"Nightmare on Grace Street" is the third episode of the third season of the animated comedy series The Cleveland Show, The episode aired on Fox in the United States on October 30, 2011. This episode is written by Jonathan Green and Gabe Miller and directed by Phil Allora. This episode received mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics for its storyline and many cultural references. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed by 4.66 million homes in its original airing. It features from guest performance from Jill Latiano, as well as several recurring voice actors and actresses from the series.
Plot
After an introduction by Gus while he retrieves ingredients for his hairy turkey sandwiches, Donny stops by the guy's table at The Broken Stool where he annoys them with his sense of humor by telling some bad jokes. Back at the house, Rallo is preparing for his first sleepover at his friend's Walt's house but Cleveland Brown Jr. is disappointed as he is not allowed to come. At school, Roberta is taking a break from Federline Jones while he takes his SATs preparation classes when she catches a glimpse of Edwin Mullins, a new student. Noticing his pale, dark looks and a trickle of pizza sauce dribbling from his lips, Roberta gets the idea that Edwin could be a vampire. Introducing herself, Roberta ignores hints from Edwin that he is not interested in her. At the sleepover, Rallo gets frightened and calls Cleveland to come get him. Cleveland tries to pass the task off to Donna but she orders him out to get Rallo himself. Cleveland teases Rallo about being scared and picks up a hitch-hiker to scare Rallo further but kicks the hitch-hiker out of the car when he tickles Rallo without paying any attention to Cleveland. Later at The Broken Stool, the guys win a jack-o-lantern contest by being the only ones Gus knows and Terry Kimple invites everyone except Donny back to his house for a celebration party. At the Kimple's house, Cleveland gets scared by being in a strange place and calls Donna. When she picks him up, she makes him get in the back of the car where he gets frightened by Rallo and they continue to argue over who is more scared. The arguing continues into trick-or-treat where, thanks to Donny's annoying jokes, they fail to get candy from Wally's house after Wally forbids giving candy to anyone. When the kids complain to Cleveland that Donny ruined their fun, Cleveland tells him to leave. The arguing over who is braver starts again with Cleveland and Rallo darting into traffic until Donna grabs them and forces them to stop in frustration. Roberta tries to attract Edwin by jumping off of a cliff into a lake like she saw in the movies, but is rescued by a moonlight swimmer named Caleb. Roberta gets the idea that he is a werewolf and has to think over who she wants to be with. Donna drives Rallo and Cleveland to the abandoned McCafferty house and forces them to be brave by spending the night in the house together. As they try to settle in for the night, Cleveland and Rallo hear noises and investigate, discovering spooky surprises that Donna and Jr. planted as traps to watch on a webcam. As they watch, they are unaware that Donny is slipping into the house to exact revenge for being snubbed. When Donna gets up for some snacks, Donny bursts in looking for Cleveland. When they tell him that Cleveland is not there, Donny decides to start by killing Donna and Jr. instead. Back at the McCafferty house, Cleveland and Rallo decide to call a truce and leave together. Pausing briefly at a driving range while stalling for time, Cleveland and Rallo decide to head home together. At a Halloween party, while trying to decide if either Caleb or Edwin should become her lover, Roberta has them go into a room to fight for the title. Nervous about what is going on, Roberta has her friend Anna look in on them and finds out that the two of them are having sex together and chastises Roberta for not noticing sooner. Back at the house, Cleveland and Rallo arrive to find Donny disguised as Donna who he has tied up with Jr. Donny attacks Cleveland with his axe. While they struggle, Rallo sprays the fluid from Cleveland Jr.'s "WD-40" costume onto the floor, enabling Cleveland to force Donny out the window to his death as he screams about hating black people. Cleveland ends by noting that they were pretty brave after all. Things come to a close with a musical number as Gus hauls away Donny's body.
Production
This episode is written by Jonathan Green and Gabe Miller and directed by Phil Allora. The episode title is a parody of the classic thriller film Nightmare on Elm Street. In addition to the regular cast, Jill Latiano guest starred in the episode. Recurring voice actorsWill Forte, Glenn Howerton, Danny Smith, David Lynch, and Aseem Batra made minor appearances as well.
Reception
In its original broadcast on October 30, 2011 on Fox, this episode was watched by 4.66 million U.S. viewers and acquired a 6.3 rating/share. Kristen Elizabeth of TV Equals gave the episode a positive review, saying "Whether you’re a fan of Twilight or a proud hater, it was kind of brilliant. I just wish they’d given the story a little bit more attention. The crazy killer thing was…odd. Seemed to come out of nowhere. Not that anything in The Cleveland Show is ever based entirely in reality, of course, but it’s usually not as random as this was. Still, a chuckle-worthy holiday offering".
