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For Chris Rock, Family Show Needn't Be Sappy

Posted on: Monday, 25 July 2005, 06:00 CDT

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- It is one of the great ironies of the upcoming TV season: The only new gentle, family-friendly sitcom comes from edgy comedian Chris Rock.

"People that have families curse, too," Rock told reporters when asked about that irony at the TV critics press tour. "Hey, I'm married, got kids. I grew up in a family."

UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" (yes, an intentional pun on "Everybody Loves Raymond") is a family sitcom about the 13-year-old Chris and his tough-love parents, inspired by Rock's true-life childhood growing up in the tough Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. His parents bused him to a predominately white school two- hours away because they wanted him to get a better education than what was offered in his neighborhood.

In a recent survey of TV critics, it was voted the best new show of the fall season.

Rock does not appear in the sitcom, but he is the producer, creator and he narrates a voice over about his childhood in a "Wonder Years" style. This is no wistful nostalgia piece, though. It is often infused with Rock's irreverent humor for which his stand- up routine is known.

For example, in the pilot a white bully uses the "N" word to taunt young Chris, leading to a schoolyard fight. It may be the first use of the word in a primetime sitcom.

"I do whatever the network lets me do," Rock said. "If they say I can use the 'F' word, there's a bunch of them coming."

Overall, the pilot is not so much edgy as endearing. It is laugh- out-loud funny but also a story with an serious underlying theme about a noble struggle of a family with stern, demanding parents. It is sometimes a dark, flippant comedy, but with instant soul and likable characters. In that sense, it has something of the spirit of TV's reigning family sitcom -- "The Simpsons."

It is ultimately a moralistic show, a sort of "parents know best." That is something missing in the current family sitcom environment where the often dysfunctional TV parents are part of the joke.

"It's a return of parenting," said Terry Crews, who plays Rock's father. "There haven't been parents on TV in a long time. Chris kept saying to us, 'You guys are parents. You're parents.' That's a big deal.

"When I tell them to sit down they actually sit down. Which is a very different thing for TV (with kids) always running around or something."

It is somewhat of a surprise that the show ended up on UPN. Fox had the first option on the script but backed out. The network reportedly worried Rock would not be involved with the production on a daily basis and might leave for another film project. Meanwhile, UPN President Dawn Ostroff, who had read the script, actively pursued Rock.

Rock said he expects to be hands-on with the show, joking, "I don't think I've ever done anything and walked out in the middle of it. I don't think there's any evidence of that. My name's Rock, not Chappelle. Are you confusing me with another skinny black man?"

(Dave Chappelle earlier this year forced the suspension of the third season of his Comedy Central show when he abruptly went on some sort of unexplained retreat to South Africa.)

The show could also produce a breakout adolescent star with 12- year-old Tyler James Williams playing the young Chris. He's already a TV veteran, having worked on "Sesame Street" since he was age 4.

He even seems to have Rock's speech cadence and sense of comedic timing. When asked about the difference between the two shows, he instantly quipped, "Well, you don't actually get to see Big Bird every day. It's a little bit different because there's more comedy to it than just 'Come play with me.'"

Rock and his young alter ego almost seem a comedy team. When asked how he came to cast Tyler, Rock said, "I was at Michael Jackson's house. I'm in the driveway, and this kid comes running out. 'Save me, save me.'"

When the young actor praised Rock's acting ability, the comic reached into his pocket and gave the kid a $20 bill.

Asked what sitcoms he liked watching as a child, Rock mentioned "The Bob Newhart Show,""The Odd Couple" and "The Jeffersons." But he confessed TV was rarely an inspiration.

"I grew up to be a comedian because I kind of hated a lot of sitcoms. I'd be watching something like 'Three's Company' and thinking, 'This sucks.'"

Rock, admittedly a reluctant TV producer, may have the best shot at reinventing the family sitcom, a genre that has fallen on hard creative times. One reporter tried to suggest that Rock is following in the footsteps of another great black comedian with a family show, Bill Cosby, since his sitcom will air at 8 p.m. Thursdays -- the same time slot as "The Cosby Show."

Rock couldn't resist mocking the question. "It's a time. It's 8 o'clock. What are you trying to say?" Rock said, off and running. "It's not like I live in the guy's house or something. Do they do that?

"You buy a house in L.A. 'Oh yeah, Sophia Loren used to live here.' They don't do that with time slots, do they? 'Bill Cosby went to bed one night too around 11, just like you're doing tonight.'"

Source: Cincinnati Post

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