''You Take the Kids'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from December 15, 1990, to January 12, 1991. The series starred

Nell Carter Nell Carter (born Nell Ruth Hardy; September 13, 1948 – January 23, 2003) was an American singer and actress. Carter began her career in 1970, singing in the theater, and later crossed over to television. She was best known for her role as Ne ...

, who also performed the theme song "Nobody's Got It Easy". ''You Take the Kids'', which was perceived as being the black answer to '' Roseanne'' due to its portrayal of a working-class African-American family, featured Carter as a crass, no-nonsense mother and wife.

Synopsis

Carter stars as Nell Kirkland, the opinionated matriarch of a

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and power ...

African American family living in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. Nell's husband Michael (

Roger E. Mosley Roger Earl Mosley (; December 18, 1938 – August 7, 2022) was an American actor, director, and writer best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore "T.C." Calvin in the CBS television series '' Magnum, P.I.'', which originally aired ...

) worked as a school bus driver while Nell gave piano lessons at the family home for extra money. Nell and Michael had four children: eldest son Raymond ( Dante Beze), boy-crazy daughter Lorette ( Caryn Ward), 12-year-old Peter (Marlon Taylor), and 10-year-old Nate (

Trent Cameron Trent Joseph Cameron (born May 16, 1979, in Los Angeles County, California) is an American actor best known for his roles as John Lee Malvo in '' D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear'', as Jerel Goodrich in the UPN sitcom ''The Parkers'' and as Young ...

). In addition to the kids, Nell and Michael also had to contend with Nell's equally opinionated mother Helen ( Leila Danette), who lived in the basement.

Cast

as Nell Kirkland *

as Michael Kirkland * Dante Beze as Raymond Kirkland * Caryn Ward as Lorette Kirkland *Marlon Taylor as Peter Kirkland *

as Nate Kirkland * Leila Danette as Helen

Production

The series was scheduled on Saturdays at 8pm (EST). It was canceled after six episodes (five were aired, but the sixth was pre-empted by CBS' special coverage of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

). ''You Take the Kids'' was executive produced by

Paul Haggis Paul Edward Haggis (born March 10, 1953) is a Canadian screenwriter, film producer, and director of film and television. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners ''Million Dollar Baby'' (2004) and ...

. The series was produced by

CBS Entertainment Productions CBS Productions, Inc. was a production arm of the CBS television network (an initialism of Columbia Broadcasting System, along with its parent company CBS Television Studios, Inc.; the radio network was founded in 1927), now a part of Paramount Gl ...

MTM Enterprises MTM Enterprises (also known as MTM Productions) was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' for CBS. The name for the producti ...

and Paul Haggis Productions, and is currently distributed by

CBS Television Distribution CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glo ...

Episodes

References

External links

* 1990 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings 1990s American sitcoms 1990s American black sitcoms Television series created by Paul Haggis CBS original programming English-language television shows Television shows set in Pittsburgh Television series by CBS Studios Television series by MTM Enterprises {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub