Or at least I do, after talking with the "Everybody Hates Chris" star Wednesday afternoon. The show, which of course is on tonight, follows a fictionalized version of comedian Chris Rock's teen years. Arnold plays Rochelle, Chris' mom. She's a disciplinarian ghetto-snob who loves her some candy turtles, and of course, her family.

 

Following is an edited transcript of our interview:

 

TV Filter: Let's talk about "Everybody Hates Chris." It's one of my favorite new shows...

 

Tichina Arnold: Thank you.

 

TVF: You're very welcome. How did you come to get the part?

 

TA: I auditioned like everybody else. I was actually auditioning for two different things that day. I was trying to get a one-hour drama. That's what I was what I was trying to concentrate on. I was sitting at the audition thinking I was at the one-hour drama audition and I wasn't. I was like, "Oh my God, I'm at the wrong audition." The girl went, "No, no no.You're here."  I went in and I didn't expect Chris to be in the room and he was. ... You never see that, not at the first audition. From that moment on, I was like, "I've got to get this part." Because the script was really funny and the role is a lot like my family members. I was like, "Oh, it'll be easy to play." And that's what ended up happening.  Chris, after my first audition, told me later that he and Ali LeRoi wanted me from the very start.

 

TVF: What's it been like playing Rochelle?

 

TA: It's been a lot of fun. I'm having a lot of fun. Every episode is something new. I bring different elements to her every episode, so that's the fun of it for me. I play her like she's my mom, my grandmother and my aunt all rolled up into one person. So I have a lot of fun with it.

 

TVF: Now what do your mom and your grandma and the rest of your relatives say, knowing that you're drawing from them to play Rochelle?

 

TA: My mother, she's so funny when she watches the show. It's like, "I'm going to kill you cause I can't believe you did that to me!" She loves watching because she really does see herself. I get a kick out of that because every week she tunes in like a darn fan.

 

TVF: What was like one thing that was a shout-out to your mom, something that your mom does that you put on the show?

 

TA: My mom's favorite phrase is "I'm going to knock the stew out of you." I do her facial expressions. It's little nuances that not every person would catch up on if you didn't know my mother. Even her accent. My mom talks like an old Jewish woman. Her accent's like, "Oh my God, I can't believe that you're talking to me like this." Oftentimes I'll find myself talking like her. The fun in it is just finding it as I go along.

 

TVF: How much of the character is Chris's actual mom?

 

TA: You know, I've never met her. I've had to bring elements of my own family into it. Chris just told me who his mom was and how she was, which was like a lot of typical black women during that era and that time.

 

TVF: When are you going to get a chance to meet her or talk to her?

 

TA: I don't know. I have no idea. Hopefully soon. (Laughs)

TVF: Tell me about the other cast members. What are they like to work with?

 

TA: Everybody's a lot of fun. Terry Crews is a great guy, a really nice guy. We get along completely. We're like, really, really good friends  and we work well with each other. We complement each other. All the kids are great. Tyler, I always say he's my little man. He's a child, but he's an adult. He's very well-raised and he's got great talent and a really good head on his shoulders. Tequan, he's my playboy. He's smooth. He's real quiet, but very intuitive and polite and just a sweetheart. A really, really genuine little kid. Imani, she reminds me of myself when I was little. I was more hyper than she is. I used to be hyper. She's extremely smart and she has a great natural sensibility to her acting. She's going to be a powerhouse if she continues in this business. And Vincent, he's a gentleman, another "little man." The kids, they're all professionals. They're more professional than I am.

 

TVF: What's been your favorite show so far this season?

TA: I would say my favorite episode was food stamps thus far. And the reason why food stamps was my favorite episode was because that really happened in my household. My father brought home food stamps one day and my mother refused to use them. (Laughs). A lot of these shows bring back memories for me as a child.

 

TVF: I was going to ask you about that. How much does this make you nostalgic for the 80s?

 

TA: The 80s were the time I was raised and it brings back a lot of memories for me. The 80s represent the hip-hop culture, when that was born, and the 80s represent me going to school, the real formative years of my life. The 80s to me were liberating. A lot of people found themselves in the 80s and a lot of culture extended from the 80s and was birthed from the 80s. The 80s are always fond memories for me.

 

TVF: How does "Everybody Hates Chris" compare to your time on "Martin?"

 

TA: Oh, God. I would say the two are completely different genres of comedy. There is no comparison to each other. I got so much out of working on "Martin" and working with my peers and working with adults. And now I'm in a situation where I'm working with children, and it's a whole different kind of comedy. It's single-camera. Martin was multi-camera. It's a completely different ballgame, and I'm loving it. I'm using elements from when I was on "Martin," things I did from "Martin." But it's not the same. Because it's me .... I have certain comedy that I do all the time. But it's a completely different kind of comedy. I'm having a ball finding my way through this new type of comedy, the single-camera thing.

