The only new show of the ...
Everybody Hates Chris
Question: The only new show of the season I watch and love is
Everybody Hates Chris.
Tichina Arnold is awesome as Chris' mother and the soundtrack completes the show. My question is: How is the show doing in the ratings? I know the first week it did great and the following week they went down, but how are things going now? What do you think of the show?
Answer: Consider the time period, one of the week's most competitive. Then consider the UPN network, one of the industry's least competitive (most nights). By those standards,
Everybody Hates Chris is a huge success. The show was never meant to win the time period or some such miracle, but for UPN, it's a home run. The show hasn't sustained the early breakthrough numbers (a result of the preseason hype, since viewing habits like
Survivor are hard to break), but
Chris still does so much better than any of the comedies that follow it, plus it has great media buzz. And it put UPN in the game on Thursday nights, which is easier said than done. I still find the show a complete delight, in no small measure thanks to both parents: the ferocious Arnold and the equally wonderful
Terry Crews as Chris' hardworking, family-loving dad (one of only four live-in dads on the Bed-Stuy block). The family scenes are without doubt the most lovable aspects of Chris, but it still seems to me the freshest family comedy since early
Malcolm in the Middle.
