History Series / EverybodyHatesChris

* AnAesop
** While the racism jokes are largely played for laughs, the narrator isn't joking about how much power Caruso has over Chris. As a White boy, Caruso cannot be harmed by Chris, a black boy, because the authorities will easily believe [[WoundedGazelleGambit Caruso's version of the story]]. The narrator also talks about how security guards have stalked black customers in stores under the assumption that they were stealing.
** Julius also gives a very harsh, yet true lesson about adulthood. Even if you're in the right, there are times where you have to be the bigger person by apologising, as some people will never submit in a fight. As Julius puts it;
--->"You might win the battle, but you're gonna lose the war."

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Chris doesn't attempt to fight back every time he gets bullied and physically assaulted by Caruso. Chris has lampshaded that he would either get framed by Caruso or beaten. Given the time period of the series, when racism was rampant, and the useless school rules regarding bullying, yep this counts.

%%* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: This is how Chris views his younger brother Drew.

* BigLittleBrother: Drew is taller than Chris, much to the latter's dismay. This is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in the latter half of the series where Chris caught up to and even slightly surpassed Drew's height due to Chris' actor getting a growth spurt.

* BigLittleBrother: Drew is taller than Chris, much to the latter's dismay.

* CharacterDevelopment: Chris is a bit of a "dork" at the beginning of the series and struggles socially, which in one episode he realizes is part of the cause of his bullying problems rather than just being the only black kid in school. By Season 4, he is much more normal and a straight example of a [[CoolLoser "cool loser" protagonist]].

** Early episodes of the show has the title chorus during the episode climax and the same chorus with more harmonies in the episode ending. Later seasons don't include the chorus mid-episode anymore, and variations of the chorus (less or more harmonies) are now selective depending on the episode ending.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the pilot episode, the theme music for the intro is different as the other music in the next episode. The narrator said the city and the year where and when the series was set in instead of showing the name and the year onscreen. It also lacks the title's chorus in the end.

** Julius also gives a very harsh, yet, true lesson about adulthood. Even if you're in the right, there are times where you have to be the bigger person by apologising, as some people will never submit in a fight. As Julius puts it;

* TranquilFury: When [[PapaWolf Julius]] finds [[TheDreaded Malvo]] manhandling Chris. Julius calmly, yet, furiously threatens him with a bat and tells Malvo that [[ImpliedDeathThreat he'll be going to jail]] if Malvo lays his hands on Chris again.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Caruso beating the crap out of Chris in the first episode while "Ebony and Ivory" in the background.

* NeverMyFault: The bomb squad officers blames Chris for the bombing at another school because they thoguht it was a fake call. Yes Chris called in a fake threat at Tattaglia, but it's his job to take every threat seriously and respond to them.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Rochelle believes this to an incredible degree, even saying Drew can't defend himself when Tanya attacks him. [[EveryoneHasStandards However]], she punishes Tanya when she outright lies about Drew hitting her.

** In the Season 2 episode "Everybody Hates a Liar", Chris helps remove a mouse from [[GirlNextDoor Tasha]]'s room, and after the task is completed, a grateful Tasha gives him a peck on the cheek while they are outside after the event. Jerome sees them, and when Chris denies attempts to dissuade anything more with a "Yeah, you know", word spreads through the neighborhood & their school and ranges from him kissing her to being her boyfriend. It gets to the point where Chris, whom has since been confronted by Tasha's grandmother, who had previously confronted his parents, had to declare to the whole neighborhood that nothing actually happened. He even apologized to her grandmother personally, though it did little to convince her that he wasn't a hooligan, but at least Tasha finally forgave him.

* JerkassHasAPoint: When Tanya calls out their horrible babysitter for not taking care of them and leaving them.

** [[spoiler:The Robitussin ends up being a BrickJoke in one episode where the family finally decides to go to the ER. Having drunk tobasco sauce on a dare Tanya is taken to the ER with a severe stomachache, you get one guess as to figure out what the doctor prescribes. No fussin with the 'tussin indeed.]]

