The BEST episodes of The Bernie Mac Show
Every episode of The Bernie Mac Show ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Bernie Mac Show!
Bernie and his wife, Wanda, reluctantly step into the role of parents when his sister drops off her three kids -- naive Bryanna, nerdy Jordan and teenager Vanessa -- en route to rehab.
#1 - Being Bernie Mac
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/22/2004
Bernie is hoping for some peace and quiet as he prepares for a performance that night, but he must deal with the kids when Wanda's business meeting runs long.
#2 - Back in the Day
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/20/2002
Bernie becomes concerned when he begins to see the classic signs that old age is catching up with him. He's forgetful, has aches and pains, and is finding gray hairs in, uh, unwanted places. When a panic attack sends Bernie to the Emergency Room after an argument with the kids, he decides to not let the kids send him to an early grave. He fights back and begins trying to act young again. He blasts his music and nags his friends for not staying up all night to play poker with him. Bernie only makes matters worse however when all his ""young"" activities take their toll on his mind and body. When Bryana asks Bernie to play in her Father-Daughter Basketball tournament at school, he complains, saying that he is just too old to play. When he gets to the game though, he realizes that he should be playing and joins in. Although he gets hurt playing, Bernie realizes that being old doesn't mean stopping your life.
#3 - If I Were N-Riched Man
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/3/2002
After hearing Bernie use inappropriate language at home, Bryana goes to school and repeats it—much to the horror of her teacher. Soon after, a social worker shows up at the house to discuss Bernie's hostility problems.
#4 - Hair Jordan
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/4/2004
Bernie finds out that Jordan has been getting haircuts with Wanda and the girls at a beauty salon and decides it's time to take him to Bernie's favorite barbershop downtown so Jordan can learn to be one of the guys. There they talk sports, politics, community and most importantly -- smack. But things backfire when Jordan's first attempt at smack-talking hits a nerve with Earl, the barbershop owner, who throws the two out of his shop. Meanwhile, the girls bond with Wanda when they team up to figure out how to change the batteries in the incessantly beeping home smoke detectors.
#5 - Sweet Home Chicago (2)
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/15/2002
The kids hope to see their mother when the family heads to Chicago for a funeral. Don Cheadle guest stars as Bernie's Cousin D.
#6 - Go Bernie, It's Your Birthday
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 6/22/2004
Bernie's turning 40-something and instead of getting everything he wants … his day ends up being a disaster. He gets electrocuted by an old lady, forced to be a clown at a child's birthday party, and sent shopping for his own present! But it's all because his family has planned a big surprise party.
#7 - Walk Like a Man
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/8/2005
Bernie feels that Jordan is ready to walk home from elementary school after noticing other kids in his class doing the same. Although Wanda feels Jordan is too young to take such a big step, Bernie sees it as a rite of passage. But when Bernie hears that a bully is beating up kids on their way home, he has a change of heart.
#8 - Secrets and Lies
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/1/2002
Bernie takes Jordan to a Clippers' game but tells Wanda that Jordan has had an asthma attack and had to go to the hospital. Wanda tries to help Jordan 'feel better'. He feels guilty and asks Bernie if he can admit his wrongdoing. Bernie explains that it is occasionaly ok to lie, but Jordan takes it to a whole new level. He manipulates his sisters, aunt, school, and even Bernie. When the family has dinner a slew of lies are admitted by everyone in the family.
#9 - Mac 101
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/27/2002
Impressed by the behavior and talents of another family's kids, Bernie cracks down on his own with a program of constant studying.
#10 - Meet The Grandparents
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/7/2003
Wanda's parents, Lloyd and Leora, visit the Mac household. Bernie and Wanda first think the visit will be good for the kids. But Lloyd and Leora start to give them more then they bargained for when hey start to criticize Bernie and Wanda's parenting skills. Bernie and Wanda decide to let the grandparents take care of the kids and leave for several hours. When they return, Bernie and Wanda tell Lloyd and Leora how they feel and decide the best thing is for the grandparents to leave. When Vanessa finds out, she is very upset because Leora did not tell her parents that a boy kissed her. Everyone makes up and decide to leave parenting to Bernie and Wanda.
#11 - Handle Your Business
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/13/2002
Bernie is booked on a popular morning radio show, and he gets himself into trouble with the whole family when he draws from his private life to bring comedy to the public airwaves.
#12 - Hall of Fame
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/6/2002
Jordan sets his sights on joining Vanessa and Bryana on the Bernie Mac Hall of Fame awards shelf. He decides to join his school's football team after hearing that everyone on the squad gets a trophy just for participating. Bernie is thrilled that Jordan is playing football—until he sees his playing skills.
#13 - Love Thy Nephew
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/7/2003
When a litigious neighbor asks Bernie to tear down the treehouse he built for Jordan, it leads to an all-night standoff. Meanwhile, a relentless Bryanna tries to put a bumper sticker that represents her good grades in school on Wanda's car, but Wanda tries different ways to put the sticker anywhere but on her car.
#14 - Mac-Inations
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/12/2004
Bernie believes that he is the master of all pranks until his neighbor Carl Reiner, Wanda, and the kids join forces against him for the ultimate practical joke. They make Bernie believe that he accidentally killed Carl's beloved dog with rat poison. But it isn't until Ashton Kutcher comes into the picture that Bernie is put in his place.
