Bernie Mac is the anti-Huxtable. Sure, Bill Cosby's Cliff once told his son Theo, “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.” But Bernie Mac tells his young charges in more graphic detail about the dents he'll make in their skulls, how he'll snap their necks, or the “assus beatus redus” he will inflict. But, he insists, he loves these kids. It's just Bernie Mac saying out loud what us more politically correct types in the audience don't dare utter. And that's what makes The Bernie Mac Show so bracing and subversive. Like Malcolm in the Middle in its prime, here is a series that upends sitcom convention. The premise: Bernie's sister is in rehab, but rather than let her three kids be sent to a foster home, he takes them in…and they turn out (realistically) to be a handful, cramping Bernie's style. In one episode, his casual use of the N-word is picked up by the youngest, who repeats it at school. In another, he hurts the kids' feelings when he jokes about them on a radio show. The 22 inaugural 2001-2002 episodes compiled in this four-disc boxed set generated critical buzz, but then in a game of chicken, The Bernie Mac Show was scheduled opposite the only other primetime major network series with an African-American cast, My Wife and Kids. Bernie Mac, keepin' it real, was clobbered by the more traditional Damon Wayans series. Get with it America, as Bernie might tirade. DVD extras include audio commentary on the pilot episode by Bernie Mac, co-creator Larry Wilmore, and director Ken Kwapis, as well as the A&E TV-ography episode Bernie Mac: TV's Family Man. Highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)
The Bernie Mac Show: Season 1
Fox, 4 discs, 506 min., not rated, DVD: $49.98 Volume 19, Issue 4
The Bernie Mac Show: Season 1
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