Not having seen the first season when it aired a couple of years ago, I was initially unaware the Rock was not physically in the show, providing the voice-overs for the series instead; much like Daniel Stern did in The Wonder Years so long ago. The series is quirky and is not a literal autobiographical translation of Rock's life, instead giving the writing team enough room to use what he gave them (he's credited with a number of the shows as writer) as well as situations that most kids find themselves in, albeit greatly exaggerated for comic effect. Playing a younger version of Chris is lead Tyler James Williams, a simple enough kid that doesn't really add a lot of timing to the punch lines but the show is far more apt to use Williams as a foil or stooge than the streetwise persona that the real life Chris developed as a means of survival in his Brooklyn, New York childhood. Interestingly though, as the season progressed, Williams did manage to start providing the kind of hint that he had what it took to make it in comedy; a departure from the majority of his work in the first half dozen episodes.

Okay, unlike many other family sitcoms, Everybody Hates Chris was not like other shows these days like The War At Home, where the parents are always being manipulated by the kids; nor was it like Leave It To Beaver where the parents were always the kind hearted, rational folks we all like to hold up as the kind of parents we'd prefer to have had if given a choice. No, this one had the kind of parents that most of us were blessed with; irrational, emotionally driven, and prone to embracing their weaknesses as much as looking out for us. Julius Rock (perfectly played by caring but dumb Terry Crews) and matron Rochelle Rock (Tichina Arnold in another fine role) provided the set of controlling but selfish parents that consider kids to be slaves; Rochelle threatening to beat, torture, or otherwise impose severe sanctions if things did not go her way (extending her attitude towards Julius in fact). The interplay between Rochelle and Julius make up the second most common dynamic of the show after Chris' antics of course. She is the reason he goes to a school where he is the only black kid in his grade (only one other seen a few times in the background); making sure he gets a better education than the school the other neighborhood children go to which has an impact on his social life.

Rounding out the cast were a hodge podge of crazy characters; Drew Rock (Tequan Richmond); Chris' debonair younger brother, Tanya Rock (Imani Hakim), the bratty sister that was much more likely to fight with Drew, such as using false accusations to get her mother on her side, and Greg (Vincent Martella) as Chris' best buddy, a white boy about as helpful as a lump of coal when trouble came from their sworn enemy Caruso (Travis Flory); a redheaded bully that always sought to use the "might makes right" argument against the two heroes of the show. The school where Chris spends so much of his time is also populated by a select cast of weirdoes, including jungle love struck teacher Ms. Morello (Jacqueline Mazarella) and Principal Edwards (Jason Alexander is another fantastically bizarre role using his talents to the fullest). The neighborhood consisted of a variety of thugs, losers, and nutcases too like Whoopi Goldberg as Louise; a newcomer trying to push her way into being in charge of the neighborhood watch program, or Ernest Thomas as Mr. Omar; certainly one of the stranger guys in the building; or even crime punk Malvo (Ricky Harris) who appears as a prime troublemaker of the next step up compared to the regulars who merely take Chris' lunch money.

So what kind of situations does Chris get himself into? This is as varied as each individual episode; all of them starting with the label "everybody hates...". From Chris being played by a new gal always looking for a bigger better deal (in the season opener about rejection) to his desire for popularity in the second and third episodes of the season (where he runs for class president and finds elections as bothersome as being hated by the masses) to the episode where he thwarts a robbery and finds that being on the bad side of Malvo is not a good idea. In each of the better episodes, Chris is making a statement about modern day life by showing us all that we're faced with various challenges that can't always be run away from (though that is the subject of a few other episodes). The abuse of power comes up in the episode where Chris becomes a hall monitor, how stupid grownups can be the subject of the buddy system (a classic Jason Alexander episode only beaten by his role in "Snow Day"; especially the music number and vase breaking bit). As far as overriding themes are concerned, it was clear that Chris' need for popularity was always somewhere lurking in his mind, shown in the DJ, hall monitor, classic dirty joke, and two election episodes the best but not exclusively by any means.

With the third season about to start in a couple of days (on 10/1/2007), I would have originally wondered if the style of humor could have sustained itself for much longer but seeing as how some of the secondary characters were given larger bits outside of Chris' presence, it was clear that there would be room for plenty more using the others more in the future but also expanding on the sarcastic, even occasionally caustic, wit of Chris Rock (the narrator) who would interject words of knowing wisdom as a guy that has been there, done that, and suffered the consequences of his mistakes far too many times (is it any wonder his comedy albums are crossover hits with audiences of all colors?). It's tough to rate a DVD set for a half hour comedy show style airing but I found Everybody Hates Chris: Season Two to be good enough that I will likely pick up a copy of the first season set, rating this one as worthy of Highly Recommended thanks in no small part to the replayability and sweet extras included on the four disc set. In short, Chris Rock...rocks!

