Everybody Hates Chris
| Everybody Hates Chris | |
|---|---|
| File:EverybodyHatesChris.jpg Everybody Hates Chris title card | |
| Created by | Ali LeRoi Chris Rock |
| Starring | Tyler James Williams Terry Crews Tichina Arnold Tequan Richmond Imani Hakim Vincent Martella Travis T. Flory Keesha Sharp (2005-2006) Jason Alexander (2006—) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 44 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Single camera |
| Running time | 20 mins |
| Original release | |
| Network | UPN (2005–06) The CW (2006—) |
| Release | September 22, 2005 – present |
Everybody Hates Chris is an American sitcom, on The CW Television Network. It is inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock (who narrates the show), while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The title of the show parodies the title of a different well-known program, Everybody Loves Raymond. Unlike other CW sitcoms, Everybody Hates Chris does not use a studio audience laugh track.
On September 22, 2005, the series' premiere achieved higher ratings than NBC's season premiere of Joey, giving UPN its third highest rating in history. With seven million viewers, it was fourth highest-rated program at the 8 p.m. ET time slot. It is also the first TV show to be available for free preview on Google Video.
Everybody Hates Chris won the NAACP Award for "Outstanding Comedy Series." [1] Because the producers of Everybody Hates Chris, are proud of the show's success, the show was given an early full-season renewal for 2007–08, which will be its 3rd season. [2] The 3rd season is scheduled to premiere on October 1st, 2007. [3]
Cast
While the fictional family is loosely based on that of the real-life Chris Rock, its surname has not been revealed.
- Tichina Arnold, as Rochelle (Main Article: Rochelle Rock), the very censorious, strict, sassy, and frantic mother. Rochelle often displays those characteristics in amusing or wacky ways. A classic example of this, was when Rochelle tenderly resolved a fight between Drew and Tonya, and immediately afterwards, took off her belt and instructed them both to "take it upstairs." Rochelle's funny side is also sometimes displayed, while being intimidating. One example of this, is her outrageously exaggerated threats of physical punishment. Very animated, Rochelle always has a different expression for everything and sings passionately, though not well. Among her many quirks and antics, Rochelle cares too much about what others think, obsesses over Turtle chocolates, recommends Robitussin for every ailment, and always makes sure her children aren't making babies--for her to raise anyway.
- Terry Crews as Julius, the very worrywart, level-headed, and penurious father. Although his wife has most of the control in the family, no one has more control over the money than Julius. He delivers newspapers for a living and has a second job. Julius once had a job as a fisherman; although it paid well, the bad smell he brought home forced the family to make him quit. A running gag through the show is that Julius is able to tell exactly how much something is worth. For example : "That's 49 cents' worth of spilled milk dripping all over my table! Somebody's gonna drink this milk," or "That's eleven cents' worth of electricity!" He's also scared of rabbits.
- Tyler James Williams as Chris, the protaganist and the ambitious, innocent, but hapless, scapegoat, vulnerable eldest child. He wishes he was cool and popular but it's always quite the opposite. He is the victim of many awful things (he is bullied at school, tortured by his sister, victumized by the racist staff at his school, gets his money stolen by naighborhood thugs, is underpaid at work, and overprotected by his "ghetto-snobbish" mother and cheap father). He is always the butt of the last joke of the episode.
- Tequan Richmond as Drew, the mischievous, cool, talented middle child, who always has girls chasing after him but is too young to be very concerned with them. A 31-year-old woman once had a crush on him.
- Imani Hakim as Tonya, the sensitive daughter and the antagonist of her older brothers. As the youngest and the only girl, she is able to get anything out of her father. Despite this, she has gotten what she deserves half the time.
- Vincent Martella as Greg Wulliger, the white, nerdy best friend of Chris, who assists him and is bullied almost as much as Chris is.
- Chris Rock as the narrator (voice), an older Chris looking back at his youth, à la The Wonder Years.
Recurring characters
Bedford-Stuyvesant residents
- Mike Estime as Risky, a black market dealer who sells items that are always faulty or stolen. He also once had a job as a paper boy.
- Antonio Fargas as Mr. Harris (a.k.a. "Doc"), the local grocery store owner.
- Todd Bridges as Monk, Mr. Harris' nephew, who also works at the grocery. Monk used to be part of the military.
- Kevontay Jackson as Jerome, a predatory older teenager in the neighborhood, who robs small kids, like Chris, on the block. His catchphrase is, "Hey! Little dude from across the street, lemme hold a dollar."
- Ernest Thomas as Mr. Omar, a funeral director, who lives above Chris and his family. He is seen with a different newly widowed woman for every appearance he makes. He claims to be consoling them in their time of grief, though it is obvious that he is actually trying to get close to these attractive women for purely sexual reasons.
