The thing is, our TiVos and VCRs can only do so much, and we haven't mastered the art of watching one show while also watching another show in that tiny screen-within-a-screen set-up our TV has. Of course we watch some of these Thursday shows purely out of habit (::cough:: ER ::cough::), and we're also hoping some new shows will turn out to be total duds, so that we (or the networks themselves) can just kiss them good-bye (it looks like "Reunion" may be the first to suffer that fate).

For now, we'll just have to do our best to keep up, starting with "Everybody Hates Chris" at 8 p.m. on UPN. The pilot episode is another show we actually got to see in advance, and we are happy to say, it was very funny! For those of you who haven't heard the premise (or seen the billboards, or signs on the sides of buses, or print ads, or TV commercials) the half-hour show is a slightly fictional take on Chris Rock's childhood as a 12-year-old kid in Bed-Stuy New York, with Rock lending narration to each episode. While the kid who plays Chris (Tyler James Williams) relies a little too much on the bug-eyed reaction shot, Rock's funny voice-overs and the talent of the rest of the cast (especially Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews as his parents) makes up for it. We especially liked some of the show's smaller details, like how one of Dad's uniforms reveals that he works at the Overlook Hotel. We really hope the network decides to move it to another night, and not just cancel it if it has a hard time in its difficult time-slot.