My Wife and Kids

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My Wife and Kids
Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Don Reo Damon Wayans
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	United States
No. of episodes	124
Production
Executive producer(s)	Don Reo Damon Wayans David Himelfarb (Seasons 1-4) Andy Cadiff (Season 3) Dean Lorey (Seasons 4-5)
Running time	approx. 23 minutes (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	March 28, 2001 – May 17, 2005
Links
IMDb profile

My Wife and Kids was an American sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005 and starred 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.

Contents 1 About the Show 1.1 Casting and characters 2 Casting changes 2.1 Comparison to The Cosby Show 3 Cancellation and final season 4 The Wayans influence 4.1 Behind the camera 4.2 In front of the camera 5 Running gags 6 Trivia 7 Cast 7.1 Primary 7.2 Guest Stars 8 Episodes 9 External links

[edit] About the Show

[edit] Casting and characters

The show is set in Stamford, Connecticut. In the Kyle family, Damon Wayans stars as Michael Richard Kyle, and Tisha Campbell-Martin stars as his wife, Jay. George O. Gore II stars as "Junior" Michael Richard Kyle Jr., Jennifer Freeman (preceded in the role by 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. Brooklyn Sudano (preceeded by Meagan Good) plays Vanessa, Junior's wife and mother to his baby, Junior Junior. Though the story often shifts to the kids and their relationships, the story's center is about Michael Kyle and his wife and kids.

[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. Jennifer Freeman was then cast in the role. Because Freeman bears no resemblance to Raycole, the premiere of season two, "Mom's Away", makes reference to the change: Claire comes down the stairs and Michael notices something different about his daugther, "I don't know what it is, but you look like a whole new person."

In season three, Meagan Good was introduced as Junior's new girlfriend Vanessa Scott. In the first episode of season four, for unknown reasons, Good was replaced with Brooklyn Sudano, daughter of popular 1970s singer Donna Summer. Unlike the change in the role of Claire, there was no reference made to this change.

[edit] Comparison to The Cosby Show

The show may be compared to the The Cosby Show. 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 some of the comedy found in "My Wife and Kids" would not have been socially acceptable in the late 1980s, the setting for Cosby. For example, the storyline of Junior getting his girlfriend pregnant and then marrying her would probably not have been a plot on Cosby. Furthermore, Cosbys setting was a white, affluent, upper-middle class, urban neighborhood, while My Wife and Kids setting was a well-to-do suburban area. Finally, both parents in Cosby had white-collar jobs while Michael Kyle was the owner of a short-haul trucking company.

[edit] Cancellation and final season

This section does not cite its references or sources. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) Any unsourced material that has been or is likely to be challenged may be removed at any time. This article has been tagged since April 2007.

In May 2005, My Wife and Kids was officially cancelled by ABC after 5 seasons. ABC executives said the show was canceled because it was "played out".

By the fifth season, some viewers^{[attribution needed]} saw it as when the show began. Michael was brought into various, unrealistic situations, having to ask the boy-genius Franklin for advice. But other viewers^{[attribution needed]} thought the show cast African-Americans in a bad light. Yet others^{[attribution needed]} found Franklin more annoying than cute.

In the season five finale, "The V Story," it was revealed Jay was pregnant. The cliffhanger was answered by ABC that if they had picked up the series for another year, Jay would not have been pregnant as her pregnancy test results would have been wrong.

[edit] The Wayans influence

Many members of the Wayans family have worked in front of the camera or behind the scenes on My Wife and Kids. In some cases, careers were accelerated. For instance, Damien Dante Wayans was a supervising producer in season three, a producer or co-producer in season four, and an executive story editor in season four and in season five.

[edit] Behind the camera

Midway through season two, Kim Wayans, who 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. She became executive story editor in season three, producer in season four (skipping co-producer) and supervising producer in season five. Kim never made an on-camera appearance on the show.

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. Damon's cousin Craig Wayans began as a writer and executive story editor on the show in the second season, and then became supervising producer without skipping a position.

[edit] In front of the camera

Keenen Ivory Wayans appears once as Michael's brother Ken in season one's "A Little Romance".

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". Cara Mia's character was renamed Shante in her season two appearances.

[edit] Running gags

In addition to humorous scripts, My Wife and Kids created humor in physical comedy, insults, and running gags:

• Michael "Junior" Kyle: Junior is a recurring gag as many of his physical, personal and mental traits are uses for comedy on the show.
  • In season one, Junior's ascent into puberty is a recurring theme. In the pilot, Junior has Michael notice that his mustache is filling in. Michael then jokingly looks directly and closely 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, bringing along some unusual reading material like Field and Stream (but actually porn magazines, though the hidden magazines are never shown in the episode). While in the bathroom, Junior accidentally "breaks his joystick" and ends 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.
  • 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 boy after him. Junior responds, "Why would I name it 'Dad'?"
  • Junior is often slapped in the back of the head.
  • It is also noted that Junior can't spell his name right. On the SATs, he spells his name as 'Junyor' instead of 'Junior'.
• "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 devilish 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. When he tells a joke, no one gets it. He even makes a note of this in one episode saying "Hey brother, I know when my joke bombs."
• Franklin repetitively says "any-hoo" whenever one of his, or somebody else's, jokes fails.
• Claire has the returning gag of running into things and of generally being clumsy. For example, when Michael did the "Ah, Nah" routine, Claire runs into the doorway on the way out of her room. Claire's frequent falling down the stairs from season two is frequently commented on by other characters and replayed in show teasers.
• 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."
• Jay also has a running gag of saying "what kinda foolishness."
• In the earlier seasons, when Kady is young, she often says "monies" instead of "money". She once said, "Look at all these monies-s-s-s!"
• Whenever Junior is suddenly woken up by his parents, he exclaims, "I didn't do it!"

