Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990 TAG: 9004140427
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH HASTINGS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Because almost the entire cast is black? Partly. Mostly, it's because of the show's black humor.
Fox Television likes to pride itself on "pushing the envelope," as Tom Wolfe's astronauts in "The Right Stuff" put it. But is the alternative network ready for warp speed?
Make that warped speed.
Consider the sketches already in the can for this black version of "Saturday Night Live," which debuts Sunday after Fox's top-rated "Married . . . With Children" (at 9:30 p.m. on Channel 21 in the Roanoke viewing area). There's the "Homeboy Shopping Network," in which two black men unload a semitruck full of very hot items, including a satellite dish with "NASA" emblazoned on its face.
"Not only do you get all the stations out there," promises one of the jive-talking hosts, "you can talk directly to the astronauts."
There's also "Men on Film," featuring two gay, black movie reviewers spoofing Siskel and Ebert. Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" gets a limp-wristed "two snaps up" from the fey duo.
Sandwiched between the skits, a la "Saturday Night Live," are fake commercials. Calvin Klein's "Obsession" becomes "Oppression - for black men. If only he wasn't so dark."
A takeoff on the United Negro College Fund's motto admonishes young blacks to "Keep Your Butt in School."
Wait a minute. Is it OK to laugh at this stuff? Doesn't it perpetuate black stereotypes? Isn't it exploitative?
Oh, get over it, says Keenen Ivory Wayans, the 31-year-old executive producer-writer-cast member of "In Living Color."
"Black people aren't supposed to be funny? Woody Allen's Jewish and he makes fun of Jews," says Wayans. "No one's ever accused him of being anti-Semitic."
If Wayan's brand of black parody sounds familiar, it's because he's the same person who starred in and co-wrote "Hollywood Shuffle" and made his directing debut in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka." The latter has grossed more than $19 million since its 1988 release.
He pals around with guys like Lee, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy and Robert Townsend, with whom he made "Hollywood Shuffle."
Wayans is a hot property right now and he knows it. "In Living Color" was not a show he shopped around to the networks. Fox came to him. And gave him carte blanche.
"They basically said you can do whatever you want to," Wayans says while sitting in Fox's Hollywood offices. "If you have a chance to do something that will have some impact, you do it."
To do "In Living Color" - which unlike "Saturday Night Live" is being taped in advance - Wayans enlisted almost half his 10-member family.
Sister Kim and brothers Damon and Shawn will be regulars on the show. A nationwide search was launched for the rest of the ensemble cast of comedians. Two former writers from David Letterman's show were hired.
On its end, Fox signed up for eight half-hour episodes, gave it a prestigious time slot and is promoting the daylights out of it.
Still, Fox executives are more than a bit nervous about the show's content.
"But it's good nervous," says 29-year-old Damon, who stars in the "Homeboy Shopping Network" segment alongside Keenen.
"There is a concern, but we trust our producers," says Brad Turell, a senior vice president of Fox Broadcasting Co. "We think this show is going to be a big hit. It's very funny."
And not racist, say Turell and Wayans. "I'm just telling jokes," Wayans says. There's no big message behind it and no plan to change the world.
"Nothing in the medium of entertainment changes people. The only thing that changes people is government and laws. What I want to do is make America and the entertainment industry accept blacks in a different format."
by CNB