It's Nice

With all that has been going on, I cannot say that I've been in the most optimistic of moods. Reality shows are normally my escape and even they work my nerves so much I have no idea why I still watch them. But "Everybody Hates Chris" was just a gem of a show! It was funny and, above all, as this reviewer said it was nice.

"I was completely blindsided by the pilot of Everybody Hates Chris, the new sitcom based on Chris Rock's childhood that premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on UPN. After an aggressive marketing campaign that suggested this show will single-handedly send Viacom's ghetto network (whose initials have been jokingly translated as 'You People's Network') to a de-luxe apartment in the sky, I was expecting an edgy, fast-paced satire, something in the vein of Fox anti-family-values shows like The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle, or Arrested Development.

Much as I love those shows' dark, twisted takes on domestic dysfunction (and continue to maintain that Jane Kaczmarek's ongoing failure to win an Emmy for Malcolm is one of the perennial disappointments of the awards season), Everybody Hates Chris won my heart by trying something even more daring: It's nice. Chris Rock's standup and his hosting gigs at awards shows can have a wild, almost dangerous edge, but the show he executive-produced and narrates in voice-over is unexpectedly sweet-spirited. It's The Cosby Show without the class privilege, or The Wonder Years with a hip-hop soundtrack. It's a kind of throwback to an earlier television era, a comedy about a functional family whose members treat each other with affection and respect (laced with the occasional creative threat: 'I will put my foot so far up your behind you'll have toes for teeth')."

I think UPN definitely has a winner this season!