Seth MacFarlane first conceived The Cleveland Show in 2007 while he was busy working on his other two animated series, Family Guy and American Dad!.

The pilot episode was pitched at 22 minutes and leaked online in June 2009, months before its official September 27, 2009 premiere.

Even before the pilot officially aired, Fox had already renewed the show for a full 22-episode second season, showing early confidence in the spin-off.

The character Cleveland, Jr. was completely redesigned for the spin-off, changing from a young, hyperactive child of average weight on Family Guy into an obese, sensitive, soft-spoken teenager.

Mike Henry voices both Cleveland Brown and Rallo Tubbs; he based Cleveland's voice on a friend with a distinctive regional accent, while Rallo's voice was one he had originally created over twenty years earlier for prank phone calls.

Actress Nia Long voiced Roberta Tubbs for the first thirteen episodes before being replaced by Reagan Gomez-Preston, reportedly because producers wanted a younger-sounding voice for the teenage character.

Kevin Michael Richardson based his performance as Cleveland, Jr. on a mentally impaired character named Patrick that he had played on the NBC drama ER.

Seth MacFarlane voiced Tim the Bear through season 3 (describing it as a Steve Martin 'Wild and Crazy Guy' impression) until his busy schedule working on the film Ted led to Jess Harnell taking over the role; MacFarlane's other character, Dr. Fist, was similarly recast, first to Tom Kenny and then to Bryan Cranston.