I took your recommendation on ...
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 programming I record each week), but when I do play back an episode, I still enjoy it and find it one of the freshest comedies, especially of the family variety, in years. I think you're being ungenerous to the mother.
Tichina Arnold is not doing an impersonation of
Jane Kaczmarek; her ferocity is rooted in family pride, not in
Malcolm's brand of manic suburban lunacy. Which is another way of saying that, while I enjoy
Malcolm, I believe
Chris. The parents are what distinguish
Chris for me, that and the fact that Chris is living a born-loser life (suggested in the show's title). If it lost its edge, which includes Chris and others being subjected to mean-spirited behavior and flagrant racism, there would be no reason for it to exist. But I'm sure you're not the only person who doesn't find it funny. As we've learned from today's TV comedy drought (and the demise of
Arrested Development), nothing is more subjective than what tickles our funny bones. Or what doesn't.
