The Parkers

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Clockwise from the left: Professor Stanley Oglevee, Thaddeus "T" Radcliffe, Stevie Van Lowe, Kim Parker, Nikki Parker, and Andell Wilkerson.

"Heeyyy!"

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

The series centered around a mother and daughter who both attend Santa Monica College. Nikki Parker was forced to give up her dreams of going to college when she discovered she was pregnant with daughter Kim. After Kim reaches adulthood, Nikki finally decides to go back to school. Kim is initially mortified with this decision, but eventually accepts the situation. Most episodes revolved around Nikki's infatuation with Professor Stanley Oglevee or trying to break up any other potential romance he has.

The series finale aired on May 10, 2004 and drew in 3.6 million viewers. In the finale, Professor Oglevee finally realizes his true feelings for Nikki just as she is about to marry another man and they get married in the same episode.

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Tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Nikki to Professor Oglevee at first.
• Acrofatic: Despite her size, Nikki has been shown doing very extreme stunts. In Til Do Us Apart - And Make It Soon and some other episodes, she doubles as an Action Girl.
• A Day in the Limelight: "And The Winner Is..." had each member of Freestyle Unity enter the contest behind the other members' back due to the contest not accepting groups, so Stevie, T, and Kim are seen doing solo performances.
• Alpha Bitch: Regina.
• Altar the Speed: Kim and Jerel have a quickie wedding in Las Vegas. It's annulled when Jerel's mom reveals that he is only 17.
• Ambiguously Gay or Camp Gay: Freddie, but seeing that he's the father of Regina's baby from a one night stand, he may be Camp Straight.
• Aloof Elder Sister/Annoying Older Sibling: Nikki's older sister Constance is pretty insufferable, pissing off Dez, Tommy, and The Professor for not letting them eat the Thanksgiving dinner until Kim and Tiffany came back. She even threw out Nikki's flowers and started bossing everyone around, who were shocked to see Nikki actually "enduring" her sister's behavior.
• Back to School: The entire premise of the show.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Your Mileage May Vary, but Nikki may or may not have some shades of this. However, her Crowning Moment of Awesome in the episode, "Squatter's Right", kinda leans towards this.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Kim, however, is this trope, if the episode "Somebody's Watching You", has anything to say about it.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Nikki, Andell and Kim.
• Big Eater: Nikki.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Paris in "Jury Duty", and it was practically obvious to everyone. Well, the women, anyway; the men were just too horny to find her guilty.
• Brother Chuck: Nikki's friend Desiree from Season 1.
• The Bro Code: Andel breaks it when she makes out with Mel, Nikki's ex-husband in Et Tu Andell? Stevie does the same to Kim after dating Hakeem.
• Broken Aesop: Nikki, after so many years of putting herself out there only to get rejected coldly time and time again by the professor, finally moves on for good and gets over him, planning to marry a new man who treats her well and respects her. During the series finale wedding ceremony The Professor, after having a Love Epiphany, goes to her and begs for her love, only to have her reject her husband to be so she can be with him. So, to review - obsess over someone until you have too much respect for yourself & finally move on and then the person of your obsession will come around?
• Cat Smile: Nikki at times.
• Catch Phrase: The page quote. Also Prof. Oglevee to Nikki: "Get away from me, you psycho!"
• Christmas Episode: Everyone gets locked in a department store on Christmas Eve.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Nikki anytime the Professor has a new girlfriend.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Kim.
  • Her behavior is actually Played for Drama, as Regis used her as a guinea pig for this psychology thesis; individuals with low-I Qs' who are still able to function. Kim, understandably, flips her lid.
• Crossover: With the Spin-Off Moesha. Hakeem and Moesha come to Kim's birthday party in the Halloween Episode. Another episode has Nikki working for Hakeem's mom at Magic Johnson Theaters.
• Darker and Edgier: The final episodes in the fourth season onto the final season opener seemed to be much more serious, especially the fourth season finale, An Ivy League Of Her Own, starting from Jury Duty when a gold-digger slept her with four ex-husbands until they died from heart attacks, stole their insurance money, gotten away with it, and almost made the Professor her next victim in Til Death Do Us Apart - And Make It Soon. The episode, "She's Positive", in Season 5, has T finding the girl of his dream, but then has second thoughts after finding out she's HIV-Positive.
  • The fifth season opener may be the darkest episode of the whole series. Not even Nikki's and Paris' girl fight didn't seem to be Played for Laughs, seeing that Paris did intend to take out Nikki along with the Professor.
• Dumb Blonde: Kim, after she got her hair dyed.
• Fake Band: Freestyle Unity, made up of T (Rapper), Kim (Vocals), and Stevie (Backup).
• Faux Yay: Nikki and Veronica, off all people, acted as a lesbian couple to avoid a lesbian hitting on them. It quickly turns into Les Yay when said lesbian compliment Andell's complexion, who is actually flattered.
• Femme Fatale: Paris. Kinda doubles as a Dark Action Girl as she breaks a table in half during her girl fight with Nikki in Til Death Do Us Apart - And Make It Soon, causing Nikki to back down. See Darker and Edgier for more examples.
• Five-Man Band: In a way...
  • The Hero: Nikki.
  • The Lancer: Kim, Andell during Nikki's crazy schemes.
  • The Smart Guy: Stevie and/or Professor Oglevee.