- Ricky Harris as Malvo, a petty criminal who robs Chris at Doc's and threatens to kill him if he identifies him. Later, after he gets out of jail, he forces Chris to chain-snatch a gold medallion.
- Myzel Robinson as Fat Mike, who protects Chris from local thugs and makes friends with him.
- Whoopi Goldberg as Louise Clarkson, the antagonistic neighbor, who insults Chris and infuriates Rochelle.
- Paige Hurd as Tasha, Louise's granddaughter. She lives with her grandmother and sees Chris frequently. According to Chris, she is the only girl who doesn't hate him.
- Jeris Lee Poindexter as Kill Moves, an insane crackhead. He once taught Drew some karate moves at the laundromat.
- Jackée Harry as Vanessa, Rochelle's bubbly, wisecracking girlfriend and one of the gossipy workers at the local beauty salon.
- Tasia Sherel as Pam, another of Rochelle's girlfriends at the local beauty salon.
Corleone Junior High School staff and students
- Travis T. Flory as Joey Caruso, the racist school bully who routinely picks on Chris.
- Jason Alexander as Principal Edwards, the eccentric new principal of Corleone, who tricks Chris into confronting Caruso, and in a later episode, is stuck indoors with Chris during a snowstorm.
- Jacqueline Mazarella as Ms. Morello, Chris' teacher. In an effort to be sweet, kind, and supportive, she unintentionally comes off as racist against blacks. In later episodes however, it's more intentional that she's racist.
- Lynda Scarlino, as Mrs. Milone, the school monitor, who is often seen disciplining someone, usually Chris when he hasn't done anything wrong.
- Sam Mandel as Fisher, who helps forge Chris's report card. He later helps Chris retrieve Chris's father's Playboy magazine from Mrs. Milone.
Former recurring characters
- Jude Ciccolella as Dr. Raymond, the former and strict principal at Chris's school.
- Keesha Sharp as Sheila Ridenhour, the family's neighbor and a good friend of Rochelle's. Julius usually feels uncomfortable around her because she's an attractive woman who is attracted to him, which Rochelle does not know about.
- Aree Davis as Keisha Ridenhour, Sheila's daughter and Chris's dream girl, who unfortunately fancies Chris' younger brother Drew. In Season 2, Keisha moved away to Compton.
Memorable guest stars
Chris's extended family
Just as wacky and memorable as Chris's immediate family, they turned up in the episode "Everybody Hates Funerals". However, Mike and Maxine have been the only family members to appear in more than one episode
- Jimmie Walker as Gene, Rochelle's father, who dies of a heart attack at the dinner table on his first appearance on the show. However, he reappears to comfort Rochelle as a ghost later on in the same episode. In "Everybody Hates Gambling", Rochelle says that Gene gambled on just about anything
- Loretta Devine as Maxine, Rochelle's soft-spoken, helpful, sometimes very troublesome mother. She and Rochelle don't always get along because she's critical of Rochelle and likes to take over, which Rochelle doesn't take well at all. She also caused chaos when she visited for her husband's funeral. In a later episode Rochelle tries to set her up with a date, but it didn't go well. Maxine is also a mathematician and taught Rochelle everything she knows about math and helped out Chris with his math.
- Monica Calhoun as Aunt Charlotte "Grievey", one of Rochelle's sisters who only appears at funerals and cries a lot.
- Ikonastarr as Aunt Mousey, another one of Rochelle's sisters who is so named because she talks like a mouse and only speaks when spoken to.
- Wayne Brady as Uncle Louis, Julius' successful, highly skilled, and charismatic younger brother, of whom Julius is very jealous.
- Earthquake as Uncle Mike, Rochelle's lazy, freeloading younger brother. He knows how to get on Julius' bad side, such as by roaming about the house in Julius' clothes or giving him out-dated tickets to sports games.
Others
- Gary Basaraba as Art Wulliger, Greg's divorced father who never lets him have friends over.
- Orlando Jones as Mr. Newton, the substitute teacher, who's exacting towards Chris because he wants him to get A's.
- DJ Quik as Hilton "Hilly Hill" Reid, the DJ, who takes over Chris's DJing duties at a party.
- Richard Lewis as Kris, a mysterious man whom Chris befriends at the hospital.
- Michael Spellman as Magician the Magician, a magician who once scared Julius with a rabbit.
- Christina DeRosa as Trixie, a young, tough New York stripper that Chris falls for.
- Vincent Pastore as Paulie, a bookie who threatens "Chrissy the Black" unless Doc loses a basketball game.
- Robert Wuhl as Abe, a pawnbroker who gives Chris everything he needs to be a DJ.
