The Parent 'Hood
Encyclopedia
The Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom
that aired on The WB
airing from January 18, 1995 to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas.
Originally to have been titled Father Knows Nothing (a parody of the title of the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best
), the series was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network (along with The Wayans Bros.
, Unhappily Ever After
and the short-lived Muscle
).
, New York City named the Petersons. Robert Peterson (Robert Townsend) is a college professor
at New York University
, and his wife Jerri (Suzzanne Douglas) is a law student. They try to balance their lives, their work, and their four children at the same time. The four kids span the ages from teens to toddlers.
The oldest two, 16-year-old Michael (Kenny Blank
) and 15-year-old Zaria (Reagan Gomez-Preston
), are reaching that age where they're eager to spread their wings and are ready to experiment with each other and avoid being seen with their not quite cool parents. Nicholas (Curtis Williams
) is a bright eyed 8-year-old who is quickly discovering the joys of mischief. 4-year-old Cece (Ashli Adams) is the darling of the family. Offering his own offbeat point of view is Robert's childhood buddy, Wendell (Faizon Love
).
Robert's love for his kids - combined with his vivid imagination (prompting frequent fantasy sequences) and impulsive energy - propels him to do extraordinary things on their behalf as he continually dreams up nontraditional solutions to traditional family problems. Many critics from news organizations such as the Associated Press
and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
often referred to the show as The Cosby Show
of the 1990s.
, who was a recurring character in season one, became a regular in season two.
In the fourth season, Kenny Blank
, who played Michael Peterson, left the series; his character was explained to be off to college. Blank's departure also saw the exits of Nigel Thatch and Tasha Scott
. Thatch played Shakeim, Zaria's militant but lovable boyfriend, and Scott played Theresa, who was Zaria's friend and the lead singer in Michael's band. Season three ended with a cliffhanger that was never explained, with Shakeim leaving to start Morehouse College early and Skye played by Shyheim, another member of Michael's band, confessing his feelings for Zaria. Shakeim decides to stay and attend NYU in the fall instead. As Zaria and Skye began to discuss the situation, Shakeim walks into the room, with Zaria running upstairs.
Tyrone Dorzell Burton was introduced as a street wise kid named T.K. in the season four premiere. The episode focused around him and his situation. It could be assumed that Zaria, Shakeim, and Skye decided to go their separate ways over the summer, as the storyline was never resolved on camera. Hollywood Insider reported that the series was slated to be cancelled by WB in May 1998, leaving another cliffhanger, but the network gave the series a last-minute 13 episode renewal for midseason. Faizon Love left the series at that time; he was replaced by Kelly Perine
, who played Robert's brother, Kelly.
T.K.'s father was an ex-convict, and his mother (Bern Nadette Stanis
) was a drug addict who literally left him on the street. Jerri was the only person who didn't give up on T.K., and welcomed him into her home, even though Robert did not think it was a good idea.
During this season, more teenage storylines were employed including domestic abuse, peer pressure and Robert reaching out to many of T.K.'s street friends trying to help them change their lives. One character, Boo played by the Rapper Da Brat
, gets her high school diploma thanks to Robert and T.K.
In the 1997–98 fourth season finale
, T.K. gets into a fight with several thugs (Tyrese Gibson appears), and Robert tries to talk him out the situation. Robert and T.K. leave and the thugs fire the gun, ending the episode on a cliffhanger
. The show's final season was placed on hiatus after the cliffhanger episode, and did not return until May 23, 1999, a year after the season finale aired. In the last couple of episodes in the fifth season, Jerri has finally had enough of T.K.'s mischief and has him removed from the house, but before he moves out of the house, T.K. and the family checks up on Robert, who has fallen into a coma
.
While in a coma, Robert meets a guardian angel
named Max (Barry Sobel
) and convinces Robert to change his mind about the shooting and T.K. Robert finally awakes from the coma and all is forgiven. In later episodes, T.K. is seen trying to get his act together. T.K. also sees his mom again one more time where he decides he wants to move back in with her but she relapses back into substance abuse. The Petersons tell T.K. their home is always open to him.
In the last episode, which was not produced nor written as the last episode, Jerri and Robert renew their wedding vows and the cast is seen dancing in a Soul Train
line before the final commercial break.
-based national cable superstation
WGN also began airing reruns of the sitcom, with the series airing until 2002 (when its broadcast syndication run also ended); ironically, both the local Chicago feed
and the national superstation feed of WGN aired The Wayans Bros. in first-run form from 1995 to 1999, when WGN aired WB programming nationally to make The WB available to markets where a local affiliate did not exist (The Parent 'Hood is one of three WB series to air on WGN in first-run and syndication form; The Wayans Bros.
, 7th Heaven
and Sister, Sister
are the others). Episodes aired on TBS from 2002 to 2007 as well as TV One.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
that aired on The WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
airing from January 18, 1995 to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas.
Originally to have been titled Father Knows Nothing (a parody of the title of the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
), the series was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network (along with The Wayans Bros.
The Wayans Bros.
