My Wife and Kids
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| My Wife and Kids | |
|---|---|
 Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin |
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | approx. 23 minutes (per episode) |
| Creator(s) | Don Reo Damon Wayans |
| Executive producer(s) | Don Reo Damon Wayans David Himelfarb (Seasons 1-4) Andy Cadiff (Season 3) Dean Lorey (Seasons 4-5) |
| Starring | Damon Wayans as Michael Kyle Tisha Campbell-Martin as Janet Marie "Jay" Kyle George O. Gore II as Michael Kyle Jr. Jennifer Freeman as Claire Kyle (2001-2005, 2nd season on) Jazz Raycole as Claire Kyle (2001, 1st season) Parker McKenna Posey as Kady Kyle Noah Gray-Cabey as Franklin Aloyisious Mumford (recurring 2002-2003 season; regular 2003-2005) Andrew McFarlane as Tony Jeffers (recurring 2002-2003 season; regular 2003-2005) Meagan Good as Vanessa Scott (2003) Brooklyn Sudano as Vanessa Scott (2003-2005, replaced Goode for undisclosed reasons) |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | March 28, 2001–May 17, 2005 |
| No. of episodes | 124 |
| IMDb profile | |
My Wife and Kids is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005 and stars Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin. It was created by Don Reo and Damon Wayans. Reruns air in the US on various local stations and in the UK on Trouble and BBC Two. The series will begin airing on ABC Family in 2008. The series also airs in Europe, Latin America, South Africa, and Australia. This is the only Wayans production to be aired on ABC.
Contents |
[edit] About the show
The show is set in Stamford, Connecticut. In the Kyle family, Damon Wayans stars as Michael Kyle, and Tisha Campbell-Martin stars as his wife, Jay. George O. Gore II stars as Michael Kyle, Jr., Jennifer Freeman (originally Jazz Raycole) stars as Claire Kyle, and Parker McKenna Posey stars as Kady Kyle. Andrew McFarlane was added as a regular guest star in the second season as Tony, Claire's religious boyfriend. Noah Gray-Cabey guest starred in a third-season episode as Kady's 'boyfriend', Franklin, who is a child supergenius and hence creates jokes that almost no one understands and is consulted by Michael on various occasions. He then appeared normally until the end. Brooklyn Sudano plays Vanessa, Junior's wife and mother to his baby, Junior Junior. Vanessa first appeared on the show played by Meagan Good. While the story shifted to the kids and their relationships, in the end, it's still about Michael Kyle and his wife and kids.
Some have compared the show to a current-day version of The Cosby Show. While there may be many similarities, there are also some differences. The main similarity is that both are situation comedies that chronicle the day-to-day lives of an upper-middle class African-American family. A difference may be that The Cosby Show was set in an older era, where-as some of the comedy of "My Wife and Kids" may not be socially acceptable in the late 1980's; for example, the storyline of Junior getting his girlfriend pregnant and then marrying her would probably not be an acceptable plot point on The Cosby Show.
In May 2005, My Wife and Kids was officially cancelled by ABC after 5 seasons.
Some viewers saw the fifth season as when the show began "jumping the shark". It started bringing Michael in various unrealistic situations, and having to ask Franklin for advice. Some African-American viewers thought by the fifth season that the show cast African-Americans in a bad light. ABC executives said the show was cancelled because it was "played out." In the season five finale "The V Story", it was revealed Jay was pregnant, leaving a cliffhanger. Fans of the show have called for a season 6 to see the outcome of this storyline, but it is likely to remain one of the few cliffhangers in modern day television not to be resolved.
It was revealed by ABC, if they did pick the series up for another year, Jay would not have been pregnant because the results would have been wrong. However Michael, Jay and Kady would have moved near to Jay's parents, leaving Claire and Jr. behind.
[edit] Casting changes
When season one ended, Jazz Raycole (the original Claire) was pulled from the series by her mother who was concerned about a storyline in the second season premiere in which Claire and her friend Charmaine (Raven-Symone) discovered Charmaine was pregnant.
Scrambling to find somebody to replace Raycole, Jennifer Freeman was cast in the role. Because Freeman didn't bear any resemblance to Raycole, it was referenced in part one of the second season premiere "Mom's Away". Claire comes down the stairs and Michael notices something different about his daughter. He says "I don't know what it is, but you look like a whole new person."
In the season finale of season three, Meagan Good was introduced as Junior's new girlfriend Vanessa Scott. In season four, for unknown reasons, Good was replaced with Brooklyn Sudano, daughter of popular '70s singer Donna Summer. This change, unlike the change in the role of Claire, wasn't referenced to.
[edit] The Wayans influence
In what some would consider nepotism, many members of the Wayans family have worked in front of or behind the scenes on My Wife and Kids.
