Fox has decided to bring back its groundbreaking 90s sketch comedy series "In Living Color" with creator and star Keenen Ivory Wayans as host and executive producer. Fox has ordered two In Living Color half-hour specials to air as part of the network’s 25th anniversary celebration in mid-season with a series option behind them, If the reboot is successful it will join Fox’s schedule as a regular series next season.
The new In Living Color will be produced by Wayans' production company Ivory Way Prods. in association with 20th Century Fox TV’s Fox 21.
The original In Living Color, which was produced by Ivory Way Prods and 20th TV, also launched in mid-season, premiering on April 15, 1990. It broke stereotypes by employing a cast of mostly black comedians and introducing hip-hop and dancing to mainstream television. The show helped launch the careers of a slew of comedy actors including Wayans, his siblings Damon, Shawn, Kim and later Marlon, as well as Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx and David Alan Grier and of course Jennifer Lopez who was one of the Fly Girls. It spawned such iconic characters as “Men on Film,” starring flamboyant film critics Blaine Edwards (Damon Wayans) and Antoine Merriweather (Grier), Homey D. Clown (Damon Wayans), a dour urban kiddie entertainer whose catchphrase was "Homey don’t play that!" streetwise scam artists "The Home Boys" (Keenen Ivory and Damon Wayans), and Fire Marshall Bill (Jim Carrey), a disfigured safety expert.
In Living Color gave its actors freedom to improvise and it skewered everyone, particularly black America. In probably the most successful programming stunt opposite the Super Bowl ever, a special live edition of In Living Color drew some 25 million viewers during the halftime of the 1992 Super Bowl on CBS. But the show’s fearlessness when it comes to the targets of its jokes and the unapologetic political incorrectness of its skits often ran afoul with Fox’s censors. The frequent clashes contributed to Wayans departing from the show after the third season even though he remained an executive producer.
In Living Color ended its run in May 1994 after five season.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Fox Rebooting 90's Comedy "In Living Color"
0 comments:
Post a Comment