Everybody Hates ChrisA double dose of Chris tonight, although both were repeats. But that's OK, the writing was strong enough to make me laugh the second time around. The bike episode reminded me that Rochelle is completely nuts. Why was she freaking out just because Julius cooked and cleaned better than she did? Honey, enjoy yourself! As a Jewish girl who orders in Chinese every night and has a maid, I would love it if my husband could take care of me like that. Rochelle also scared me with her business fashion. Those '80s shirts that tied at the collar, ewwww. Why did we ever burn bras? We should have just burned those blouses. (At least bras have a purpose.) There was a Do the Right Thing riot clip (yes, Gabe, as per your astute
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Everybody Hates ChrisThis episode was about my two favorite childhood things: video games and candy. Back in the '80s, I'd chug Pop Rocks as I played Pong on my Atari 800 while wearing my homemade Star Trek uniform. (Sci-fi was my third favorite thing.) Even geeks have something they're good at, and tonight we found out that Chris could kick ass at Asteroids. Now for the kids at home whose idea of video games is Halo, Grand Theft Auto or even the Teletubbies (yes, they have a game), Asteroids must have looked like it was programmed by Cro-Magnons — those little ships resemble cave paintings. Ah, how things have changed. For my generation, watching this show is like reading Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (OK, the C
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Question: I took your recommendation on Everybody Hates Chris and anticipated the show long before it first aired. It looked hilarious, the cast is great, it's about Chris Rock's youth, there was no laugh track: It seemed to have all the makings of a great show. And yet, with each episode I've seen, I grow less fond of it. While the "first kid to get hand-me-ups" joke was funny, I didn't laugh once at the Valentine's Day episode. Chris' little sister is an annoying brat, Chris' mom is a shrill, carbon copy of the Malcolm in the Middle mom, and seeing Chris' father threaten Tanya's little boyfriend was just ridiculous and mean. And while I root for young Chris, I'm tired of seeing the poor kid being subjected to so much grief, not the least of which is the heavy-handed racism. What do you think, Matt? Are you as finished with this show as I am?
Answer: Not a bit. I don't watch it every week (or let's just say I have a DVR library of episodes to catch up on, given how much Thursday
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Everybody Hates ChrisI was psyched to see Raven Goodwin as Chris' "bus crush." I absolutely adore her (and no, it's not because we have the same first name). I've been a fan ever since I saw her play a heavyset, adopted child with a horrendous body image in the indie flick Lovely & Amazing. It was cool that in Chris, her weight wasn't made into an issue. (Of course, I just turned it into one by bringing it up, huh?) And how fabulously '80s did she look with those big-ass, gold-plated, door-knocker earrings? Very Salt-N-Pepa. Julius was his usual charming if hypocritical self, taking pride in Drew's stack of Valentines but flipping out when Tanya mentioned that she had a boyfriend, a very true-to-life double s
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Everybody Hates ChrisCould someone please tell me why the folks at UPN, or the future CW, or whatever the hell we're calling this channel in limbo, showed a rerun of Everybody Hates Chris that I've seen not once but twice already? (Yet they're still showing new episodes of the wretched South Beach. Go figure.) This episode is one of the edgier ones, though, with Chris being tapped for the basketball team strictly because of his race. As Chris Rock says, "This is how Milli Vanilli must have felt when they were walking up to accept that Grammy." It's an amusing conceit that is actually more scary than funny. Of course, short and scrawny Chris sucks at b-ball. If only the coach at Corleone had seen Carbon Copy with Denzel Washing
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Dancing with the StarsIt sure seemed like the judges were regretting last week's score inflation — not that Drew and Stacy didn't deserve high marks, but now there's little room to mark their improvement. So in addition to handing out lower scores, Carrie Ann, Len and Bruno were downright nitpicky. I like it that way, though; how else would we know that a tango can be too Argentinean?
Jerry and Anna: The football player's "go for the jugular" tactic made him look like he was concentrating too hard and not having as much fun as in the first episode, when he didn't take this whole thing so seriously. Lighten up!Giselle and Jonathan: I regret saying anything mean about Giselle last week; in her interviews she's quite likable. Her tango was ki
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Dancing with the StarsIt sure seemed like the judges were regretting last week's score inflation — not that Drew and Stacy didn't deserve high marks, but now there's little room to mark their improvement. So in addition to handing out lower scores, Carrie Ann, Len and Bruno were downright nitpicky. I like it that way, though; how else would we know that a tango can be too Argentinean?
Jerry and Anna: The football player's "go for the jugular" tactic made him look like he was concentrating too hard and not having as much fun as in the first episode, when he didn't take this whole thing so seriously. Lighten up!Giselle and Jonathan: I regret saying anything mean about Giselle last week; in her interviews she's quite likable. Her tango was ki
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Everybody Hates ChrisOne of best things about watching this show is listening to its '80s sound track. This week we heard Lionel Ritchie's "All Night Long," Kurtis Blow's "Tough" and Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." I'm sure you geeky musicologists out there are griping that the latter was actually released in 1985, two years after the episode takes place. Hey, that's nothing compared to the street montage that included a clear shot of the Toys 'R' Us in Times Square, which was built in 2001. But who watches this sitcom for accuracy? It's not a friggin' documentary. It's only inspired by Chris Rock's childhood. Even the dates are off. (He was born in '65, yet he's supposed to be a high-school freshman in 19
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Terry Crews, Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody hates ratings, except perhaps the folks on Everybody Hates Chris (Thursdays at 8 pm/ET). While the family-friendly UPN sitcom inspired by Chris Rock's Brooklyn childhood is not a juggernaut in the grand scheme of prime time, its September premiere was the highest-rated episode of any comedy in the network's history. It also earned a Golden Globe nod for best television series, musical or comedy, but lost to Desperate Housewives. (Bitches.) Tonight the show returns from hiatus with another hilarious and heartwarming episode, in which Chris takes a part-time job delivering newspapers alongside his father, Julius, played by Terry Crews. TVGuid
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Wentworth Miller of Prison Break
TV got bigger this year. (Remember when everything seemed so much smaller?) New watercooler favorites broke onto the scene, from Grey's Anatomy to Prison Break, while familiar hits like CSI, Lost and Survivor just got better. As revelers prepare to usher out 2005 in grand style, here is what some of television's top stars have to say about their big breakthroughs.
Wentworth Miller, Prison Break
"This has been the biggest year of my professional life. I get to play ball with incredible character actors. When you're sharing screen time with Robert Knepper ("T-Bag"), Wade Williams (Bellick) or Peter Stormare (Abruzzi), you're just a
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