  • The Big Guy: T.
  • The Chick: Andell/Kim.
• Friendly Enemies: Kim and Freddie.
• Game Show Appearance: Nikki and her family are on a game show called Family Secrets. It's revealed that Nikki's mom and dad are actually her aunt and uncle and that her favorite aunt-a traveling jazz singer- is really her mother.
• Gay Bar Reveal: In the episode, "Since I Lost My Baby", Nikki teams up with Veronica to end Stanley's relationship with a woman named Angela. They (along with Andell) later discovered that Angela's ex-boyfriend Chris turns out to actually be a woman when they find her at the club Chris works at, learning that Angela is a lesbian, and that they ended up at a gaybar. Hilarity Ensues.
• Genki Girl: Kim.
• Graduate From the Story: Combine this with the Grand Finale. Everyone graduates except Kim, Nikki is the Valedictorian, and she marries the Professor.
• Halloween Episode: Kim's birthday is October 31st and her party is the focus of one episode. Another year has the cast having a halloween party at the home of the professor's new girlfriend.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Shaquan is only mentioned by Kim, usually during their phone conversations. She finally appears in the finale.
• It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": "Oh, and by the way, your name ain't 'Tra-say' it's Tracey, girl."
• Jerkass: Gertie in general, but especially in Practice What You Preach, who kinda steps over the line for Moral Event Horizon for airing her old classmate Carla's laundry, who just became a new minister, about having a child out of wedlock with a married man and her attendance at Nikki's naughty-girl party, despite that Gertie herself was there, all because Carla cheated off Gertie's exam and made her take the fall.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nikki can be pretty obnoxious, even a bully towards some, but out of most of the characters, she has the biggest heart, and is generally nice most of the time.
• Heroic BSOD: The fourth season finale and final season opener was a kick in the face for Nikki, as the Professor proposes to Paris, causing her to pass out, along with Kim who goes to Harvard with Regis, leaving her lonely and depressed.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The show is not available on DVD. However, reruns are shown daily on BET.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Stevie.
• Male Gaze: Stevie, but Veronica trumps her in this trope.
• Mama Bear: Nikki's older sister Constance in the first Thanksgiving Episode grew aware of this. Constance, just because you're ignorant of your daughter's wild intention and accusing Kim of being a bad influence when it's the other way around, doesn't mean you go and call your niece a liar. Besides from that, Nikki is willing to go through hell and high water for Kim.
• Marshmallow Hell: This happens whenever Nikki puts someone in a headlock.
• Mistaken for Murderer: Nikki thinks Prof. Oglevee's neighbor is a killer who is coming after her a la Rear Window.
• One-Shot Character: Shaquan.
• Put on a Bus: Of all people, Kim., who goes away to Harvard in the fourth season finale. She later come back on in the final season in "Mama, I'm Baaack!"
• Shout-Out: Kim daydreams that everyone is on an episode of Dallas.
• Thanksgiving Episode: One episode has Nikki and her sister fighting and another has Nikki and Kim fighting over the menu.
• Teacher-Student Romance: It's one-sided between Nikki and The Professor until the finale. Also, though not a romance trope, Regina slept with her college professor to save her GPA, yet it was Played for Laughs, it does have some Unfortunate Implications.
• Teen Pregnancy: It's why Nikki got married to Kim's dad (they later divorced) and had to put off going to college until Kim turned 18.
• The Reveal: In the finale, we finally see Kim's best friend, Shaquan, who turns about to be Korean, which may be a shock to those who expected her to be black.
• The Cameo: In various seasons, the cast from Moesha, Shirley Caesar, Yolanda Adams, and Tweet.
• The Woobie: You have to admit, Nikki has been through a lot of stuff, and it doesn't help when her rejections from the Professor and his treatment of her are seriously played out. One episode has her at a support group for the lovelorn, where she has a Break the Haughty after claiming she doesn't need to be there before the group leader questions her if she and the Professor are really together, breaking her down as he questioned if he even acknowledges Nikki.
  • Ironically, one episode had her so stressed out that she didn't even acknowledge the Professor himself.
  • She also discovered that she was adopted on national television in Family Ties and Lies, because her uncle was so determined to win the prize money.
  • The final season opener has her lonely and depressed over the Professor getting married and Kim leaving for Harvard, while her wedding plans in the final episode start to fall apart.
    • It doesn't help that in another episode when her romance novel (with the Professor as the main character, of course) becomes a big hit, Shaquille O'Neal himself shuts everything down by claiming the Professor is nothing but a fraud and a playboy, which is kinda true, with Shaq showing a photo of the Professor out with several women. The Professor then has the audacity to retaliate with the fact that with his publicity, "Why need one woman when you can have them all?". This repulses Nikki's fans and prompts them to start a book burning.
• Too Dumb to Live: The Professor, as much as you would want to get away from Nikki, is it worth becoming the next victim of the woman you proposed to, who got away with killed her fourth-ex husbands and collect their insurance, and suddenly reappears when you're in the newspaper for your inheritance after she coldly turns you down?
  • It also doesn't help that Paris would have been sent to jail, if it wasn't for the Professor causing a mistrial. Nikki lampshades this herself.