Guest Stars
Chris Rock and Ali Leroi the creators of Everybody Hates Chris cast famous celebrities from popular television programs to play Chris's extended family and citizens: Emmy Award winner, Jackée Harry, who was better know for playing Sandra Clark on 227 was cast as Vanessa, the hair stylist at the local beauty salon, Ernest Lee Thomas (What's Happening!!) was cast Mr. Omar, the local funeral director, who Julius and Rochelle rent their upstairs apartment to appeared during Season 2.
Also cast was Dreamgirls Loretta Devine who appeared in success films such as: Waiting to Exhale, Kingdom Come was cast as Maxine, Chris's Grandmother, and Rochelle's "happy-go-lucky" mother. Jimmie Walker (best known for his role as J.J. Evans Good Times) played Maxine's husband, Gene, who was quite kind, unlike Maxine, and was Rochelle's father, who passed away during in a later episode. Monica Calhoun was cast as Aunt Charlotte, who cries a lot during funerals. and Antonio Fargas was cast as Doc, the neighborhood store owner, who appeared late Season 1.
Recurring themes
- Much like the comedy series Family Guy and Scrubs, Everybody Hates Chris will often make a joke, then cut to a clip that enacts what was said—whether it be a hypothetical (and always humorous) situation, or an exaggeration of a situation the family is said to have experienced in the past.
- Each episode title begins with "Everybody Hates" (with the exception of the pilot, which also had a different opening theme).
- Every episode ends with the words "Everybody Hates Chris," heard in song. This also happend in season 1 when the second commercial break started.
- The show has a Cold Open-2 Act format, with varying ABC(D) storylines.
- Jokes about race relations almost always occur when Chris is in school.
Running gags
Although an episodic sitcom, in which characters' situations change from episode to episode, there are several character tendencies, thematic elements, and sayings that continue throughout the series. These include:
- Drew, Chris's younger brother, is taller and looks much older than Chris does.
- Whenever Uncle Mike refers to Julius, he will yell "BIG MAAAAN!!!" loudly.
- Whenever Vanessa visits, she and Rochelle are usually excited in their wild fashion about something, often tickets to concerts.
- Julius, being very frugal, will always know the exact monetary value of anything he feels is being wasted by the family.
- Robitussin is the cure for every—and any—family injury or illness, according to Rochelle. This is a reference to a joke Chris used during his Bigger & Blacker comedy special.
- Rochelle is always making sure that no one thinks of her or her family as poor (an example quote: "Girl, whatchoo talkin' 'bout food stamps? Who's sellin' food stamps? I ain't sellin' no food stamps!"), yet she judges everyone else because she is a "ghetto snob."
- Chris and Greg are obsessed with the movie Rocky and its sequels, referring to it often in several episodes.
- Rochelle uses a range of vibrant and colorful threats. (such as "I'll slap the caps off your knees!" "I'll slap you into another nationality!" "I'll stick my foot so far up your behind, you'll have toes for teeth!")
- Whenever Chris is in trouble, especially with Caruso, Greg runs away.
- Whenever a girl talks to Chris, Greg always tells him "You are so in there."
- Whenever Rochelle leaves a job, her last words before actually going are always "I don't need this. My man has two jobs."
- Rochelle loves Turtles, a chocolate pecan candy.
- Tonya never resists the opportunity to get her brothers into trouble.
- Julius and other characters buy various items from Risky that are always faulty (and implied to be stolen).
- A neighborhood troublemaker essentially robs Chris and other neighborhood kids by saying "Lemme hold a dollar."
- When Risky appears, there is always a whisper of someone in the background saying "Riskay"
- When Chris is asked a yes-or-no question in the context of the episode, the narrating Chris (as an adult) usually says the opposite answer of his younger self.
