The Bernie Mac Show - Season 1

The Bernie Mac Show uses parenting issues as a launching pad for stories that start simple but escalate out of control. In one episode, Bernie realizes that Bryana and Jordan rank Vanessa's authority higher than his; after failing to assert himself as top dog of the house, he tries to manipulate the situation and put Vanessa in charge of discipline. When Bryana overhears Bernie using the "N-word" and repeats it at school, Bernie finds his whole personality under the scrutiny of the family's social worker. Regardless of the topic, Bernie finds a way to address problems without knuckling under to sitcom clichés. The Bernie Mac Show finds its humor not simply in these situations, but in all the details that erupt from them; every character is given multiple dimensions, allowing them to be constantly surprising. The show's skilled writing staff knows how to cram an amazing amount of story into each episode. And Bernie himself has crafted a persona that is both absurd in his bravado and self-mythologizing and deeply real in his emotional complexity, flipflopping from childish grandiosity to mature judgment. It's an impressive feat, all the more so because every episode is ingeniously funny. --Bret Fetzer