[edit] Behind the camera
Damon's cousin Craig began as a writer and executive story editor on the show in the second season. Midway through season two, Kim Wayans, who only had acting experience starring in In Living Color and In the House became a regular writer for the series after writing a few season two episodes. Kim never made an on-camera appearance on the show, however.
Damien Dante Wayans wrote and directed several episodes of the series from seasons three through five. Damon's look-alike son, Damon Wayans, Jr., wrote a season four episode and became a regular writer in the fifth season.
Elvira Wayans also wrote a couple of episodes in the fifth season.
Every one of Damon's family were given positions on the show. In some cases, careers were even accelerated. For instance, Damien Dante Wayans was an executive story editor in season four and in season five, was a supervising producer without entering as a story editor in season three and being a producer or co-producer in season four.
Kim Wayans entered the series as a story editor in season two, executive story editor in season three, producer in season four (skipping co-producer) and supervising producer in season five.
Craig Wayans was the only one to go from executive story editor to supervising producer without skipping a position.
[edit] In front of the camera
Keenen Ivory Wayans appeared as Michael's brother Ken in season one's "A Little Romance". Strangely, he's never seen again.
Damon's own kids, Cara Mia, Michael and Damon Jr. appeared in episodes during the first four seasons. Michael and Damon Jr. played Junior's friends Mike and John, respectively while Cara Mia played Claire's friend Bre in "Of Breasts and Basketball". Curiously, her character was renamed Shante in her season two appearances.
[edit] Running gags
In addition to humorous scripts, My Wife and Kids found humor in physical comedy, insults, and running gags:
- Michael "Junior" Kyle. Junior, in his own right is a recurring gag as many of his physical, personal and mental traits are uses for comedy on the show. From the third season on, Junior is seen as a complete imbecile and this trait is used for comedic effect in many episodes. In one instance, Michael suggests to Junior that he should name his baby (if it was a boy, which it would later be)after him. Junior then says, "Why would I name it 'Dad'?"
- In season one, Junior's ascent into puberty is a recurring theme. In the pilot, Junior has Michael notice that his mustache (or lack thereof) is coming in. Michael then jokingly looks directly closeup at Junior's chin. Junior then tries to show his dad that he has hair growing everywhere and tries to show Michael his "man bush." In season one's "Breaking Up and Breaking It", Junior locks himself in the bathroom repeatedly enjoying himself picking some unusual material like Field and Stream to take with him (which was actually hiding porn magazines though the hidden magazines are never shown in the episode it is obvious after his quote about how he "breaks his joystick"). While in the bathroom, Junior accidentally "breaks his joystick" and winds up in the hospital. He's a little embarrassed to find out that he suffered a muscle spasm.
- From season two onward, the size of Junior's head becomes the object of jokes by the family.
- Junior is often slapped in the back of the head.
- "Ah, Nah" (said in a nasal voice) is a catchphrase and running gag used by the Kyles during the third and fourth seasons. Different variations of this phrase have been used by the Kyles. For instance, in one episode, Michael would go "Ah..", leave Claire's room, run around the hallway and a few seconds later complete the phrase saying "...No".
- Jay often makes an evilish laugh when she has a plan or when she thinks something is funny. When the other Kyles witness her laughing at something that's really not funny, they give her a "not funny" gesture to make her stop.
- Franklin's smart jokes are another recurring gag. However, the gag is because when he tells his jokes to a member of the Kyles, no one gets it. He even makes a note of this in one episode saying "Hey brother, I know when my joke bombs."
- Claire has the returning gag of running in to things and generally being clumsy. For example, when Michael did the "Ah, Nah" stated above, Claire runs into the doorway on the way out of her room. Claire's frequent falling down the stairs from Season two until the end is frequently commented on and replayed in clip shows.
- Franklin also repetitively says "any-hoo" whenever one of his, or somebody else's jokes fails.
Michael also says this when one of his jokes fail, but rarely.
- Jay frequently says "You're gonna miss 'all of this'" with a suggestive dance when Michael doesn't want to do what she says. The quote is later used by other cast members for the same reason in subsequent episodes.
- Jay also frequently mimics Claire in a light, stupid voice.
- In some episodes, Damon says " You're an asshole, but I understand"
[edit] Trivia
- Junior is an exceptionally talented artist, and was once considered as a candidate by ABC inside of an episode to create cartoons.
- The studio audience was told never to applaud during filming because the crew did not want the show to be cheery most of the time.
- The Italian name of the show is "Tutto in Famiglia" which means "Everything in family"
- Noah is an exceptionally talented pianist, and has gone to many Music universities to display his talent to older Music students.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] External links
