# Why did Cleveland have to leave Family Guy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964 "2011-08-16T22:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/1 "2011-08-16T22:40:34Z")
Seriously, the world of animation allows you a certain freedom you can’t get with regular shows. Just wondering why they cut him out. Why not do both? (Ironically, I’m not a fan of The Cleveland Show) ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/2 "2011-08-16T22:53:23Z")
Because otherwise, it would have been “The Quagmire Show”! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/3 "2011-08-16T23:02:25Z")
What character would work best in a spin off? The loss of which character would hurt the dynamic less? Quagmire ain’t getting his own show. He is a Character Provacateur. Joe? His humor lies in the group dynamic. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/4 "2011-08-16T23:11:45Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > What character would work best in a spin off? > The loss of which character would hurt the dynamic less? > > Quagmire ain’t getting his own show. He is a Character Provacateur. > Joe? His humor lies in the group dynamic. I’m not sure if I understand what you’re getting at. I’m saying Cleveland could still have his spin off while at the same time still being a regular on FG. ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/5 "2011-08-16T23:14:33Z")
I heard some rumors about Cleveland and Meg having some kind of confrontation backstage, apparently involving Meg feeling slighted about the excessive demands in Cleveland’s dressing room rider. Afterward, he apparently threatened to quit the show if he’d still have to see Meg on set. They tried filming Meg’s scenes on different days than Cleveland’s, but they’d still have to see each other at dress rehearsal. To keep harmony on set, producers decided to give Cleveland his own show and move its production from Rhode Island to Virginia. Not sure if we can trust those crazy Hollywood rumors tho… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/6 "2011-08-16T23:38:13Z")
It was the sex scandal. The details were hushed up, but Brian was insistent that either Cleveland went or he did. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/7 "2011-08-16T23:39:49Z")
So they could make a Family Guy episode where they find another black guy to replace Cleveland ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/8 "2011-08-17T00:14:19Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > (Ironically, I’m not a fan of The Cleveland Show) The same as with live actors: good second bananas don’t always make good central characters. _Flo_ (from _Alice_) is probably the gold standard of this rule. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/9 "2011-08-17T01:09:37Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > I heard some rumors about Cleveland and Meg having some kind of confrontation backstage, apparently involving Meg feeling slighted about the excessive demands in Cleveland’s dressing room rider. Afterward, he apparently threatened to quit the show if he’d still have to see Meg on set. They tried filming Meg’s scenes on different days than Cleveland’s, but they’d still have to see each other at dress rehearsal. To keep harmony on set, producers decided to give Cleveland his own show and move its production from Rhode Island to Virginia. > > Not sure if we can trust those crazy Hollywood rumors tho… I almost believed you. But then I remembered that nobody, producers or otherwise, would ever listen to Meg, or let her out of her cage. A partial answer to the OP is $. Another answer is $$$. Making a new show gets them this. He “left” FG, but he does come back occasionally. He was sacrificial enough, and generic enough to change aspects of him to be funnier (although from the episodes I’ve seen, this didn’t work). For example, his skinny hyperactive kid because an obese slow-talker. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/10 "2011-08-17T01:10:45Z")
deleted ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/11 "2011-08-17T01:13:18Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > So they could make a Family Guy episode where they find another black guy to replace Cleveland They’ve done an episode on this already. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/12 "2011-08-17T01:20:39Z")
I know. I’ve seen it; that’s why I made that post ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/13 "2011-08-17T02:55:36Z")
His house in Quahog was destroyed by a missile, I think. Poor guy’s bathtub slid right into the front yard. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/14 "2011-08-17T05:14:40Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > I heard some rumors about Cleveland and Meg having some kind of confrontation backstage, apparently involving Meg feeling slighted about the excessive demands in Cleveland’s dressing room rider. Afterward, he apparently threatened to quit the show if he’d still have to see Meg on set. They tried filming Meg’s scenes on different days than Cleveland’s, but they’d still have to see each other at dress rehearsal. To keep harmony on set, producers decided to give Cleveland his own show and move its production from Rhode Island to Virginia. > > Not sure if we can trust those crazy Hollywood rumors tho… Smoking Gun web site has documents… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/15 "2011-08-17T06:01:11Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Seriously, the world of animation allows you a certain freedom you can’t get with regular shows. Just wondering why they cut him out. Why not do both? Ah, but he left New England for a faraway land south of the Mason-Dixon line, where a black man can deal with Confederate flags and Civil War re-enactments in a small town where country music plays at the church-sponsored purity ball and rodeo riding is the order of the day at the county fair – and where talk of gay marriage sparks a pitchfork-wielding mob, prompting the locals in question to leave for, well, _ **New England,** _ since quick gags and entire storylines flow more easily from that set-up. And so his boss is the classic Effeminate Southern Gentleman; it’s a shortcut, it’s a _ **cliché,** _ it’s right up there with giving Cleveland a wacky redneck neighbor who pitches rocks at skunks and dines on roadkill, it’s easy to work in non-Family-Guy-type stuff. They don’t play it up in every episode, but it’s always there as a go-to. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/16 "2011-08-17T08:09:38Z")
I seem to recall an interview where Cleveland was given his own show because Quagmire wasn’t going to learn a lesson during every episode (and he’s voiced by Seth MacFarlane), and Joe was considered too quirky. Maybe MacFarlane felt that he’d be stretching himself even thinner by having to supply the main voice on yet another cartoon. After all, he does several roles on _Family Guy_, and is Stan Smith and Roger in _American Dad_. Maybe that factored in. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/17 "2011-08-17T09:45:09Z")
I think that once they do a whole show for a character, they have enough material they must write for him, without having to write more material for him in his old position. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/18 "2011-08-17T13:58:59Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The same as with live actors: good second bananas don’t always make good central characters. _Flo_ (from _Alice_) is probably the gold standard of this rule. Then _The Ropers_ is the platnum standard. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/19 "2011-08-17T14:24:39Z")
Pish-tosh! The classically hilarious supporting actor who can’t sustain his own show is Tim Conway. All others pale to insignificance. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964/20 "2011-08-17T15:06:51Z")
Not that I’m not enjoying the comedy but to give an ACTUAL answer: Because if he didn’t there would be people on the internet bitching about how it’s uncontinuitous (new word!) to have a spin-off in another state with him still being in the first one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-cleveland-have-to-leave-family-guy/592964.md?page=2)