We Didn't Know What We Had

I've been really sad about the passing of comedian and actor Bernie Mac these past few days. I knew that his health had been failing for a few years, which lead to the cessation of his sitcom, but I really didn't expect us to lose him at such a young age. I became a real Bernie Mac fan after seeing "The Original Kings Of Comedy". He tore the house down and out shined the rest of 'the court'.



But what really put me over the moon for my fellow Chi-town native was "The Bernie Mac Show". I don't think people ever gave the show enough credit and I would wager to say that it was the best television representation of a Black family since The Cosby Show. Around the time the show premiered,a few other shows had also made an attempt at the same premise: urban Black parents attempting to raise their children in suburban environments. While "The Hughleys" relied on the tired "Black people and White people are soooo different!" routine, "My Wife And Kids" focused more on the husband-wife and parent-child relationships than the family-neighborhood connection (which worked like a charm until the writing went south and the son was rendered a complete goon for laughs).

"The Bernie Mac Show" greatly out shined the other two. It masterfully addressed Mac's relationship with his adopted nieces and nephew and detailed the struggles of he and his wife adjusting to instant parenthood. The kids, taken from Bernie's crackhead sister's care, were not ghetto stereotypes or the typical one note child performers. While fitting some commonly used archetypes (the mean big sister, the nerdy brother, the cute baby girl), they were still fully developed and engaging without the vapidness of Damon Wayans' TV brood. There were plenty of spot-on moments with the mostly White neighbors that illuminated their cultural differences without being cliched about it like "The Hughleys".



For all his jokes about killing the kids and how crazy they drove them, Mac portrayed a sensitive and loving television father unlike any I have ever seen on any show EVER. In fact, because he broke the "fourth wall" addressed the audience directly, he was able to be vulnerable and open in ways we didn't see from Dr. Huxtable. He adored his wife, he loved and accepted his sister's children as his own and he would do anything for his family. For all of our complaints over the years about the lack of positive or honest portrayals of the Black family on television, I don't think many of us realized just how great "The Bernie Mac Show" was.

And what makes Mac's TV family most phenomenal for me is that they were loosely based off his own. He was always very honest about the situation with his sister's drug addiction and how he had stepped up to take care of her children. Instead of portraying a sanitized, funny Black family, Bernie Mac helped put a very real one on the small screen. A family that was loving, charming and relatable to people across socio-economic and ethnic lines. For that I will always be grateful.

Rest in peace, Mac Man! You are loved and always will be!
Sister Toldja