In recent years the start of a new televisions season has become more of a time of dread than eagerly anticipate. So few new series really catch on, so many seem cookie-cutter-hack jobs, and so few seem to take dramatic or comedic standards to new levels.
But now, heading into this new season, there is a series out there that is generating a ton of great buzz — “Everybody Hates Chris,”
Chris Rock’s new semi-autobiographical comedy series poised to debut on UPN.
Just note the Denver Post:
UPN finds itself in the unfamiliar position of needing to turn down the buzz.
“Everybody Hates Chris,” the comedy narrated by Chris Rock about his impoverished Brooklyn childhood, is the most talked-about and eagerly anticipated on any network’s fall schedule. During the semi-annual TV critics’ press tour here, where the networks’ object is to inflate, hype and glorify even the worst examples of half- hearted programming, UPN spent its day downplaying the quality and importance of Rock’s show.
“We’re getting so much attention it’s hard to sneak up on people,” Rock said. “We’re trying to lower expectations.”
But critics are keenly aware that Rock’s clever family sitcom, reminiscent of “The Wonder Years” in execution, could boost UPN to a new level of public recognition and possibly reignite television’s lagging comedy form. It’s that good.
According to the Post, FOX passed on it figure, Rock would walk away from the show. Rock’s response to critics:””My name’s Rock, not Chappelle. What have I walked out on?”The show will use the “N-word” in the pilot but the producers say it’s going to be used sparingly in the future. Rock also reportedly wants a more accurate portrayal of a black father:
One of Rock’s ambitions with the series was to give television a strong African-American father figure. “With the exception of Cosby, every black father you see on TV is not masculine. They’re, like, ‘theater.’ They’re not gay, not straight, just ‘theater.”‘ He hopes to recapture the nobility of the father played by John Amos on “Good Times.”
John Amos’ strong father figure on “Good Times” was a solid character — who was killed off and vanished from the series after Amos was basically fired due some disputes with the show’s producers. Many believe the show jumped the shark after that.
The Miami Herald calls Rock’s new venture a “strangely sweet” show, but notes how Rock was anthing but with critics. It includes a batch of his peppery quotes. His best quote is on the gimmick of using guest stars on comedy shows:
“It kind of always sucks. I’ve never seen stunt casting that was actually funny. `Oh, it’s Shaq,’ and then some horrible excuse for him to dunk. . . . They don’t really do that on the white shows. They only do it on the black shows. When they did it on Mad About You, Carl Reiner, he had a real part. When they do it on the black shows, it’s like, ‘We got a famous guy and he’s going to be famous tonight,’ and it sucks.”
Asks Rob Owen in the Toledo Blade:”While critics are buzzing about UPN’s Everybody Hates Chris, narrated by Chris Rock, I’m not yet convinced it’s a slam dunk. Much as I liked the pilot, I wonder what future episodes will be like? Can the writers/producers maintain the quality of the pilot?”
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer:”I’m telling you, if viewers like “Everybody Hates Chris” half as much as the people in the room liked the session, Rock and UPN have it made. Except for the fact that it’s up against the Thursday night lineups on NBC, CBS and Fox.”
The Charlotte Observer:”Chris Rock’s life as a ghetto kid gets a contemporary “Wonder Years” treatment on a UPN comedy show next season, “Everybody Hates Chris.” The show, already hailed as one of the year’s most promising comedies, draws on Rock’s experiences as a 13-year-old, when he was bused each day from his rough-and-tumble Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood to a mostly white school in Brooklyn.”
So the show has “buzz.” It is a good pilot. It’s creator is red-hot in show biz. Now the question is: can it sustain all of that?\ and a hit — and perhaps even revive the sagging TV comedy genre?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.
