In Living Color

"This article is about the television series. For the band, see Living Colour."

Infobox Television
show_name = In Living Color


caption = The "In Living Color" logo.
format = Variety, Sketch comedy, Comedy
runtime = 30 minutes
(with commercials)
rating = TV-14
creators = Keenen Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans
starring = See "List of In Living Color cast members".
opentheme = Both theme songs performed by
Heavy D & the Boyz
country = USA
network = FOX
first_aired = April 15, 1990
last_aired = May 19, 1994
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 127
imdb_id = 0098830
tv_com_id = 893

"In Living Color" is an American sketch comedy television series, which originally ran on the FOX Network from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television.

Other members of the Wayans family—, Kim, Shawn and Marlon—had regular roles, while brother Dwayne frequently appeared as an extra.

Description and history

The series strove to produce comedy with a strong emphasis on Black subject matter. Its groundbreaking [cite web |url=http://dvd.ign.com/articles/499/499683p1.html |title=In Living Color Season One: The groundbreaking show looks mighty good on DVD |accessdate=2007-11-28 |author=Andy Patrizio |date=March 17, 2004 |publisher=IGN.com] sketch comedy helped launch the career of male comedians and actors Jim Carrey (one of only two white members of the original cast, then credited as "James Carrey"), Jamie Foxx (a future Academy Award winner who joined the cast in the third season) and David Alan Grier (an established character actor who had worked in Keenen Ivory Wayans' 1988 motion picture "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka"). Its Fly Girl dance troupe helped launch careers of future actress/singer Jennifer Lopez (who joined the show in its third season), choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson, choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba (who was a "Fly Girl" from 1990 to 1992), and future Academy Award Nominee Rosie Perez (the show's choreographer 1990 to 1992).

Pilot episode

For the first episode, an exotic-looking black-and-white logo was used for the opening credits. After the band Living Colour claimed the show stole the logo from them and threatened to sue, the logo was changed to one with rather plain-type letters of three colors. Both versions of the theme song were performed by the hip-hop group Heavy D & the Boyz. The logo and opening sequence was derivative of the Memphis Movement art style.

Live musical performances

"In Living Color" was known for its live music performances, which started in Season 2 with Queen Latifah as their first performer (appearing again in the third season). Some of the other music acts who performed on the show were Public Enemy, Kris Kross, En Vogue, Eazy-E, Monie Love, Heavy D,
MC Lyte, Jodeci, Tupac Shakur, and Busta Rhymes (then with Leaders of the New School).

Departure of the Wayans

Keenen Ivory Wayans left the show in 1992 after the end of the third season, over disputes with FOX about the network censoring the show's content and rerunning early episodes without his consultation. Keenen feared that FOX would ultimately decrease the syndication value of "In Living Color".Fact|date=December 2007 During the fourth season in 1992, he appeared only in the (1992-93) season opener, though he remained the executive producer and thus stayed in the opening credits until the thirteenth episode. Marlon Wayans left with Keenen. Shawn Wayans and Kim Wayans both left the show at the end of the fourth season. Damon Wayans left at the end of the third season to pursue a movie career though he made a few "special guest appearances" in the fourth season.

Censorship

Fox started censoring the scripts more after "In Living Color" produced a live Super Bowl halftime special (branded by the network as "The Doritos Zaptime/'In Living Color' Super Halftime Party"). During the "Men on Football" sketch, Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier ad libbed a suggestion that Richard Gere and track and field star Carl Lewis were homosexuals, much to Lewis' open chagrin. Also, in the originally aired version, there was a simulation of male facial ejaculation using a water bottle and a clever camera angle. These two segments have been cut from reruns and the DVD version. The programming stunt lured 20 million to 25 million viewers from CBS' telecast of the halftime festivities during Super Bowl XXVI.

When airing on BET, most curse words (such as "ho" and "bitch") have been muted out and one line ("drop the soap") was also muted for its implications of prison rape. The DVD version has the language intact (except for the "drop the soap" line from "Men on Film"), but numerous sketches have been cut, particularly the music video parodies due to copyright reasons.

