign For Me Any Day

The Cleveland Show, S03E12

It's funny (not at all in a haha way) that the stories involving Cleveland are usually the least interesting to me.  This time he was enjoying being deaf to his family, particularly Donna which led to unpleasant consequences for himself.  That story was pretty shrug-my-shoulders worthy.  I couldn't care less about Donna's midlife crisis more if I was Cleveland.  The story about Cleveland Junior competing against Roberta for school president was slightly better, if not only because it involved Rallo.  He didn't even have a major role, and it saved this episode for me.  But I'm a sucker for that little guy when he's in a suit.

My favorite scene was when Junior and Rallo have this meeting at a hotel where Junior passes Rallo a bag of play money.

So adorable!  When these two get together for these little gags, I just love them.  I also love when they stop "pretending" and Junior asks Rallo a serious question:

[Junior] So, Rallo did you take the bus here or--? 

[Rallo] No, Mama's out in the car.

[Junior] OK, let's go.

Just make a show about these two getting into shenanigans!  Seriously.

In the end, Rallo gets caught tampering with the ballot and rats Junior out, but Robert (in her Palin-esq clothes) resigns her presidency (Thank God.  We don't need more of a reason to see her and the boyfriend making out while they eat fish sticks--blech!) .  Rallo complains that the two-party system doesn't work before he disappears into the hallway.  I like that Raymond is the only who sees this:

Did anybody else  that little kid disappear?  Hello?

Since he is the only witness of Rallo's disappearance it made me uncertain whether Raymond was high as usual or if Rallo really had vanished.

This week's episode could have been worse, so I'll not judge it too harshly.  I really wish there were more Cleveland stories that I liked, but I feel like ever since he got his own show, he's become more of an asshole who is more selfish and mean than delightfully quirky guy he was on Family Guy.   But then again, maybe Rallo is just stealing the spotlight for me, and I'm being biased.  Ah, I'm fine with that, though.

You'd Be A Dummy To Love This One

The Cleveland Show, S03E11

This was another rather uninspired episode.  It would have been a complete snooze if Rallo wasn't involved.  However, I still wouldn't call it anything memorable.  Cleveland and Rallo end up having a ventriloquist act that seems to bond them as a father and son.

I liked that Rallo was freaked out about the magic show he saw on TV to the point that he was running around shouting, "Help!" for a lady sawed in half.  He's such a cute little idiot.  His stepbrother explained the concept of magic to him, and Rallo became enamored with it.

Although Cleveland is so disinterested in Rallo's childish magic tricks, when Rallo calls him "Daddy" so that Cleveland will take him to a magic club, he gets so emotional that he cries.  Wow.  I didn't know that it meant so much for him to get along with Rallo in that way.  I felt like that they had an unspoken tolerance of each other, but they would never be able to have a real loving relationship.  This time they sort of achieved that.  In fact, Cleveland was being super creepy about loving Rallo.  Like when he kept sniffing his hair.  Eww.  But somehow it was cute if you can get over him putting his face all up in Rallo's fro.

There was a scene at the magic club where Rallo had a rabbit appear in his hat.  Cleveland told him that anything you found in there was yours.  Cleveland found a Ferrari in his and jumped into his hat.  Later we hear him crash it, and he jumps back out, claiming that the car isn't his.  That's when we see the police lights.  Ha.

The last thing I expected to happen when they met "Magical Johnson," was that he would hire the two to open his show.  I thought maybe Rallo would be offended that he was looked upon as a dummy, but he was the first to accept the offer before Cleveland could correct the man.

I was pretty much ignoring the conversation between Cleveland and Donna about them doing their ventriloquist show.  The only thing I did pay attention to was that Cleveland revealed that he had a tape recorder taped to his chest.  Um, total flashback to Family Guy when Stewie pulled the same thing on Lois.  Come on Seth MacFarlene.  Let's try not to use too many of the same gags.

The best parts of their "Porque and Bean" act was their first outfit (which Rallo said made him look like "Black Chuckie"), the fact that they bought a little coffin to "store" Rallo in, and that Rallo and Cleveland seemed to be getting along.  Of course, Cleveland got too big for his britches and boasted that he was the star of the show.  Classic diva problem among any group.  Rallo let him do the show by himself to see that Cleveland was hardly as funny without him (in fact, he was "turr-able").

The end was probably sweet with Cleveland admitting how important it was for him that Rallo looked upon him as another father, not a replacement for Robert, but I was too bored to watch carefully.  I just know that they made up and came clean about their act.  However, no one seemed to know what they were doing, and the crowd was horrified to see Rallo stand up on his own and bow.  I had to laugh at someone in the crowd shrieking that Rallo would "kill them all."

Speaking of the crowd, while Rallo and Cleveland were having their sentimental moment on stage, there was a creepily funny line from two people in the audience:

[Guy 1] This is getting a little too real.
[Guy 2]  Yeah.   And sexy.

 It was good that things ended relatively on a laugh.  This week, again, I wasn't too impressed by this show.  I'm wondering if it's just on a slump, or on its way out of my primary shows.  We'll see in the next couple of weeks.

Mommy Issues

Last night's The Cleveland Show was about a dance competition that Donna kept losing every year.  Her main competition was Freightrain and Cookie, Cleveland's parents.  I found that to be pretty weird.  I never expected that couple to be involved in something that required so much teamwork.  I thought they had a pretty turbulent marriage.  Hmm. 

What I liked least about this episode was that Roberta was involved.  I just can't stand her.  I don't know if it's because she's gotten a Meg-like status (Seth MacFarlene is always making teenage girls so unpleasant), or if she's always lip-locking with her boyfriend.  But I will say that I loved her taking care of Rallo.  Not because she turned into a weird version of Donna, complete with stretch pants and a wig, but because Rallo was so funny.  He's such a cool little kid.  I definitely like him better than Stewie.  As soon as Roberta is in charge, he goes straight to the kitchen to heat up some aluminum foil in the microwave.  Love it.  And he cracked me up with his inability to run his own bath.  I couldn't be so annoyed with Roberta's lack of responsibility because it allowed Rallo to do all these ridiculous things a child his age shouldn't be doing.

As far as the dance contest, I really didn't give much of a damn.  I knew that as soon as Junior entered the dance studio that he would know how to dance--he's got that stupid genius thing going on, after all.  I was beginning to think that it was sweet he and Donna were getting close (I didn't mind that Cleveland felt neglected) until it turned into attraction for Junior.  I did not expect that.  Although, since he did have a crush on Roberta (as Tyra), it did make a little sense.  Thankfully, it didn't go anywhere creepy (as it would have if this were Family Guy).

The part at the end where Junior eyes the Donna-fied Roberta with interest was kinda creepy, but less creepy because of that earlier episode with "Tyra."  But they still are siblings, and it would mean that he was just using her as a substitute for Donna, so that's pretty gross.

I liked this episode enough.  I think that Rallo's antics, as usual, were what made me like it the most.  It's usually either him or Junior who does that for me.  I would like to see them utilized more in the next episode.