The second
season of the Emmy award winning Hip-hop sketch comedy show
created by
Keenan Ivory Wayans.
CRITIQUE
The second season
of In Living Color builds off the solid foundation that the
first season created and rises above. All of the popular characters
have returned (Homey the Clown, the Men on film couple, and the
Homeboy Shopping Network) are joined by new characters such as the Tag
Team Evangelists, The Head Detective, the Brothers Brothers (to VERY
white black guys), and Fire Marshal Bill. And while not every sketch
is brilliant, there are far more successes than there are failures.
The cast continues
to be fun. Everyone holds their own and have an opportunity to shine,
as opposed to other sketch comedy shows such as Saturday Night Live,
in which many actors never get the opportunity to really perform.
Every cast member has a character and every character has a standout
performance.
There are many good
sketches this season. Some of the best sketches of this season
include: “Spike’s Joint,” about a store run by Spike Lee; “Homeboy
Shopping Network” – Hollywood Homeboys, the homeboy shopping network
goes to LA to hock their wares; “Velma Mulholland,” a black and white
woman from a 1940’s film noir movie living in a color world; and “The
Brothers Brothers” – Tom and Tom at the Country Club, the brothers try
and join a country club filled with very right wing conservatives.
The season is
really good. The sketches are fun and the cast fits together well.
However, at the end of the season there are about four different “best
of” shows. These filler shows, while on TV, are a good opportunity to
see one’s favorite sketches compiled, don’t work as well on DVD.
Luckily these can be easily skipped past.
THE VIDEO
The transfer is
pretty good, although I did notice that the color seems to shift,
almost like a pulse, during episode 24 (it’s very noticeable in the
Homey the Sellout sketch.) But other than that, the transfer is good.
THE AUDIO
The audio transfer
is a very standard stereo mix.
THE EXTRAS
Commentary on
select episodes by writers Kim Bass and Buddy Sheffield:
Kim Bass and Buddy Sheffield talk about a few of the sketches as well
as the limitations the two had due to censorship.
Season 2 Overview:
The cast and writers talk about how season two met and went beyond the
expectations set by season one, as well as how the cast and crew came
together to create the many memorable sketches.
Appreciating ILC:
The cast and writers talk about how In Living Color was a show
at the right place at the right time with pop culture.
Notorious ILC –
Characters:
The writers talk about how they kept the characters new and fresh,
especially when other Sketch comedy shows use their popular characters
to the point of overkill.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This set is very
good. The supplemental features are wonderful and can hold your
interest. Like the season, this set rises above the first. While none
of the cast are featured on the commentary, hearing the writers talk
about the formation of sketches gives the audience an inside look into
how a TV show is made.
