Not Everybody Hates Chris

Even though Everybody Hates Chris was my most anticipated show of last season, I still doubts about the show as Chris Rock’s previous foray into PG territory were less than memorable (except for the maybe Little Penny ads, but how many people knew that was him). But conventional wisdom would say that say that Rock has always been funny so there could have been a time in his youth when he didn’t rely on profanity so this look back his life could be entertaining at least in a Wonder Years kind of way.

The show, yet still funnier than, say, Head of State, it still doesn’t reach that of his stand up routines, but then again it doesn’t have too because in the scenes that lack laughs make up for it in heart. In an era where all sitcoms feature dysfunction families that hate each other, you can sense the love in the Rock household aside from all the natural sibling rivalries. Even when the family argues you know it’s only because they care and that’s refreshing to see on network television without having to sit through an hour of the should have stayed canceled 7th Heaven.

But it wouldn’t be a Chris Rock project without the discussion of racism and with Rock going to an all-white middle school during the early 80’s, it is dealt with head on. The catalyst of most of it is school bully Joey Caruso who has already used every racial epitaph for black people in the first season, my favorite being Bo Jangles. They even occasionally throw in the “N” word, but this only enhances the realism of what Rock had to go through at the time (keep in mind, even with racial slurred, the show still landed on the Parents Television Council list of Best Shows of this year coming in at number five).

Even though Chris Rock has a good ten years on me, the show almost takes me back to my middle school days complete with the token black student who teachers went out of their way to avoid being racist. And with the early 80’s time period, the show makes for the best soundtrack on television ranging from Eye of the Tiger to Ebony and Ivory. And it was just classic when Rock dressed up like Prince for Halloween. I almost hope that on the show, Rock doesn’t make to high school for a while, because I’m having too much fun laughing at his middle school experience.

Everybody Hates Chris 1.x gets a on my Terror Alert Scale. It also won a STA.