EUR This N That | Urban Black News Blog

When The CW announced it’s early renewals for the Fall 2009 schedule, I was shocked to learn that Everybody Hates Chris wasn’t on the list. Considering that the only reason The Game still gets viewers is because of a strong show like EHC coming after it, it’s no surprise that the Girlfriends spin-off was also not on the early renewal list. The time is now to act and get those letters written and those blog posts up showing your support for these shows.

I sensed that this was coming when they decided to move both Everybody Hates Chris and The Game to Friday nights. Either they figure this economy is so bad that people will stay in to watch these shows, or they plan to rely on Smallville and Supernatural to keep the network floating and screw over the black viewership they didn’t seem to care for in the first place. As much as I like Supernatural, even that show has had it’s day and is now trying to extend itself with creating a possible third wheel to the show. Don’t even get me started on Smallville, it’s way past time for Clark to leave that joint.

When Everybody Hates Chris first came out it was a show that seemed a better fit for cable. It’s humor was very edgy, which given the fact it was based on Chris Rock, shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Due to the success of the series and the fact that I suspect a wider audience was watching, a lot of things changed over time.

The racial politics of the series became more even, the situations started to have more perspective as they began to include other races and they toned down the number of Joey Caruso smacked Chris around. Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne, while highly watched, has yet to have this kind of inclusiveness and balance. It seems however even-keel comedy is boring now and The CW is simply trying to echo that point by sticking it to Friday’s.

While I’m not a big fan of The Game, I do believe a lot of it’s success has been it’s ability to get ratings by coming on after EHC. Even now in it’s Friday schedule slot, EHC is front and center. As far as the show itself beyond it’s connection to the lead show, it has gotten somewhat better.

When I decided to pop a look into the show I didn’t really know what the show was supposed to be about. I had the general notion that it was supposed to be about football players and the women that love them. The impression that I was left with after the first episode was that it seemed very unfocused and uncertain about what it wanted to be.

The Game, much more than Everybody Hates Chris, seems to get more mention from the African-American blogging community. With the series being in it’s third season, I suspect that it’s doing something right. Still, despite the show’s larger following, I wouldn’t give The CW credit for just renewing The Game and not Everybody Hates Chris.

The plan, if my guess is right, is to axe both shows and to largely depend on it’s white audience to carry them for the fall season. It’s mid-1990’s Fox all over again folks and we can’t let that happen again.

As usual getting the word out about the possible cancellation of both shows through the blogs is a good move. Nothing however beats the old school phone calls and fan letters to the network itself. You can write to and call the president of The CW, Dawn Ostroff, at the following address:

Dawn Ostroff,
The CW Network
11800 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025(310) 575-7000
(818) 977-5000

You can also go to The CW website and try to leave some fan support that way. It may even be good to go around the various television forums to spread the word about the shows possibly being cancelled. Anything is better than nothing at this point.

Even if nothing comes of these efforts and the shows are canceled, black people can at least say that they give a damn about something other than Ray-J getting a girlfriend. Let us have our shows for one more year and then you can go back to ripping off old tv shows no one cared about in the first place.

-M. Milam