 

TVF: So far on "Everybody Hates Chris," you've had some guest-stars like Jimmie Walker, Antonio Farbas...

 

TA: Loretta Devine...

 

TVF: Right. Who else would you like to have in upcoming seasons?

 

TA: You know what? The way the show works, when a script is created, Ali LeRoi comes over to me and says "OK, who do you see playing this role, and we kind of just take it from there. We don't look for celebrities to be on the show. We look for the people who best suits the character. We don't typecast at all. It's like, who can you see doing this. Not so much OK, the person has played this before and this person does. Having Jimmie Walker as my father was the furthest thing from my mind. But having him being a part of it, it just came to to life on the set. That's how we roll on "Everybody Hates Chris." Whoever's best suited for the role. I can't say, "I would love to work with this person, I would love to work with that person." It depends on how the script looks that week.

 

TVF: "Everybody Hates Chris," I understand, was one of the early locks to move to from UPN to the CW. So congratulations on that, definitely.

 

TA: Thank you.  I'm very excited about that. (Laughs) The downside to (the merger) is you're going to have a lot of people that will be out of work. Because you have these two networks combining, you go from 33 slots to 13 slots. Hopefully this new network will be able to create and open other doors for new shows to come. But I am very happy that "Everybody Hates Chris" is a part of the new fall lineup. I'm very happy about it.

 

TVF: Have you heard anything about what else will be joining you on the CW?

 

TA: Nope. Mum is the word. I have no idea. None. I wish I knew. I would tell you.

 

TVF: What sort of fan reaction have you been getting to your character?

 

TA: Great fan reaction. It's almost turning into a cult (laughs) because people are really enjoying it because don't know what to expect each episode. The show has a wonderful combination of elements. You cater to the children. You cater to the adults. You cater to older people. Everybody is able to enjoy the show. Jewish women, Irish women, they walk up to me all the time and say, "Oh my God, my mother talks to me all the time just like that. My mother says the same thing. You're talking about people from completely different cultures. I had somebody walk up to me the other day and say, "I had my three-year-old watching the show and every Thursday, they're like 'Mom, Mom, I want to watch 'Everybody Hates Chris.' ' They're barely formulating sentences and this kid's watching the show. And then you have somebody's grandfather who's 75 years old who doesn't miss it. The demographics are just incredible on the show. It's very satisfying to know that people are pleased and enjoy it. I always like to know the truth. I like to know what people don't like about the show. And so far, the only thing people have said to me about not liking the show is that it isn't long enough.

 

TVF: It seems to me there's probably some audience who would love your show but might not check into it because it's a predominantly African-American cast. What are your thoughts on that?

 

TA: It's very true. You have a lot of black people who never saw a full episode of "Friends." (Laughs) It's just the way it is. Cultures watch what's in their culture. White people are going to watch white people. Black people are going to watch black people. I had a woman at the Paley Television Festival that stood up in the audience and said "Honestly, I never watched 'Everybody Hates Chris' until one of my girlfriends who is also white called me and said she saw it, she was on the floor, she enjoyed it, and I had to watch it. Quite honestly had my girlfriend not called and told me to watch it, I would not have known. I've seen the promos and stuff like that.  Because being a black family -- I'm not prejudiced or anything like that. There was no interest for a middle-aged white woman who's a housewife to watch it." She said, "I tuned in and now I don't miss it." It spreads through that kind of word of mouth. I guess the show's got to have a certain marketing strategy to expose the show to other diverse cultures. But I don't mind the show being a slow burn because that creates longevity. I think if the show is funny, if it's good, people will come and tune in.

 

TVF: What do you like about what the show has to say about black culture and what sorts of things would you change?

 

TA: I wouldn't change a thing about the show, the reason being that I see the process that it takes. Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi know exactly what they want for this show. They know exactly what kind of content and exactly what we're trying to portray and what we're trying to get across. It's real. When I tell you every time I read the script, I get flashbacks of my old life. We just happen to be a black family playing this show out. It's parenting, you know, during the time when there were no time-outs. I remember that time. There's a lot of people able to relate to this show because it's about a little boy. You could flip the whole situation and put a little white boy in Chris's situation. It's still a little kid in a situation. Elements would be different. But it's very simple. It's not a "clever" show. It's real. It's honest. It's heartfelt. And people can always understand all that.