First Impressions - Everybody Hates Chris

Last night was the premiere of the most anticipated show of the fall season for me, Everybody Hates Chris. Like many white teenager growing up in the suburbs, I had many of Chris Rock’s routines and would recite them when ever I fit them in a conversation. Now much like my other comedic idol of the 90’s, Denis Leary, Rock has his own television show except Everybody Hates Chris is an autobiographical show with Rock serving as the narrator. Luckily as the narrator, Rock didn’t reveal at the end of the show, the girl he met was actually his kids’ aunt; I’m talking to you Danny Tanner.

The show hit all the right notes with some extremely funny antidotes like when the father knows the price of everything in house and proceed to inform everyone who is around. And unlike Reunion who seems to just pick the top songs from that decade, the music in Everybody Hates Chris hits all the right notes for instance when Ebony and Ivory played as Chris fought with a white bully and even when Rock was legally not allowed to say why the former principal got fired, having Don’t Stand So Close to Me playing in the background, explained everything.

The cast is also well chosen. Terry Crews, last seen as the black dude in White Chicks redeems himself as Rock’s father and has the best lines in the whole show like “Chris, unplug your clock, you don’t need tell time when your asleep, that’s two cents a minute.” Rock’s mother is played by the chick from Martin not named Tisha Campbell, and no I’m not talking about Sheneneh either. The rest of the cast are relative unknown kids led by Tyler James Williams as the younger Rock as does a great job at it even though he does the pitfall of trying to imitate the elder version of Rock which comes of as some one like myself trying to tell one of Rock’s jokes.

Verdict: Not as funny as the first My Name Is Earl but it’s not far behind. I’ll be watching Survivor, but I’ll be taping Everybody Hates Chris on my good VCR and take my chance with Smallville on my other one. Sorry Alias, no room for you.