Fox cancels The Cleveland Show, finally giving Seth MacFarlane a chance to breathe

Leaving Seth MacFarlane with only two ongoing animated series, an in-development live-action sitcom, that Wild West spoof where he gets to romance Amanda Seyfried, and gobs of Ted money he’s probably squirreling away in a Scrooge McDuck-style vault-cum-swimming pool, Fox has brought The Cleveland Show’s 88-episode run to an end. That episode count is a crucial factor in the decision: It puts the Family Guy spin-off into syndication territory, holding up Fox Animation’s side of a deal struck in July 2010, back when MacFarlane was but a humble font of 1980s sitcom allusions who’d yet to offend an entire award-ceremony audience by doing exactly what he was hired to do. So while The Cleveland Show will be absent from the Animation Domination lineup next fall, TBS and Adult Swim will still afford you the regular opportunity to hear the cartoon’s insanely catchy theme song before changing the channel to something you actually want to watch. [h/t Splitsider]