The Chris Rock Show: Seasons 1 and 2 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews


Credit: Amazon.com

Creator:

Chris Rock

Cast:

Chris Rock ………. Himself

The Show

Chris Rock made his debut on national TV when he was part of the Saturday Night Live cast from 1990-1993. That show didn’t make him a star, though. He played only a limited role on SNL. He was funny, when he appeared, but those appearances were few and far between. The potential was there, though, and leave it to HBO to pick up on this and decide to give Chris a shot.

The Chris Rock Show debuted in the Spring of 1997 on HBO. This was Chris’ chance to really shine. This was his own late night talk show. Since this was HBO, though, he was free to say whatever he wanted. Chris immediately took advantage of this. No rules meant no one or no subject was safe! There were only 5 episodes in the first season, but HBO quickly picked it up for another 12 episodes for a “full” second season after the show had early success.

The format for each episode of The Chris Rock Show is what you might expect. Chris comes out and talks about current events in his opening monologue. We then get various skits with Chris and other regulars on the show. There is also a couple of guests on each episode. One guest is there to usually get interviewed by Chris. Another guest is there to sing and perform to end the show. You should know this format quite well. It’s what every talk show has used since the invention of television.

The highlight of this show is usually Chris Rock himself. The skits he does on this show are pure comedy. They are not all “non-stop laughs”, but you’ll still laugh at almost all of them, at least once or twice. Sometimes the guests on the show interact with Chris in such a way, that the interviews will have you on the floor, holding your stomach in pain because you are laughing so hard. Some guests are so-so, though. My favorite guests were Tracy Morgan from Season 1, and Arsenio Hall and George Carlin from Season 2.

This show was nominated and won a few Emmy Awards, while it was on the air. It won for “Best Writing for a Variety or Music Program” in 1999. Chris Rock also was nominated for “Best Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program” that same year. Now 1999 would be the third season of this show, which is not on this set. However, you have to start somewhere and season three built upon season two, which took his momentum from season one. The show definitely got better as it went along.

Before there was Dave Chappelle and his Chappelle’s Show, which everyone was talking about a couple of years ago, there was Chris Rock and The Chris Rock Show. This show made Chris Rock the star comedian he has become. It also laid the framework for future comedians like Dave Chappelle to do the same type of comedy years later. The Chris Rock Show pushed boundaries and usually jumped over these boundaries, but that is what made this show good. It was real, like it or not.

Episodes:

Disc One (Season 1):

Episode 1

Interview Guest: Johnnie Cochran
Musical Guest: None

Episode 2

Interview Guest: Jenifer Lewis
Musical Guest: D’Angelo

Episode 3

Interview Guest: John Amos
Musical Guest: Cake

Episode 4

Interview Guest: Tyson Beckford
Musical Guest: Maxwell

Episode 5

Interview Guest: Tracy Morgan
Musical Guest: Erykah Badu

Disc Two (Season 2):

Episode 1

Interview Guest: Arsenio Hall
Musical Guest: Puff Daddy

Episode 2

Interview Guest: Conan O’Brien
Musical Guest: Wyclef Jean

Episode 3

Interview Guest: Whoopi Goldberg
Musical Guest: KC & JoJo

Episode 4

Interview Guest: Vivica A. Fox
Musical Guest: Missy Elliot

Episode 5

Interview Guest: Bryant Gumbell
Musical Guest: LL Cool J

Episode 6

Interview Guest: J.C. Watts
Musical Guest: Busta Rhymes

Disc Three (Season 2):

Episode 7

Interview Guest: Chris Spencer
Musical Guest: Bobby Brown

Episode 8

Interview Guest: Jesse Jackson
Musical Guest: Rakim

Episode 9

Interview Guest: Rev. Al Sharpton
Musical Guest: Mary J. Blige

Episode 10

Interview Guest: George Carlin
Musical Guest: Usher

Episode 11

Interview Guest: Roy Jones Jr.
Musical Guest: Salt-N-Pepa

Episode 12

Interview Guest: Jada Pinkett
Musical Guest: LSG

Score: 8/10

The Video:

The video is given in fullscreen color with an aspect ratio of 1:33.1. Transfer is decent with minimal distortion. It’s good enough for what the show is. The video quality for this set is not what you are supposed to be blown away with anyways.

The Audio:

The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. No problems here either. Again, good enough for what the show is.

The Extras:

Audio Commentaries

Chris Rock comments on the first episode of the show from Season 1 and the last episode of Season 2. These are great, of course. Chris tells you what was going on behind-the-scenes during these shows. Very informative and pretty funny. Too bad that there were only two of them, though.

Score: 4/10

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for The Chris Rock Show – Seasons 1 and 2
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

9
THE EXTRAS

4
REPLAY VALUE

10
OVERALL
8
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
If you are a Chris Rock fan, you should run out and buy this! If you were a fan of the Chappelle’s Show, you’ll probably want to buy this as well. If you don’t like Chris Rock, then you already know what to do. This is ALL Chris Rock with various guests, but Rock carries the show. Hence, the name of the show. This show was definitely ahead of its time and besides a few current events in 1997, it’s not as “dated” as you think and it’s been almost a decade later.

I'm not embarrassed to say that my favorite television show of all-time is The O.C. I live by the motto "you can't fight fate!" More importantly, I watch WAY too much television, but I do so for the benefit of everyone reading this now. So to my mom and my wife, I say thanks for reading! To everyone else that might stumble across this, remember TiVo should be your best friend!