Chappelle's Show is going to be difficult to top.  Maybe impossible.  Ever since Dave Chappelle left his own show, forgoing a great fountain of money and ever-increasing fame, Comedy Central has been left with a giant, gaping hole in its schedule.  Comedy Central's original programming is still solid, as it is home to South Park, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report, but Chappelle's Show was the network's only program headed up by an African-American.  It was also universally beloved, a titanic ratings earner, and an enormously profitable franchise for DVD sales.  Chocolate News, debuting tonight at 10:30pm on Comedy Central, will forever be compared to Chappelle's Show, which is unfortunate.  Chocolate News, like Chappelle, will take on issues of race and other cultural hot buttons under the wings of veteran comedian David Alan Grier. 

David Alan Grier, now over 50 years old, has had a long and distinguished career as a comic actor.  He's perhaps best known for his work on the FOX sketch comedy show In Living Color, which aired during the 1990's.  That show launched the careers of many comedians, including Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Tommy Davidson, and a man by the name of Jim Carrey.  David Alan Grier was the underrated all-star of that cast, consistently creating new and beloved characters, though modern audiences may only know him from a plethora of family-friendly roles he's inhabited over the last decade. 

Chocolate News is set up as a 60 Minutes-type newsmagazine, with Alan Grier as the host who introduces different segments or stories.  The first episode includes a feature on Maya Angelou (Alan Grier portrays her), a expletive-spouting rapper who records a government PSA and a segment on a “N-Word Peace Treaty” between black and white people.  If it sounds like the kind of thing that Chappelle's Show would do, then you're right.  But, that doesn't mean Chocolate News will pale in comparison.  At the very least, it's worth a look.

Chocolate News premieres tonight on Comedy Central, after South Park, at 10:30pm.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of Comedy Central)