Everybody Hates Chris

Everybody Hates Chris
Genre	Situation comedy
Created by	Chris Rock Ali LeRoi
Developed by	Chris Rock Ali LeRoi
Creative director(s)	Andrew Orenstein
Starring	Terry Crews Tichina Arnold Tequan Richmond Imani Hakim Vincent Martella Tyler James Williams
Narrated by	Chris Rock
Theme music composer	Marcus Miller
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	88 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Chris Rock Ali LeRoi
Producer(s)	Adrienne Carter
Editor(s)	Earl Watson
Location(s)	Paramount Television
Cinematography	Mark Doering-Powell
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	20 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	UPN (2005–2006) The CW (2006–2009)
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	5.1 Surround Sound
Original run	September 22, 2005 (2005-09-22) – May 8, 2009 (2009-05-08)
Status	Canceled

Everybody Hates Chris is an American situation comedy inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock (who is also the narrator), while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York (often referred to in the show as Bed-Stuy) from 1982 to 1987. The title of the show parodies the CBS show Everybody Loves Raymond. Rock stated "Everybody Loves Raymond but Everybody Hates Chris!". The show's lead actors are Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold and Tyler James Williams in the title role as Chris.

In Fall 2008, the The CW moved its two African American shows, Everybody Hates Chris and The Game, to the Friday night death slot. The fourth season of the series premiered Friday, October 3, 2008, at 8:00PM Eastern/7:00PM Central.

On May 21, 2009, The CW announced that they had canceled Everybody Hates Chris.^[1] Prior to this, executive producer (and inspiration for the show) Chris Rock announced that the end of season 4 matched up with his own past — dropping out of high school to become a comedian — and that it was time to end the show.^[2] This was the last sitcom from either the UPN or The WB networks to have aired recently.

Background

The show was produced by CBS Paramount Television and was broadcast on the The CW, features fictional characters and situations loosely based on real people and situations. Unlike other CW sitcoms at the time of its debut, Everybody Hates Chris is shot using a single camera^[3] with no 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.

With the recent cancellation of Girlfriends and the WWE's decision to move SmackDown to MyNetworkTV in the fall of 2008, Everybody Hates Chris, along with America's Next Top Model, was the last running television programs to have aired both on UPN and on The CW. The show's first season began just before the merger between UPN and The WB, leading to the CW.

In fall 2008, the The CW moved the series, along with The Game, to the Friday night "death slot". The fourth season of EHC premiered Friday October 3, 2008 at 8:00PM Eastern/7:00PM Central.

Production wrapped up for Everybody Hates Chris at the end of the fourth season, with a final scene that spoofed the the final scene of The Sopranos, in which they both cut to black.

Plot summary

The show revolves around the everyday life of Chris, who is a 13-year-old seventh grade student in the series' first episode. Chris is one of the few "normal" characters on the show, surrounded by a collection of eccentric characters that, in his point of view, act as if they dislike him. Chris lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, a low-income community and attends an all-white school, where students and teachers alike pick on him. If events progress favorably for Chris throughout an episode, they will almost certainly backfire on him by the end. Likewise, if a situation isn't going Chris' way, it always manages to get even worse for him, whether or not he tries to change the course of events.

The guest characters on the show all seem to detest Chris for some unknown reason. In fact, comedian Chris Rock, upon whose early life the show is based, made a guest appearance as the guidance counselor, Mr. Abbott, who also disliked Chris and unhelpfully focused on how Chris was in trouble academically. Even the warmest of guest characters have some inexplicable dislike of Chris, such as one character named Kris (Richard Lewis), who was injured and in the hospital.

In the third season finale, Chris graduates from Corleone Junior High School, but his joy is cut short when his best friend Greg moves to a new school—Chris quickly hatches a plan to go to Greg's high school. Greg ends up having to go to Chris' high school due to poor grades.

Series finale

The fourth and final season concluded with a half-hour series finale titled "Everybody Hates the G.E.D.", which focused on Chris getting his G.E.D. after he decides to drop out of school due to having to repeat the tenth grade for constantly being late. His parents oppose at first, but they later decide to support and love him regardless. The final episode was a spoof of the also canceled Sopranos. The entire Rock family was in a diner with Chris's G.E.D results and as soon they were going to announce his results the screen goes black.

Cast and characters

Reception

Reviews for the show are generally positive.

The American Film Institute selected Everybody Hates Chris as one of the best 10 television series of 2007, stating that the show "provides a very real look at growing up in America - a challenge that demands a discussion of race and class often absent from television today".^[4]

Everybody Hates Chris won an NAACP Image Award for its writing in 2008. It has also been nominated for Golden Globe and Emmy Awards.