#15 - Pink Gold
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/19/2003
Chris Rock and Jay Leno guest star, as Bernie takes a long-standing grudge against Rock all the way to The Tonight Show. Upset after seeing Rock get preferential treatment at a doctor's office, Bernie's blood boils even more when his poker buddies fall all over his fellow comic, who drops by to tell Bernie that they will be co-hosting an awards show. That's not cool with Bernie, who maintains that back in their early days as stand-ups, Chris once told a joke on stage that Bernie had told him just moments before. The situation comes to a head when they're booked on Leno, who's unaware of the rift between the two.
#16 - Droobie or Not Droobie
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/15/2004
Bernie takes a film role because it stars Bryana's favorite character, Droobie, a Barney-like dinosaur. Bryana, unable to separate fiction and reality, is upset with Bernie because he plays the villain in the film and is mean to her cherished Droobie. She gives Bernie the silent treatment, and his plan to show her that the two are friends goes terribly wrong when Bryana catches him stuffing the Droobie costume into the trunk of a car and thinks he has killed her favorite dinosaur. Meanwhile, Jordan is selling candy bars to raise money for his school but is not having an easy time of it. To ease his pressure, Jordan eats the candy bars and then must come up with a way to pay the school back.
#17 - Love Bug
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/11/2004
When Vanessa brings home her first boyfriend, Reggie, Bernie gets to work on scaring the guy off but quickly realizes that Reggie is a good influence on Jordan and could lead him away from bug collecting and into sports and girls. Bernie decides he can take advantage of the situation and let Vanessa think she has a boyfriend while also giving Jordan a role model. When this prevents Vanessa and Reggie from spending any alone-time together, Vanessa decides to break up until Bernie uses reverse psychology on her to get them back together. Meanwhile, Wanda decides to clear space in her closet and give some shoes to the Salvation Army, but letting go is harder than she thought it would be.
#18 - That Old Mac Magic
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/26/2004
Bernie's agent Jerry Best takes Jordan to his office on national ""Take Your Child to Work Day,"" and Jordan lands a commercial for the designer knock-offs store, ""Magic Malvert's."" But when they threaten to fire Jordan, Bernie steps in and is forced to do the commercial. Bernie goes before the American Idol judges in his confessional and they critique his performance in the commercial.
#19 - It's Mac-ademic
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/22/2004
Bernie doesn't like it that Bryanna's education consists of playing in the sandbox, tag and tiddlywinks, and he begins to question the teaching methods at the Wellington School. So Bernie volunteers as a teacher's helper for a week to see for himself. Things go wrong from the start when he demands respect from the kids and asks them to call him Mr. Mac instead of by his first name, as they do with the other adults at the school. When he gets resistance from the kids, the teachers tell Bernie that since he does not respect the Wellington way he must be on his way. He takes Bryanna with him but enrolling her in a new school isn't as easy as it seems. Meanwhile, Wanda thinks she can reason with Vanessa and Jordan and resists using violence against violence to get them to stop fighting, but she's beginning to think it's the only thing that will work.
#20 - Eye of the Tiger
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/30/2003
Jordan tries out for the basketball team, but the coach decides he is better suited for gymnastics -- as a ribbon dancer. Meanwhile, Wanda coaches Bryana's soccer team and turns her into a lean, mean soccer machine.
#21 - Wanda's Week Off
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/23/2002
Wanda spends time with the kids and considers having a child with Bernie.
#22 - The Other Sister
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/7/2003
Bernie's sister, Benita, comes to visit, and all havoc starts. She first tells Bryana that she cannot play Snow White in the school play because she is black. She also buys a cell phone for Vanessa, that Bernie did not allow. Meanwhile, Jordan is obsessed with Benita when she walks around the house in her robe.
#23 - Bernie Mac Rope-a-Dope
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/5/2003
Wesley Snipes takes a genial comic spin as Wanda's easygoing boss, Duke, who invites the couple to a dinner party. Feeling as if the kids are ""turning my brain into mush,"" Bernie relishes this rare opportunity for adult conversation. But playing a parlor game underscores just how much being around the kids has influenced Bernie — asked to name something that flies, he submits ""Tinkerbell"" — and he takes some, well, kidding, from the Duke. Back at home, Vanessa baby-sits her siblings and takes matters into her own hand when Jordan gets troublesome.
#24 - Stiff Upper Lip
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/2004
Bernie decides that 8-year-old Bryana is too old to be riding her bike with training wheels. She crashes, and a guilty Bernie volunteers to take her class to the museum. Jordan steals an old cast from the hospital and wears it at school to get out of gym class.
#25 - Laughing Matters
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/21/2003
When Bernie lands the dramatic lead role of a stroke afflicted former track star, he has a hard time convincing everyone he has the chops to be a serious dramatic actor and reaches out to Angela Bassett for acting advice. Since Bernie is working and cannot care for the kids after school, Wanda must put the younger kids into daycare at her work. Upset at being stuck with a bunch of babies, Jordan leads a child rebellion where the kids escape daycare and wreak havoc on the office. Meanwhile, Vanessa pretends to be poor, so that Teri, a girl at school, will like her. But the plan backfires when Teri finds out that Vanessa is lying and that she is really Bernie Mac's niece.