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Show uses humor to address racial issues
Comedian Chris Rock's sitcom is like an updated version of 'The Wonder Years' with black people.
Rock; Terry Crews, from left, Imani Hakim, Tyler Williams, Tichina Arnold, Tequan Richmond and Vincent Martella star in UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris."
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Daddy and the big piece of chicken.
It's a bit comedian Chris Rock has been doing since his 1999 HBO comedy special "Bigger & Blacker."
The gist of the joke is that fathers get so very little acknowledgment in families and in society as a whole. The only thing they have to look forward to in life is the big piece of fried chicken at dinner.
As chuckle-worthy as the joke has been over time, Rock brings the point across better in "Everybody Hates Chris" the hilariously bright and fresh take on the funnyman's life delivered in sitcom form. The laugh-track and audience free show debuts 8 tonight on UPN (Channel 50).
On "Everybody Hates Chris," comedic actor and Flint native Terry Crews plays Julius Rock, Chris' hardworking and dedicated father. He's a tough but tender figure and by the end of the episode, the viewer wants him to have a large piece of golden poultry, too.
The acting and writing on "Everybody Hates Chris" is so succinct that the viewer feels compelled to hug the entire family by show's end. Tying everything together is Rock's narration, a la "The Wonder Years."
In more ways than one, "Everybody Hates Chris" is reminiscent of ABC's "The Wonder Years," except with a more up-to-date approach on race and racism.
Set in the early '80s, the pilot opens with Chris and his family moving on up from the projects to the slightly better neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Unfortunately, for Chris, the neighborhood middle school isn't a marked improvement and so his parents opt to have their eldest bussed to a suburban, predominately white junior high.
On his first day, a 13-year-old Chris (Tyler James Williams) feels the wrath of the school bully, an overweight red-head boy, who comes equipped with racial slurs and two thuggish sidekicks.
Amazingly, Rock and his writers are able to turn offensiveness into a humorous situation, invoking laughter instead of anger. Making racism funny is a common sense decision considering this is a sitcom and Rock will probably address race in every episode.
Following an after-school fight and later, an impressive jaunt for the bus, Chris returns to the cozy confines of a predominately African-American Bed-Stuy and his family, where he shoulders the responsibility of watching younger brother Drew (Tequan Richmond) and an annoying little sister Tonya (Imani Hakim). He also has to wake up his dad for one of his many jobs.
Actress Tichina Arnold, best known for her role on "Martin" as Pam, is back in full effect as Chris' working mom, Rochelle. Loud but lovable, Arnold's Rochelle dances on the stereotypical black mama line but, thank God, never crosses it.
For all of its edginess and wit, "Everybody Hates Chris" doesn't beat the viewer over the head with social commentary. Like "The Cosby Show" before it, which not-so coincidentally had the same night and timeslot, "Everybody Hates Chris" doesn't need to spearhead a revolution. It is one.
You can reach Mekeisha Madden Toby at (313) 222-2501 or mmad den@detnews.com.
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