Series Description

My Wife and Kids was a 30 minute comedy series that aired on ABC for 123 episodes from 2001-2005. It was about parents who loved their children but had lots of trouble relating to them.

My Wife and Kids Cast

Damon Wayans .... Michael Kyle
Tisha Campbell-Martin .... Janet "Jay" Kyle
Parker McKenna Posey .... Kady Kyle
George Gore II .... Michael Kyle Jr.
Jennifer Freeman .... Claire Kyle
Noah Gray-Cabey .... Franklin Aloysius Mumford (2002-2005)
Brooklyn Sudano .... Vanessa Scott (2003-2005)
Andrew McFarlane .... Tony Jeffers
Jazz Raycole .... Claire Kyle (2001-2002)
Lester Speight .... Calvin Scott (2003-2005)
Damon Wayans Jr. .... John (2001-2004)

My Wife and Kids Trivia

Damon Wayans who wrote scripts, produced and starred on My Wife and Kids once stated that the series was inspired by "The Cosby Show".

Jazz Raycole left her role as Claire Kyle after the first season of My Wife and Kids when her mother learned that a friend of Claires would get pregnant in the second season. Mom didn't want her daughter involved in what she felt might influence teenage fans' sexuality. Of course, when Jennifer Freeman took over the role it was blatantly obvious that Claire looked totally different! In order to "blow off" the change in appearance, Michael Kyle tells his daughter Claire, "I don't know what it is, but you look like a whole new person!"

During the third season of My Wife and Kids actress Meagan Good joined the cast as Kyle Jr's girlfriend Vanessa Scott. For some reason never revealed Meagan was replaced in the role after just five episodes with Brooklyn Sudano who is the daughter of disco singing sensation Donna Summer. In this case, there was never any mention of the changing appearance of Vanessa.

The writers, cast and crew on My Wife and Kids had every reason to believe that the series would be coming back for a sixth season until the fifth one nearly ended. The script for the final episode of season five in fact was written with a cliffhanger ending designed to bring fans back for a sixth season. Then just one day before that episode aired, ABC announced that the series was canceled and fans were left with no resolution to the cliffhanger! Damon Wayans said that the decision to end season five that way came after ABC assured him that he personally would be coming back for another season.

Damon Wayans Sr. began his show business career when he followed older brother Keenen to Hollywood to become a professional comedian. He performed in Los Angeles clubs as a stand-up comic and graduated to the nationwide comedy club circuit and then nabbed a cast memeber spot on the series, "Saturday Night Live" for the 1985-86 season. After appearing in several bit parts in comedy movies, Damon garnered larger roles in movies including "Earth Girls are Easy", "Punchline", "Colors", "The Last Boy Scout", "Mo' Money" and "Major Payne" among others.

Actor "Andrew McFarlane" appeared on episode #9, "Breaking Up and Breaking It" as a character named Roger who was Claire's boyfriend. Then he reappeared on episode #22, "Letting Go", again as Claire's boyfriend but this time with the name Tony Jeffers. He went on to appear as that character on an additional 26 episodes.

Damon Wayans Jr. appeared as a recurring cast member on eight episodes of My Wife and Kids and served as a writer on 31 scripts, following in dad's shoes with distinction. Damon Jr. went on to write and star on the 2006 series, "The Underground" and other projects since then. He currently has a new series in development that is projected to premiere in 2011 titled, "Happy Endings".