In Living Color - Season 1
Starring: Keenen Ivory WayansStudio: Fox Home Entertainme
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Color
Picture: Pan & Scan
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Running Time: 299 minutes
DVD Release: April 6th 2004
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DVD Review
Unlike the original Saturday Night Live cast, the In Living Color ensemble was definitely ready for prime time. But, was prime time ready for In Living Color? This subversively funny 1990 sketch-comedy series boldly went where SNL feared to tread, particularly in matters of race relations and cultural stereotypes. Series creator Keenen Ivory Wayans was hot after his hilarious blaxploitation spoof, I'm Gonna Git Ya Sucka. But In Living Color was hotter. According to a "Looking Back" segment included in this three-disc set, it took him a year to sell the pilot. He fronted a young, gifted, and mostly black cast, including David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson, Damon Wayans, Kim Wayans, and T'Keyah "Crystal" Keyman. "James" Carrey and Kelly Coffield were the white Garret Morrises.
Like the first season of SNL, In Living Color played provocateur, with such politically incorrect sketches as "Homeboy Shopping Network," "This Old Box," and "Ted Turner's Very Colorized Classics." Other sketches, such as "Riding Miss Daisy," have a stick-it-to-the-man brazenness. Don King, Mike Tyson, Milli Vanilli, and Arsenio Hall are easy targets, but In Living Color did not spare such icons as Richard Pryor. There is the inevitable Oprah roasting, but also a brilliant Star Trek spoof, "The Wrath of Farrakhan." Among the first season's breakout characters are Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier's finger-snapping "Men on Film," and Damon's Homey D. Clown. Carrey struts his stuff as "female" bodybuilder Vera DeMilo. Coffey is a scream as Samantha Kinison and Andrea Dice Clay. While much of the topical humor has dated, sketches such as "Michael Jackson Potato Head" are timeless. The fun of revisiting this groundbreaking series is watching these fearless and talented performers go for broke, and make the most of their unlikely opportunity. --Donald Liebenson
User Reviews
Two Snaps Up ... - Rating: 4/5
I love this show. I remember watching it in NZ when I was 9 or 10 years old. Even then I remember laughing my head off and couldn't wait for each week for it to be back on. I absolutely love Blaine and Antoine - they are hillarious. There were plenty of skits done by a little known guy called James Carey (guess who), and he was amazing. A while later he was doing great skits playing Venus de Milo. So funny. Overall, with the music, dancing and laughing, this should appeal to the majority of people. You would be hard pressed not finding something to laugh at. I have seasons 1,2 and 3 and watch them often.
Not for everybody.... - Rating: 3/5
I was not really that disappointed when I purchased the product. Yes, the jokes were really dated but some were still very funny. I did had a great time watching the first few episodes but after that, I kind of got tired.
I purchased this DVD set because I saw the Wayans family in Oprah and thought that's it's got to be great entertainment. Well, it is... for colored people, for people who enjoy black humor and entertainment.
I would have rather rented the dvd set if I will be able to find one here in the Philippines. Unfortunately, not everything released in the US or Europe is released in Asia, so really have to spend for it. Over-all, it's fun, not totally amusing.
Blaine & Antoine had the Gay Stereotype s Down Cold... - Rating: 5/5
I loved In Living Color. These Bold Skits depicting over the top caractures were of black life were extremely funny. What Norma Desmond was to Hollywood in over the top farce steeped in fun with just enough raw truth to make it hallarious In Living Color is to the African American Experience.
Some of the skits were very close to real in places. It was all good natured fun sort of like Saturday Night Live with a bold definite spark of black Flava. Cut or not the skits are still funny. In Living Color work as a whole still holds its comedic zing. The Gay Blaine and Antoine characters had a blast being over the top. Blaine and Antoine appear to be modeled after the total "Ms Thing", "Ms It" "Gurlfriend" kind of queens I knew growing up in the 1970's they were just as fun and camp and wild and trust me if they wanted to make you laugh you like would totally be spliting your side howling with Laughter I sure was.
The jokes weather time well and far as I am concerned everyone appearing in these In Living Color DVD's should repeat after me the following. The words of Norma Desmond, This is my life. It always will be... There's no one else just us, the camera's and all those wonderful people out there in the dark..... Alright Mr DeMille We are ready for our close up!"
What happened to "Bolt 45"? (aka "Billy Dee Williams") - Rating: 4/5
I thought that "In Living Color" was hilarious - especially the first season. Kim Coles was beautiful and very funny, and when she left after the first season I think that the show began to slide.
But does anyone remember from the first season (Episode 4 to be exact) the sketch with Keenan playing Billy Dee Williams and getting his slutty date (Kim Coles) drunk on "Bolt 45"? While it was somewhat risque (if not lewd and crude) it was still very, very funny! For some reason this otherwise hilarious three disc set does not include this skit, instead substituting the lame "Exxon Valdez" skit (which I never saw before) with Jim Carrey and Kim Coffield.
Bold and original...! - Rating: 5/5
Nominated for 17 Emmys in its short four-year stint, In Living Color is widely considered the best skit comedy show since SNL. Created by the multitalented star Keenen Ivory Wayans (the eldest child from a large and talented family), the 30-minute TV show became an instant hit for emerging big network competitor FOX in the spring of 1990. Showcasing the talents of the Wayans family (especially blockbuster talent Damon Wayans), along with initial cast members David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson, Kim Coles, T'keyah "Crystal" Keymah, Kelly Coffield, and Jim Carrey (who would use the show as a springboard to smash hit movie career that would begin with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in 1994), In Living Color quickly achieved the status of TV cult icon...
Along with clever, cutting-edge writing, In Living Color featured a plethora of talented cast members who would move on to enormously successful Hollywood careers. The show's dance troop, The Fly Girls, hired an ambitious dancer named Jennifer Lopez for the show's final season, and Season 2 of the show involved the hire of Oscar Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx (of Collateral and Ray). For its final season, In Living Color also featured notable appearances by comedian Chris Rock. Along the way, the series would create a number of legendary recurring characters such as Homey D. Clown (Damon Wayans), Fire Marshall Bill (Jim Carrey), and Men on Film (Damon Wayans & David Alan Grier)...
The In Living Color (Season 1) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the series premiere in which the show begins with a skit entitled "Love Connection". Jim Carrey stars as Chuck Woolery, trying to bring together star-crossed lovers Mike Tyson (Keenen Ivory Wayans) and Robin Givens (Kim Coles). This first episode also features the first appearance of the popular characters from the skit "Men on Film". Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Introducing... Homey D. Clown" in which the world first meets an ex-con turned clown who refuses to engage in any clown-like acts, and "Anton in the People's Court" which features the skits "M.C. Hammer Video" and "Ted Turner's Very Colorized Classics - The Kid"...
Below is a list of episodes included on the In Living Color (Season 1) DVD:
Episode 1 (Pilot)
Episode 2 (The Wrath of Farrakhan)
Episode 3 (Lean on Me Beautiful)
Episode 4 (Transitions)
Episode 5 (A Date with Grace Jones)
Episode 6 (Jheri's Kids)
Episode 7 (Don King - The Early Years)
Episode 8 (Endangered Species)
Episode 9 (Introducing... Homey D. Clown)
Episode 10 (Vera DeMilo)
Episode 11 (Anton in the People's Court)
Episode 12 (Conspiracy)
Episode 13 (Homey D Clown Returns)
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