The Bernie Mac Show/YMMV


 * Crosses the Line Twice: The episode when Bernie Mac convinced Jordan to fake an asthma attack to go to a Clippers game, guest actor Billy Crystal criticized Bernie's actions, emphasizing how he suffered from asthma as a kid and how it should never be used for nefarious purposes. Then Billy Crystal started faking an asthma attack to mess with Bernie's head.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: When Jordan decided to stop sitting on the sidelines of his football team, and started taking hits to earn Bernie Mac's respect.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Vanessa, after five years of driving Bernie Mac nuts with her stuck-up attitude and occasional Wangst, used her uncle as the subject of a college application's personal statement. The title? The person in my life who inspired me the most. Awww...
 * Executive Meddling: Ho boy, did it ever.
 * Family-Unfriendly Aesop: There's an episode when every member of the Mac family admitted to some kind of dishonesty. Bernie fessed up to making Jordan fake an asthma attack, so they could go to an L.A. Clippers game to see Michael Jordan play. Jordan used that original lie as leverage against Bernie, and cut down a willow tree Wanda wanted to grow for no reason other than the plant being an eyesore. Vanessa lied about not going to an R-rated movie, but was exposed when she slipped out an important plot twist from the movie, which Bernie recognized. And Wanda, despite chastising those three, was also exposed to lying about attending Bryana's play, because a beauty appointment kept her away. Bryana was seen by the other four as the moral center, because of her incorruptible sweetness. Even that was subverted, because Bryana's sneaky bed jumping throughout the episode kept Bernie from suspecting her of foul play when his bed kept messing up (a yellow arrow lampshaded this with a "best liar of them all" tagline when Bryana kept hopping on the bed). The lesson: honesty is the best policy, but only when lying doesn't benefit you anymore.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: Try watching the episode about Bernie Mac dreading that he's getting older without cringing.
 * Or the one with the kids thinking they killed Bernie Mac and imagined his funeral.
 * Memetic Mutation: Once done in universe. When Bernie Mac's sense of fashionable clothing and house decorum caught the eye of a bunch of housewives, they also caught his peculiar yet effective method for punishing his kids. At the end of the episode, they all chant with Bernie "I'm going to beat you until the white meat shows!"
 * Nightmare Fuel: In show example. When Bryana got lost at a Chuck-E-Cheese like entertainment center, the fun atmosphere and cartoon mascots turned utterly terrifying in seconds. The moment doubles as Adult Fear for the adults searching for Bryana.
 * Seasonal Rot: While The Bernie Mac Show never quite reached Jump the Shark territory, a lot of fans agreed that the last season lacked the edge of the first few years. Some thought that Character Development was a big component, since the kids were less problematic as time went on, and also because Bernie Mac became a more caring, mature parent without resorting to threats or physical intimidation.
 * Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: The episode with Bernie Mac letting his paranoia from a home break-in keep him from functioning like a rational human being (see Properly Paranoid) ends with an inspirational speech about not letting fear rule your life. Nowadays, this may come off as Anvilicious, but the episode first aired shortly after the September 11th attacks, when the viewers needed to hear that message more than ever.
 * Wangst: Vanessa's ranting against how unfair Bernie Mac is as a parent sometimes feels this way, but her anger's not entirely unjustified, since she had to cope with being raised in a broken home with an unreliable mom, and having to raise her two siblings by herself.
 * Lampshaded in one episode when Vanessa's visiting friend from Chicago observed her rough interaction with Bernie Mac, and called Vanessa a bitch because of it. From that moment onward, Vanessa became more patient with Bernie and vice versa, eventually getting along better.