Found a nice article on Charnele Brown today from Dec. ‘90 Ebony. Said she’s 5′1″, went to SUNY New Paltz (she was a drama major like me) and that she was married to her high school sweetheart at the time. Very different than most of the cast members’ situations.
Oh, yes. This is in honor of Oxygen showing the Honeymoon episodes.

Signs That Show A Show Is In Trouble

• At least one of the characters vacation in LA/Disneyland/Disney World. Bonus points if the show is actually is taped in LA or Florida.
• The characters smile in the camera and not at each other.
• The theme music of the show underscores a cartoonish montage of the characters’ honeymoon.
• One of the characters plays a drag queen in the sequence, and he’s not supposed to be in (locale) at all.
• A cardboard cutout of Bill Cosby and a guest appearance by a (thin) Debbie Allen are in the montage.
• Newspaper? In shopping bags? Balled up?
• The word Mandingo is used to show off the sexual prowless of a nerd. Urkel was spared.
• The same footage is used to show that a character has taken off twice (see when Whitley is forced out of the car)
• Chronological errors allow the characters to be in LA at the time of the riots when their wedding was 15 days after the riots occured. This allows the rest of the characters listening about the characters’ honeymoon to bitch about social issues and figuratively beat the heads of any characters that oppose their view with their “correct” view (see Lena, Ron, Colonel Taylor).
• Roseanne, Tom Arnold, the guy who is Raven’s father on That’s So Raven, Gilbert Gottfried (mbsic) and Sister Souljah guest star.
• The white actors do a better job acting than the black characters.
• The writers throw in ironic “easter eggs” (see Shazza Zulu’s “Inspector Gadget” comment; Cree Summer was the first voice of Penny for the show, and Whitley’s “[Freddie's] mother’s white” comment–for the record, Cree Summer’s mother is black, and her father is white)
• The writers decide to make Freddie Brooks, played by Cree Summer, a neo-hippie chick who lived in Canada, a lawyer. I cannot stress this enough.  This is so out of character for Freddie.  Her motives to help people in the “system” can’t save her ass on this one.

Have a good summer!

Special: My 10 Preachiest ADW Episodes (featuring a Freddie update!)

• “Mammy Dearest”–A ridiculous debate on colorism based on Jasmine Guy’s skin color (the whole owning slaves debate–but the information is presented as true. Except for the Whitley’s ancestors’ part, because Whitley is a fictional character) as well as trying to justify Mammy, a stereotype created by white people. Mammy is the antithesis of who white men would rather have sex with–lighter skinned, skinny women as opposed to dark-skinned, heavy-set women–not just some Aunt Jemima type making pancakes all the time. In fact, in slavery days, lighter skinned African-Americans were more likely to be working in wealthy slaveowners’ households as opposed to Mammy-types (from my link in my last post). In other words, someone who looked more like Jasmine Guy would be a more realistic Mammy-type (depending on how loyal the slave was to his/her master).
• “Love Taps”–God, didn’t Good Times cover this territory already, except it was called child abuse, not domestic violence? But there is a plus in all of this. ADW did not take four episodes plus a promotional plug episode for the Jacksons’Destiny to tell its tale of violence. They only took this one and the “College Kid” episode. And Freddie brings up the issue of domestic violence. Yay.
• “Honeymoon in LA”–Because the timing was off and the episode, along with its moral, ridiculous. (“Love will find a way, I say!”–eww!!!!) Oh yeah, did I say that they made Freddie a lawyer? Why, God, why? (IMO, the worst of the worst.)
• “No Means No”–The blue screen that shows up before the episode (it is slightly altered in the syndicated episode because the blue screen does not say “Tonight’s episode”) says all. And Taimek was so sexy–why did he have to rape Freddie? Hell, why clumsy Freddie? Gullibility? I dunno. Plus, much like “Love Taps,” Taimek’s character had to justify that raping women was okay–that personally irks me.
• “Answered Prayers”–Another episode with a naive Freddie, except this time, she tags along for a road trip to Ohio to see a wounded Richard Roundtree, who was just in the last episode (“Great Expectations”) to see Whitley get grass stains on her toga and to punish Kim for going to the DC Freaknic (notice it’s not spelled like the Atlanta Freaknik–does that go on in Atlanta anymore?). However, the scene where Freddie gets up on the table behind the couch to celebrate her finished Greek mythology test is priceless.
• “War and Peace”–The weakest of the Hoffman/Guy writings, this script justifies war in Iraq (I hate this; your opinion might vary, due to your political beliefs). Even Freddie (again) weakens her political beliefs at the end of this episode.
• “Here’s to Old Friends”–or, the “All/Some Black people that go to a historically white college are snottier than those that go to HBCU” episode. An episode without Freddie (finally).
• “Cats in the Cradle”–My second-least favorite episode (behind the “Honeymoons”). Dean Cain, who is a quarter-Japanese (his last name was first Tanaka, BTW), plays a racist who comes on to another bi-racial person, Whitley. Oh, and Dwayne and Ron get in a fight with Cain and his friends. However, I do like the mascot wolf. Reminds me of Kanye West’s College Dropout Bear and Redman’s mascot. And Dwayne in the Hillman (bird name here) costume. And Freddie (yet another multi-racial person) and her friends Whitley “Go Hillman!” Gilbert and Kim rush to Dwayne and Ron’s side when the feuding parties are arrested.
• “Original Teacher”–Because Dwayne never killed anyone (where someone would get the title “original gangsta” from). And Freddie literally handed Kris Kross to Dwayne. And I did read in some magazine a long time ago that Kris Kross was offered pot from JD. There go your model reformed gangsters (and I do mean gangsters) for ADW.
• “Bedroom at the Top”–Another episode without a focus on Freddie as Whitley fights sexual harassment (in an amusing way). Whitley’s nightmare at the end of the episode (I’m sure that’s Dwayne asking Whitley, “What is a Pookie?”) and Ron’s sex-service venture are the most amusing elements of the episode.
• “Great X-Pectations”–I was tempted to put the episodes where the show clearly condemns the lack of a college education (see Whitley and Ron and then see Whitley lose her job despite her education), but this episode, also without Freddie, is about guns. It’s also of no interest of me because it features the five newer students, and I cannot stand to look at Karen Malina White looking as old as four of the five principal characters (Ron, Whitley, Dwayne, and Kim–ironically, not Freddie).