Picture: Everybody Hates Chris: The Second Season was another fine example of how to make a currently airing television show look good on DVD with an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 ratio color print free of scratches, grain, and problems. It was crisp and shot with the usual flat lighting a network show is filmed in (this season being focused on 1984, when Rock was 14 years old); showing scant evidence of edge enhancement or aliasing though still not perfect. Originally airing on the CW network, I had my doubts going in but it looked like it could have aired on CBS but for some of the language and situations that they'd never have the nads to put up with. The back cover of the DVD case did worry me with the usual disclaimer about some episodes being edited from their original network versions but there was not much variation in running times here so if any of you have a definitive source of edits; please feel free to send me an email with them.

Sound: The audio was another area where the box cover made it clear that some editing might have taken place but as I heard bits and pieces of various 1980's music, I did not concern myself as much (there were rarely lengthy clips of songs but hearing some of Berlin's No More Words or the Thompson Twins' hit from the year, I left it in the hands of readers to submit changes. The audio was presented with the standard choice of a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround English track or a 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo track in the language of choice. This being a sitcom, most of the audio came firmly from the center channel but the laugh track, music, and special effects seemed to take on a life of their own in the surround version. I think I could count on one hand how few times the subwoofer perked up but this is not surprising, usually related to some of the flashback elements (like the Gorgo clip where the monster is tearing up downtown or perhaps the snow storm effects in the blizzard episode), but there were some times when it came into play.

Extras: The extras were broken up into a couple of groups by me; the ones where something interesting about the show went on and the ones where the kids were involved. The majority of the time, the numerous audio commentaries and deleted scenes added some value to me. The first disc had two commentaries on the second episode alone (Everybody Hates Rejection); one with the kids that showed them goofing off and the good one with Jerry Levine and Ali LeRoi (two of the most influential creators dealing with the show); the guys providing a lot of insight as they discussed aspects of the show. There was also a webisode for Malvo by famed director Debbie Allen but it was too short to really let her go on in detail about the show. Each episode on the first disc (except for Liar) had one or more deleted scenes, many of them at least as funny as the material contained in the episode itself).

The second disc of the four disc set had some choice extras too with a webisode by Jerry Levine on Eggs, an audio commentary by the kids on Promises, and a better commentary by the two parents on Thanksgiving. All the episodes except Kris and Hall Monitors had some deleted scenes too; though this batch wasn't nearly as consistent in terms of laughs. The third disc's extras were similar in this sense, the parents providing a delightful audio commentary on Chain Snatching that got kind of serious and a webisode by Lev L. Spiro (the director) for the same episode. Only Cutting School and DJs had no extras.

The fourth disc had the most extras with three webisodes; Ali LeRoi on Baseball, Jason Alexander on Gambling, and Kelsey Grammer on The Last Day; the three directors giving a head's up on the episodes (Alexander doing the best job in my opinion). Only Gambling had no deleted scene but this was also where the real extras came into play. The 2:38 minute gag reel was cute but too full of mugging cast members, the 45:53 minutes of short features proving to be far more appealing. 20:24 minutes of the batch was taken up with an Everybody Hates The Cast & Crew Again Behind the Scenes look at the cast and crew talking about their roles. Then the 4:31 minute special on Tyler James Williams (Day in the life of...) was cute but spent too much on the younger version of Chris Rock. A 3:54 minute special on Mr. Omar's Women was next as the popular comedian (I used to think he was hilarious as the straight guy on What's Happening thirty+ years ago but his funeral director lothario was great) described his character and punctuated it with some clips from the show. Then a 2:48 minute long special with the character playing Greg giving a tour of the school, a 2:07 minute special on stand ins, a 3:20 minute special on Caruso-isms where some of the idiot's sayings were dissected, a 2:26 minute short exploring Ms. Morello's racism (that she is clueless about) was really cute, and a 6:21 minute long special on wardrobes used on the show were looked at. The discs were all in thin pak cases with liner notes on them, contained in a cardboard box for those who care.

Final Thoughts: Everybody Hates Chris: The Second Season was interesting in a number of ways, the fusion of different styles of comedy for each character adding to the fun for me (Rochelle's passive aggressive rants, Julius' physical comedy, and Tyler's facial expressions during the narrated portions were really well done). The nods to many other popular culture icons (Mr. T, Batman, and even some of the characters the back up cast played in other shows all adding some extra fun). The show was far from perfect but as a slice of life inspired by comedian Chris Rock's growing up in the mean streets of NY, it was certainly a pleasing blend of family styled comedy taken just a step or two further than you would expect to see on one of the bigger networks; effectively earning the laughs by playing harder, faster, and using the rapid style commentary of Chris Rock as the basis for even more chuckles. In short, Everybody Hates Chris: The Second Season showed a lot more heart than sitcoms are known for these days, not exactly avoiding the cheap laughs but always ready to blend them in with some lighter message about a world where little made sense; the world of Chris Rock growing up in the 1980's.