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Kellita Smith plays Wanda Mac on "The Bernie Mac Show," Smith's home away from home. Mac Maternal East Oakland actress Kellita Smith keeps Hollywood on the real By Marie-Adele Moniot The sitcom needs a facelift. Unless you're one of those very creative people who view television as the real evil-doer, you're familiar with the sad state of the modern sitcom. It's not so much that the sitcom rarely produces gut-busting laughs (although it doesn't), but rather the format remains largely unchanged and stale. It's as if, season after season, someone takes the familiar formula of a mid-80s family sitcom, or an early-90s yuppie show, and spits it out with the latest crop of stars who can't quite make it on the big screen. Enter FOX, the home of such odd, innovative programs as "The Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle." On November 14th, FOX pushed the boob tube envelope even further with the premiere of "The Bernie Mac Show." On the surface, it looks pretty run-of-the-mill: A middle class family of five runs around, getting in each other's way, misunderstandings abound, laughter ensues. And yet, from the first few minutes of the premiere episode, it is clear that this is not your average "Family Ties" sitcom. Comedian Bernie Mac begins the show by talking directly to the camera. Granted, these days it seems every show has a character who breaks the fourth wall, but do those other characters narrate the story of how they came to adopt their drug-addicted sisters' three kids? No, probably not. The content of this show is different, and the format is just as new. Every episode begins at the end. In other words, Bernie Mac becomes the storyteller, moving back and forth between participating in the action and commenting on it. So, we have the funny, not-so-fatherly father figure and three rambunctious kids. Who are we missing? The wife/ mother figure, who in this case is played with ferocious level-headedness by Oakland-bred actress Kellita Smith. Smith's character, Wanda Mac, is a high-powered VP who clearly has little patience for her husband's goofiness. She is the rational one to Bernie's childlike over-reactions. When I spoke with Smith about her role, she described the evolution of her character. In the first few episodes, to establish the contrast between herself and her husband, Wanda is presented as an extremely responsible working woman. Traditional TV gender stereotypes -- the male as money generator and the overwhelmed female as caretaker -- are deconstructed and passed around. As Smith puts it, her character has a tradition-ally masculine twist. And Bernie often approaches hysteria. Smith adds that as the season progresses, Wanda begins to respond to the children, and we can only assume that she pulls out the same reserves of tolerance that she normally keeps for her husband. As an actress, Smith describes herself as a late bloomer. In other words, she didn't catch the acting bug until after real-izing the nine to five work-a-day world was not her bag. Smith was raised in East Oakland and considers herself a product, rather than a victim of her neighborhood. Her first big break came when she was cast in a touring production of Tell It Like It Tiz. Many stage credits followed, and she even won an NAACP Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Feelings. Eight years ago, after a brief stint in New York, she hurried back to the West Coast, settling in Los Angeles. Smith landed recurring roles on established shows like "Martin," "Sister, Sister," and "The Jamie Foxx Show." Although these exper-iences briefed her on the ins and outs of sitcom acting, they were nothing like her current gig on "Bernie Mac." She says she felt like a visitor on those other shows. With Wanda Mac, Smith has found her character (a role, incidentally, that she landed at the last minute, prompting Bernie Mac to say she stole the part). Her partner in comedy and the three children make up what she fondly refers to as her home. Los Angeles is home for now, but Smith's roots are still firmly planted in Oakland. Her family and friends still live here, and she visits as often as her schedule permits. It was here that she says she fell in love with the process of taking a new character and making it her own. Like Wanda Mac and the show itself, Smith is just getting started and promises to keep making us laugh -- without relying on banal sitcom tricks. Recovering Texan Marie-Adele Moniot is an Oakland-based freelance writer who covers arts and culture. She can be reached at [email protected]. [ East Bay | Metroactive | Archives ]