Awards and nominations
- Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy (nominated)
- Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series — Tyler James Williams (Won)
- Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series — Tichina Arnold (Won)
- Outstanding Comedy Series (Won)
- Outstanding Directing in a SIC BADD DANCAZComedy Series — Ken Whittingham (nominated)
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series — Terry Crews (nominated)
- New Series, Television — Aron Abrams, Rodney Barnes, Chris Rock (nominated)
Episode list
| Season | Ep # | First Airdate | Last Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 22 | September 22, 2005 | May 11, 2006 |
| Season 2 | 22 | October 1, 2006 | May 14, 2007 |
| Season 3 | ? | October 1, 2007 | May, 2008 |
DVD releases
| Season | Episodes | Discs | DVD release date | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||||||
| 1 | 22 | 4 | USA: October 10, 2006 | UK: August 30, 2007 [1] | AUS: August 16, 2007 | |||
| Commentaries by the cast and crew, Everybody hates the making of Everybody hates Chris, Everybody hates the set, Everybody hates video cameras, bloopers, deleted scenes, cast auditions. Some of the music found in the show has been replaced by alternate songs and/or covers of the songs in the DVD release. This is mentioned on the back of the DVD packaging and is due to copyright issues, which has affected many DVD releases of television shows. | ||||||||
| Season | Episodes | Discs | DVD release date | |||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||||||
| 2 | 22 | 4 | USA: October 9, 2007 | UK: | AUS: | |||
U.S. broadcast history
- September 2005 – May 2006: Thursdays 8:00pm/7:00pm
- September 2006: Sundays 7:00pm/6:00pm
- October 2006 — : Mondays 8:00pm/7:00pm
International broadcasts
| Country | Original Names/More Known Names | TV Network(s) | Series Premiere | Weekly Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia |
Network Ten | March 5 2006 | ||
 Austria |
Alle hassen Chris | ORF | Saturday 2:50pm | |
 Belgium |
Everybody Hates Chris | VT4 | August 13 2007 | Weekdays 6:00pm |
 Belize |
UPN/CW (cable); Channel 5 (broadcast) | same time as US premiere | Weekends, check local listings | |
 Brazil |
Todo Mundo Odeia o Chris (Record)/ Everybody Hates Chris (Sony Entertainment Television) |
Rede Record & Sony Entertainment Television (cable) |
November 8 2005 | Fridays 8:00pm |
 Brunei |
RTB2 | 2007 | Wednesdays 7:30pm | |
 Croatia |
Svi mrze Chrisa | Nova TV | March 25 2007 | Sundays 1:00am |
 Denmark |
TV2 Zulu | September 16 2006 | Saturday 8:00pm | |
 Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
svi mrze Chrisa | OBN | January 2 2008 | Weekdays 11:50am |
 Finland |
Lapsuuteni luuserina ("My childhood as a loser") |
Nelonen | February 27 2006 | Monday 8:30pm |
 France |
Tout le monde déteste Chris | M6 | June 25 2007 | Weekdays 11:50am |
 Germany |
Alle hassen Chris | Pro 7 | September 16 2006 | Saturday 2:00pm |
 Hong Kong |
阿傑出少年/Everybody Hates Chris | TVB Pearl | February 19 2006 | Sunday 8:00pm |
 Iceland |
Skjár Einn | Thursday 8:00pm | ||
 Ireland |
TV3 | April 2006 | Monday 8:00pm | |
 Italy |
Everybody Hates Chris (Paramount Comedy Channel)/ Tutti odiano Chris (Rai Due) |
Paramount Comedy Channel (pay tv); Rai Due |
May 8 2006 | ---- |
 Israel |
כולם שונאים את כריס | Bip | 2006 | Sunday 11:30pm |
| Latin America | Sony Entertainment Television | November 2005 | Friday 8pm Ven// 7pm Col | |
 Malaysia Malaysia |
8TV | September 27 2006 | Wednesday 9:30pm | |
 New Zealand |
TV3 | April 2006 | Wednesday 7:30pm | |
 Norway |
Alle hater Chris | TV 2 | June 14 2007 | Weekdays 4:05pm |
 Philippines |
Jack TV | 2005 | Thursday 9:00 pm | |
 Portugal |
Todos Contra o Chris ("All (people) Against Chris") |
2: | September 2006 | Weekdays 8:40pm |
 Arab World |
Showtime Arabia, Show Comedy, Show Comedy Extra and MBC 4 |
Thursdays 10:00pm | ||
 South Africa |
SABC 1 | July 2006 | Friday 7:00pm | |
 Spain |
Todo el mundo odia a Chris | Cuatro TV | 2007 | Saturday 9:30pm |
 |
Alle hassen Chris, Tout le monde déteste Chris |
SF2, TSR1 | Sunday | |
 Thailand |
True Series | April 18 2006 | Tuesday 9:30pm | |
 Turkey |
ComedyMax | 2006 | Monday to Friday at 8.30 pm | |
 United Kingdom |
Five (first run), Five US (re-runs) and Paramount Comedy 1 (syndication) |
March 19 2006 | Sunday 6:20pm (2 episodes until 7:20pm, occasionally 6:00pm - 7:00pm) (second season-) Paramount Comedy 1 shows 2episodes of series 2 from 9:00pm - 10:00pm every Thursday | |
| USA |
UPN (Season 1) and The CW (Season 2-) | September 22 2005 | Monday 8:00pm ET | |
 Zimbabwe |
ZBC, ZBC Comedy, Joy TV, RTZ, TeleTwo, ZBC Family |
References
- ^ http://www.chiff.com/pop-culture/naacp-image-awards.htm
- ^ http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/01/19/everybody-hates-chris-renewed-for-a-third-season/
- ^ http://blog.cwtv.com/?cat=22
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002576393]
- ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ifbfdd1bcb53266ad8d9a71cad261604f]
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Everybody Hates Chris.