In the House (TV series)

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In the House
Opening title to "In the House"
The In The House cast. Clockwise from top: Marion Hill (LL Cool J), Dr. Maxwell Stanton (Alfonso Ribeiro), Tiffany Warren (Maia Campbell), and Tonia Harris (Kim Wayans).
Genre Sitcom
Creator(s) Mike Costa
Walter Allen Bennett Jr.
Quincy Jones
Starring LL Cool J
Maia Campbell
et al.
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 103
Production
Running time 30 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel NBC, UPN
Original run April 10, 1995August 11, 1999
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

In the House was a television sitcom that premiered April 10, 1995 originally on NBC (seasons 1 and 2 aired on NBC, and seasons 3, 4, and 5 aired on UPN). The series starred LL Cool J and Maia Campbell. The series ran for five seasons, and aired its last episode on August 11, 1999.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Marion Hill (LL Cool J) is a former professional football player with the Los Angeles Raiders. Because of his financial predicament, Marion is forced to rent out most rooms in his house to single mother Jackie Warren (Debbie Allen) and her two children, Tiffany Warren (Maia Campbell) and Austin Warren (Jeffery Wood). In subsequent seasons, Debbie Allen and Jeffery Wood exited the show and the series was restructured with Marion becoming the legal guardian for Tiffany because Jackie and Austin moved east.

The show was noted for its unique take on the character of Marion Hill. LL Cool J stated in interviews that he was interested in making Marion a more well rounded character than is often depicted of male African Americans in television and cinema. To that end, Marion partook of various "alternative" means of healing from his sports injuries, such as meditation, aroma therapy, visualization, etc. A running gag on the show during the first few seasons was the other characters' belittlement of Marion's non-mainstream spiritual and holistic healing interests.

Marion was also an employee at a Los Angeles sports clinic. One of his coworkers was the flirtatious Tonia Harris (Kim Wayans), and two later additions to the show were Dr. Maxwell "Max" Stanton (Alfonso Ribeiro) and his fiancée, Mercedes Langford (Lark Voorhies).

[edit] Cast

supporting cast

[edit] Episode List

No. Episode Air Date
1 Getting to Know You 4/10/1995
2 Female Trouble 4/17/1995
3 Birthday Presence 4/24/1995
4 Once Again, with Feeling 5/1/1995
5 The Lost Weekend (a.k.a. The Last Weekend) 5/8/1995
6 Hats Off 5/15/1995
7 Dog Catchers 9/18/1995
8 Crush Groove 9/25/1995

[edit] Trivia

  • The show had a heavy Fresh Prince influence on it.
    • During the second season, Alfonso Ribeiro reprised his Fresh Prince role of Carlton Banks, and Tatyana Ali played his sister Ashley Banks. Alfonso would later return to the show as Maxwell "Max" Stanton.
    • When Max and Mercedes got married, James Avery and Daphne Maxwell Reid played Max's parents. Avery and Reid were Philip Banks and Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince, respectively, and played the parents of Alfonso's character.
    • In addition, Joseph Marcell, who had played the wisecracking Geoffrey Butler on Fresh Prince, was the officiating minister at the wedding. A memorable moment in the wedding episode occurs when, at the reception, Avery's character asks the minister to fill his drink, to which the minister answers: "I'm God's servant, not yours." It is at that moment that Avery tells Reid that the minister looks like someone they once knew (although Max's parents are neither from Los Angeles nor Philadelphia, but rather from Boston).
    • In one episode when Marion is sued by a police officer, James Avery played the judge during the mediation between the two. His Fresh Prince character was also a judge.
    • Lark Voorhies plays Mercedes Langford who is Alfonso's character Max' girlfriend turned wife. In Fresh Prince, Voorhies plays Cindy, a character who is romantically involved with Alfonso's character Carlton.
  • The series was cancelled in the Summer of 1998 by UPN and went into syndication. However, for a week in August 1999, NBC aired several unaired episodes which were taped a year earlier; including the series finale, at 1:35 a.m. Currently the show airs on the TV One cable network and Trouble (TV).