On the May 5, 1990 broadcast, Keenen Ivory Wayans did a take-off on a Billy Dee Williams "Colt 45" commercial (in which the purpose of the beverage is to get your lady friend wasted) that ended with a woman (played by Kim Coles) passed out on her back on a dining table, and "Billy Dee" moving in on her unconscious body to have sex with her. The "Colt 45" sketch was seen only once during the original broadcast. The sketch was omitted from repeats because some felt it was making light of date rape.Fact|date=December 2007 The Season 1 DVD set of "ILC" didn't include the "cut" sketch from the pilot. This skit was cut by FOX censors, and the necessary modifications were made to the master tape. But Keenen "accidentally" mixed up the masters, and the original master was broadcast. That segment has never been broadcast since, not even in syndication, on FX or BET. It has been replaced by "The Exxxon Family" (a fake promo for a sitcom about a clumsy Exxon boat captain) in syndication and DVD box sets.

Season 5

By the fifth and final season, none of the Wayans family had any involvement whatsoever with the show. The show's traditional reliance on the character-driven sketches featuring Damon and Keenan gave way to an increasing reliance upon walk-on cameos by "special guests" like James Brown, Rodney Dangerfield, Barry Bonds, Biz Markie, Ed O'Neill, Sherman Hemsley, Chris Rock, and various stars of the NBA. Kelly Coffield, who, prior to Alexandra Wentworth's arrival in the fourth season, was the lone female white cast member, left prior to the final season. Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson, T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh and Fly Girl Deidre Lang are the only cast members to remain on the show throughout all five seasons, although Carrey's presence during the fifth season was limited due to his rising movie career, while Davidson missed most of the fourth season for an unknown reason.

yndication

It was in reruns on local affiliates and on the News Corporation owned FX Network, where it was distributed by Twentieth Television.

Reruns of the show air on the BET Network, reruns end on December 31, 2008.

Comedy Central will begin added reruns of "In Living Color" in January 1, 2009.

"The Best of In Living Color" began airing on MyNetworkTV on April 16, 2008. Hosted by David Alan Grier, it is a retrospective show featuring classic sketches, along with cast interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. The show airs on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm Eastern/7:30 pm Central, after MyNetworkTV's sitcom "Under One Roof".

Popular recurring sketches

Cast

Crossovers

*At the 2006 BET Awards when the show returned from one of its commercial breaks, the show's host Damon Wayans played a character very reminiscent to "Men on ..." critic Blaine Edwards.

*Former cast member Shawn Wayans (before he went to star in "The Wayans Bros.") portrayed J.J. Evans in an parody music video sketch of LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" in 1992, later on Shawn Wayans would portray J. J. Evans one last time in 1997 on a fourth season episode of "The Wayans Bros.", entitled "Unspoken Token", in which he dreams that he is J.J. from hit 1970s sitcom, "Good Times", in a reunion with Bern Nadette Stanis (Thelma Evans), Johnny Brown (Nathan Bookman) and Ja'net DuBois (Willona Woods), reprising the characters on the show, Shawn's brother Marlon portrays Michael Evans, Anna Maria Horsford as Florida, and John Witherspoon as James.

*"In Living Color" alums Damon Wayans, Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier, Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Lopez all hosted "Saturday Night Live". Damon Wayans was a featured player back on "SNL" during 1985-1986, and hosted on April 8, 1995. David Alan Grier hosted on December 9, 1995 and March 18, 1997, and Jim Carrey hosted on May 18, 1996. During Damon's hosting stint, he portrayed the characters of Blaine Edwards and Anton Jackson; David Alan Grier also made a cameo appearance as Blaine's partner Antoine. During Jim Carrey's hosting stint, he did a Fire Marshall Bill impression during the monologue. During Jennifer Lopez's hosting stint, she did a sketch where she interacts with former Fly Girls (portrayed by "SNL" cast members).'

Episodes

DVD releases

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has released all five seasons of "In Living Color" on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Unfortunately the sets have been edited due to music licensing issues, resulting in some shows having entire sketches removed.

References

External links

* [http://www.thetravisty.com/In_Living_Color.php Clips and Skits from the Show]
* [http://www.geocities.com/videogamelists/inliving.html In Living Color - The TV Series Episode Guide 1990-94]
* [http://www.foxhome.com/inlivingcolor/ In Living Color - DVD]
* [http://inlivingcolor.wikicities.com/wiki/ In Living Color Wiki]
* [http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/Living-Color/Living-Color-General-Comments/979 Jump The Shark - In Living Color]