I have another subtle symbol I want to share with you, and it’s in “Mammy Dearest.”It’s the scene where Whitley is trying to convince Kim that the Mammy character is an important part of African-American history. She holds a small black Mammy figurine in her hands and says “Kimmie, in order to neutralize a stereotype we have to reclaim it.” By the time she says “we,” she’s crushing the Mammy figurine.

Well, Whitley is reclaiming the Mammy stereotype, like she says…or could she just be crushing Kim’s ego, knowing full well that she hates the Mammy stereotype?

I dunno…

Almost forgot…

I was thinking about where I might have seen Jasmine Guy’s sister, Monica, and I know of three episodes where I can make a valid guess, using the WMA video for the MultiVu site.
–”In the Eye of the Storm”–I’m certain that Monica is one of the people trapped in the Pit–she’s the one in a blue coat looking out at the window near the beginning of the Pit sequence. She wears gray clothing and red boots–she’s dancing in the slow dancing segment as well and recoils to the (viewer) right of the Pit when the glass breaks.
–”Lisa Who-Little”–She stands in for Jasmine Guy, duh.
–”Mammy Dearest”–I believe she’s standing on some pole near the stage that Gina and Freddie perform on, wearing a black dress and something on her head. After Freddie does her (overdramatic, but hey, Whitley does it all the time, so) recitation of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf
(& you promised me
you promised me…
somebody/ anybody
sing a black girl’s song…)
you can see Monica (to the right of the screen) when Whitley is bringing out one of those pictures for her exhibit and she says “Now we know why colored girls consider suicide.”

And I don’t care what Jasmine Guy said in Evolution (about how she was beaten up for being nine in the sixth grade), Whitley should have been beaten up on ADW more often, IMO, especially after that comment. Who cares if she’s in pain from breaking up with Dwayne?

I’ve also seen that Monica was possibly in “Rule Number One,” but I can’t verify that.

All I can say is that she was an extra during the fifth season of ADW–that is all.

Someone has to keep me updated on when that “World’s Craziest Videos” episode re-airs.

The one where Jasmine Guy freaks out at seeing Denzel…please? Thank ye in advance.

Also saw the sad, hilarious hair trick in “Conflict of Interest.”REPEATED PROP ALERT:
–the apron in “Kiss You Back” is in “Happy Birthday to Moi”

I have posted this Listmania! list on Amazon.

Tidbit of the day:

Sorry, I’ve got a paper due Friday. But anyway, has anyone noticed that in the sixth season, you can see those mammy figures in Kim’s apartment in Height Hall?

Well, there went the grand ideas of “Mammy Dearest!”

Whitley’s Birthday?

This will be a short post, due to the wealth of information over the internet on this topic.

As someone mentioned on TVTome.com, Whitley mentions that her birthstone is an emerald on “Pride and Prejustice.”

However, Whitley never celebrates her birthday in May. She either celebrates in March–
Original air date for “Clair’s Last Stand:” March 28, 1988
Original air date for “21 Candles:” March 15, 1990
or in January–
Original air date for “Happy Birthday to Moi:” January 14, 1993.

I kinda like March 10 better, don’t you?

WHITLEY VERSUS DENISE: THE BETTER LOVER FOR DWAYNE (Part II)

Before The Cosby Show thought it’d be funny if they introduced Martin as Denise’s husband (I agree with Whitley. He needs a laxative) and that god-awful Olivia as her step-daughter (overlooking the fact that Lisa Bonet was pregnant about the time she reappeared on TCS, if I’m not mistaken), ADW made Dwayne act a fool over Denise. Alas, Susan Fales (who also worked on TCS before working on ADW) wrote the lovely-death knell to the Denise/Dwayne love story, “Forever Hold Your Peace,” where Dwayne discovers the cruel trick that TCS played on him (to help sagging ratings, despite the fact that when Olivia first appeared on TCS, the show was #1 in the Nielsens and sank thereafter).