The Wayans Bros. is a situation comedy that aired from 1995 to 1999 on The WB. The series starred real-life brothers Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. Both brothers were already well-known from the sketch comedy show In Living Color...
, Unhappily Ever After
Unhappily Ever After
Unhappily Ever After is an American sitcom that aired for 100 episodes on The WB network from January 11, 1995, to May 23, 1999, for a total of four and a half seasons...
and the short-lived Muscle
Muscle (TV series)
Muscle is a comedy television series from the United States which aired on The WB in 1995. It was set inside the fictional Survival Gym in New York City...
).
Summary
The series is about an upper middle-class black family in HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, New York City named the Petersons. Robert Peterson (Robert Townsend) is a college professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, and his wife Jerri (Suzzanne Douglas) is a law student. They try to balance their lives, their work, and their four children at the same time. The four kids span the ages from teens to toddlers.
The oldest two, 16-year-old Michael (Kenny Blank
Kenny Blank
Kenny Blank, full birth name Kenneth Michael Benbow Blank , is an American actor and prodigy musician. Later, he changed his name to Kenn Michael...
) and 15-year-old Zaria (Reagan Gomez-Preston
Reagan Gomez-Preston
Reagan Gomez-Preston is an American actress.-Early life:Gomez-Preston was born in Detroit to a Puerto Rican mother, Cheryl Gomez, and an African-American father, Bennett Preston. She has a younger brother named Kyle....
), are reaching that age where they're eager to spread their wings and are ready to experiment with each other and avoid being seen with their not quite cool parents. Nicholas (Curtis Williams
Curtis Williams
Curtis Williams is an American television actor who is best known for his role as Nicholas Peterson on the sitcom The Parent 'Hood...
) is a bright eyed 8-year-old who is quickly discovering the joys of mischief. 4-year-old Cece (Ashli Adams) is the darling of the family. Offering his own offbeat point of view is Robert's childhood buddy, Wendell (Faizon Love
Faizon Love
Faizon Andre Love is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for roles in the films Friday, Elf, Made, and Couples Retreat.-Life and career:...
).
Robert's love for his kids - combined with his vivid imagination (prompting frequent fantasy sequences) and impulsive energy - propels him to do extraordinary things on their behalf as he continually dreams up nontraditional solutions to traditional family problems. Many critics from news organizations such as the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...
often referred to the show as The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
of the 1990s.
Cast changes
Throughout its five season run, each season brought about cast changes, not all of which were explained. Carol Woods, who played Mrs. Wilcox, the housekeeper and Wendell's mother, left the series after the first season. Bobby McGee, who played one of Robert's childhood friends, also left the series at that time. Faizon LoveFaizon Love
Faizon Andre Love is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for roles in the films Friday, Elf, Made, and Couples Retreat.-Life and career:...
, who was a recurring character in season one, became a regular in season two.
In the fourth season, Kenny Blank
Kenny Blank
Kenny Blank, full birth name Kenneth Michael Benbow Blank , is an American actor and prodigy musician. Later, he changed his name to Kenn Michael...
, who played Michael Peterson, left the series; his character was explained to be off to college. Blank's departure also saw the exits of Nigel Thatch and Tasha Scott
Tasha Scott
Tasha Scott is an American actress and singer.Scott acted in several productions in the 1980s and 1990s. She appeared in a number television shows, including Snoops, South Central and The Parent 'Hood, and in movies such as Troop Beverly Hills, Kiss Shot and Camp Cucamonga...
. Thatch played Shakeim, Zaria's militant but lovable boyfriend, and Scott played Theresa, who was Zaria's friend and the lead singer in Michael's band. Season three ended with a cliffhanger that was never explained, with Shakeim leaving to start Morehouse College early and Skye played by Shyheim, another member of Michael's band, confessing his feelings for Zaria. Shakeim decides to stay and attend NYU in the fall instead. As Zaria and Skye began to discuss the situation, Shakeim walks into the room, with Zaria running upstairs.
Tyrone Dorzell Burton was introduced as a street wise kid named T.K. in the season four premiere. The episode focused around him and his situation. It could be assumed that Zaria, Shakeim, and Skye decided to go their separate ways over the summer, as the storyline was never resolved on camera. Hollywood Insider reported that the series was slated to be cancelled by WB in May 1998, leaving another cliffhanger, but the network gave the series a last-minute 13 episode renewal for midseason. Faizon Love left the series at that time; he was replaced by Kelly Perine
Kelly Perine
Kelly Perine is an American television actor and a comedian. Perine attended Lake Forest Academy near Chicago, Illinois, where he studied stage acting. He spent his undergraduate years at Pomona College in Claremont, California. After graduating, he studied at the University of California,...
, who played Robert's brother, Kelly.
The later seasons
The show took a different turn at the beginning of the 1997–1998 season. Michael (Blank) was written out of the series with his absence was explained as him going off to college. With his oldest son at college, Robert allows a troubled teenager from juvenile hall to live with him and his family.T.K.'s father was an ex-convict, and his mother (Bern Nadette Stanis
Bern Nadette Stanis
Bern Nadette Stanis is an American actress best known for her role as the strong-willed Thelma Evans on the CBS sitcom, Good Times.-Career:...