[edit] Trivia

• Junior is an exceptionally talented artist, and was once considered as a candidate by ABC in one 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 "All in family".

• Noah is an exceptionally talented pianist, and has gone to many music universities to display his talent to older music students.

• Michael Kyle owns a customized Mercedes G500.

• Famous R&B singer Brian Mcknight appeared on the show.

• A then-unknown Nicole Scherzinger made a cameo in 3 episodes, The Kyles go to Hawaii parts 1-3.

• Famous Rapper Mos Def was in the episode "Chair Man of the Board" as Micheal Kyle's best friend.

• Actress/singer Raven-Symone appeared in the episode "Mom's away" as Claire's friend Charmaine.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Primary

Damon Wayans.... Michael Kyle /124

Tisha Campbell .... Janet 'Jay' Kyle /124

George O. Gore II .... Michael Kyle Jr. /124

Jennifer Freeman .... Claire Kyle /124

Parker McKenna Posey .... Kady Kyle /124

[edit] Guest Stars

Andrew McFarlane .... Tony (6 episodes, 2001-2003)

Damon Wayans Jr. .... John (6 episodes, 2001-2003)

Phil Reeves .... Doctor / ... (5 episodes, 2001-2004)

Liliana Mumy .... Rachael (5 episodes, 2002-2004)

Clint Culp .... Bob / ... (5 episodes, 2003-2005)

Noah Gray-Cabey .... Franklin Aloysius Mumford (5 episodes, 2003-2005)

Meagan Good .... Vanessa (5 episodes, 2003)

Jazz Raycole .... Claire Kyle #1 (4 episodes, 2001)

Michael Wayans .... Mike (4 episodes, 2001-2003)

Lauren Tom .... Annie Hoo / ... (4 episodes, 2002-2004)

Mighty Rasta .... Calvin / ... (4 episodes, 2003-2004)

Ella Joyce .... Jasmine / ... (4 episodes, 2003-2004)

Sean Whalen .... Larry (4 episodes, 2003-2004)

Philip Bolden .... Devon (3 episodes, 2001-2002)

RuDee Lipscomb .... Erica / ... (3 episodes, 2001)

Kelly Coffield .... Mrs. Parker / ... (3 episodes, 2002-2004)

Dom Irrera .... Waiter / ... (3 episodes, 2002-2004)

Kevin Knotts .... Bodyguard / ... (3 episodes, 2002-2004)

Larry Miller .... Stuart Mary Anne Parker / ... (3 episodes, 2002)

Reesey .... Leilani (3 episodes, 2002)

Jessica Sara .... Melissa (3 episodes, 2002)

Jason Stuart .... Dr. Thomas / ... (3 episodes, 2002)

Kym Whitley .... Wanda (3 episodes, 2002)

David Alan Grier .... Jimmy (3 episodes, 2003-2005)

Brooklyn Sudano .... Vanessa Scott (3 episodes, 2003-2005)

DeRay Davis .... RJ / ... (3 episodes, 2003)

Katt Williams .... Bobby Shaw (3 episodes, 2004-2005)

Anthony Anderson .... Dr. Bouche (2 episodes, 2001)

Gary Coleman .... Himself (2 episodes, 2001)

Marlene Forte .... Rosa Lopez (2 episodes, 2001)

Amy Hill .... Nurse Lorraine (2 episodes, 2001)

Buddy Johnson .... Buddy / ... (2 episodes, 2001)

Michael James Johnson .... Jamaal (2 episodes, 2001)

Shaquille O'Neal .... Himself (2 episodes, 2001)

Raven Symoné .... Charmaine (2 episodes, 2001)

Robert Ri'chard .... Tommy (2 episodes, 2001)

Cara Mia Wayans .... Shante (2 episodes, 2001)

James Widdoes .... Larry / ... (2 episodes, 2001)

Joe Vassallo .... Dr. Tortoni / ... (2 episodes, 2002-2004)

Johnny C. Pruitt .... Bailiff / ... (2 episodes, 2002-2003)

Max Alexander .... Bartender (2 episodes, 2002)

Howard Alonzo .... Voice Over (2 episodes, 2002)

Tyson Beckford .... Hunter (2 episodes, 2002)

Bill Cobbs .... Minister (2 episodes, 2002)

Rolando Molina .... Valet (2 episodes, 2002)

Andy Morrow .... Jason / ... (2 episodes, 2002)

Jamia Simone Nash .... Aretha (2 episodes, 2003)

Rasta .... Calvin / ... (2 episodes, 2003)

Steve Schirripa .... Insurance Salesman / ... (2 episodes, 2003)

Virginia Williams .... Bambi / ... (2 episodes, 2004-2005)

Michael Jordan .... Himself (2 episodes, 2004)

Peter Kwong .... Eddie Hoo (2 episodes, 2004)

J.P. Manoux .... Steve (2 episodes, 2004)

Wayne Newton .... Himself (2 episodes, 2004)

Lou Richards .... Sports Announcer (2 episodes, 2004)

Robert Shapiro .... Himself (2 episodes, 2004)

Al Sharpton .... Al Sharpton / ... (2 episodes, 2004)

T.J. Thyne .... Bodhi / ... (2 episodes, 2004)

Nick von Esmarch .... Bob Sloponovich (2 episodes, 2004)

Marcus Patrick .... Dave (2 episodes, 2005)

James Stevenson .... Craig (1 episode, 2006)

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of My Wife and Kids episodes

[edit] External links

• My Wife and Kids at the Internet Movie Database
• My Wife and Kids at TV.com