Ellen Gray: MacFarlane creations dominate Fox offerings

FLASH-FORWARD. 8 tonight, Channel 6.

MOVE OVER, Al Franken.

You may be a senator now, but the decade belongs to Seth MacFarlane.

Not only is the creator of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" now responsible for a huge chunk of Fox's Sunday night schedule - the "Family Guy" spin-off "The Cleveland Show" joins the lineup this weekend - but he pops up on ABC tonight in the premiere of its new sci-fi thriller, "FlashForward."

MacFarlane, playing an FBI agent, is on-screen for barely a flash, but he'll reportedly be back, as the agency tries to find out why the world's population lost consciousness for two minutes, 17 seconds.

While they were out, most saw visions of their lives six months hence, a premise taken from the 1999 Robert J. Sawyer novel "FlashForward" (though in the book, the visions go 21 years into the future, a timeline too optimistic for even "Law & Order").

Joseph Fiennes stars as FBI agent Mark Benford, a recovering alcoholic with a still-recovering marriage to a doctor named Olivia ("Lost's" Sonya Walger). When he wakes up under his car, he finds parts of Los Angeles in flames, a vision not as disturbing as what he saw while he was out.

ABC has done everything short of hiring honeybees to create buzz for "FlashForward" as the next "Lost," and I hate to be the one bearing the vinegar. But what I remember from my first encounter with "Lost" was that it worked as a fresh human drama, with or without polar bears.

The pilot for "FlashForward," by contrast, feels more like déjà vu, with characters who could've been rounded up from a disaster miniseries, tied to a mystery that's only compelling if we care what happens to these people.

I could come to care, and I plan to spend a few weeks, at least, trying. But if I lost consciousness now, I might see myself in six months watching Fox's "Bones" instead.

Before the cancellation of the CW's "The Game" and "Everybody Hates Chris," you could count network comedies with predominantly African-American casts on one hand and still have three fingers left over.

And with the premieres of Fox's "Brothers" (8 and 8:30 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 29) and the animated "The Cleveland Show" (8:30 p.m. Sunday, Channel 29), you still can.

Sort of.

"Cleveland" is a spin-off of "Family Guy" featuring Cleveland Brown, a black character long voiced by Mike Henry, who co-created the new show with "Family Guy's" MacFarlane (yes, him again) and Richard Appel.

Last I checked, all three of these guys were white, a not uncommon occurrence among TV producers. But "Saturday Night Live's" Fred Armisen and his so-so Obama impression notwithstanding, it's rare in this day and age to have white people portraying black ones.

This may or may not bug you about "Cleveland," where Cleveland's son is being voiced by a black actor, Kevin Michael Richardson ("The Cleaner"), who's also doing the voice of one of Cleveland's white neighbors. (MacFarlane and Arianna Huffington play another set of neighbors, who happen to be bears.)

"Cleveland" itself takes a shot or two at the issue in the course of the first few episodes, but like most of the outrageous humor of "Family Guy," it's meant to defuse the situation, not address it.

My guess is Fox figures fans of MacFarlane's shows know what they're getting into and may not care if racial parodies are served up by white guys or black ones.

Those of us who maybe aren't so comfortable were never welcome in the first place.

Things feel a little more inclusive over at Fox's "Brothers," a family-based sitcom that stars former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan as ex-NFLer Mike Trainor, who moves back from New York to Houston and in with his parents (CCH Pounder and Carl Weathers) and brother (Darryl "Chill" Mitchell) when his life and theirs hit some rough spots.

Strahan's not yet up to his cast mates' level and the writing's uneven in tonight's back-to-back episodes - producers need, for instance, to figure out just how serious Weathers' character's forgetfulness is meant to be - but there are a few great moments.

At least one involves Pounder, an actress more known for her dramatic work, particularly on FX's "The Shield," where her character often functioned as a grim conscience.

Here, though, she's one tough (and funny) mother.

The winners of this year's Everybody's a Critic Contest screened "Brothers" with me last week, scoring it as an 8 out of 10, with individual ratings ranging from 5 ("I didn't understand this comedy," complained Jan Sklaroff, of Berwyn) to 10 (by five of the dozen panelists).

"The family aspect of the show is realistic, and the comedy is well-timed," wrote Anthony Tann Jr., of West Philadelphia.

"Probably the best non-animated comedy on Fox since 'The Bernie Mac Show,' " wrote Derrick Hord, of Logan.

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.