) was a drug addict who literally left him on the street. Jerri was the only person who didn't give up on T.K., and welcomed him into her home, even though Robert did not think it was a good idea.
During this season, more teenage storylines were employed including domestic abuse, peer pressure and Robert reaching out to many of T.K.'s street friends trying to help them change their lives. One character, Boo played by the Rapper Da Brat
Da Brat
Shawntae Harris , better known as Da Brat, is an American rapper and actress. Her debut album, Funkdafied, sold one million copies, making her the first female rapper to have a platinum-selling album.-Early life:...
, gets her high school diploma thanks to Robert and T.K.
In the 1997–98 fourth season finale
Season finale
A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program...
, T.K. gets into a fight with several thugs (Tyrese Gibson appears), and Robert tries to talk him out the situation. Robert and T.K. leave and the thugs fire the gun, ending the episode on a cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
. The show's final season was placed on hiatus after the cliffhanger episode, and did not return until May 23, 1999, a year after the season finale aired. In the last couple of episodes in the fifth season, Jerri has finally had enough of T.K.'s mischief and has him removed from the house, but before he moves out of the house, T.K. and the family checks up on Robert, who has fallen into a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
.
While in a coma, Robert meets a guardian angel
Guardian angel
A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity...
named Max (Barry Sobel
Barry Sobel
Barry Sobel is an American actor and comedian.-Life and career:Sobel grew up in New York City. During the 1980s, he toured the comedy circuit heavily. His routine centered around rapping in a Beastie Boys style....
) and convinces Robert to change his mind about the shooting and T.K. Robert finally awakes from the coma and all is forgiven. In later episodes, T.K. is seen trying to get his act together. T.K. also sees his mom again one more time where he decides he wants to move back in with her but she relapses back into substance abuse. The Petersons tell T.K. their home is always open to him.
In the last episode, which was not produced nor written as the last episode, Jerri and Robert renew their wedding vows and the cast is seen dancing in a Soul Train
Soul Train
Soul Train is an American musical variety show that aired in syndication from October 1971 to March 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists, although funk, jazz, disco, and gospel artists have also appeared.As a nod to Soul Trains...
line before the final commercial break.
Cast
- Robert Townsend as Robert Peterson
- Ashli Adams as CeCe Peterson
- Curtis WilliamsCurtis WilliamsCurtis Williams is an American television actor who is best known for his role as Nicholas Peterson on the sitcom The Parent 'Hood...
as Nicholas Peterson - Kenny BlankKenny BlankKenny Blank, full birth name Kenneth Michael Benbow Blank , is an American actor and prodigy musician. Later, he changed his name to Kenn Michael...
as Michael Peterson (Season 1–3) - Tyrone Dorzell Burton as T.K. Anderson (Season 4–5)
- Suzzanne Douglas as Jerri Peterson
- Reagan Gomez-PrestonReagan Gomez-PrestonReagan Gomez-Preston is an American actress.-Early life:Gomez-Preston was born in Detroit to a Puerto Rican mother, Cheryl Gomez, and an African-American father, Bennett Preston. She has a younger brother named Kyle....
as Zaria Peterson - Faizon LoveFaizon LoveFaizon Andre Love is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for roles in the films Friday, Elf, Made, and Couples Retreat.-Life and career:...
as Wendell Wilcox (Season 1–4) - Kelly PerineKelly PerineKelly Perine is an American television actor and a comedian. Perine attended Lake Forest Academy near Chicago, Illinois, where he studied stage acting. He spent his undergraduate years at Pomona College in Claremont, California. After graduating, he studied at the University of California,...
as Kelly Peterson (Season 5) - Carol Woods as Mrs. Wilcox (Season 1)
Syndication
In September 1999, The Parent 'Hood began in off-network syndication, with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution handling syndication of the series. At that same time, ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based national cable superstation
Superstation
Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...
WGN also began airing reruns of the sitcom, with the series airing until 2002 (when its broadcast syndication run also ended); ironically, both the local Chicago feed
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
and the national superstation feed of WGN aired The Wayans Bros. in first-run form from 1995 to 1999, when WGN aired WB programming nationally to make The WB available to markets where a local affiliate did not exist (The Parent 'Hood is one of three WB series to air on WGN in first-run and syndication form; The Wayans Bros.
The Wayans Bros.
The Wayans Bros. is a situation comedy that aired from 1995 to 1999 on The WB. The series starred real-life brothers Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. Both brothers were already well-known from the sketch comedy show In Living Color...
, 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...
and Sister, Sister
Sister, Sister (TV series)
Sister, Sister is an American television sitcom about identical twin girls Tia Landry and Tamera Campbell , who were separated and adopted at birth, when one day they come face-to-face after 14 years apart....
are the others). Episodes aired on TBS from 2002 to 2007 as well as TV One.