Sparks is an American sitcom television series that aired on UPN from August 26, 1996, to March 2, 1998. The series stars James Avery, Robin Givens, Terrence Howard, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Kym Whitley and Arif S. Kinchen. The sitcom is set in Compton, California, and is about the everyday lives of a family of lawyers running a family-owned law practice. Reruns of the show aired on BET in the late 1990s.
The show stars James Avery as Alonzo Sparks, a lawyer running a family law firm with his sons Maxey (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.) and Greg (Terrence Howard) in inner-city Compton, California.
Kevin D. Thompson of The Palm Beach Post gave the show a mostly-negative review, criticizing Avery's performances and the "normal cardboard cutout characters". Frederic M. Biddle of the Boston Globe also criticized the performances of the lead actors and thought that Núñez's and Howard's characters were "silently perpetuating stereotypes equating character with Caucasian features".