Television: A Movie Hit, Restyled

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Barbershop will probably offend people--really, it goes out of its way to do so--but it's not alone in pushing the boundaries of African-American TV comedy. Chappelle's Show, though on hiatus, is still throwing elbows on DVD, while the most anticipated show of the fall is the Rock-produced Everybody Hates Chris on UPN, in which a white kid uses the N word during a fight scene. October brings an animated version of Aaron McGruder's militantly funny comic strip The Boondocks to Cartoon Network. Ridley, once a writer on Martin Lawrence's sitcom Martin, says that means there is more pressure to stand out. "When I started out," he says, "black TV was very limited--Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Homeboys in Outer Space. Now they're raising the bar. We can't just give people more of the movie. They can get that on DVD."

Like the movie, however, the show is ultimately a tribute to the barbershop as a nexus of African-American life where professionals and hustlers, up-and-comers and down-and-outers, cross paths. "It's an urban comedy," says Ridley. "But it's also an urbane comedy. We do jokes about selling CDs out of the trunk of your car, but we've also got jokes about Tucker Carlson." Even more so, this appealingly motormouthed show is a celebration of language--boasting, blathering, put-down and pontification--and the new cast has an easy rapport and naturalness. It doesn't always work: a subplot in which Calvin teaches a Nigerian employee to talk dirty thuds badly. But if the show can build on its verve and verbiage, this Barbershop could become not just a location but a destination.