* EasterEpisode: In "Everybody Hates Easter", Chris escorts Tasha to the Easter Pagent after her boyfriend breaks up with her but how to deal with having to be in two places at once without his mother finding out. Meanwhile, Julius pretends to be working on Easter so that he doesn't have to go to Church.

* EvilPowerVacuum: In one episode, Caruso gets his ass handed to him. While Chris is temporarily overjoyed, this leads to a competition for dominance between the schools other bullies. Chris has even ''more'' bullies coming after him than ever.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

!! ''Everybody Hates Chris'' contains examples of:

''Everybody Hates Chris'' is an American sitcom that is [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely]] [[ArtisticLicense based]] on the life of Creator/ChrisRock. Set in [[TheEighties the 1980s]], it revolves around the home and school life of Chris, featuring his easygoing, although money worrying, father Julius; [[SassyBlackWoman sassy]], if somewhat overreacting, mother Rochelle; younger brother Drew (who gets all the girls Chris can't); and "daddy's girl" sister Tonya. It also features the equally, if not more, [[ButtMonkey hapless]] Greg, Chris's best friend and confidant from school. The series is also [[NostalgicNarrator narrated]] by the humorous Rock looking back at his younger self, typically saying the opposite of what the younger Chris thinks.

-->''[[RecurringRiff Everybody]] [[EveryEpisodeEnding haa-aaates]] [[TitleDrop Chriiiiis!]]''

* CaptainErsatz: The episode "Everybody Hates Homecoming," in which Chris hits it off with a girl named [[Series/TheCosbyShow Jenise ble]]. She even has a doctor and a lawyer as parents, a dance intro sequence upon entrance to her house, and a laughtrack inside her living room (which is filmed in ThreeCameras instead of the regular single camera). Clint ble happens to like gaudy sweaters, sweet potato popsicles, and has a very distinctive voice, as well.

* CaptainErsatz: The episode "Everybody Hates Homecoming," in which Chris hits it off with a girl named [[Series/TheCosbyShow Jenise Huckstable]]. She even has a doctor and a lawyer as parents, a dance intro sequence upon entrance to her house, and a laughtrack inside her living room. Clint Huckstable happens to like gaudy sweaters, sweet potato popsicles, and has a very distinctive voice, as well.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Keisha does this in her second appearance. In her first appearance, she was polite to Chris, despite her preferring his younger brother Drew and breaking Chris' heart. In the second appearance, "Everybody Hates Halloween," when Chris asks Keisha if she wanted to dance with him at the party, she rudely refuses his offer and said that she preferred to have met Drew. Even a woman named Lisa who witnessed the whole thing sympathized with Chris and allowed Chris to dance with her out of pity. She goes back to being neutral in all her subsequent appearances.

--->'''Narrator!Chris:''' Had I known what I know now about teachers, I'd say he was probably right.

* NamesTheSame: [[invoked]] Chris has about ten different people named "Mike" in his neighborhood, not counting his uncle Mike and "Fat Mike", whom he met in the episode named after him:
-->'''Chris:''' There were about ten Mikes in my neighborhood. [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster Bighead Mike]] spent more time in jail than out of jail. [[TokenWhite White Mike]] was just a white guy who lived on the block. Family didn't have enough money to leave. [[LovableJock Tall Mike]] played ball. [[ScaryBlackMan Monster Mike]] just scared kids. And [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment 'Mike' Mike]] was actually the first Mike that lived on the block, but his real name was Paul.

->''1982. That was the year I turned 13. Before I was a comedian, I thought the coolest thing that would happen to me'' ''was being a teenager. I was gonna have women, money, stay out late... I thought it was gonna be the bomb!''

->''Boy, was I wrong!''\\

* ApronMatron: Rochelle, even though well-meaning, is a force you'd better not ignore if you value your life.

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cast_of_Everybody_Hates_Chris.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Starting from the left: [[BrattyHalfPint Tonya]], [[TheAce Drew]], [[TokenWhite Greg]], [[LoserProtagonist Chris]], [[SassyBlackWoman Rochelle]], [[HenpeckedHusband Julius.]]]]