The Bernie Mac Show
Pilot
TV Flash files “Pilot” as a desk essential hour — The Bernie Mac Show (2001–2006) on Fox, season 1, episode 1, aired 2001-11-14, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 104 in the The Bernie Mac Show guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 2001-11-14 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Now You Got It” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Pilot”. Pilot turns Bernie Mac to camera: raising his sister's kids, Larry Wilmore's hybrid of stand-up sermon and family sitcom that actually answers itself.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
In the pilot, much to his chagrin, Bernie and Wanda are forced to take care of his sister's three children, Vanessa, Jordan, and Bryanna since she can no longer take care of them anymore.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pilot sit in the The Bernie Mac Show guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 104 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did The Bernie Mac Show S01E01 air?
Pilot aired 2001-11-14 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is The Bernie Mac Show just taped stand-up?
Wilmore mixed camera-address sermons with family sitcom plots that answer each other. The hybrid earned a Peabody because both halves talk.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Bernie Mac turns to camera and tells America how it is raising his sister's kids, then plays the scenes with blunt love. Larry Wilmore's single-camera hybrid earned a Peabody because the stand-up sermons and the family sitcom actually answer each other.
America — he tells you how it is — then the scene has to live up to the sermon, and the group chat still treats those fourth-wall lectures like a fandom dialect. Bernie Mac raises his sister's kids, turns to camera, plays the household with blunt love. Larry Wilmore's Fox series (2001–2006) mixed stand-up address with sitcom plots: Mac as Bernie McCullough, Kellita Smith as Wanda, Jeremy Suarez, Dee Dee Davis, Camron Jeffers. The sermons and the family scenes actually answer each other. It won a Peabody because…
Filed against
- Bernie Mac as Bernie McCullough
Bernie Mac turned to camera on The Bernie Mac Show and told America how it was raising his sister’s kids — then played the scenes with blunt love. Larry Wilmore’s single-camera hybrid, stand-up sermons answering the family sitcom. TV…
- Kellita Smith as Wanda McCullough
Kellita Smith's Wanda McCullough answered Bernie Mac's camera sermons with a marriage that could hold the blunt love — Larry Wilmore's single-camera hybrid, a sister's kids in the house, stand-up and sitcom actually talking to each other.…
- Jeremy Suarez as Jordan
Jeremy Suarez’s Jordan put a kid’s stare on The Bernie Mac Show — stand-up sermons to camera, blunt love raising a sister’s children, Larry Wilmore’s single-camera hybrid answering itself. 2000s family comedy with a Peabody in the file.…
- Dee Dee Davis as Bryana
Dee Dee Davis’s Bryana made The Bernie Mac Show a kid who could stare down a sermon — Mac turning to camera to tell America how it is raising his sister’s kids, Larry Wilmore’s single-camera hybrid, blunt love as a Peabody argument. TV…
- Camron Jeffers as Bryce
Camron Jeffers played Bryce on The Bernie Mac Show — one of the kids in a single-camera hybrid where Bernie turns to camera to tell America how it is raising his sister's children, then plays the scenes with blunt love. Larry Wilmore's…