The Parkers

This page is dedicated to Yvette Wilson (1964-2012)

The Parkers is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from August 30, 1999, to May 10, 2004. A spin-off of UPN's Moesha, The Parkers features the mother-daughter team of Nikki (played by Mo'Nique) and Kim Parker (played by Countess Vaughn).

Plot
Spunky daughter Kim is mortified when her bigger-than-life mom, Nikki, decides to go back to school at the same junior college she attends.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Its a nice follow up from Moesha. As it’s nice to see what Kim and her mom (Nikki) are up to.
 * 2) Silly and Witty Humor.
 * 3) Memorable characters (good or bad) like Nikki, Kim, Stevie, Professor Oglevee, T and Andell.
 * 4) Memorable guest stars.
 * 5) Memorable moments.
 * 6) While this show does use the laugh track, it’s actually used less often, because it is filmed in front of a live studio audience, so it has genuine laughs from a real audience most of the time and the laugh track usually isn’t painful as a result.
 * 7) Awesome premise.
 * 8) It was the last UPN sitcom of the 1990s and it considered one of the best spin-offs UPN made.
 * 9) Many Likable and hilarious characters such as; Nikki (The Professor’s “Fiancé”), Kim (The Dumb One), Stevie (The white girl with the sister booty, as many people say), T (The person everyone hates), Professor Oglevee (The lover) and Andell (The single one)
 * 10) *Nikki Parker is a very hilarious character and is such an icon
 * 11) *Kim Parker, despite being flanderized, her stupidity is hilarious and very likable.
 * 12) *Stevie is a very good friend to Kim and she is very hilarious as well.
 * 13) *Andell is also hilarious and was greatly portrayed by Yvette Wilson.
 * 14) *Professor Oglevee is a very hilarious character. The way he tries to ignore Nikki Parker and always fails miserably is very hilarious.
 * 15) **Him, Nikki and the other women he dated, The love triangle is very hilarious.
 * 16) Moesha came back and guest starred in an episode.
 * 17) Very catchy theme song
 * 18) The acting is so realistic and amazing.
 * 19) Crossover with The Hugleys.
 * 20) *Nikki Parker appeared in The Hughleys episode "Forty Acres and a Fool".
 * 21) *Daryl Hugley from The Hugleys appears in The Parkers episode "Who's Your Mama?"
 * 22) Nikki and Kim’s mother-daughter relationship is very cute and hilarious.
 * 23) Kyle Massey from That's So Raven appeared in episode “Crazy Love”.
 * 24) The sets are really well designed and built.
 * 25) The writing and storyline is very great.
 * 26) The insults are hilarious and really funny.
 * 27) The Nikki, Oglevee and who ever he dates love triangle is very funny and hilarious.
 * 28) So many heartwarming and sad moments the sitcom has, some of the moments will make you say “Aw” or even cry.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Flanderization: Kim went from an Average student to a dumbass who has a very annoying accent. But she is still likable.
 * 2) *Also Professor Oglevee was flanderized horribly when season 2 premiered.
 * 3) The show jumped the shark by removing Desiree in season 1 and replaced her with Andell. Though it is nice to see Andell come back.
 * 4) *Desiree never came back for a guest appearance.
 * 5) The episode “Practice What You Preach”, Nicki's friend, Gertie, was very unlikable and was being a huge jerk as she humiliated Karla about her past self.
 * 6) The ending was terrible. A lot of fans thought Nikki should’ve married Johnnie instead of Professor Oglevee.
 * 7) There is only one bad camera placement, in one episode you could clearly see the tip of the microphone.
 * 8) The show sometimes will focus on love instead of it's original porpoise: comedy.
 * 9) Some of the jokes are very mean-spirited, and on some occasions they can be a little offensive.
 * 10) *Like when Nikki was dancing and jumping and Professor Oglevee thought it was an earthquake.
 * 11) While season 5 is decent, it's considered the weakest season as the plots has became slightly less clever and the characters was slightly flanderized. Also the ending to this show was a horrible way to end the Moesha franchise.
 * 12) In one episode Professor Oglevee sabotaged Nikki's application to get into a college, which is a terrible thing to do, even to someone you don’t like.
 * 13) The recurring character, Regina, is so unlikable.

Reception
The series received generally favorable reviews from critics and was praised by audiences. It has been recognized as a "guilty pleasure" by several media outlets. The series has received criticism for the jokes about Nikki's weight especially for that one scene where Nikki was dancing and jumping and the whole building shook. It was also criticized for the really bad ending of the show as many fans thought Nikki should’ve married Johnny instead of Professor Oglevee. The series received a 6.9/10 on IMDb. Along with a 92% by google users and a lot of 5 star reviews on google as well, which has a 4.8/5 on google.

Trivia

 * Yvette Wilson died on June 14, 2012, aged 48.
 * Mo'Nique is also know for so many rolls in other movies, most known for this show and Precious.