| 100 |
Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
[A] rare work of brilliance. |
| 100 |
Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy
Blends Rock's signature, whip-smart irreverence with richly humorous, character-driven stories of his own adolescence to create the rare family comedy that is both hilariously honest and filled with heart. |
| 100 |
Miami Herald Glenn Garvin
Sweet but never treacly, nostalgic but never dishonest, startlingly frank about race and always painfully funny, Everybody Hates Chris is the sitcom for which the networks have been yearning for the better part of a decade. |
| 100 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
It's one of the best new shows from any network this year, and is a total, almost giddy delight from start to finish. |
| 100 |
San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman
With elements of "Wonder Years," "Cosby" and the "The Jeffersons," but also a spirit all its own, "Chris" is a sitcom that finally makes the family funny again. |
| 100 |
USA Today Robert Bianco
It is, in short, a show about real life, as seen through the eyes of one of the funniest men in America. |
| 100 |
Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker
A hugely likable sitcom is born. |
| 90 |
PopMatters Michael Buening
The networks have been wondering how to compete with the no-holds barred nature of cable programming. This is it. |
| 90 |
Variety Phil Gallo
It could be a "Wonder Years" for a new generation. |
| 90 |
Wall Street Journal Nancy DeWolf Smith
What makes it uniquely entertaining are Mr. Rock's and co-creator Ali LeRoi's humorous insights into the terrors of adolescence and their tart observations about harsh realities of the wider world. |
| 90 |
New York Magazine John Leonard
The best of the new fall sitcoms. |
| 90 |
The New Republic Lee Siegel
"Everybody Hates Chris" is something more than the wise, tender, funny portrayal of the evolution of a gifted mind. It's actually something very rare on television, even rarer in the movies, and almost non-existent in contemporary fiction. It's the wise, tender, funny portrait of a poor kid. |
| 90 |
The Onion A.V. Club
Comparisons to The Wonder Years are inevitable, but Everybody Hates Chris scrapes away much of that golden nostalgia by putting a funny spin on frequently painful times. |
| 90 |
Salon Heather Havrilesky
The kid is funny, the mom is funny, the dad is funny, the stories are funny, and Rock's voice-over is fantastic. |
| 90 |
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
[It has] a rich mix of sharp observant humor and a sure feel for the family dynamic. |
| 90 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland
Real and relatable, "Chris" may be the best new comedy of a season filled with sitcoms worth viewing. |
| 90 |
Slate Dana Stevens
Unexpectedly sweet-spirited. |
| 90 |
Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart
“Everybody Hates Chris” is one of those rare nostalgia shows that doesn’t patronize childhood. |
| 90 |
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
Much of the charm in this show, as well as the humor, comes from Rock's ability to vanquish political correctness in favor of a candid but affectionate look at the past. |
| 90 |
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
Every bit as good as the advance praise has made it out to be. |
| 90 |
Cleveland Plain Dealer Mark Dawidziak
It easily lives up to its advance billing as the best new show of the fall season. |
| 90 |
Baltimore Sun David Zurawik
Rock deals with a harsher teen reality than Cosby did in his Fat Albert days, but he is hitting the same universal notes of conflict, love, weirdness and strength found in close-knit families. |
| 88 |
Houston Chronicle Mike McDaniel
There's a lot to love about Everybody Hates Chris. |
| 80 |
Flak Magazine Tamara Watkins
"Everybody Hates Chris" is family-friendly, but it doesn't detract considerably from Rock's usual profanity-drenched style of (brutally) honest comedy. Rather, the scope of the show's humor is broadened, and allows the coming-of-age tale to speak to the general experiences of growing up. |
| 80 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
If Rock and co-creator Ali LeRoi can continue to bring depth to the characters without succumbing to cliche or sentiment, they will be on a promising path. |
| 80 |
Los Angeles Times Paul Brownfield
The show thus far feels more observational than story-driven; it relies on our desire to listen to Rock talk. And we do want to listen, because Rock is hilarious. |
| 80 |
The New York Times Alessandra Stanley
"Everybody Hates Chris" is the first show in a long time centered on a teenager whose main problem is not adolescent angst, but real life. And Mr. Rock makes it funny, not maudlin or mean. |
| 80 |
The New Yorker Nancy Franklin
Rock is able to find humor in every aspect of his childhood. |
| 80 |
LA Weekly Robert Abele
So far, Everybody Hates Chris has felt like a textbook example of how you fold a comedian’s sensibility into a familiar TV genre. |
| 80 |
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
Let's get this straight. Everybody Hates Chris is not the Second Coming. But it is one of the season's best new series. |
| 80 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
Should appeal to fans of Rock and to viewers who long for a family comedy reminiscent of "The Cosby Show" (albeit with a sharper edge). |
| 50 |
New York Post Linda Stasi
What's missing here are the big laughs, despite Rock's clever narration. |
