[4][5][7][10][12] The real-life Chris Rock provides intermittent narration throughout the show, at times interjecting his young self's thoughts or sometimes simply recounting the situation he's describing.

Chris's family is firmly dominated by strong, loving parents: Julius, a hard-working, frugal laborer who works two jobs while remaining carefully loyal to his wife,[3][11][12] Rochelle, a conscientious and powerful housewife (later the manager of a beauty salon) and mother who is fiercely protective of the family, while also being fiercely demanding of all in it, especially eldest son Chris.

[3][11][12] The series starts just after the parents have moved their children "out of the [low-income housing] projects," and into a more-upscale two-story apartment in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood—known for its roughness as "Bed-Stuy, do-or-die.

[6][4][12] Chris finds the new school difficult to adjust to because of social ostracism and the ire of a red-haired bully named Caruso.

Ms. Morello, a well-meaning white teacher, treats Chris with naive, condescending assumptions derived from crude racial/ghetto stereotypes.

The bright spot in school is Chris's best friend, Greg (played by Vincent Martella)—a smaller but similarly nerdy white kid.

[4][12] Mother Rochelle usually keeps a firm grip on the family, while their exhausted breadwinner father, Julius, struggles to catch a little sleep between jobs.

For several episodes, an overbearing neighbor lady is played by Whoopi Goldberg, grandmother of Tasha, a pretty girl, next door.

In Brazil, the series premiered on RecordTV in October 2006 and, as of 2022, reruns are still regularly broadcast on Sundays due to its immense popularity in the country.