Everybody Hates
Chris is an American situation comedy inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock (who
is also the narrator), while growing up in
the Bedford-Stuyvesant
neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York
(often, if not always, referred to in the show as
Bed-Stuy) in the early-mid 1980s. The
title of the show parodies the
CBS show
Everybody Loves
Raymond. Rock stated "
Everybody Loves Raymond but
everybody hates Chris!"
The show's lead actors are
Terry Crews
(
Friday After Next),
Tichina Arnold (
Martin) and
Tyler James Williams (
Unaccompanied Minors) in the
titular role as Chris.
In Fall 2008, the
The CW
moved its sole two
African American
shows--
Everybody Hates Chris and
The Game to the
Friday night death slot. The fourth
season of series premiered Friday, October 3, 2008, at 8:00PM
Eastern/7:00PM Central.
On May 21, 2009, The CW announced that they had canceled
Everybody Hates Chris. Prior to this, executive producer
(and inspiration for the show) Chris Rock announced that the end of
season 4 matched up with his own past — dropping out of high school
to become a comedian — and that it was time to end the show. This
was the last sitcom from either the
UPN or
The WB networks to have
aired recently.
Background
The show was produced by
CBS
Paramount Television and was broadcast on the The CW, features
fictional characters and
situations loosely based on real people and situations. Unlike
other CW sitcoms at the time of its debut,
Everybody Hates
Chris is shot using a single
camera with
no studio audience
laugh track.
On September 22, 2005, the series' premiere achieved higher ratings
than
NBC's season premiere of
Joey, giving UPN its third highest
rating in history. With seven million viewers, it was fourth
highest-rated program at the 8 p.m.
ET time slot.
With the recent cancellation of
Girlfriends and the
WWE's decision to move
SmackDown to
MyNetworkTV in the fall of 2008,
Everybody Hates Chris, along with
America's Next Top Model, was
the last running television programs to have aired both on UPN and
on The CW. The show's first season began just before the merger
between UPN and
The WB,
leading to the CW.
In fall 2008, the The CW moved the series, along with
The
Game, to the Friday night "death slot". The fourth season of
EHC premiered Friday October 3, 2008 at 8:00PM
Eastern/7:00PM Central.
Production wrapped up for
Everybody Hates Chris at the end
of the fourth season, with a final scene that spoofed the
the final
scene of The Sopranos.
Plot summary
The show revolves around the everyday life of Chris, who is a
12-year-old
seventh grade student in
the series' first episode. Chris is one of the few 'normal'
characters on the show, surrounded by a collection of crazy
characters that, in his point of view, act as if they dislike him.
Chris
lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
, a low-income community and attends an all-white
school, where students and teachers alike pick on him. If
events progress favorably for Chris throughout an episode, they
will almost certainly backfire on him by the end. Likewise, if a
situation isn't going Chris' way, it always manages to get even
worse for him, whether or not he tries to change the course of
events.
The guest characters on the show all seem to detest Chris for some
unknown reason. In fact,
comedian Chris Rock, upon whose early life the show is
based, made a guest appearance as the guidance counselor, Mr.
Abbott, who also disliked Chris and unhelpfully focused on how
Chris was in trouble academically. Even the warmest of guest
characters have some inexplicable dislike of Chris, such as one
character named Kris (
Richard Lewis),
who was injured and in hospital.
In the third season finale, Chris graduates from Corleone Junior
High School, but his joy is cut short when his best friend
Greg moves to a new school—Chris quickly
hatches a plan to go to Greg's high school. Greg ends up having to
go to Chris' high school anyway.
When Chris goes home, things don't get any easier because his
bizarre family life presents its own set of problems. A nostalgic
type show complete with voice over narration, "...Chris" is often
comparable to
The Wonder
Years as well as
Malcolm in the Middle.
Cast and characters
Reception
Reviews for the show are generally positive.
Everybody Hates Chris won an
NAACP Image Award for its writing in 2008.
It has also been nominated for
Golden
Globe and
Emmy Awards.
In December 2008,
Entertainment Weekly lists the Kwanzaa
episode from this show as seventh on the magazine's "Must List: 10
Holiday Things We Love".
Syndication
The show airs regularly on The CW during the week.The show was
launched on September 7, 2009 on
Nick at
Nite, becoming the youngest syndicated show on the network,
beating
George
Lopez.The show also airs on weekdays on
BET.
Everybody Hates Chris is the first TV show to be available
for free preview on
Google
Videos.
Awards
U.S. broadcast history
UPN
- September 2005 – May 2006: Thursdays 8:00pm/7:00pm
The CW
- October 2006 – October 2006: Sundays 7:00pm/6:00pm
- October 2006 – March 2008: Mondays 8:00pm/7:00pm
- March 2008 – May 2008: Sundays 8:00pm/7:00pm
- October 2008 – Fridays 8:00pm/7:00pm
- December 2008 – Sundays 5:00pm/4:00pm (Repeats)
- September 2009 – everyday 10:00pm/9:00pm (Repeats)
International broadcast history
Everybody Hates Chris is broadcast on the following
stations (and many others) around the world:
References
- The CW announces fall schedule,
Entertainment Weekly, March 21, 2009
- Chris Rock Ending "Everybody Hates Chris" After This
Season, ENEWSI.com, April 24, 2009
- Futon Critic
- "The Must List: 10 Holiday Things We Love," Entertainment
Weekly 1026 (December 19, 2008): 68.
- Breaking News - Award-Winning Series Everybody
Hates Chris to Join Nick At Nite's Line-up, Fall 2009 |
TheFutonCritic.com
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