You Take the Kids

You Take the Kids
Genre	Sitcom
Written by	Paul Haggis Stephen Nathan Kathy Slevin
Directed by	Peter Baldwin Frank Bonner Paul Haggis Marcia L. Leslie William Levinson J.D. Lobue
Starring	Nell Carter Roger E. Mosley Dante Beze Caryn Ward Marlon Taylor Trent Cameron Leila Danette
Theme music composer	Jeff Moss
Opening theme	"Nobody's Got It Easy" performed by Nell Carter
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6 (1 Unaired)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paul Haggis
Cinematography	Bill Williams
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	MTM Enterprises Paul Haggis Productions
Distributor	20th Television
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	December 15, 1990 (1990-12-15) – January 12, 1991 (1991-01-12)
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

You Take the Kids is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from December 1990 to January 1991. The series stars Nell Carter, 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 African American family living in Pittsburgh. Nell's husband Michael (Roger E. Mosley) worked as a bus driver while Nell gave piano lessons at the family home for extra money. The Kirklands had four children: the oldest, Raymond (Dante Beze), boy crazy daughter Lorette (Caryn Ward), 12-year-old Peter (Marlon Taylor), and 10-year-old Nate (Trent Cameron). 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 couple's basement.

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).

Production notes

You Take the Kids was executive produced by Paul Haggis. The series was produced by MTM Enterprises and Paul Haggis Productions, and distributed by 20th Television.

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Notes	Original airdate
1	Pilot	Nell and Michael's plans for a romantic getaway are complicated by Nate's new job: delivering stolen audio equipment.	December 15, 1990
2	"Merry Christmas to All and a Pointy Hat to You"	The Christmas tree and presents are stolen by a homeless family.	December 22, 1990
3	"The Eggs & I"	Lorette's folks misunderstand when she teams with a cute boy in a school parenting project to care for eggs.	December 29, 1990
4	"Fishes Are Like Sisters... You Can't Flush Them Without Feeling Guilty"	Lorette asks out Raymond's cool and sexually active friend spunk; Nate has plans to assassinate an unwanted goldfish.	January 5, 1991
5	"What I Did For Love"	Raymond borrows from high school loan shark Dewayne to take out the most materialistic girl in school and then steals to repay his debt.	January 12, 1991
6	"Bad Boy"	Peter steals the family car in hopes of finally getting his parents' attention.	Unaired

External links

• You Take the Kids at IMDb
• You Take the Kids at TV.com