The Parent 'Hood

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The Parent 'Hood

The cast of The Parent 'Hood
Format Sitcom
Created by Pamela Grant
Tracey Ormandy
Warren Hutcherson
Starring Robert Townsend
Suzzanne Douglass
Ashli Amari Adams
Curtis Williams
Reagan Gomez-Preston
Cory King (Season 4-5)
Kenny Blank (Season 1-3)
Kelly Perine (Season 5)
Faizon Love (Season 1-4)
Tyrone Burton (Season 4-5)
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of episodes 90
Production
Running time 30 Minutes
(with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel The WB
Original run January 18, 1995 – July 25, 1999
Chronology
Preceded by Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime (1988-1991)
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom that aired from 1995 until 1999 on The WB. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglass. The Parent 'Hood, along with The Wayans Bros., Unhappily Ever After and Muscle were the first four programs to be aired on the upstart WB network in January 1995 (with The Parent 'Hood being the last to end its run).

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The series is about an upper middle-class black family in Harlem, New York City named the Petersons. Robert Peterson (Robert Townsend) is a college professor at New York University, and his wife Jerri (Suzzanne Douglass) is a law student. They try to balance their lives, their work, and their four children at the same time. The four kids span the ages from teens to toddlers. The oldest two, 16-year-old Michael (Kenny Blank) and 15-year-old Zaria (Reagan Gomez-Preston), are reaching that age where they're eager to spread their wings and are ready to experiment with each other and avoid being seen with their not quite cool parents. Nicholas (Curtis Williams) is a bright eyed 8-year-old who is quickly discovering the joys of mischief. 4-year-old Cece (Ashli Adams) is the darling of the family. Offering his own offbeat point of view is Robert's childhood buddy, Wendell (Faizon Love).

Robert's love for his kids - combined with his vivid imagination (prompting frequent fantasy sequences) and impulsive energy - propels him to do extraordinary things on their behalf as he continually dreams up untraditional solutions to traditional family problems. Many critics from news organizations such as the Associated Press and Atlanta Journal-Constitution often referred to the show as the Cosby Show of the 1990's.

[edit] Frequent cast changes

Throughout its five season run, each season brought about cast changes that were either explained or unexplained. Carol Woods, who played Mrs. Wilcox the housekeeper and Wendell's mother left the series after the first season. Bobby McGee, who played one of Robert's childhood friends also left the series after season one. Faizon Love, who was a reoccurring character in season one became a regular in season two. The fourth season, Kenny Blank, who played Michael Peterson left the series and his character was explained to be off to college. Blank's departure also saw the exit of Nigel Thatch and Tasha Scott. Thatch, played Shakeim, Zaria's militant but lovable boyfriend and Scott, played Theresa, who was the lead singer in Michael's band and Zaria's friend. Season three ended with a cliffhanger that was never explained with Shakeim leaving to start Morehouse College early and Skye (Shyheim), another member of Michael's band confessing his feelings for Zaria. Shakeim decides to stay and attend NYU in the fall instead. As Zaria and Skye (Shyheim) began to discuss the situation, Shakeim walks into the room with Zaria running upstairs.

Tyrone Dorzell Burton was introduced as a street wise kid named T.K in the season four premiere. The episode focused around him and his situation. It could be assumed that Zaria, Shakeim and Skye decided to go their separate ways over the summer as the storyline was never resolved on camera. Hollywood Insider reported that the series was slated to be canceled by WB in May 1998 leaving another nasty cliffhanger but WB gave the series a last minute 13 episode renewal for midseason. Faizon Love left the series and Kelly Perine replaced him as Robert's brother Kelly in the final season.

[edit] The later seasons

The show took a different turn at the beginning of the 1997-1998 season. Michael (Blank) was written out of the series with his absence was explained as him going off to college. With his oldest son at college, Robert allows a troubled teenager from juvenile hall to live with him and his family. T.K.'s (Tyrone Burton) father was an ex-convict, and his mother (Bern Nadette Stanis) was a drug addict who left him on the street. Jerri was the only person who didn't give up on T.K., and welcomed him into her home, even though Robert did not think it was a good idea.

During this season, more teenage storylines were employed including domestic abuse, peer pressure and Robert reaching out to many of T.K.'s street friends trying to help them change their lives. One character, Boo played by Da Brat, gets her high school diploma thanks to Robert and T.K.

In the 1997-98 fourth season finale, T.K. gets into a fight with several thugs (Tyrese Gibson appears in a non-speaking role), and Robert tries to talk him out the situation. Robert and T.K. leave and the thugs fire the gun, ending the episode on a cliffhanger. The show's final season was placed on hiatus after the cliffhanger episode, and did not return until May 23, 1999, a year after the season finale aired. In the last couple of episodes in the fifth season, Jerri has finally had enough of T.K.'s mischief and has him removed from the house, but before he moves out of the house, T.K. and the family checks up on Robert, who has fallen into a coma. While in a coma, Robert meets a guardian angel named Max (Barry Sobel) and convinces Robert to change his mind about the shooting and T.K. Robert finally awakes from the coma and all is forgiven. In later episodes, T.K. is seen trying to get his act together. T.K. also sees his mom again one more time where he decides he wants to move back in with her but she relapses back into substance abuse. The Petersons tell T.K. their home is always open to him.

In the last episode, which was not produced nor written as the last episode, Jerri and Robert renew their wedding vows and the cast is seen dancing in a Soul Train line before the final commercial break.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of The Parent 'Hood episodes

[edit] Cast

[edit] Syndication

Episodes used to air TBS[1] during the early morning hours. The series now airs on TV One.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Schlosser, Joe. "BS buys Moesha, Parent 'Hood. (Turner Broadcasting System buys off-network rights to television programs)", Broadcasting & Cable, 2007-07. Retrieved on 2007-11-06. 
  2. ^ TV One List of programs

[edit] External links