DENISE HUXTABLE (KENDALL)

Woman, IMO a true free spirit. At Hillman, she works in the non-existant cafeteria and struggles to keep her grades up. While Dwayne lavishes her with unwanted attention, she ignores his romantic advances. She finally goes out on a date with him (only to be interrupted by the future Mrs. Dwayne Wayne).

Unlike Whitley, who is always concerned with money throughout her courtship and marriage with Dwayne (Remember when Whitley wenrt crazy over her engagement ring? Remember when she said that she was afraid to tell Dwayne that she was pregnant because they had no money? And on and on), Denise seems to care about Dwayne as a person (unless it’s to prove a point, such as the Miss Hillman pagent). Denise’s interests never get in the way of her conversations with Dwayne.

Whitley, however, is more self-motivated than Denise. While Denise is stuck in money and education limbo while at Hillman, Whitley (at first) knows exactly what she’ll be after graduation–a homemaker and mother with a fabolous sense of art. However, when Whitley decides she doesn’t need a sugar daddy, she becomes an art buyer instead (until she’s fired, which makes me wonder about the point of having be an art buyer in the first place).

Denise, despite her free spirit and bad taste in men on TCS, is saner than Whitley on basically any episode (save “My Dinner with Theo” or “College Kid,” the only episodes that Whitley never appeared in) on ADW, even when Whitley’s not the chump.

However, Whitley has a more dynamic personality than Denise (ever wonder why Whitley became the star of ADW?).

Personally, I think Denise would make a better lover for Dwayne–overall, she’s more sincere than Whitley. But Dwayne was a big catalyst in Whitley’s life, so it’s better for Dwayne to stay with Whitley.

But, hey, what about Freddie? I mean, her alter ego did date the alter ego of Dwayne Wayne.

WHITLEY VERSUS DENISE: THE BETTER LOVER FOR DWAYNE (Part I)

I want to do some type of a twisted matchup between Whitley and Denise to figure out which girl was the right girl for Da-wayne. (Doesn’t most everyone on this show call Dwayne Da-wayne, or is it me?) So, I’ll start with Whitley first.

WHITLEY MARION GILBERT-WAYNE

Woman, skinny as hell and prides herself on this (her motto on her pillow reads “You can never be too rich or too thin”), born between the months of January and May 1969, as the show never clarifies this. More on this later (if I haven’t already done so). Her family, the Gilberts, are a prominent family in the Hillman community: her grandfather attended Hillman after he was rejected from, then accepted to, “a certain Ivy League school” (I’m not so clear why he was rejected or even if her grandfather was white or black, since I think the writers were looking at Jasmine Guy’s skin and running with it throughout the series–see “Mammy Dearest,” airing Monday at 5:30 and Tuesday at 11:30 on Oxygen), and several members of her family helped build and pay for the school, including the legendary Gilbert Hall, where all the Gilbert women lived while at Hillman. Possibly (you never know, though) the only woman in her family not to win Miss Hillman/Gillbert Hall/whatever in her family, she is prudish, stuck up, and evil (at least the show clarified this).

She starts to fall in love with Dwayne during the second season (see the earlier “Sexline” post on Witless), but quickly falls out of it to be carefree (and evil) for other days. By the third season, she really is in love with Dwayne–she just leaves him hanging when she dates Mustapha Julian. In the beginning of the fourth season (and the relaspe during “It’s Showtime at Hillman”), Dwayne dates Kinu, which drives Whitley to the point where she feels that she needs to run Kinu off to reclaim Dwayne–which she does, successfully (because Dwayne, he being the show’s hopeless romantic after they relieved Ron of this duty, is still in love with Whitley [why?]).

The two continue to date and eventually get engaged, only to break up when Whitley finds out that Dwayne took a normal woman a professor from Avery named Liza out to dinner. (EPISODE WARNING: This episode, “To Tell the Truth,” will be on only at 11:30 am on Monday on Oxygen. Its sequel, “Do You Take This Woman, will be shown on the same day at 5 pm and the next day at 11 am.) It is only after a series of talks and a night together that Whitley and Dwayne discover they actually love each other (see the “Saves” on April 28 in the evening and April 29 in the morning on Oxygen). They finally marry and have more arguements and sex. Eventually Whitley gets pregnant with Dwayne’s child (shudder).

Hey, at least the child raised hell to its mother by demanding food for a while before being (aborted/born/nonexistant/another option on the baby’s fate here).

Tomorrow:

DENZEL WASHINGTON ALERT

Episode: “Home Is Where the Fire Is”

Shown: as a picture in Whitley’s apartment

Whitley: takes picture with her when the fire in Lena’s room breaks out (she was trying to save her possessions when the fire broke out)

Important fire tip: Get the hell out of a building on fire–never try to save anything