Fox’s ‘In Living Color’: Life After Wayans’ World

Jim Carrey of “In Living Color” frantically burst into an office where the show’s three executive producers were meeting.

“Listen, guys, I gotta talk to you now!” proclaimed Carrey, the only white male cast member of the Fox series known for its hip-hop, ethnically oriented comedy.

“You know, guys, seriously, you gotta lose the whole black thing on the show,” he implored the producers--Greg Fields, Pam Veasey and Les Firestein.

Not missing a beat, Carrey continued: “Here’s how I see it. Hear me out, hear me out! We’re beating a dead horse here. What we gotta do here is get everything white. The cast is white, the dancers are white, I’m white. White, white, white, white, white!”

“Gee, thanks a lot, Jim,” Veasey said as the three laughed at Carrey’s performance. The episode two weeks ago was a comic yet ironic comment on “In Living Color’s” season of turmoil.

Troubles erupted when the show’s creator, host and guiding force, Keenen Ivory Wayans, departed last December following a heated dispute with Twentieth Television, the owners and producers of the program. Twentieth Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox.

His brother, Damon, who had returned to the show this season after co-writing and starring in a movie, “Mo’ Money,” left shortly afterward. With them went many of the show’s most popular characters: Homey the Clown (“Homey don’t play that!”); Blaine Edwards, one of the effeminate critics in the “Men on Film” segments (“Two snaps up!”); the homeboys of the Homeboy Shopping Network (“Mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money”), and Anton, the brash homeless man.

Another brother, Marlon, took off. Then Wayans sister, Kim, who had just signed a multi-year contract, was released after Fox executives said that she staged her own sympathy protest by refusing to perform in a sketch involving her best-known character, gossip Benita Butrell, and by accusing the writers of being offensive and racist. She called the charges “totally meritless” and is in litigation with Fox.

A fourth Wayans brother, Shawn, was let go from his contract, and Tamara Rawitt, the No. 2 producer on the show under Keenen Wayans, also departed in December.

Veasey, Fields and Firestein, who had been appointed co-producers when the season began, were elevated to executive producers. They struggled to maintain control and momentum as morale among cast and crew plummeted.

Now, as “In Living Color” prepares to wrap up production next week, Veasey, Fields, Firestein and others associated with the series are finding it easier to laugh, breathe a sigh of relief and congratulate each other for surviving the most difficult season since the show’s debut three years ago.

While noting that strained relationships and hurt feelings made the process of producing comedy a bit more difficult than usual, Veasey, Firestein and Fields said those days are over, preferring to put the bitterness behind them. They promise “In Living Color” fans that there is Life After Wayans, and that the series will continue to feature the same brand of “in-your-face” comedy that Keenen Wayans and his siblings delivered.

“We’ve already done this show under bad circumstances, so it can only get easier from here . . .” Firestein said.

“It was a tough year but in a way we’re a lot stronger for it,” Veasey said. “This show is tough enough to do without having to go through all the things we went through.”

As the season got under way last fall, Keenen Wayans relinquished his host duties and did not perform in any of the skits. He appointed Veasey, Fields and Firestein, who had been writers and producers, to co-producer status, phasing himself out so that he could concentrate on films and other projects. Wayans was preparing to leave the show in their hands at the end of the season.

Carrey was among those who locked horns with Keenen Wayans over his apparent preoccupation with outside projects.

“Keenen and I butted heads against each other,” said Carrey, one of the show’s principal stars. “He was going off and doing other things, and I felt the ship needed a captain. I felt his heart just wasn’t in the show anymore, and you can’t do a show like that halfway. Keenen was fighting with the network, plus he didn’t want to be there.”

Wayans declined to be interviewed for this story.

The situation between Fox and Wayans had often been tense during the run of “In Living Color,” which won an Emmy in 1990 for best comedy-variety show even as it came under fire by African-American leaders and others for its portrayals of blacks and gays.

Fights over risque material were common, with Wayans often lashing out at network censors.

The final straw for Wayans came when he and Fox tangled over the repackaging of show highlights into “In Living Color: The First Season,” which airs on Fox on Thursdays at 9 p.m. Wayans was unhappy that Fox started compiling the shows without his approval or participation, feeling the reruns would harm the future value of the show in syndication.

“I would say we saw the split coming, and we didn’t see it coming,” Firestein said. “Plenty of times there had been an acrimonious relationship between the producers here and Fox. I mean, it’s the same on any show. There are always problems and usually they get resolved one way or the other. This was the first time that it got resolved the other.

“For obvious reasons, everyone got firmly dug in against each other, and I think we were all shocked that it actually came to that.”

The cast and crew were hurt when Keenen and Damon Wayans trashed Fox and the show in interviews. Keenen Wayans was quoted in Entertainment Weekly as saying that Fox was “a shell of a company making desperate moves. They’re collapsing and they don’t care who they offend or whose shows they ruin.” And in an appearance in February on David Letterman’s NBC show, Damon Wayans said “In Living Color” was like Kentucky Fried Chicken: “They got rid of the colonel, he took the seven spices with him, and now they’re just frying chicken.”

Fox executives didn’t take any of the criticism personally.

“It was a very amicable parting,” said Steve Bell, president of network television for Twentieth Television. “We are still in negotiations with Keenen’s people about certain things--possible projects that could include members of the Wayans family.”

Fox officials said that even though the show is closely identified with Keenen Wayans, his departure has not affected its popularity; the ratings since December have held steady and the series is Fox’s fourth-ranked show for the season. The Thursday night compilation shows are also getting better ratings than the previous Fox occupant in that time slot, “The Heights.”

“This has been a tough year, to be sure,” Bell said. “You can’t lose the creator and spiritual father of the show without causing problems. The fact that Les, Greg and Pam have come through so successfully, and that the ratings have held on, is just great news. This is a franchise, which, like ‘Saturday Night Live,’ will go on despite people leaving.”

Looking ahead to next season, the producers say the show will continue to parody celebrities and will retain its aggressive, urban edge. The core of the writing force will remain, as will cast members Carrey, T’Keyah (Crystal) Keymah, Kelly Coffield, David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson and Jamie Foxx.

Some new cast members and writers are being sought, and there will be new features such as animation segments and showcases for new talent.

“Obviously this is a production in transition,” said Keymah, one of the original cast members. “But there are a lot of people who are still here, giving energy. Other shows have gone through transitions like this and survived. This one will too.”