Everybody Hates Chris I was psyched...

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 standard. That's what makes this show special. In between the punch lines, it portrays a completely believable family with flawed parents and kids who don't "learn a lesson" each week. They grow as characters, of course, but they don't just suddenly change into new, self-actualized people. Julius is hilariously cheap and under his wife's thumb. Rochelle is a spoiled princess despite the lack of funds. Tanya's a brat, Drew is a bit of an enigma, and Chris, well, he's a geek. A super-duper-ubergeek. And you know what? Despite all his money and his nice suits and his hot wife, today's Chris Rock is still a geek. That's part of his appeal. On a completely different note, a quick shout out to Marci, who was the one reader to write in last week to answer my question. That Western-movie clip was indeed from Shane. I've got to wonder how the heck they chose to slip that in there. Does UPN (or CW, or hell, let's just go to the parent company, Viacom) own the rights or something? It just seemed so random.