EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS: A SHOW THAT ROCKS

Chris Rock started out as a stand-up comedian in New York, getting enough notice to find a few small film roles and eventually catching the eye of Eddie Murphy who mentored the young man. That led to his audition and acceptance to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE in 1990 and from there performing stand-up in larger venues as well as into major movies where he was the lead. Then in 2008 he took the story of his early years growing up and created the CW series EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS.

The show focuses on Chris (Tyler James Williams), one of three children in his family and the awkward one at that. The character seems destined for failure with few friends, having a geeky attitude and with siblings that either taunt or exceed any expectations that are had for all three. But he carries on even though things don't always go his way and learns many life lessons in the process.

Chris' parents are Julius (Terry Crews) and Rochelle (Tichina Arnold). Julius is a hard working father who most consider cheap and this plays into much of the character and his attempts to save a buck. Rochelle is the loving mother who takes no guff from her children and has a ready comeback for each should they choose to cross her. Both are loving parents that want the best for their children and while keeping them in line offer them great role models and someone to care about each one.

Chris' brother Drew (Tequan Richmond) is everything Chris is not. He's popular, athletic, an academic, handsome and idolized by not just his fellow classmates but by Chris as well. But there's a grass is always greener dynamic between the two since Drew admires his little brother for his own abilities.

His sister Tonya (Imani Hakim) is the closest to a stereotypical character as you'll find here. She loves her brothers but also enjoys getting them in trouble. And being the baby of the family her parents tend to believe her no matter what anyone else says.

With those characters in place one would think this was nothing more than a retread of a multitude of other sitcom family comedies that had come before and appeared since. But that wasn't the case. Sitcom families are more based in the reality they make up than most give them credit for. But it is how they interact, the situations they find themselves in and the location of where all this takes place alter those basic elements into something else. EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS takes place in the area the Chris Rock grew up in and that wasn't quite the same neighborhood as Beaver Cleaver.

This is a neighborhood where you might see a dealer, where people hang out at the barber shop, where a local grocery is where people shop as opposed to a Walmart. You'll see nosey neighbors, whole blocks that will watch out for the kids and even homeless people on the street. This is not the prim and proper well-coiffed streets of the Cleaver family but a real life neighborhood. The fact is this is the type of neighborhood most of us actually grew up in.

While the show did decent in the ratings it was never a juggernaut series. Then again at the time CW was also not the major network that it's since become. But the fact remains that it was series like this that helped it move from the minor player it was to the fairly popular one it is now. Not only that the series also focused on two items missing from much of TV programming at the time: what it's like to be in school and the black family on TV. They may seem more ingrained in our viewing these days but it was shows like this that helped make that happen.

Many different groups recognized the groundbreaking steps this show made at the time and it won numerous awards. A Golden Globe, Emmys, Writers Guild of America, Television Critics Association, Teen Choice, Image Awards, People's Choice Awards and more all passed praise on to this series and rightfully so. In the end it wasn't so much the vast numbers that were watching when it first aired but the influence and affect it had for those who did watch it and who now watch it in syndication.

Here's the thing. If you missed it when it was on and if you don't have access to the stations that run it now you can still discover it with this release. The entire run is collected in this new box release set that will provide you with all the episodes start to finish. You'll find yourself laughing, you'll find yourself touched at times and you'll reflect on a number of memories from your own time in school where you felt like one of the characters here. And most of all you'll be entertained. What more could you ask for in a show?

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