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Everybody Hates Chris

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Everybody Hates Chris
GenreSitcom
Created by
Based onTeenage years of Chris Rock
Starring
Narrated byChris Rock
ComposerMarcus Miller
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes88 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Production locationsParamount Studios, Los Angeles, California
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time21–23 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkUPN
ReleaseSeptember 22, 2005 (2005-09-22) –
May 11, 2006 (2006-05-11)
NetworkThe CW
ReleaseOctober 1, 2006 (2006-10-01) –
May 8, 2009 (2009-05-08)
Related
Everybody Still Hates Chris

Everybody Hates Chris (stylized in all lowercase) is an American semi-autobiographical sitcom created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi that originally aired on UPN from 2005 to 2006, and then on The CW until 2009.[1] The series is based loosely on Rock's personal experiences as a teenager living in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City from 1982 to 1987. However, Rock's real-life adolescence took place from 1978 to 1984, having been born in 1965.[2][3][4][5][6]

The series' title is a parody of the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. It was originally developed to air on Fox before being passed over to the UPN.[7] The series was shown on UPN for its first season until it was moved to the CW, where it aired its remaining three seasons. In 2009, Rock announced that the series' ending suited his own past and he felt it was time to end the story.[8][9][10] It received acclaim from both critics and audience for its writing, directing, humor, tone, and performances of the cast.

Cast and characters

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Main article: List of Everybody Hates Chris characters

Premise

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The show is a family sitcom, patterned on Chris Rock's recollection of his teenage years growing up in the 1980s with a wholesome, tight-knit, African-American family, while living in drug-and-gang infested Bedford–Stuyvesant, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and also attending a cross-town, all-white public junior high school.[4][5][7][10][12]

The real-life Chris Rock provides intermittent narration throughout the show, at times interjecting his young self's thoughts or sometimes simply recounting the situation he's describing.

Chris's family is firmly dominated by strong, loving parents: Julius, a hard-working, frugal laborer who works two jobs while remaining carefully loyal to his wife,[3][11][12] Rochelle, a conscientious and powerful housewife (later the manager of a beauty salon) and mother who is fiercely protective of the family, while also being fiercely demanding of all in it, especially eldest son Chris.[3][11][12]

The series starts just after the parents have moved their children "out of the [low-income housing] projects," and into a more-upscale two-story apartment in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood—known for its roughness as "Bed-Stuy, do-or-die."[4][12]

Chris is a skinny, nerdy young teen.[3][11] His mother decides to send him to a mostly-white school across town ("two bus rides away") in an ethnic-Italian neighborhood to ensure he gets a better education. The school is slyly named "Corleone Junior High School" (an apparent reference to the fictional Corleone mafia family from the movie The Godfather or its real-life parallel, the Corleonesi).[6][4][12]

Chris finds the new school difficult to adjust to because of social ostracism and the ire of a red-haired bully named Caruso. Ms. Morello, a well-meaning white teacher, treats Chris with naive, condescending assumptions derived from crude racial/ghetto stereotypes. She later becomes the principal of Chris's high school. The bright spot in school is Chris's best friend, Greg (played by Vincent Martella)—a smaller but similarly nerdy white kid.[3][5][11]

At home, Chris is often left in charge of his siblings—his younger-but-bigger brother, Drew, and an ornery little sister, Tonya.[4][12] Mother Rochelle usually keeps a firm grip on the family, while their exhausted breadwinner father, Julius, struggles to catch a little sleep between jobs.[12]

Chris interacts with various characters in the neighborhood—diverse personalities based on real people Rock would see as a kid in his community. These personalities include some hoodlums who try to take advantage of him, a demented old homeless man nicknamed Kill Moves, a shrewd, miserly-but-grandfatherly storekeeper named Doc, and Doc's neurotic, paranoid, combat-veteran nephew Monk. For several episodes, an overbearing neighbor lady is played by Whoopi Goldberg, grandmother of Tasha, a pretty girl, next door.

The show—laced with comedy and farce—is primarily about adolescence and family life in inner-city poverty, the determined struggles of good, decent parents to provide a better life and values for their family, and the challenges their children present to them, and to each other.[3]

Main article: List of Everybody Hates Chris episodes
Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
1 22 September 22, 2005 May 11, 2006
2 22 October 1, 2006 May 14, 2007
3 22 October 1, 2007 May 18, 2008
4 22 October 3, 2008 May 8, 2009


U.S. broadcast history

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UPN

  • September 22, 2005 – May 11, 2006: Thursdays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new)

The CW

  • October 1 – 8, 2006: Sundays 7:00 PM/6:00 PM (new)
  • October 16, 2006 – December 10, 2007: Mondays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new)
  • March 2, 2008 – May 18, 2008: Sundays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new)
  • October 3, 2008 – May 8, 2009: Fridays 8:00 PM/7:00 PM (new)
  • September 2009 – August 2012: syndication[13][14]

