The Wayans Bros. Information

The Wayans Brothers. is a situation comedy that aired from January 1995 to May 1999 on The WB. The series starred real-life brothers Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. Both brothers were already well-known from the sketch comedy show In Living Color that was aired from 1990 to 1994. The series also starred John Witherspoon and Anna Maria Horsford (season 2 onward).

Premise

Shawn and Marlon Williams (Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans) are two brothers who live in an apartment on 126th street in Harlem. Shawn owns a newsstand in the fictional Neidermeyer Building where he and his brother Marlon work on a daily basis. In the same building, their father John "Pops" Williams (John Witherspoon) owns a diner and Dee Baxter (Anna Maria Horsford, season 2 onward) works as a security guard.

Cast

Main cast

• Shawn Wayans - Shawn Williams
• Marlon Wayans - Marlon Williams
• John Witherspoon - John "Pops" Williams
• Anna Maria Horsford - Deirdre "Dee" Baxter (season 2 onward)
• Phill Lewis - Thelonious "T.C." Capricornio (season 2 onward)
• Lela Rochon - Lisa Saunders (season 1)
• Paula Jai Parker - Monique (season 2, episodes 1–11)

Recurring cast

• Ja'net Dubois - Grandma Ellington (1996"1998)

• Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins - Dupree (1996"1998)
• Jill Tasker - Lou Malino (season 2, episodes 1–7)
• Jeremy Hittel - Carwash (1996"1999)
• Lance Amols - Doc (1997"1999)
• Mitch Mullany - White Mike (6 episodes)

Episodes

Season	Episodes	First air date	Last air date
Season 1	13	January 11, 1995	May 24, 1995
Season 2	22	September 6, 1995	May 15, 1996
Season 3	22	September 4, 1996	May 14, 1997
Season 4	22	September 17, 1997	May 20, 1998
Season 5	22	September 17, 1998	May 20, 1999

Production notes

The Wayans Bros. was the first of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch the network (along with Unhappily Ever After, The Parent 'Hood and the short-lived Muscle). While in development, the series' working title was initially supposed to have been Brother to Brother, before the name of the series changed to The Wayans' Bros.

In the show's second season,In 1985 Pops' Diner (the restaurant owned by Shawn and Marlon's father, John "Pops" Williams) was moved into the Neidermeyer Building, where the location was changed from Harlem to Rockefeller Center, Manhattan.

Theme music and opening sequence

The show's official opening title always begins with Shawn and Marlon on the steps of a brownstone apartment building, donning afros and wearing 1970s preppy attire, moving in rhythm to an accompanying satirical music piece that's supposed to have a 1970s-style "urban" sitcom theme song feel. Marlon forcefully smacks the camera, and then segues into "the real opening" of The Wayans Bros.

The "second-half" part of The Wayans Bros. theme song was changed twice throughout its four-year run (1995-1999). In the first two seasons, from early 1995, until 1996, the show's theme song was A Tribe Called Quest's "Electric Relaxation" (used both in the 1994-95, and the 1995-96 seasons). In the third season (1996"97), the theme song changed to a 4-second Hip-Hop beat. In the final two seasons (1997-1998 & 1998-1999), the show's theme song was changed again to a regular hip hop instrumental beat (which was produced by the Wayans Bros. & Omar Epps).

Syndication

Warner Bros. Television Distribution handles syndication distribution of the series. In September 1999, after the series was cancelled by The WB, the series began airing in off-network syndication to Fox, WB and UPN affiliates nationwide.

At that same time, Chicago-based national cable superstation WGN began airing reruns of the series, airing the series until 2002 (when its broadcast syndication run also ended); ironically, WGN (both the local Chicago feed and the national superstation feed) aired The Wayans Bros. in first-run form from 1995 to 1999, when WGN (whose local Chicago feed was an affiliate of the network) carried WB programming nationally to make The WB available to markets where a local affiliate did not exist (The Wayans Bros. is one of three WB series to have aired on WGN in both first-run and syndication form; The Parent 'Hood, 7th Heaven and Sister, Sister being the others).

In 2006, reruns began airing on BET, after a 4 year absence where it ran until 2007. In 2007, reruns of the series aired on Ion Television, where it ran until 2008. As of 2011, reruns currently air on MTV2. On October 3, 2011, the series also began airing on Centric.