Trivia / The Bernie Mac Show

• Actor Allusion: When Bernie catches his cousin, Lou, smoking a joint on the patio next to his bedroom, he is understandably annoyed. When he's forced to get somewhat rough with his relative, Lou says "You wanna take a swing, Mr. 3000?!" This is a reference to the film Mr. 3000, where Bernie Mac plays a retired baseball player.
• Dueling Shows: This show and My Wife and Kids had the dilemma of sharing the same audience with the same time slot on two opposite networks (Fox and ABC). As the main description states, this became detrimental for The Bernie Mac Show as its ratings weren't up to par with its time slot rival, leading to the abundance of Executive Meddling that crippled the show (keep in mind that Fox's head at the time has screwed over Firefly).
• Creator Breakdown: Bernie Mac's now publicly-known health problems hampered production during Season 4. Sadly, Bernie only lived for two more years after the show ended. Though he nearly died from the aforementioned health woes when the show was still going.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: You can buy the first season on DVD but good luck getting the other four seasons, as they never received a physical release. Eventually Averted once the series began appearing on streaming platforms as early as 2015.
• Life Imitates Art: Or rather the opposite. The real Bernie Mac only had only one daughter, versus the three nieces and nephews on the show. Similarly, in one episode, Bernie recalled his earliest years as a broke stand-up comedian, which mirrored his real life journey to stardom.
• Screwed by the Network: How do you ruin a critically lauded sitcom? Easy. Demand the creator/executive producer to dumb down the show and then fire him for merely disagreeing with your demand, and then air the show on different time slots every year. The fact that it beat 24 in the first year ratings with a much cheaper budget (a win-win all around) makes these moves even more brilliant. Even more so when you realize these changes came from the FOX executive who royally screwed over Firefly.

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