Nielsen stats

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Season Time Slot (ET/PT) Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Rank Viewers
(in millions)
1 Thursday 8:00 PM September 22, 2005 May 11, 2006 2005–2006 #120 4.3
2 Sunday 7:00 PM October 1, 2006 October 8, 2006 2006–2007 #137 2.7
Monday 8:00 PM October 16, 2006 May 14, 2007
3 Monday 8:00 PM October 1, 2007 December 10, 2007 2007–2008 #198 2.3
Sunday 8:00 PM March 2, 2008 May 18, 2008
4 Friday 8:00 PM October 3, 2008 May 8, 2009 2008–2009 #176 1.7

Syndication

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The show aired regularly on broadcast TV during the week, and aired on Fox, MyNetworkTV and The CW affiliates. The show started airing on September 7, 2009, on Nick at Nite, becoming the youngest syndicated show on Nickelodeon. The series has since aired on TeenNick, TV One, Up, MTV2, VH1, BET, BET Her, and Fuse, Bounce TV and Laff (TV network). The series currently airs on the free-to-air DABL network.

In Canada, the show has aired on the networks YTV and Much. In the UK, the show formerly aired on Channel 5, Paramount Comedy 1 and Sky Comedy. In Brazil, the series premiered on RecordTV in October 2006 and, as of 2022, reruns are still regularly broadcast on Sundays due to its immense popularity in the country.

In Kenya, the show aired on Kenya Television Network between 2006 and 2009. Between 2006 and 2008 the series use to air on Sunday at 7:35 am. In 2009, the show used to air on the same TV channel on Saturday 7:35 am.

Awards

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Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Everybody Hates Chris

Everybody Hates Chris won NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (for Ali LeRoi), Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (for Tichina Arnold), and Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series (for Tyler James Williams).[15][16] It has also been nominated for a Golden Globe and three Emmy Awards. In December 2008, Entertainment Weekly listed the Kwanzaa episode from this show as seventh on the magazine's "Must List: 10 Holiday Things We Love."[17]

Home media

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All four seasons of Everybody Hates Chris were released on DVD by Paramount (under the label CBS DVD) in Region 1 and Region 2.[18][19][20][21] The complete series was released on DVD on August 18, 2009.[22]

Streaming

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The series is available to stream on Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video (through Paramount+), Hulu, Disney+ (through Hulu) and Peacock, and can be streamed for free on Crackle, CW Seed, ITV X, Pluto TV, and Tubi.[23] The series is often streamed with Season 1 incomplete, but Paramount+ and Peacock now have the complete season set. The series is also available to be purchased on the iTunes Store, Google TV, YouTube, and Vudu. In Mexico the series is available to stream on HBO Max.

References

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  1. ^ "Museum Of Television & Radio, The: 2006 William S. Paley Television Festival: Everybody Hates Chris {Twenty-Third Annual}". Paley Center for Media. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  2. ^ "Chris Rock". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Everybody Hates Chris". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Everybody Hates Chris: Pilot {Series Premiere} (TV)". Paley Center. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Everybody Hates Chris: Everybody Hates Basketball (TV)". Paley Center for Media. Archived from the original on August 3, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Stanley, Alessandra (September 22, 2005). "A Boy Grows in Brooklyn, With a Voice-Over". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Sepinwall, Alan (September 23, 2005). "Chris Rocks". The Spokesman-Review. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  8. ^ The CW announces fall schedule Archived 2012-09-20 at the Wayback Machine, Entertainment Weekly, 21 March 2009.
  9. ^ "Chris Rock Ending 'Everybody Hates Chris' After This Season". enewsi.com. April 24, 2009. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012.
  10. ^ a b Milligan, Mercedes (August 2, 2022). "MTV Reanimates Chris Rock's Teen Years in 'Everybody Still Hates Chris'". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Herenda, Devin (February 13, 2022). "17 Years Later, The "Everybody Hates Chris" Cast Is Still Killin' It". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g "Rants & Reviews - The Futon's First Look: "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN)". TheFutonCritic.com. July 27, 2005. Archived from the original on August 3, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  13. ^ "Breaking News - Award-Winning Series Everybody Hates Chris to Join Nick at Nite's Line-Up, Fall 2009". TheFutonCritic.com. March 3, 2008. Archived from the original on August 3, 2023.
  14. ^ "Chicago syndie schedules get dramatic makeover". T Dog Media. September 4, 2012.
  15. ^ "Ali LeRoi". Humanitas Prize. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  16. ^ "NAACP Image Awards". CBS News. February 27, 2006. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
  17. ^ "The Must List: Week of December 14, 2008". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1026. December 19, 2008. p. 68. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  18. ^ "Everybody Hates Chris - The 1st Season DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. September 28, 2015. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  19. ^ "Everybody Hates Chris - The 2nd Season". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  20. ^ "Everybody Hates Chris - The 3rd Season". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  21. ^ "Everybody Hates Chris - The 4th Season". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 28, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  22. ^ "Everybody Hates Chris: The Complete Series". Amazon. August 18, 2009. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  23. ^ "Everybody Hates Chris | Where to Stream and Watch". Decider. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
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