Big Mac

While his stand-up may be more than a bit on the raunchy side, The Bernie Mac Show is a fantastic family show, and well-deserving of the Peabody Award it won the other year. Unfortunately, it suffered in the ratings when Fox moved it against the more standard sitcom fare of My Wife and Kids, although I believe it did better when it returned to its old time slot. Then Larry Wilmore left the show, leaving fans wondering what effect that might have.

And now Fox has tinkered again. Bernie Mac has yet another time slot, airing this year after The Simpsons. This may be a good fit. It bumps the show up against Malcolm in the Middle and Arrested Development, making for a 1.5 hour block of good original (and post-laugh track) comedy. Plus, it means something decent will finally air after Simpsons.

But on the down side, whereas the rest of Fox's Sunday night lineup premiered last week, Mac won't have its season premiere until November 30. Tonight, for instance, they aired a Simpsons repeat in the slot. Why? I don't know, but I sure hope this doesn't indicate that Fox will start treating the show like NBC does Scrubs.