Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy and American Dad! are a couple of the most popular adult animated TV series out there. Despite the creator's great success with these shows, his Family Guy spinoff, The Cleveland Show, didn't do as well. Airing on September 27, 2009 on Fox, The Cleveland Show gradually saw a decline in ratings in its later years, leading to its eventual downfall.

The Cleveland Show followed Family Guy's Cleveland Brown, documenting his move from Rhode Island to Virginia to start a new life with his family, consisting of his wife, Donna Tubbs, his son, Cleveland Brown Jr., and his stepchildren, Roberta and Rallo Tubbs.

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The Cleveland Show saw the dysfunctional Brown-Tubbs family through many shenanigans throughout its four-season run. It used a formula similar to Family Guy, with much of its humor centered on making fun of American culture and using the cutaway gag comic element. However, despite following the same blueprint, having the same creator and consisting of familiar characters, the spinoff show never quite gained the same popularity as its predecessor.

This is not to say the series didn't have its moments. The Cleveland Show was even nominated for a few awards: a Primetime Emmy Award and two Teen Choice Awards. Still, it gradually received more poor reviews than positive ones. Around Season 4, which ended up being its last season, rumors began to circulate that The Cleveland Show would be canceled.

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During this time, Fox had yet to formally announce the show's cancelation, but many presumed The Cleveland Show was as good as dead. However, the network allowed it to release the rest of the fourth season, as it would bring the series to a total of 88 episodes -- the typical benchmark for TV syndication. Surely enough, The Cleveland Show was canceled after Season 4 due to its continuing rating drop. Its last episode aired May 19, 2013.

While The Cleveland Show never reached huge popularity, the spinoff was good in its own right. And the Brown family wasn't forgotten, rejoining their still-running mother show, Family Guy, in Season 12. Although Cleveland's reunion with his friends in "He's Bla-ack!" wasn't the character's greatest moment, as the cast mercilessly mocked his failed show throughout the episode.

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