The Bernie Mac Show

infobox television
show_name = The Bernie Mac Show


caption = Season 1 DVD cover
format = Sitcom
runtime = 22 minutes
creator = Larry Wilmore
starring = Bernie Mac
Kellita Smith
Camille Winbush
Jeremy Suarez
Dee Dee Davis(II)
Anthony Anderson (2005-2006)
country = USA
network = FOX
first_aired = November 14, 2001
last_aired = April 14, 2006
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 104
list_episodes = List of The Bernie Mac Show episodes
imdb_id = 0285341
tv_com_id = 3402

"The Bernie Mac Show" is a half-hour American sitcom featuring the antics of late comedian Bernie Mac raising his sister's three kids. The show aired for five seasons (2001-2006) on FOX.

Characteristics of the show

The show was loosely based on Mac's stand-up comedy acts. In real life, Bernie "Mac" McCollough was married with one daughter; Mac's character on the show (a stand-up comedian) was married with no kids of his own. The pilot episode, aired on November 14, 2001, set up the basic premise for the show: the character Bernie Mac takes in his sister's children after she enters rehab (a premise taken from one of Mac's routines in the 2000 film, "The Original Kings of Comedy").

Much of the humor in the show was derived from Mac's continual adjustment to and his unique take on parenthood. A frequent motif of the show was the juxtaposition of Mac's acerbic comments, such as his threats to "bust the (children's) heads 'til the white meat shows," and the deep parental affection he felt towards the trio, which often brought him to the verge of tears during happy moments.

Many of his most emotional scenes occurred in segments in which Mac, while still in character, broke the 'fourth wall' and talked to the television audience. As was also the case during his stand-up routine, Mac habitually addressed the audience as "America" for humorous effect. The lighting of the shots typically appears to be yellowish in color.

Mac's character's celebrity worked as a plot device allowing other celebrities to appear on the show as themselves. Halle Berry, Serena Williams, Chris Rock, Ashton Kutcher, Billy Crystal, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles, Angela Bassett, Ellen DeGeneres, Ice Cube, Isaac Hayes, Lucy Lawless, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Matt Damon, Wesley Snipes, Jon Garland, Sugar Ray Leonard, India Arie, Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O'Neal , Hugh Hefner and Vivica A. Fox have all appeared as themselves over the course of the show.

Awards

"The Bernie Mac Show" won the Peabody Award, the Humanitas Prize, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, three NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, and was honored by the Television Critics Association. For his role in the show, Bernie Mac was honored by the Television Critics Association for Individual Achievement in a Comedy as well as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series five years in a row: 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Broadcast history by season

The show debuted in its time slot on November 14, 2001 with great ratings in its first season, but a weak lead-in "Grounded for Life" may have hurt the show's ratings. Nonetheless, the critically acclaimed show had a very successful rookie season and in the process won a handful of honors including an Emmy Award for 'Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series' and the prestigious Peabody Award. Bernie Mac also received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy Series respectively.

In the fall of 2002, the show aired against the Damon Wayans comedy "My Wife & Kids" which may have hurt the show's momentum in the ratings during the first half of the show's second season run. Larry Wilmore, the show's creator and executive producer, was fired at this time. In interviews, Wilmore said he was fed up with the networks creative interference with the show in addition to constantly shuffling it around the schedule. Fox contended that it wasn't happy with the shows direction under Wilmore in its second season claiming the show "wasn't delivering enough laughs".Fact|date=February 2007 With "The Bernie Mac Show" 's inability to topple "My Wife & Kids" in the Wednesday 8 p.m. timeslot, Fox eventually aired the show after "American Idol", after which it received its highest ratings ever.

The third season was scheduled to start on October 29, 2003 but was postponed due to "The O.C." being moved. Instead the show started the season at the late date of November 30, 2003. The ratings were mediocre despite the large ratings of its lead-in, "The Simpsons". In March 2004, the show was moved to Monday nights in a plan to boost ratings for the new show "Cracking Up", but the ratings were low for both shows. "Cracking Up" was canceled and "The Bernie Mac Show" was pulled from May Sweeps with leftover episodes that aired in June (one of which included an episode about Thanksgiving).

The show finally returned to its original time slot on September 8, 2004 to start the fourth season. The production was shut down a month later due to Bernie's sickness. The show returned on January 14, 2005 with new episodes on Friday nights. Although the ratings were low enough that commentators questioned the show's future (especially when it was postponed from May Sweeps again), the show was renewed for a fifth season.

The fifth season started September 23, 2005 on Friday nights and airings were followed by reruns of the show.

"The Bernie Mac Show" celebrated its 100th episode on February 3, 2006 [http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1] despite the fact that the actual 100th episode was not aired until March 31.

On May 17, 2006 FOX announced the cancellation of "The Bernie Mac Show" after five seasons and 104 episodes. The show never got a proper series finale. According to NAACP's analysis, FOX's cancellation of "The Bernie Mac Show" means that for the first time in recent history, there is not a comedy with an African American lead character on the four major broadcast networks, FOX, CBS, NBC and ABC.

Episodes

Airings

The show has been airing in syndication since September 2005 and is on the FX network as of 2008.

Regular cast

*Bernie Mac — "Bernard "Bernie Mac" McCullough" (himself)
*Kellita Smith — "Wanda "Baby" McCullough"
*Anthony Anderson — "Bryan Brown" (Season 4-5)
*Camille Winbush — "Vanessa "Nessa" Thomkins"
*Jeremy Suarez — "Jordan "The Boy" Thomkins"
*Dee Dee Davis(II) — "Bryana "Baby Girl" Thomkins"

Recurring cast

* Reginald Ballard - "W.B."
* Carlos Mencia (pilot), Lombardo Boyar - "Chuy"
* Michael Ralph (I) - "Kelly"
* Rick Hoffman (I) - "Jerry Best"
* Wade Williams (II) - "Father Sean Cronin - The Dean of Discipline"

Main crew

* Creator: Larry Wilmore [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285341/ "The Bernie Mac Show" (2001) ] ]
* Executive Producers: Pete Aronson, Warren Hutcherson.
* Co-Executive Producers: Bernie Mac, Richard Appel, Teri Schaffer, Michael Benson, Marc Abrams.
* Producers: Michael Petok, Steven Greener

DVD releases

Season Releases

The Season One DVD boxset was released on DVD May 4, 2004, and there haven't been any announcements on any more Seasons being released in the near future. The reason for this could be about music rights, which was the case for "Malcolm in the Middle" Season 2, however there is no confirmation from FOX.

References

External links

* [http://epguides.com/BernieMacShow/ "The Bernie Mac Show" at epguides.com]