Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance

"Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance"
The Cleveland Show episode
Cleveland tries to make inroads with Roberta by asking her to accompany him to the school's father/daughter dance
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 2
Directed by	Chuck Klein
Written by	Julius Sharpe
Production code	1APS02[1]
Original air date	October 4, 2009
Guest stars
Kristen Bell as Mandy Seth Green as Kurt Cobain
Episode chronology
← Previous "Pilot" Next → "The One About Friends"
The Cleveland Show (season 1) List of The Cleveland Show episodes

"Da Doggone Daddy-Daughter Dinner Dance" is the second episode of The Cleveland Show. The episode aired on October 4, 2009 on Fox. In the episode, Cleveland tries to make inroads with his new stepdaughter Roberta by asking her to accompany him to the school’s father/daughter dance.^[2]

The episode was written by Julius Sharpe and directed by Chuck Klein. It was viewed by approximately 8.7 million viewers in its original airing.^[3]

Plot

Cleveland tries to make inroads with his new stepdaughter Roberta by asking her to accompany him to the school’s Father-Daughter Dance. Last year Roberta did not show up. The evening seems to be going smoothly until Cleveland runs over the family pet Meadowlark Lemon on his way to get an ice-cream cake for celebration. Then his redneck neighbor Lester takes it and eats it. This kills his chances of being accepted by his new kids. Rallo and Cleveland look for Meadowlark Lemon and Cleveland dives in nasty places looking to keep the secret but Lester and the others tell him to be honest, causing his stepchildren to resent him. He tries to makes amends by getting a new dog named Kareem Abdul Jabbark, but he gets killed when Lester shoots him while he is obeying Cleveland's command to "fetch." While Roberta has been stood up by Robert again, Cleveland decides to take action. He first makes it clear to Rallo that he is man of the house, before going to the dance to support Roberta.

Meanwhile, Cleveland Jr. tries to make friends at his new school. Instead, he gets beaten up by a girl and tripped by others. When he runs to the bathroom, he finds out that the school has no stall doors. A guy named Lane is there; impressed by what a good door Cleveland Jr. makes, he befriends him. Cleveland Jr. goes on to make friends and money, but when his dad comes to the Father-Daughter Dance and sees his son working there, he becomes furious. He orders Junior to get out of the bathroom and boil his clothes at home before promising that he will teach him how to play baseball.

Cultural references

• Cleveland plans to buy a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream cake, and says he has not been so excited since he won an Oscar. The scene cuts to a parody of Halle Berry's 2001 Best Actress acceptance speech, with Cleveland as Berry.
• In an effort to win Roberta over, Cleveland and Rallo perform Lionel Richie's 1983 hit "All Night Long." Then Cleveland Jr. enters dressed like Prince with the same hair cut, purple outfit, and guitar that Prince is best known for owning during his Purple Rain phase.
• After the death of the family dog, Cleveland buys a new one, which he names Kareem Abdul-Jabbark. Rallo is not impressed and says "You can't just replace my dog like Brad Pitt replaced Jennifer Aniston, or John Mayer replaced Jennifer Aniston, or Vince Vaughn replaced Jennifer Aniston," referring to the actress' highly-publicized personal life.

Reception

The A.V. Club graded the episode a B, stating "Fortunately, there were far fewer cutaway gags here than you might have expected for a Family Guy spinoff, and the story itself was mostly pretty strong. It’s still not terrific, but this felt like a solid step in the right direction".^[4]

References

External links