“Everybody Hates Chris” is Lovable

Chris Rock may well be the funniest man in America. From a standup comedian playing New York clubs like the now defunct “Catch a Rising Star” to bit parts in films to major movie roles, he’s never ceased to amuse. While his humor does have claws, it is only offensive to those who probably need offending. However, his new TV series “Everybody Hates Chris” is poorly named – the show may be the best of the new season.

The flashback-to-childhood approach to sitcoms is not new. “The Wonder Years” used this format, and it went off the air in 1993. In this case, the flashback takes the viewer back to Mr. Rock’s own wonder years – the 1980s were years he wonders how he survived. Growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn (a brownstone district that has seen better days), he was bussed to an all-white school in an Italian part of the borough to get a better education. At least that was the theory. Instead, he spent a few years as the school target -- the only black kid at Corleone Junior High.

But the show isn’t all about race relations in the 7th grade. The family part of the series highlights the “emergency adult” role that the oldest child has. It deals with the awkward role of the father in the 1980s and since. On his block, the narration says, Mr. Rock’s dad was one of only four fathers. “Coming home was his way of saying, 'I love you'.” And the man knew to the penny just how much that spilled milk cost – “That's 49 cent of spilled milk dripping all over my table!”

Here, the cast already feels like an ensemble, unlike a great many sitcoms. Tyler Williams, as Chris, is a fine young actor with comedic timing that can’t be taught. Terry Crews, as the father, is more than up to the job of black patriarch (a role seen only on “Good Times” and “The Cosby Show” before now). Tichina Arnold, as Rochelle Rock the Mom, has “a hundred recipes for whoopin' ass,” and still loves her family to death.

Oddly, this series is on UPN, a network in a constant struggle with WB to see which is the worst in the nation. Fox passed on the show, worried that Mr. Rock would not stay actively involved in the program as time went on. The comedian’s retorted “I've been working a while. I don't think I've ever done anything and walked out. I don't think there's any evidence of that. My name's Rock, not Chapelle.” Dave Chapelle walked away from the “Dave Chapelle Show” after Comedy Central signed him to a $50 million deal. Mr. Chapelle says he didn’t think the scripts for the next season were up to snuff. Here’s hoping Mr. Rock never faces that conundrum. By the looks of things, this show will take a long time to lose its allure.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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