Nikki: Your honor, we have eleven guilty votes, and one dumbass not-guilty vote.

• Token White: Stevie, Kim's best friend Shaquan as the Token Asian.
• Took a Level In Badass: Nikki kinda gets upgraded to Action Girl in the fifth season opener.
  • Took a Level In Dumbass: Kim seemed much more competent in earlier seasons, mostly the first, before her Cloudcuckoolander traits became more prominent.
    • Took a Level In Kindness: She was also quite the bitch as well.
  • Took a Level In Jerkass: For a temporary moment in Squatter's Right, the Professor. However, it may or may not be justified. See both the Darker and Edgier entry and the Crowning Moment of Awesome page above.
• True Companions: Pretty much the whole gang, especially in the Christmas episode, "Secret Santa".
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Nikki and Andell, slightly.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Nikki to the Professor, even if she wasn't really his girlfriend.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Several characters, most notably Dez, Tommy, and the other characters from Moesha.
• What the Fu Are You Doing? and Waif Fu: Nikki has her own way of fighting called, "Nikki Tae-Bo", which she uses to take out a burglar in one episode. Paris on the other hand, in the finale season, seems to have some experience in martial arts as she breaks a table in half during her would-been fight with Nikki.
• What Could Have Been: At the end of Moesha, several Cliffhangers (Dorian's kidnapping, the positive pregnancy test in the trash at Moesha's apartment, etc.) were originally to be resolved in the 1st season of The Parkers, but the idea was scrapped, and it was decided to just have characters from Moesha visit The Parkers in several Crossover episodes.
• Why Waste a Wedding?: In the series finale, Nikki, who had planned to marry another man, instead marries the professor after he declares his love for her.
• Zany Scheme: What Nikki frequently comes up with to make money, get Kim and/or her friends, and/or herself out of trouble, and to snag Professor Oglevee.