In Living Color – Season Two
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Episodes: B-
With the instant success of the first season of In
Living Color, The Wayans and company decided to get experimental and
riskier with the second, but familiar characters returned as well. With that said, Season Two still had
some great moments, but characters like The Head Detective, Fire Marshall Bill,
The B.S. Brothers, and The Buttman Family were a bit of a departure form the
intensity and consistency of what the first season brought on, because the idea
was to be shocking in a way that was intended to be more outrageous than
funny. Add no less that three episodes
that were complied repeats of previous skits, and the show took a bit of a dip
in quality.
What did work this time around included odd moments with
superhero Handi-Man, which actually managed to be as funny as they were
shocking, Kim Wayans send-ups of Oprah Winfrey in a cycle similar to Joan
Rivers send-ups of Elizabeth Taylor, before they were played out, more
hilarious “Men On” segments, the Gospel send-up Cephus & Reesie, Spike’s
Joint (spoofing the commercial success of filmmaker Spike Lee), the return of I
Love Laquita, Johnny Abdul – Saudi Rock Star, the Lil Magic skits that
remind one of the original Carol Burnett Mama’s Family skits a bit, and
the glorious return of gossiper Benita Butrell. That was about enough to make this a commercially successful
sophomore outing, but it does not hold up as well as the first. Fortunately, the Wayans were not finished
yet and more was on the way.
The full
frame, color footage is in as great shape here as it was for the first set, as
clean and clear as it is going to get for professional analog NTSC videotape of
the time. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is good for its age, but again
offers no surrounds of any kind. Extras include three featurettes on the
Second Season, though at the end of each, it notes that the first is on
DVD. Notorious ILC about the
characters on the show, an appreciation of the show are the other featurettes
subjects, while writers Kim Bass and Buddy Sheffield supply commentary tracks
on 21 skits throughout the four DVD set.
They are not bad, while the featurettes have some moments, but do a bit
too much repeating themselves. Still,
that is a good set of extras. In
Living Color – Season Two still stays in the spirit of the first, no matter
the deviation, so you’ll still get plenty of laughs.
- Nicholas Sheffo