In December 2008, Entertainment Weekly lists the Kwanzaa episode from this show as seventh on the magazine's "Must List: 10 Holiday Things We Love".^[5]

Syndication

The show airs regularly on The CW during the week. The show was launched on September 7, 2009 on Nick at Nite, becoming the youngest syndicated show on the network, beating George Lopez. The show also airs on weekdays on BET.

Everybody Hates Chris is the first TV show to be available for free preview on Google Videos.

Awards

Nielsen Ratings

U.S. broadcast history

UPN

• September 2005 – May 2006: Thursdays 8:00pm/7:00pm (new)

The CW

• October 2006 – October 2006: Sundays 7:00pm/6:00pm (new)
• October 2006 – March 2008: Mondays 8:00pm/7:00pm (new)
• March 2008 – May 2008: Sundays 8:00pm/7:00pm (new)
• October 2008 – Fridays 8:00pm/7:00pm (new)
• December 2008 – Sundays 5:00pm/4:00pm (Repeats)
• September 2009 – everyday 10:00pm/9:00pm (Repeats)^[6]

Nickelodeon

• September 2009 (repeats)

B.E.T *weekday 5:00pm/6:00pm (repeats)

International broadcast history

Everybody Hates Chris is broadcast on the following stations (and many others) around the world:

Region	Network(s)	Regional Title
Albania	Koha TV	Te Gjithë e urrejnë Krisin
Australia	Network Ten / Ten HD / The Comedy Channel	Everybody Hates Chris
Austria	ORF 1 / ProSieben Austria	Alle hassen Chris
Belgium	VT4/ La deux	Everybody Hates Chris (subtitled) / Tout Le Monde Déteste Chris (dubbed)
Brazil	Sony Brazil / Rede Record	Todo Mundo Odeia o Chris
Bosnia and Herzegovina	FTV	Svi mrze Chrisa
Bulgaria	GTV	Всички мразят Крис
Canada	Citytv, YTV (YTV- September 7, 2009 at 8:30pm)	Everybody Hates Chris
Croatia	Nova TV	Svi Mrze Chrisa
Denmark	TV 2 Zulu	Everybody Hates Chris
Ecuador	Sony
Falkland Islands	Falkland Islands Television Service	Everybody Hates Chris
Finland	Nelonen	Lapsuuteni Luuserina
France	M6	Tout Le Monde Déteste Chris
Germany	ProSieben	Alle hassen Chris
Hong Kong	TVB Pearl	阿傑出少年
Hungary	TV6	Mindenki utálja Christ!
Iceland	SkjárEinn
India	Zee Cafe
Ireland	TV3 Ireland	Everybody Hates Chris
Israel	Bip	כולם שונאים את כריס
Italy	Comedy Central Italy	Tutti Odiano Chris
Jamaica	Television Jamaica (TVJ)	Everybody hates Chris
Kosovo	Kohavision	Te Gjithë e urrejnë Krisin
Latin America	Sony
México	TV Azteca	Todos odian a Chris
Montenegro	TV IN
Netherlands	Veronica	Everybody Hates Chris
New Zealand	C4
Norway	TV2 Norway	Alle Hater Chris
Peru	Sony
Philippines	Jack TV
Poland	Comedy Central Polska	Wszyscy nienawidzą Chrisa
Portugal	RTP2 / Fox	Todos Contra o Chris
Russia	kuraj-bambey.ru / Кураж-Бамбей.Ру	Все Ненавидят Криса
Serbia	Fox televizija	Svi Mrze Krisa
Slovakia	TV Markíza	Chrisa nemá nikto rád
Slovenia	Kanal A	Vsi sovražijo Chrisa
South Africa	SABC 1
Spain	Cuatro	Todo el Mundo Odia a Chris
Sweden	TV4 Komedi	Everybody Hates Chris
Switzerland	TSR 1 (french part) ProSieben Schweiz (German part)	Tout le monde déteste Chris (french part) Alle hassen Chris (German part)
Trinidad and Tobago	CCN TV6 (TV6) / Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG)	Everybody Hates Chris
Turkey	ComedyMax	Everybody Hates Chris
United Kingdom	Comedy Central / Fiver / Five / MTV Base / MTV UK	Everybody Hates Chris
Venezuela	RCTV[7]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Everybody Hates Chris

• Everybody Hates Chris at the Internet Movie Database
• Everybody Hates Chris at TV.com