"You see, this is the problem, America - you can beat some of the people some of the time, but you can't beat your kids" - Bernie Mac
The Bernie Mac Show: Season 1 DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
In his self-named sitcom, comedian Bernie Mac has an almost perfect life. As one of the headliners of "The Original Kings of Comedy," his stand-up career is at its peak. His wife Wanda (Kellita Smith) is the world's sexiest AT&T exec. Their sprawling southern California home - complete with a weight room and Mac's beloved home entertainment system - is in such a tony neighborhood that The Dick Van Dyke Show's Carl Reiner lives across the street. Yes, America, Bernie Mac has it all. Well, not exactly. You see, his already full life is about to get a little crowded. Mac's sister has entered rehab.again.and he has agreed to take care of her three children: teenaged Vanessa (Camille Winbush), eight-year-old Jordan (Jeremy Suarez), and four-year-old Bryana (Dee Dee Davis). Suddenly the house is not quite big enough.
Since Wanda has a full time job, Mac finds himself in the unlikely position of becoming the kids' primary caregiver and a stay-at-home dad. This is a big step for someone who often uses the term "my babies" to refer to his Cuban cigars. This newly minted family must find a way of getting along. Mac has a comically short temper and is hyper aware that the kids are crimping his style. The kids, too, have their quirks. Smart-mouthed Vanessa is a natural gymnast but a lazy student. Jordan slowly develops from a shy asthmatic runt to a slightly demonic asthmatic runt. "Baby Girl" Bryana is a naïve little angel with a mind like a sponge.a sponge that soaks up every bad word uttered by Mac and repeats them in front of her teachers.
With his caustic wit and his short fuse, Mac practices some rather unconventional parenting techniques. When the kids become sick, he practically wears a biohazard suit so as to avoid falling ill, too. When Jordan vomits, Mac is prompted to clean the kid off with a hose. Mac's preferred method of waking up Jordan each morning is to shoot him with a squirt gun because "he hate water worse than a cat." He awakens Bryana by grabbing her ankles and shaking her vigorously upside down.
The Bernie Mac Show manages to combine the life lessons found in traditional family sitcoms like The Cosby Show and Leave it to Beaver with hip, sometimes edgy humor. One of the show's strengths is that like The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and It's Garry Shandling's Show, it allows its star to break the fourth wall and communicate directly with the audience, commenting on the action. It is obvious that Mac loves these kids, but his isn't afraid to share his frustrations and doubts with us. Onscreen captions provide yet another layer of commentary, zeroing in on points of interest for viewers at home, sometimes even telling us things of which Mac is unaware.
The series also benefits from being filmed with one camera. This style, also used by Malcolm in the Middle, is closer in form to a feature film rather than to a traditional sitcom. No studio audience or laugh track is used. Tradition sitcoms are filmed like miniature plays, with the action occurring continuously. By ditching this style, The Bernie Mac Show is free to explore comedy in ways that regular sitcoms cannot, as in "Now You Got It!" where we follow fluorescent green cold germs as they are passed from person to person onscreen throughout the episode.
The cast is almost perfect. Mac is effective both when talking directly to us and when interacting with other cast members. His character could have simply been a grump, but Mac often shows us the hurt and emotion that lie just beneath the surface of his rants. Surely it helps that the series is loosely based on his life. Smith's cool, calm demeanor is the perfect compliment to Mac's sometimes fiery behavior. They make for an interesting, believable couple. Winbush captures Vanessa's surly teenage attitude while simultaneously showing just how difficult it has been to leave her mother's home in Chicago. Suarez and Davis are cute and funny without being cloying.
The show also makes terrific use of classic soul music. Almost every episode features an unforgettable song by the likes of James Brown, The 5 Stairsteps, and Bill Withers.
It is hard to point out one or two episodes that stand out above all of the others. There is, for example, no equivalent to Seinfeld's "Master of my Domain" episode here. That isn't necessarily a flaw. The show is even keeled, displaying a consistently high quality throughout the season. There are still plenty of laughs to be had in each episode. The characters are fun to spend a half hour with, even when the situations are routine.
The Bernie Mac Show is sweet, funny, and edgy. With the end of more attention-grabbing shows like Friends (currently in its third-and-final final year) and Frasier (which creatively closed shop at least five seasons ago but is just now physically doing so), Bernie Mac should fill a void for people just wanting a good laugh.
Guests stars in the first season include Carl Reiner, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marcus Allen, Halle Berry, Billy Crystal, Don Cheadle, and Irma P. Hall.
The twenty-two episodes that make up the first season are divided (in airdate order) onto four discs. The discs are housed in slim cases which spotlight individual characters from the show. The backs of the cases list the episode titles, writer and director credits, original airdates, and provide brief synopses of the episodes. The cases slide into a cardboard slipcase. Viewers can choose to play all episodes on a disc, or individual ones. The nifty-looking menu design mimics the opening title sequence of the series. Chapter stops are included in the episodes.
