The Bernie Mac Show

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The Bernie Mac Show
Berniemac.PNG
Season 1 DVD cover
Genre Sitcom
Running time 22 minutes
Creator(s) Larry Wilmore
Starring Bernie Mac
Kellita Smith
Camille Winbush
Jeremy Suarez
Dee Dee Davis
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel FOX
Original run November 14, 2001–April 14, 2006
No. of episodes 104
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Bernie Mac Show was a half-hour American sitcom featuring the comedic antics of comedian Bernie Mac. The show completed five seasons on Fox before being cancelled in May 2006.

Contents

[edit] Characteristics of the Show

The show was loosely based on Mac's stand-up comedy acts. In real life, Bernie "Mac' McCollough is married with one child; Mac's character on the show (also 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.

Mac's character's celebrity worked as a plot device allowing other celebrities to appear on the show as themselves. Ashton Kutcher, Billy Crystal, Don Rickles, Angela Bassett, Ellen DeGeneres, Ice Cube, Isaac Hayes, Lucy Lawless, Triple H, Matt Damon, and Shaquille O'Neal are among those who made guest appearances.

[edit] Awards

The Bernie Mac Show won the prestigious 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 four years in a row: 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

[edit] 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"[citation needed]. 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.[1]

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.

[edit] Airings

The show has been airing in syndication since September 2005 and will be on the FX network in 2008.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1: 2001-2002

  1. Pilot (11/14/2001)
  2. Now You Got It (11/14/2001)
  3. The Main Event (11/21/2001)
  4. Bernie Mac, Ladies Man (11/28/2001)
  5. Saving Bernie Mac (12/5/2001)
  6. Here To Stay (12/12/2001)
  7. A Christmas Story(12/19/2001)
  8. Starting School(1/2/2002)
  9. Hot Hot Hot (1/16/2002)
  10. Wanda's Week Off (1/23/2002)
  11. The King and I (1/30/2002)
  12. Hall of Fame (2/6/2002)
  13. Handle Your Business (2/13/2002)
  14. Back in the Day (2/20/2002)
  15. Lock Down (3/6/2002)
  16. Mac 101 (3/27/2002)
  17. If I Were N-Riched Man (4/3/2002)
  18. Stop Having Sex (4/17/2002)
  19. Secrets and Lies (5/1/2002)
  20. Kelly's Heroes (5/8/2002)
  21. Sweet Home Chicago (1) (5/15/2002)
  22. Sweet Home Chicago (2) (5/15/2002)

[edit] Season 2: 2002-2003

  1. Keep It on the Short Grass (9/18/2002)
  2. Goodbye Dolly (9/25/2002)
  3. Carfool (10/30/2002)
  4. Mac Local 137 (11/6/2002)
  5. Welcome to the Jungle (11/13/2002)
  6. Bernie Mac Dance Party (11/20/2002)
  7. Tryptophan-tasy (11/27/2002)
  8. The United Front (12/4/2002)
  9. The Sweet Life (12/11/2002)
  10. Sin Cup (1/15/2003)
  11. Bernie Mac Rope-a-Dope (2/5/2003)
  12. Magic Jordan (2/12/2003)
  13. Raging Election (2/26/2003)
  14. Leaving Los Angeles (3/12/2003)
  15. Pink Gold (3/19/2003)
  16. Chess Wars (4/9/2003)
  17. The Incredible Bulk (4/16/2003)
  18. Maid Man (4/23/2003)
  19. Nut Job (4/30/2003)
  20. The Other Sister (5/7/2003)
  21. Meet The Grandparents (5/7/2003)
  22. For a Few Dollars More (5/14/2003)

[edit] Season 3: 2003-2004

  1. Eye of the Tiger (11/30/2003)
  2. Love Thy Nephew (12/7/2003)
  3. Road to Tradition (12/14/2003)
  4. Laughing Matters (12/21/2003)
  5. Hair Jordan (1/4/2004)
  6. Love Bug (1/11/2004)
  7. It's A Wonderful Wife (1/25/2004)
  8. Family Reunion (2/8/2004)
  9. Droobie or Not Droobie (2/15/2004)
  10. J-O-R-D-A-N Spells Funny (2/22/2004)
  11. Make Room for Caddy (3/7/2004)
  12. Saving Sergeant Tompkins (3/14/2004)
  13. It's Mac-ademic (3/22/2004)
  14. The Getaway (3/29/2004)
  15. Easy Rider (4/5/2004)
  16. Who's That Lady (4/12/2004)
  17. Mac-Inations (4/12/2004)
  18. That Old Mac Magic (4/26/2004)
  19. The Talk (4/26/2004)
  20. Five Stages of Bryana (6/15/2004)
  21. Go Bernie, It's Your Birthday (6/22/2004)
  22. Thanksgiving (6/29/2004)

[edit] Season 4: 2004-2005

  1. Big Brother (9/8/2004)
  2. Training Wheels (9/15/2004)
  3. Being Bernie Mac (9/22/2004)
  4. Mac Overdrive (9/29/2004)
  5. My Privacy (1/14/2005)
  6. Who Gives This Bride (1/14/2005)
  7. Nerdy Mac (1/21/2005)
  8. Stone Nuts (1/28/2005)
  9. Jack & Jacqueline (2/4/2005)
  10. Manchild in Vanessa Land (2/11/2005)
  11. You Don't Know Squad (2/18/2005)
  12. You Got Served (2/25/2005)
  13. I Don't Wanna Be a Playa No More (3/11/2005)
  14. The Big Picture (3/18/2005)
  15. The Music Mac (4/1/2005)
  16. Walk Like a Man (4/8/2005)

[edit] Season 5: 2005-2006

  1. Father Knows Best (9/23/2005)
  2. Wrestling With A Sticky Situation (9/23/2005)
  3. Marathon Mac (9/30/2005)
  4. The Big Payback (10/7/2005)
  5. Car Wars (10/21/2005)
  6. Night of Terror (10/28/2005)
  7. For Whom The Belt Tolls (11/4/2005)
  8. Pop Pop Goes The Weasel (11/11/2005)
  9. Prison Break (11/18/2005)
  10. Some Church Bull (12/2/2005)
  11. Sorely Missed (12/16/2005)
  12. Fumes of Detente (1/6/2006)
  13. Exercise In Fertility (1) (1/13/2006)
  14. Exercise In Fertility (2) (1/20/2006)
  15. Fantasy Football (1/27/2006)
  16. Bar Mitzvah Crashers (2/3/2006)
  17. Who's Your Mama (3/31/2006)
  18. What Would Jason Do (3/31/2006)
  19. It's Never As Bad As the First Time (4/7/2006)
  20. Spinning Wheels (4/7/2006)
  21. Growing Pains (4/14/2006)
  22. Bernie's Angels (4/14/2006)

[edit] Regular cast

[edit] Recurring cast

[edit] DVD Releases

Season Releases

DVD Name Release Date Ep # Additional Information
Season 1 May 4, 2004 22 Bonus features include commentary on the Pilot from Bernie Mac and A 60 minute "A & E Tvography".

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.

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