Is Family Guy‘s token African American ready for his own series? The FOX network and 20th Century Fox TV seem to think so. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the entities are developing an animated spin off tentatively titled Cleveland. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is reportedly writing a pilot with Cleveland voicer Mike Henry, who will be a writer and producer on the show, and former Simpsons scribe Rich Appel, who serves as exec producer and showrunner on MacFarlane’s animated FOX comedy American Dad.
Mild-mannered, slow-talking deli owner Cleveland Brown often bears the brunt of Peter Griffins’ mishaps, but usually serves as the voice of reason in a Rhode Island neighborhood inhabited by gleeful sexual pervert Quagmire, gun-toting paraplegic former cop, a creepy old pedophile and Mayor Adam West.
Family Guy got off to a rough start but is now FOX’s No. 1 comedy and a hot home video and merchandising commodity. With the success of the series and the long-running toon comedy The Simpsons, the broadcaster is bringing more animation to its Sunday-night lineup. Among the projects in development are The Pitts from Simpsons exec producer Mike Scully, Relative Insanity form exec producer Jack Black, and Mothballs from Drawn Together creators Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser.
