The Wayans Bros.
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| The Wayans Bros. | |
|---|---|
Opening title to The Wayans Bros. |
|
| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Leslie Ray David Steven Simon |
| Starring | Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans John Witherspoon Anna Maria Horsford (Season 2+) Jill Tasker (Season 2) Paula Jai Parker (Season 2) Mitch Mullany (Season 1-2) Ja'net DuBois (Season 3-4) Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins (Season 3-4) Phill Lewis (Season 2-4) |
| Country of origin | |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 103 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 Minutes (with commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | The WB |
| Original run | January 11, 1995 – May 20, 2000 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Wayans Bros. is an African-American situation comedy that aired during the 1994-1995 season (January 18, 1995) on The WB. The series starred real-life brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who both shot to fame on their brother — Keenen's popular sketch comedy, In Living Color back in 1992 when they were both cast members on the sitcom. the series also starred, John Witherspoon and Anna Maria Horsford who the was fourth female cast member to appear in half the second season (1995-1996) and mostly the entire series run.
Contents |
Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans portray Shawn and Marlon Williams, two African-American sibling brothers who live in New York City with their father, John "Pops" Williams (John Witherspoon), originally in the first season, Lela Rochon was cast as Shawn's girlfriend, Lisa Saunders, and she appeared throughout every single episode, but Rochon left to star in the box-office smash, Waiting to Exhale, basically Rochon's character Lisa had no signifigance in the second season. In the show's second (and first full season of 25 episodes) season, Pops' Diner was moved into the Neidermeyer Building, where the location was changed from Harlem to Rockefeller Center, Manhattan. Jill Tasker was cast and arrived to play Lou Malino, a tough security guard and Paula Jai Parker (who recently appeared in a early first season episode) was cast as well, played Monique, Marlon's new snooty and rich-based girlfriend. However, the two characters: Monique and Lou were cut from the series after 9 episodes and in the 10th episode, Anna Maria Horsford who arrived to play Deidre Baxter, basically completed the series as the fourth female cast member replacing: Lela Rochon, Jill Tasker and Paula Jai Parker (all three one-note cast members).
Horsford mostly appeared throughout the entire series run. The series also had guest stars such as: Paula Abdul, Keith Sweat, Helen Martin, Kim Wayans, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Sherman Hemsley, Phill Lewis, and Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins.
Jill Tasker and Paula Jai Parker had join the series' cast as Monique and security guard, Lou Malino. at the beginning of the 1995-1996 season, their contracts was not renewed, and basically they were only sign for 9 and 10 episodes, and the disappearance of their characters was never resolved, then Anna Maria Horsford, who was better known for playing Thelma Frye Gregory in the hit mid 1980s sitcom, Amen, replaced both Parker and Tasker, and she portrayed the replacement security guard, Deidre "Dee" Baxter until the series' ending on May 20, 2000, and she appeared throughout every episode starting with the third season (1996-1997).
Phill Lewis portrayed Shawn and Marlon's Pimp-like pal, T.C., and basically he appeared in a Christmas episode back in 1995, Phill Lewis would play "T.C." until the summer of 1998, when he left the series to appear in a couple of episodes on Sister, Sister, and then would land a role as Marion Moseby on the Disney Channel popular program The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, during that year, Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins portrayed Shawn and Marlon's other friend, Dupree, but Hopkins was let go after the 1997-1998 season.
Also appearing in the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons was Ja'net DuBois, who portrays Shawn and Marlon's Grandma Ellington, DuBois was best known for songwriting and singing "Movin' on Up", the popular theme song from The Jeffersons, and portrayed Willona Woods in the 1974 critically acclaimed African-American family sitcom, Good Times, but she left as well in 1998, along with Hopkins and Lewis.
The show's theme song was changed throughout its five-year run (1995-2000), in the first two seasons, from early 1995, until 1996, the show's theme song was A Tribe Called Quest's "Electric Relaxation", then in the third season (1996-97), the show changed to a fast beat, when Marlon cut his hair (and grew a mustache), then in the final two seasons (1997-1998 & 1998-2000), the show's theme song was changed again to a regular hip hop instrumental beat (which was produced by the Wayans Bros. & Omar Epps.).
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- The apartment Shawn and Marlon live in and Pop's Diner looks different in the first season than the rest of the seasons.
- Before working together on the show, John Witherspoon (Pops) and Anna Maria Horsford (Dee) played Ice Cube's parents in the 1995 movie Friday.
- John Witherspoon worked with Shawn and Marlon once again in the 2006 movie Little Man.
- The inside of Shawn and Marlon's apartment usually features posters of album covers by various hip-hop artists, including The Notorious B.I.G., Method Man, Rampage and Ghostface Killah
- In Scary Movie, Shawn Wayans' character mentions that cancelling TV shows makes people go crazy; he claims The Wayans Bros. was a good show.
- In the episode "Unspoken Token", the cast parodied the sitcom Good Times. DuBois reprised her role as Willona Woods. Johnny Brown and Bern Nadette Stanis also made special appearances as Bookman and Thelma, respectively. John Witherspoon also appeared in a Good Times episode as Officer Lawson in 1979.
- In one episode Shawn broke down the fourth wall by replying,"Tell that to the Wayans family".
- After every episode of the Wayans Bros a picture was shown of young Shawn and Marlon, with Shawn saying "Look up Marlon, say cheese."
- Shawn Wayans — Shawn Williams one of the brothers
- Marlon Wayans — Marlon Williams one of the brothers
- John Witherspoon — John "Pops" Williams
- Anna Maria Horsford — Deirdre "Dee" Baxter (1996-1999)
- Ja'net Du Bois — Grandma Ellington (1996-1998)
- Phill Lewis — T.C. (1995-1998)
- Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins — Dupree (1996-1998)
- Jill Tasker — Lou Malino
- Lela Rochon — Lisa Saunders
Only the first season of The Wayans Bros. was released on DVD in February 2005. It is highly unlikely that more season DVDs will be released due to the first season's poor DVD sales.