Review by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Mike Henry, Sanaa Lathan, Kevin Michael Richardson, Seth MacFarlane, Jason Sudeikis,
Reagan Gomez-Preston, Alec Sulkin | Created by Richard Appel, Mike Henry & Seth MacFarlane
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £27.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 480 minutes | Directed by Ian Graham
The second season of Seth Macfarlane's third child kicks off in fine form, first with a visit from US president "Barry" Obama, and then with a "live" episode.
Episode 1 sees Obama visit the Brown's to take on Cleveland in a one-on-one basketball game. In Epsiode 2, Cleveland and Donna try to have a romantic dinner for two in front of a "live" studio audience ... and accidentally kill guest star Julia Roberts (yay!). Some other Season 2 highlights see Donna's Blaxploitation past revealed (starring in a Robert Rodriguez film), Rallo get some new friend (including an old, jewish guy voiced by Carl Reiner), the Browns take a trip to Africa in search of their roots, and Cleveland's best buddy Terry turns out to be gay.
Oh, yes, and Justin Timberlake guest stars as a singing booger. I kid you not.
The first season of The Cleveland Show was great, but in the second season, the show really hits its stride. The characters are now well bedded in, and it no longer feels like just a Family Guy spinoff starring the black neighbour. The supporting characters redneck lester, Tim the bear and short-arse Holt - are growing and developing nively, as too are Cleveland's new family.
The Cleveland Show is sharp, funny, foulmouthed and yet another hit from Seth and the team. How do they keep doing it?
EXTRAS ★★★★ As always with any DVD releases from the Hosue of MacFarlane, the discs are packed with bonus material. You get audio commentaries on five of the season's 22 episodes, including guest commentaries from Robert Rodriguez and Carl Reiner; deleted scenes from most episodes; the featurette Cleveland Jr's Worry Journal (1:29); a Guest Star Showcase (15:22), which features Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Will.i.am, T-Pain, Carl Reiner, Robert Rodriguez, Lizzy Caplan John Slattery; a "trailer" for the Blaxploitation movie Hot Cocoa bang Bang (1:03); the featurette Cleveland at Comic Con 2010 (31:03); and a Fox Movie Channel featurette called Life After Film School With Mike Henry (21:44).And be sure to keep an ear out for guest voices including Hank Azaria, Eliza Dushku, Will Forte, Danny Trejo, Mark Hamill and Chris Isaak.