I had the opportunity over Thanksgiving break to go back and watch some old episodes of the Bernie Mac Show, which holds up surprisingly well. The New Yorker does a good job of outlining its essential charms:

Bernie is full of hot air and bluster (he operates in the big-baby tradition of Ralph Kramden and Archie Bunker), but part of his charm is that he is a genuine hero and yet doesn’t see himself as one. He’s never ambivalent about doing what has to be done, and he’s never ambivalent about how much of a pain in the neck that can be.